Tuesday, April 18, 2023

Book Review: The Pact by Delta James

 

Book Description

Gavan Drummond is the most powerful man in Scotland, he is neither pure nor innocent. Can I trust him to save my company?

My family has been making single malt whiskey for centuries and has a world-renowned reputation. A rival has been trying to put us out of business and acquire both our distilling methods and our land. In an effort to save me from a forced marriage, my grandfather leaves Drummond 51 percent of the business to hold in trust until I marry.

Now my grandfather is dead and I am left to deal with the distillery, the rival family wanting me dead, and Drummond - the black tiger. But I don’t know where else to turn to for help.

Gavan offers me a Pact ... submit for a year or lose my legacy. If I accept, will I be sharing the bed of a man or a beast?

The Pact is a dark mafia romance in the Syndicate Masters series. If you like intrigue, men determined to possess their women, and the strong intelligent women who stand up to them, then you’ll love Delta James’ newest Kindle melting paranormal romance.


My Review

Gavan is a mob boss, a Dom and a black tiger shifter. He's had a thing for Blaise for a long time but has never acted on it. But now that her grandfather is sick and dying and wants him to keep his granddaughter safe, he's not holding back any longer. 

Blaise is a submissive but only plays with guys who know she'll never be collared by them and they have no chance at ever being her full time Dom. She likes her freedom and has a business to run. When her grandfather dies, and bad things start happening at her distillery, she finds herself in danger and the one man who she wants nothing to do with is there all the time because her grandfather left him 51% of her business. 

Gavan knows that it is more than bothering Blaise that he now owns the controlling percentage of her distillery. So he let's her know that he wants to be her Dom even though she doesn't seem to be interested at first. He's very manipulative, controlling and I didn't like that. Right away he starts telling her he wants her to stop cussing and tells her she's earning spankings for cussing even though she hasn't agreed to be his sub, hasn't signed a contract with him and he's not her Dom. That entire setup was wrong to me. 

Then when he finds out he owns controlling interest in her distillery after her grandfather dies, he tells her he will give her back controlling interest if she agrees to be his sub for a year. I found this to be underhanded, manipulative and wrong. This is not how you build a D/s relationship and I feel bad for anyone reading this who thinks that would be ok.

To say the least I did not like Gavan at all. His initial behavior set the tone for this book and even though he cared for her in his own way, I never cared for him at all. It's hard to like a book when you don't like the hero. Plus the fact that him being a black tiger shifter really only played a insignificant part in this book left me wanting more of that aspect. I don't mind a dark romance at all but Gavan's personality and the way he handled their relationship just left a lot to be desired in this story. 

I give this book 2 out of 5 stars.