Review: “The Pact” by Max Monroe

Series: Winslow Brothers, #2

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨

Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥

Release Date: November 13th, 2021

Add to Goodreads | Amazon.in (Available on KU)

CW/TW: Mentions of the foster system, anxiety and panic attacks

“I need a ride,” I said to a sexy stranger on a Harley.

Three hours later? A six-foot-tall Marilyn Monroe was officiating our Vegas wedding at the Happy Chapel.

But it’s not love—it’s business—a marriage pact made out of desperation so my career doesn’t go up in flames.

Sure, Flynn Winslow is a hot, broody, mysterious man that women all over the globe would sell their souls to land for real, but I have my eyes on the prize and our marriage arrangement will end in three months with no strings attached.

Right?

Or will it all go out the window when I have to move in with Mr. Mysterious and our fake marriage starts to feel remarkably real?

I wish it were as easy as telling myself, Do not fall in love with your fake husband, Daisy, but apparently, when feelings get involved, not everything that happens in Vegas knows how to stay in Vegas.

When it comes to books by Max Monroe, the one thing I can always be sure of is that I will drop everything else to devour a book. And reading The Pact was no different. I really loved and enjoyed The Bet when it came out earlier this year and even then, I think I’d already decided that Flynn was my favourite Winslow brother and once I read this book, I knew I was right in thinking that. Because he’s such a big change from Max Monroe’s usual heroes and I loved him so hard.

The Pact follows Flynn Winslow and Daisy Diaz in a marriage of convenience, forced proximity, only one bed, marriage with benefits situation that kept me hooked right from the start. It’s not just the storytelling that’s easy and light, it’s also the characters that added so much to the magic that was this book. 

Flynn is a broody, silent type of hero––he doesn’t talk unnecessarily and lets everyone else carry the conversation. He works hard and makes tons of money, but underneath all that brooding, he’s a really good guy. And the best part is, nobody knows that about Flynn, so through Daisy we’re discovering all of those sides. I did feel bad for Flynn because while his family loves and adores him, they don’t really ask him what’s going on in his life, they always just assume that he’s doing the right thing and living his best life. Flynn is living his best life, but there’s so much more to him than that. And then there’s Daisy. Max Monroe have a way of writing uniquely quirky and interesting characters, and Daisy Diaz joins that gang. She’s an interior designer who is really good at her job, has a tendency to ramble and loves so fiercely. What makes Daisy so relatable for me is that instead of thinking everything through, she verbalises it and it turns into a whole heap of word vomit. It is so entertaining and endearing. And she overthinks everything too, making all of this absolutely amusing, but also makes you stop and go ‘oh, I know her!’

As a Canadian resident, Daisy’s work visa has expired. But instead of talking to her boss or trying to find a perfectly normal and legal solution, she hops onto the back of Flynn’s bike while they’re both in Vegas and proceeds to word vomit and is shocked when he offers to marry her. They make a marriage pact that helps Daisy get her green card and stay on in the States and continue her job. A quick Vegas wedding is followed by Daisy moving from California to New York to live with her husband and then begins the real shenanigans.

If you’ve read The Bet, then you’re already prepared for the HIGH STEAM in the Winslow brothers stories. It’s wild, they get crazy and it’s all kinds of delicious. Flynn and Daisy have the kind of chemistry that I enjoy so much––he likes her and her quirks, understand the way she works and she enjoys everything that Flynn wants to do with her. While the romance isn’t typical, I really loved the way their relationship developed over the course of the time they spent together. Flynn is patient and kind with Daisy, never telling her to shut up or grow up, he lets her ramble and responds when it is necessary. And as a silent, brooding hero, the chatty, sunshiney heroine is the perfect match.

As always, the Winslow family is an absolute riot. The brothers are ridiculous and I really enjoyed seeing more of them and their real crazy. I also love the glimpses of Winnie and Wes that we got, plus we get to watch Sophie and Jude’s relationship evolve as well and that’s really exciting too!

I absolutely and completely enjoyed everything about this book and cannot wait for more Winslow brothers. After seeing the silly things that Ty has done over two books, I am very curious as to how his book is going to turn out. But since it’s Max Monroe, you know it’s going to be absolutely awesome!

Thanks to Max Monroe & Social Butterfly PR for generously providing me with an advance copy. I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.