An arranged marriage. Two people who can’t stand each other. A by the book lawyer and a high-class escort.What could go wrong?Juan Salvatierra has spent his whole life running from his father’s legacy. Crime made his family rich, but he’d rather be dirt poor than have blood on his hands. Some might say he ran too far in the other direction—joining the prosecutor’s office straight out of law … straight out of law school and then becoming the youngest district attorney in Texas history.
Blood might be thicker than water, but he got where he is by distancing himself from the Salvatierra crime family. Except there’s one family member he just can’t quit…and she might be the most dangerous one of all.
Now, a surprise inheritance means reconnecting with the woman who stole his heart eight years ago—and then tore it to pieces.
Catalina Salvatierra is used to faking it. Faking her name. Faking her accent. Faking desire. She’s built a nice little career as an escort—and she doesn’t care one bit what people think of her. She especially doesn’t care what one particular person thinks of her.
Her entire life is built on pretense. Raised by the Salvatierras after her father died in their service, she’s always been an outsider…except for that one time she fell in love with one of their sons. Juan Salvatierra is part of her past, and he has no place in her future. When he shows up with an offer he won’t let her refuse, she’s got no choice but to pretend.
Pretend she doesn’t miss him.
Pretend she doesn’t like him.
Pretend she doesn’t want him.
Now she just has to convince her heart to listen to her head.
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All the kinds of trouble you can get into when you inherit a drug cartel fortune
Never Say I Want You is the first book that I have read by this author, Amy Pennza, so I was not sure what to expect. But the description of the story looked very interesting with lots of possibilities that it could have gone. The story of Catalina, aka Cat, and Juan did go in some directions that I had anticipated but then is a few that I had not, some I liked and some I am not sure about yet.
Juan’s family are high ranking in a drug cartel family but he has gone legit and is now a lawyer. He also has two other brothers – Smith who is a Texas police officer and Rafe who is in Venezuela and succeeded his father as the chief of the cartel. Cat was adopted by Juan’s family after her father was killed protecting Juan’s father as his bodyguard. So they grew up together in the same house and when they were teenagers they had crushes on each other but never acted on it of course. Cat fled the family when she was 18 years old and lived her own very wild life and she works as a high price escort currently.
Well things are about to change for both Cat and Juan in ways that neither ever would have dreamed of. It all starts when Juan’s father dies, so Cat’s adopted father, and the old man leaves everything to her. Let’s just say that the family members are all upset but especially Rafe who is cunning and very dangerous. In order to protect Cat Juan gets her to marry him, but it will be a fake marriage. Or at least that is what Cat is led to believe but Juan has a few other ideas.
These two are a very interesting mix in the ways they are together. Juan does somethings that cause Cat to leave again but she does forgive him. Some of the supporting characters are are introduced in this book are quite good. The ending is a bit “open” so I can see where Amy Pennza has opened the door for a series with different books centered on different couples with the running theme of the family and the cartel.
The book was really well written but I had a hard time with why Cat would forgive Juan for some of the things he did. She was strong willed woman who I thought should have kicked his azz more so he straightened up right away. But that is my opinion so agree or not.
I received a free ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. My opinions are all my own.
Amy Pennza, ‘Never Say I Want You’, a Never Say novel.
As a Hidden Gems ARC reader I received this book for free. And promised an honest review. Here it is. English isn’t my first language. Sorry for errors.
Rating: 3,5 stars (of 5).
In general: Love in a fake marriage.
Main characters:
– Catalina (Cat) Salvatierra.
She works in San Antonio as an escort under the name of Catherine Ortega. The Salvatierra family were chiefs of a drug cartel in Venezuela. Cat’s father was a bodyguard of this family, who was killed protecting his boss. The American wife of the drug baron abhorred the drug affairs of the family after she discovered its real business. But she adopted Catherine, the daughter of the diseased bodyguard. So Catherine Ortega became Catalina Salvatierra. Since her teens she had a crush on her stepbrother Juan. But after the death of her (divorced) step-mother and a bad experience when she was 18 years old, she fled from her family to live her own (wild) life.
– Juan Salvatierra.
One of Cat’s three step-brothers. He’s a successful lawyer in San Antonio. The other stepbrothers are Smith (ex US Army and now a police officer in Texas) and Rafael/Rafe who succeeded his father as chief of the drug cartel in Venezuela.
When Cat’s stepfather (the Venezuelan) drug baron dies, Cat inherits his fortune. Rafe (actual chief of the cartel) isn’t amused.
Juan who loves his stepsister Cat since her teens, wants to protect her. Cat has love/hate feelings about Juan. He warned her again and again for the risks of her wild life and several times he tried to force her in a more ‘normal’ life style. But the sassy Cat refuses to do what her big brother requires and often (with Rafe’s help) reacted by doing just the opposite. That was one of the reasons she became an escort.
At the start of the story Juan manipulates Cat into a fake marriage with him. Cat feels blackmailed and hates Juan strongly.
The author, Amy Pennza, describes how the enemies gradually become lovers. The love story includes hot sex encounters, exciting action scenes and complicated family relationhips. For me interesting to read. After closing the book there were a few questions left:
– Why wants Juan (again) a public justice job, while he already was a very wealthy, successful defense lawyer?
– Cat (secretly) loves Juan, but after her bad youth experience thinks that she will never win his respect. Is becoming an escort in this situation a logic step?
– After a (short) conversation with Rafe she overcomes her feelings of deficiency. Isn’t that a rather easy, abrupt change of mind? And couldn’t this intelligent, independent woman find this conclusion on her own?
– Was the yacht trip into the Caribbean not a bit overdone?
But in spite of these questions, for me, reading this book was an entertaining experience.
R. Huiszoon.