Willed to Wed Him

If Annika wants to keep her family legacy, and Ranieri wants to keep his job as CEO of her father’s company, the two must marry. Those are the terms of her father’s will. Forced into a marriage of convenience, will these two opposites find love? Annika’s free-spirited approach to life grates on rigid Ranieri. To learn to live together, they have to overcome the baggage from their past and learn to compromise. This is an intense and satisfying read. Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received.

Sparks fly in this contemporary arranged marriage! Annika's father left her what she wanted most in his will - as long as she marries the man her father left the company to. Ranieri is more than capable of leading the Schuyler Corporation and he's more than a little embittered that he has to marry his mentor's daughter to keep his well-earned position. She's going to try to get him to back out so she still gets her family's museum, while he's determined to make sure every bit of the year they have to stay married goes exactly according to his foolproof plan. I loved how Annika's ingenious methods of malicious compliance worked beautifully to emotionally unseat Ranieri, and I enjoyed watching him get knocked off his high horse almost as much as she did. I loved the delicate dance that ensued, forcing both to admit, at least to themselves, the depths of their attraction and feelings for the other. I especially adored his very Darcy-like proposal, and the way she stood up to him was exquisite. There are no closed doors in a Caitlin Crews romance, but as steamy as their intimate moments were, their emotional confrontations were even more raw and exposed. Annika is able to get to the root of his cold, cold heart and make him face the reasons why he's kept himself so aloof. Their HEA was perfect, and the years-later epilogue gave life to their enduring future. This is a terrific story and I highly recommend it. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.