Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this e-book in exchange for my honest review.
Normally I’m not into mafia romance but I like Katee Roberts’ Olympus series so I decided to go for this one.
Compared to other mafia romance, I felt like Callie and Teague had more depth than I was expecting. The story was a bit predictable in that it was an arranged marriage between former mafia rivals. I did like the introduction to the O’Malley siblings. Carrigan seems pretty kick ass so I might have to read the next book 😉
I found the FBI angle didn’t really fit into the story they way it should. It seemed like this frustrating path to nowhere. Speaking of frustrating….how did no one connect Callie and Brendan? Apparently everyone knows he’s a sick d-bag and she was engaged to him then she shows up all squirrely with bruises? And no one thought “what about Brendan?”. Ahhh I hate when characters are oblivious.
All in all it was worth the read for the smut alone. Katee Roberts writes some hot stuff 🌶️

Dark Succession (and the entire O'Malley series) is actually a previously published series but got a makeover.
I'm not sure why I hadn't heard of this series before.
I've read Katee Robert's work before - although I will admit to it only being Dark Olympus so far.
When I enjoy an author, I usually will go through their entire Goodreads profile and add all the books that call to me.
But somehow, I missed this series.
Which is a shame, because I really enjoyed Dark Succession.

I enjoyed the characters. The plot line. It was entertaining and sexy. My only complaint was the lack of tension. It doesn't take long for our main characters - Callista and Teague - to fall for one another, despite it being an arranged marriage. And listen, I get it. If you have read my other reviews, you know it totally depends on my mood.
Sometimes I love a tension-filled slow-burn romance.
Other times I want it quick and dirty.
I guess when I read this I was hoping for a little more angst. Obviously, I won't let this affect my review, but if you are looking for more of a slow burn, I wouldn't jump into this one right away.
If you don't care either way, I definitely recommend it. Even if you are not a fan of Katee Robert's other work. As Katee has grown as a writer, her writing has more of an edge, and more of a fantastical element to it. So reading a contemporary romance written by her was fun and new.
Is it the most original? Nope.
But is it romantic and steamy? Yes.
And from what I can tell the next book in the series is about - I'm excited to continue this series.

If you love a mafia romance, you honestly won't go wrong with Dark Succession. It definitely leans more heavily on romance than the mafia world, so you won't come across any disturbing torture/murders. There is violence, but not descriptive. It's probably the lightest mafia romance I've ever read - and I got to say, its nice to read a book in this genre and not cringe from the less savory parts of the mafia world.

I've only ever read Katee Robert's "Dragon Bride" and "Neon Gods" series and I am always amazed how she can flow so well through all these different romance genres. It takes a special person who can do monster romance AND mafia romance well.

This book is great if you enjoy enemies to lovers, found family, mafia romance and Marriage of Convenience!

The first book in the O'Malley's series with a few updates since it was originally published. 3 families in power, using marriage alliances, bought loyalty and the ever-present threat of war to rule Boston. A strong fmc who wants to protect her people and herself is engaged to a brutal man. With his death, comes a new engagement to the other power family in Boston, setting off a war between the three families.

I love a good mafia romance and though insta-love isn't a favorite for me, I really enjoyed the way Katee brought Teague and Callie together. Callie is a strong leader; both she and Teague share a vision of leaving their city better than they found it, improving their family legacies. Teague lives his life wanting to escape the family business but refusing to leave his siblings behind. He's a good man at his core and when he meets Callie, he has an immediate shift to protector. The way they learn to love and fight for one another made this quick read very enjoyable!

If you're new to mafia romance, this is a great place to start.

- insta love
- mafia romance
- multiple povs

3.5-4 ★

Thank you, Forever Pub, Katee Robert and NetGalley for this arc!

I am in love with anything Katee Roberts writes, and I cannot wait to read the rest of this series. The spice was good, and the plot was sprinkled enough to keep me hooked. You will like this book if you like anything else Katee Roberts has written.

Dark Succession by Katee Robert is mafia romance at its best.

Teague O'Malley and Callista Sheridan, two virtual strangers, find themselves suddenly engaged. As children of rival mafia families, their marriage marks a new alliance between the two houses. Unfortunately, their engagement is also a slap in the face to the other local mafia family. Callista had been affianced to Brendan Halloram, the heir to the Halloram mafia, before he met his recent and untimely end at the end of a Desert Eagle. The fact that Callista is the one who pulled the trigger is a secret she'll do anything to protect. Brendan was a monster, and it was self-defense, but that won't matter to his father, who is set on vengeance.

