KEEPING RUBY (Volkov Bratva 2) by Alannah Carbonneau-review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date August 20, 2024

She came to me as a favor.
A burden I didn’t want or need.
A tiny thing with fiery hair and a temper that defies her innocence.
She holds strong to a faith I threaten to shatter with ugly truths.
She’s my salvation, but she calls me her devil.
I might not be the one who stole her.
But I’ll be keeping Ruby.

••••••

REVIEW: KEEPING RUBY is the second instalment in Alannah Carbonneau’s contemporary, adult VOLKOV BRATVA erotic, Bratva romance series. This is forty-three year old, Russian bank owner Kirill Volkov, and twenty-three year old, Bratva princess Ruby Belle Popov’s story line. KEEPING RUBY can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story line is revealed where necessary. Kirill is the brother of Ilya LITTLE BLUE (book one).

NOTE : Due to the nature of the story line premise, there may be triggers for more sensitive readers. The author reminds the readers the Volkov Bratva series is a medium/light Bratva romance with some dark details.

Told from dual first person perspectives (Kirill and Ruby) KEEPING RUBY follows in the wake of the abduction of our story line heroine. Ruby Belle is a prisoner of a man she has never met. Oblivious to the point of naive, Ruby is completely unaware of her father’s life. Forced to marry Kirill Volkov for her own protection, our heroine will discover there is more to her father, and the family, she knew nothing about. Defiant and rebellious, Ruby struggles with her new husband, having become a prisoner in a gilded cage, but a prisoner none the less. As the relationship begins to develop, our heroine will be targeted; a price on her head; for the sins of her father, a man she never really knew. What ensues is the building but tempestuous relationship between Ruby and Kirill, and the potential fall-out when threats against Ruby come to fruition.

The world building focuses on Ruby’s past; her father’s lies; her husband’s life straddling a dark grey line between businessman and crime lord; and the growing relationship between two people who are thrown together by betrayal, secrets and lies.

The relationship between Kirill and Ruby is an age-gap, forced marriage, in which Ruby is but a pawn in a much large game. Ruby is an innocent, unaware of her father or her new husband’s lifestyles, and in this, our heroine is thrown to the proverbial wolves as she is failed time and time again. Kirill wants to protect the woman with whom he is falling in love but his attempts to seduce are hindered by his need to claim and protect. The
$ex scenes are provocative and intense.

We are reintroduced to Kirill’s brother Ilya, as well as several members of the Kirill’s security team including Maxim and Ilya’s head of security Pavel.

KEEPING RUBY is a story of betrayal and vengeance, power and control, secrets and lies, acceptance and love The premise is dramatic and tragic; the romance is seductive and fated; the characters are dynamic, energetic and determined.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy