RESTLESS (Fractured Farrells #4) by Mallory Crowe-a review

Restless

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date October 4, 2016

Ashley needs a husband. Not in a week, not in a year. She needs a husband now if she’s going to keep her lecherous stepfather from getting any of the fortune her mother left to her. There’s only one person she knows who is powerful enough to take on her stepfather. Alex Farrell wanted her before and she’s going to bet her life that he’s still going to want her.

Except Alex Farrell wants so much more than her body. He wants her heart.

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REVIEW: RESTLESS is the fourth installment in Mallory Crowe’s contemporary, adult FRACTURED FARRELLS erotic, romantic suspense series focusing on the billionaire Farrell siblings. This is youngest brother Alex Farrell, and Ashley Koiv’s story line. RESTLESS can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty but for backstory and cohesion I recommend reading the series in order as a number of the events in RESTLESS run parallel to the events of book 3-REMORSELESS. The Fractured Farrells is a spin off from Crowe’s Billionaires in the City series.

Told from several third person perspectives with present day and memories from the past RESTLESS focuses on the marriage of convenience between Ashley Koiv and Alex Farrell. Nine years earlier Ashley’s mother Nadia married Alex’s father Walter Farrell thus making our leading couple, along with Logan, Nathan and Robert Farrell, step-siblings but when her mother’s numerous affairs ended the marriage, Ashley was tossed out of the family along with her pride. Fast forward to present day wherein our now twenty four year old heroine is in desperate need of a husband to ensure her mother’s estate goes to the rightful heir and not the abusive man who is trying to destroy our heroine’s life. Enter Alex Farrell-the man Ashley has loved after most of her adult life-and the man who could help Ashley get what she deserves.

Nine years earlier Alex fell for the fifteen year old Ashley Koiv but as step-siblings and the fact that Alex was several years older forced Alex to make a decision and walk away from a potential disaster. Ashley’s mother continued her streak of marriage and divorce but dying under mysterious circumstances left her daughter Ashley in the hands of an emotionally abusive and controlling man. Ashley was in desperate need of help and offered herself up to Alex Farrell with all of the benefits of married life. When threats are made against Ashley and Alex, the Farrell siblings begin an investigation of their own only to discover that their father’s past discretions have resurfaced looking for revenge.

The relationship between Ashley and Alex is a rekindling friendship and romance with plenty of sexual tension, and the push and pull of want and need. Alex’s attraction to Ashley has never been questioned but his brother’s see something else with Ashley’s reappearance-a woman looking for money and to bring down the Farrell sibling. The $ex scenes are intimate, erotic and seductive.

All of the Farrell siblings play secondary and supporting roles. There are two sources of conflict and threats against Ashley and Alex; one of a questionable nature with connections to Logan Farrell.

RESTLESS is an entertaining and riveting story line. The Fractured Farrells series takes an intimate look at one family’s struggle as they unravel their father’s dark secrets and links to the past. The premise is dramatic and entertaining; the characters are spirited and intense; the romance is sensual and fated. The epilogue fast forwards the series and story line approximately several months where we get a glimpse into the future. There is a short bonus scene that focuses on the search for the truth about a murdered journalist that may be part of the next story line or another spin off series.

Reading Order and Previous Reviews
Ruthless
Reckless
Remorseless
Restless

Copy supplied for review.

Reviewed by Sandy