Title:One for the Money
Author: Skye Warren
Publisher/Year:  Dangerous Press 5/27/22
Length:  294 pages
Series: One for the Money #1

Overview

inn Hughes knows about secrets. His family is as wealthy as the Rockefellers. And as powerful as the Kennedys. He runs the billion-dollar corporation. No one knows that he has a ticking time clock on his ability to lead.

Eva Morelli is the oldest daughter. The responsible one. The caring one. The one who doesn’t have time for her own interests.

Especially not her interest in the charismatic, mysterious Finn Hughes.

A fake relationship is the answer to both their problems.
It will keep the swarming society mothers from throwing their daughters at him.
And it will keep Eva’s mother from bothering her about marriage.

Then the fake relationship starts to feel real.

But there’s no chance for them. No hope for a woman who’s had her heart broken. And no future for a man whose fate was decided long ago.

My Thoughts

I love this family, and I love reading more about the Morellis. Reading this one though makes me wonder what i’ve missed in other series so i’m going to have to go back and see which ones I could have read since I don’t recall ALL the match ups that have happened before Eva got her time.

Anyhow, what we have in this story is watching our leading characters carry the weight of the world and their families on their shoulders, and realizing that it’s ok to let someone in, as long as it’s at arms length. Once that distance is compromised, things go up in smoke.

We start this story watching Eva, the default go to of the family, managing a gala with the utmost ease and beauty. She’s able to avert crisis, smile and make sure that everyone is enjoying themselves. All for the greater good right? That’s until her mother tries to match her with an older man who’s well off since that’s what’s expected. Eva is to marry someone who’s more wealthy and powerful than she and her family are to continue the line. What happens though is her saving by Finn. A playboy that no one expects to be what he is.

Finn Hughes comes from an equally powerful and wealthy family but his reputation is that of a playboy and someone who doesn’t take life seriously. If there’s anything that we know about stories like this, is that surface is not what it seems and there’s always something far more dark and sad under the surface. That’s exactly his story – he’s been forced to take on far more responsibility than any one should at a young age and carry the burden that the future is written already and he can’t avoid a curse that’s been smote on his family.

They come to an agreement to save each other. To keep the outside world from staking claims to them, and I hope that it means that they will start to be a bit more humane and relaxed to enjoy what they deserve rather than avoiding anything that could truly make them happy.

There’s a fake relationship that’s developed and it keeps them both safe. What happens though is that feelings are inevitable and when that happens, it’ll be no surprise to see who cuts bait first. There are so many factors at play when that happens, who’s family will suffer, and which of the two of them will see their demise first. I think that we’re left on an expected edge of things – knowing that there’s a path for the future that there’s no way to avoid, and yet it’s the path that no one wanted to go down to begin with. This is what happens when friendship turns into lust which turns into love, and neither is prepared to deal. So on that note, I now have to wait a month for the next book to come out and i’ll have to be patient with the directions my brain goes. Enjoy!