Title: The Ruin
Author:  Stella Gray
Publisher/Year:  Stella Gray 9/15/20
Length:  203 Pages
Series:  Convenience #3

Overview

My life is in ruins. Failed marriage, failed career—I’m a failure.
 
My husband may have had a hand in it, but I can’t help missing him.
 
We made an agreement. I signed the contract, and so did he. Without our arrangement, everything falls apart. 
 
So we’ll keep losing ourselves in each other’s bodies.
 
We’ll keep pretending everything is fine.
 
But maybe I’m getting sick of pretend.
 
Maybe I want to find something real.
 
And just maybe, Luka does too.

My Thoughts

We were on such a roller coaster in book 2 that I think we could use a bit of a reprieve in book 3, the final installment. If that’s what you were expecting as a reader, then you don’t know Stella Gray that well, and of course we were on another turbulent ride.

The end of the last book had our hopes up soo high thinking that Brooklyn will finally get her break on a huge national / international campaign, especially since Luka seemed to be her cheerleader, but we were left freefalling off a cliff when Monica Shore’s name was called and shocker, she had a new look that was exactly that of Brooklyn.

Tensions are high since Brooklyn now feels betrayed, by her husband and by the woman who seems to want to get into Luka’s pants. It’s sad to think that everything they overcame in book 2 was now falling to the wayside. Brooklyn runs to LA to be with Mateo who’s the only person who’s able to help her pick herself up off the floor. They craft a plan dubbed Operation Sexify which is now a means to make Brooklyn less wholesome since that’s the persona that Luka and Stefan needed her to take on.

The bulk of this book is tense, they are at odds with one another, yet there’s still clear love and chemistry between them. They can’t stay away from each other but they both have such hatred about the situation that they can’t be around one another. It takes Luka being called up to testify in his father’s trial to get Brooklyn to come back to his side, and when we think that there’s hope, walls of stone and ice are up once again and it seems as though there’s really no point in even making an effort.

What we do get as a constant is that every time they do seem to like each other more than they hate each other, we get some of the kinkiest steamiest scenes ever. And those carry the story through.

True to form with this story – just when it seems like they’re on the final uptick, controversy hits – the first time it was on their honeymoon when the leak of Brooklyn’s offer from Elite came to light. This time it was Monica herself leaking the details of what was offered to Brooklyn, implying that she took the deal and lied to the family. Luckily, Luka already knew the details, but that didn’t help things when Brooklyn goes to see Luka to make sure things are ok and overhears him talking to someone supporting Monica yet again instead of his wife.

We get gender reveal for Stefan’s baby, and the growing up of Mr Kibbles. We have romance and sadness, hints of opportunity for love for Em, and yet, there’s still so much vagueness for Luka and Brooklyn. This story definitely gives them the send off that we wanted and I think that there was no way to truly expect all that was thrown their way. I read that Emzee now gets her own series coming out of this one but the release date looks like Feb 2021 so I have to be VERY patient. Oh well – Enjoy!