Overall Grade: B-
Tropes: second chance; childhood friends to lovers; enemies to lovers; single mom; obsessed MMC; workplace romance; forced proximity; forbidden romance
J. Saman’s Undeniably Corrupt brilliantly adds depth to her Boston’s Irresistible Billionaires series with the enigmatic, shadow figure of Vander. As the morally gray character of the extended next-gen group, Vander has stepped in to save the day in each of the stories in this series. But who will step in and save him and his love interest, Liora? They both will.
This is what I loved the most about Undeniably Corrupt. Liora and Vander save each other from the eventual threat of their story, each taking a part and offering a solution to their eventual problem. Saman has written Liora and Vander’s chemistry well, showcasing a steamfest that intensifies as the story (and their love) progresses. Continuing on her “band of brothers (and sisters)” trope in this book solidifies its place in the series, and it continues to grant us glimpses into the lives of the former couples in this series. Even more, Saman writes Liora and Vander to be likable, which means we root for their happy ending.
Here are my issues with this book (and the series as a whole): while the parents of the next-gen adults make appearances, they are brief and go nowhere in these stories. If you’ve read Saman’s earlier series, you’ve grown to care for the characters of those series. However, we get very little interaction with them and their children in this series, especially Vander. For me, I thought that Vander’s father, Lenox, would have played a greater part in aiding his son through his and Liora’s trouble. But he was virtually silent, and that didn’t sit well with me. In fact, Vander does very little with his father, despite being a carbon copy of him. And therein lies one of the most significant issues with this story.
Secondly, I struggled greatly with the pacing of Liora’s secret revelation. The believability that she would hold onto her secret for much of the book seemed problematic, especially as she’s aware of Vander’s skill. While she doesn’t know the depths of it, I was confused with her choice to withhold information from him. Sharing her secret earlier in the story would have allowed for more development of the consequences later. The resolution felt rushed.
Would I read Undeniably Corrupt again? Absolutely! Liora and Vander are the “heavy” of this series, one that seems founded on the beloved enemies-to-lovers trope. J. Saman wrote this well in her romances for this series. I know she has two new series on the horizon, and I can only hope that we will fall in love with her future band of characters as we have with her Boston Irresistible Billionaires crew.
In love and romance,
Professor A
Professor Romance 