Book Review: The Broken Vows (Catharina Maura).

The Broken Vows by Catharina Maura is the fourth book of the author’s Windsors Series. I read the previous three books, and this was a story that actually intrigued me in the previous book itself. This marriage of convenience romance follows the story of Zane Windsor and Celeste Harrison. Ex-rivals and lovers Zane and Celeste are being forced by their families to get married. Their past together makes this even tougher, but they don’t have much of a choice.

Zane and Celeste have competed for everything since they were children. They are academic rivals first, and turn into business rivals as they grow up. These two are childhood rivals who become lovers as adults when they take over their place as heirs in the family businesses. This is an enemies to lovers situation. Their relationship is going strong when they are torn apart by circumstances. Now, their families are forcing them to marry each other. All the angst and bad blood between them makes their situation even more difficult.

I liked how the story handled the timelines of their past relationship and their current marriage of convenience. They belong to rival families, which made their relationship tough in the past. Zane and Celeste have such natural chemistry, and their romance is beautifully written. The reason for their breakup was not something I expected, but it added genuine emotional intensity to the story. As their past is revealed from Zane’s as well as Celeste’s perspective, their current angst makes more sense. Celeste feels betrayed, and I understand that at that point, she is in pain and grieving. Her behavior is a response to her trauma. Zane does not understand where he went wrong, and it hurts him that Celeste does not trust him. Both of them, in their own way, are right.

There is a lot of angst, emotional tension, and intensity throughout the story. They loved each other as purely as possible before things went sour. Now, they have to get used to the fact that it can never be how it was in the past. The ironic thing is that they fought to be together. Their relationship was never accepted, yet they stuck together. At one time, they wanted to get married. Now, they are forced into this by their families. The book has a much darker feel than the previous installments. The story is intense and emotional, with feelings of heartbreak and redemption. The constant between their relationship in the past and present gave a realistic feel to the story. I loved the romance between these characters; it felt real.

The Broken Vows by Catharina Maura has darker themes for the characters and the story. I liked the development and motivations of Zane and Celeste. Their actions seemed grounded, although I wish it had been given time for the high emotions to settle as a reader. The emotional moments in the book are intense, but you don’t get to sit with them and absorb them. I enjoyed reading this book. It was an angsty and emotional enemies to lovers romance.  

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