Title: The Sham
Author:  Stella Gray
Publisher/Year:  Stella Gray 5/5/20
Length:  235 Pages
Series:  Convenience #1

Overview

Our marriage is a sham. I’m the first to admit it. Only privately, of course.

Notorious playboy Luka Zoric needs a wife, and the good PR it brings.

I just need the career boost being his top model will give me. It’s a win-win–on paper. But since when has real life been simple?

His jealousy makes me crazy.

The control he maintains over my body is unacceptable.

I really shouldn’t be so turned on by it.

But there’s more to both me and my husband than meets the eye.

And it isn’t long before I’m wondering–which of us has made the bigger mistake?

My Thoughts

It’s funny – i was going to read this book before the Arranged series and i’m glad that i didn’t. That’s the set up to this, the prelude to this bit of the story and it really helps set the stage.

We met Luka in the first book – he’s the younger son of the KZM dynasty and a playboy at that. Throughout the first series, we saw him as a drunk, as a guy who’s out for the next quick affair, usually with a model from the agency and really just a PR nightmare. Now that the brothers are in charge of things, we see that Stefan and Luka need to turn things around in the agency’s image and while Stefan has done a great job from a business perspective, Luka now needs to help give them a more human image….resulting in another arranged marriage.

That’s where Brooklyn comes into the mix. These two met a few years back when Brooklyn was trying to make her big break on the modeling scene which resulted in a string of lies from Luka and a great one night stand for these two. Fast forward 3 years, and we’re back at the newly formed DRM agency where Brooklyn is trying to get her shot at the open audition.

What all the girls soon realize is that this isn’t a usual audition, the girls are being asked unique and personal questions, and this is all for the hunt for Luka’s wife. Brooklyn checks all the boxes and we get to watch the push pull throughout the first half of the book between these two. There’s chemistry between them but Brooklyn is so upset about how Luka clearly doesn’t remember her, and Luka on the other hand is sooo attracted to her that he’d be dumb not to remember her. Mind you, all this brings out jealousy and tension that’s really intense and unexpected on both parts of the couple.

The journey from here is a roller coaster. We watch the games that they play with each other because it seems like they both are holding onto this notion of a temp marriage, but there’s history there, there’s chemistry and need and clearly stronger and deeper emotions that anyone expected.

Throughout this though, there’s also a secret that Brooklyn is hiding that i caught onto pretty quick and i’m sure most others did as well. I don’t know what motivated her to get into the situation that she’s in, but it’s one that’s going to hurt a lot of people, especially her new family, and i can’t wait to see how she gets out of this one.

We get a lot of the same heat and passion levels that we saw in the former series. There’s a chemistry and intensity that Ms Gray writes that really keeps us engaged. The moments that this couple steals together, in closets, in bedrooms, anywhere – they are on fire and that’s exactly what’s needed to keep a story like this moving. So…now i have to wait until July to get book 2, but in the meantime, you should read this and the other series and enjoy!