On the verge of all out war, Teague and Callista have to decide if they can trust each other with their biggest secrets. Their survival, and the survival of everyone they love, may depend on it. Because the Halloram family is out for blood.

This arranged marriage romance has the steam you'd expect from Katee Robert, and even though it's different in tone from her Dark Olympus series and her fantasy-monster-romance Deal with a Demon series, it's still classic Katee.

If you're new to the mafia romance genre, this would be a good place to start. It isn't as dark and brutal as Sophie Lark's Brutal Prince series, and it isn't as gritty as Tijan's.

Thank you to Forever Pub for my advance review copy.

3.5/5 📖

This book was previously published as "The Marriage Contract." It's book one of a six book series, and it's a mafia romance, so I had to read it! I loved Teague because he immediately accepted the attraction and the chemistry he had towards Callista. Callista had a huge secret that was keeping her from fully giving in to Teague, but once she realized she had fallen for him too, she would do anything to protect him, even if it meant coming clean.

Their chemistry was good, and you can tell from the start that he fell first and hard, but Callista had no other choice but to fall for Teague.

This book is out now, so make sure you grab it if you like:

📚 Marriage of Convenience
📚 Mafia Romance
📚 Found Family
📚 Enemies to Lovers

Love Teague and Callie”s story! I haven’t read a lot of books by Katee Roberts but I will now! This is a marriage of convenience dark romance.

I mean, Katee Robert books just fuck, point blank. This was my first ~dark~ ~mafia~ romance and it does what it says on the tin, baby. *Obviously* I will read every book in this series as they're rereleased.

This is great! Katee Roberts is pretty new to me and I am enjoying reading all her backlist right now. I can't wait for the next book in the series.

Overall I thought this was good, not great. A quick read that didn’t require a lot of thought and is great (in my opinion) when you need something SUPER mindless. I honestly was getting confused on the characters but that’s a me issue. I will be reading the next one and honestly I’m more excited for that because that plot was already set up. Also LOVED the multiple POV.

Thank you NetGalley, Grand Central Publishing, and Katee Robert for this ARC copy of Dark Succession, in exchange for my honest opinion and review!

Katee Robert has been on my auto-buy list for a long time. So it was no surprise to me that I would love this re-publish edition of The Marriage Contract. Her take on the mafia trope was so good, I couldn't read this fast enough!

This book was so much more than I thought it would be. This was the first installment for the O'Malley's series. Set in Boston where 3 power families are in play - O'Malley's, Sheridan's and the Halloran's. As always in the mafia world; trades to further power, strength and success are at the front of this story line. Each family unit has characters as a reader you obviously won't care for... but that is the name of the game with crime families/stories... they aren't good without a few villians. What sparked my interest however... was the unexpected love story that began to bloom.

Callie Sheridan grew up knowing that she would be arranged with a member of the mafia. Groomed to be a good wife, yet determined to have a say in what her future holds - Callie takes it into her own hands to learn more about the man who holds her fate. She is not the typical submissive and quiet woman that men in this life typically want. She is a woman more than capable of taking care of herself, and trained well to do so by her brother - who is the family heir.... was her family heir. Unfortunately he dies and that leaves her to take his place, with her father's blessing. She loves her family, and cares about their well being, so she thrives in working the legitimate side of the family business. But, when she steps into her new role, she must balance both sides of the card. While she handles this well... the circumstances of this life lead her to needing an arranged marriage with a strong man who can help take place at the head of the family. This is where the story really begins... her scoping things out with her potential husband-to-be.

Teague O'Malley is a good man who longs to leave the life of the mafia world. He has many siblings he is also looking to save from this life. Doing his best to distant himself from the associations of the world, and looking to find ways to help the big escape from the life. His brother and father are ruthless, cutthroat men. The reputation both hold are exactly what Teague hates about this life. The fear, violence, and ruthless expectations are all things he wants to save his siblings from.

A change in status needs bring the Sheridan's and O'Malley's together in an unexpected way for this marriage arrangement. With Teague being names the one fit to be arranged... he knew he days of obtaining his goals were greatly limited. He felt hopeless for them. What he doesn't know... is that his bride-to-be has her own secrets. Her own needs. Both have struggled with demanding parents, loss, pain, and the hardness that the life brings. When they come face to face... everything changes.

Neither expect what they get. Meeting raises a primitive thing inside our MMC - the need to claim and protect despite her strength. He makes her feel seen, and she is greatly surprised by his manners and gentleman behavior. As this is an arrangement they proceed with caution, both leery on the situation as they feel that all is not as it seems. Both have goals and secrets... and this marriage could make or break them.

This was a very enjoyable read. I am so excited to see where else this series goes with the lovable side characters we saw within the families! If you have not already, I highly recommend checking this mafia romance out if you love the trope!

If you love mafia style books with a bit of spice, this is the book for you! Katee Robert is a great writer and breathes life and excitement in her books. This is a great start to a series that focus on different siblings in the O'Malley family. Can't wait for the next one!

5⭐️ 3🌶️

Thank you Forever Pub for the ARC. All opinions in this review are my own.

Welcome to the land of mafia, this must be the only thing I haven’t read yet from the queen Katee and I am so excited to devour this series!! We start with the story of Teague and Callie and let me tell you my heart belongs fully to them!

I love that we get povs from different side characters in the O’Malley family because I can already see how Katee is setting up the rest of the books in the series. I know the enemies to lovers in his sisters book is going to be sooooooo delicious!!

I was on the edge of my seat with the last hour of the book, adrenaline pumping, ready to throw hands, wanting to fast forward to the last page but not willing to miss a single second. Trying to figure out how the plot was going to unravel because everything was a freaking mess!! But katee did an amazing job tying up loose ends and giving us a cohesive ending.

While the time line is a bit short for my liking and it did feel a bit insta lovey for my personal taste, I felt the couple had such good chemistry it didn’t bother me as it normally would. If you are a regular Katee reader, you’ll find this book is a lot more plot and less spice which is not as common with her but it is so damn good. I’ll be starting the next one asap!!

Thank you @readforeverpub for the #gifted copy of DARK SUCCESSION.

Whew mafia romances are no joke! This was my first one and I flew through it because I was so stressed about Callie and Teague and their families. The stakes were so high throughout the entire book and all I wanted was for everyone in the Sheridan and O’Malley families to make it to the final chapter in one piece.

I’m not a huge fan of instalove so that was the main piece that didn’t work for me. I had a hard time with both Teague and Callie being so hopelessly in love with each other after 2 weeks that they would behave the way they did.

I’m super excited for the second book in the series (HEATED RIVALS) and lucky me, I just got an e-galley so I can dive right in!

DARK SUCCESSION is a reprint of THE MARRIAGE CONTRACT and this new edition is out now!

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5532384500
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cslxs1urmKT/

**I received Dark Succession as an arc through net galley**

Dark Succession mainly follows the story of Callie Sheridan (the next mob boss for the Sheridan family) and Teague O'Malley (3rd child of the mob family, the O'Malley's) as they are forced into a marriage to stabilize their relations and to ultimately go against the Halloran mob family. I did enjoy that this book is told mainly in the POV of Callie and Teague, but also features POVs from Carrigan O'Malley and James Halloran. The ending was a little fast but this is part of a series and left me wanting to know how all the conflict is going to play out. I really want to know what is going to happen between Carrigan and James later on in this series! I think I will like the series more as it goes on.

Spice rating: 3.5/5
Overall rating: 7.5/10

I love Katee Robert's stuff. It's always so spicy! I feel like a main thing I have issues with in her books is the lack of plot sometimes, and this one was the same way. It had really good scenes I liked, but overall it was just ok to me.

I loved this??? So much more than I expected. I’m definitely a fan of mafia/mob romances going forward! Sometimes the alternating POV was a little hard to keep track of, as well as all of the different characters with similar names. Overall though, all of the “omg” moments truly were for me. So excited to read book 2!!

Dark Succession was a book that I picked up solely based on how gorgeous the cover is and wow! I am so glad I judged this book by its cover! I was drawn in from the first chapter and fully engrossed in the world Katee Robert creates. The characters are well developed and lovable not inspite of their flaws but because of them.

"There will always be bad days, I think. Days where you wake up and forget that he’s gone, and then the realization hits, and it’s every bit as bad as what you’re feeling now. But there will be good days. At first they’re so few and far between it’s like they don’t exist at all, but then one shows up, and it’s this soft ray of sunshine in the midst of a hurricane. You barely notice it, and then it’s gone. And then, sometime not too long after that, another one shows up, and another, until the balance shifts and you have more sunshine than storm.”

First, I loved Teague and Callie! Both tried so hard to do right by their families even when the world around them was ready to explode. In the midst of so much, they found comfort in each other.

Despite the circumstances that brought them together, real and raw feelings developed between them, and I loved watching it grow.

Katee Robert does an amazing job creating a wonderful storyline that keeps readers engaged throughout the entire book. I found myself completely engrossed through the entire story.
I highly recommend this book to all who love romance novels.