Overall Grade: 4.5 ⭐️
I have such a love-hate relationship with first books in trilogies especially because I’m too impatient to wait for all three books to be published. There is a commonality with any first book in a trilogy: it is background, characterizing and setting up for the other two books in the series; you start to fall in love with the characters, buying into the notion of the trilogy; and you are inevitably heartbroken, unhinged, or full of anxiety at its end. It’s such an exercise in self-flagellation. Seriously. Skye Warren’s newest book, One for the Money, is all of this. Even more, at the end of this book, you feel heartbroken, unhinged, and full of anxiety with the understanding that you have two more books to survive.
What’s to know about this book?
- It lives in the Dark Romance Midnight Dynasty world. You know the world, right? Amelia Wilde, K. Webster, Skye Warren, et al. have written other stories in it. This means you might already be familiar with the Morellis as well as the Constantines. The characters are here, although the triplets from K. Webster’s duet haven’t made an appearance. Thank goodness! Enough H-E double hockey sticks have already broken loose by the end of this book.
- One for the Money is a fake relationship or relationship of convenience story. This foreshadows heartbreak for either main character or both. I’ll let you guess the answer to that.
- Eva Morelli is clearly THE best Morelli. My understanding of the Morellis comes through K. Webster’s Cinderella trilogy, so color me surprised when I fell in love with Eva and her big heart.
- Phineas Galileo Hughes aka Finn is a total cinnamon roll hero. He wears a carefully curated mask that does not match his inner gooeyness. Alas, he’s going to break hearts, though. This is a trilogy, so of course, he’s going to make the wrong moves.
- I’m secretly in love with Hemingway, Finn’s younger brother (not really…but go with it). I really, really hope someone is going to write his story. Some time. Please.
- Eva and Finn are two sides of the same coin: duty to family above all else. This is their connection and the reason their book breaks your heart. You want them to choose themselves over their duties, but this is book 1 of the trilogy soooo…they won’t.
- Their chemistry is combustible. This is quintessential Skye Warren with a dirty-talking hero. It could be dirtier…and the future books might be.
In a phrase, I LOVED One for the Money. In fact, I gobbled it, reading it as one would watch a horror movie: covering one eye while turning the page. This book is the fender bender on the side of the road that you can’t look away from even if you know you should, and Skye Warren reminds us WHY we spend all our pennies on her books, especially when she teases us with delectable stories like this newest one.
In love and romance,
Professor A
Professor Romance 