Devlin O'Malley's tragic death continues to have repercussions on the Boston mob families. Cillian O'Malley feels responsible for what happened to his younger brother, and he swore off alcohol. That's why he's drinking apple juice in Jameson's, while ogling the bartender, Olivia Rashidi. They had met casually a couple of times a few months before, but Cillian cannot fathom why she seems to hate him so much. However, her reluctance to kowtow to him is one of the things that appeals to Cillian. Olivia came to Boston to get away from her half-brother, Dmitri Romanov of the New York Russian Mafia, as well as her ex, Sergei, one of Dmitri's lieutenants; Olivia wants a better life for her young daughter. Dmitri reluctantly would like Olivia to join the Romanovs, and Sergei will not let her go.

AN INDECENT PROPOSAL is a book like a calm sea where you know sharks lurk below the surface and it's only a matter of time and circumstances before someone gets hurt. AN INDECENT PROPOSAL is surprisingly subdued in tone and evenly paced, in spite of the rather tumultuous beginning to Cillian and Olivia's romance. Cillian and Olivia, and her little daughter Hadley, soon settle in a somewhat comfortable relationship until duplicity, backstabbing, and remnants from the past topples their relative peace, and that of Boston mobsters. Katee Robert's has created a fictional underworld of such veracity, that one almost expects the characters to turn up on the front page news. It never feels over the top or implausible; the author writes extremely well-crafted stories where the characters that fall in love happen to belong to a certain environment, the mob, nothing more and nothing less. The romance between Cillian and Olivia is very beautiful, tender and real, which offers a singular contrast to the brutal environment in which it develops, almost like an oasis in the desert. And while I'm often wary of children in romances, the presence of young Hadley, only enhances the relationship between Cillian and Olivia, which I consider a feat in itself.

AN INDECENT PROPOSAL can easily be read as a standalone, however events and characters from the two previous books still feature prominently in the underlying continuing storyline, and only Ms. Robert knows where it will take us, and I will be joining her for the journey. I am a huge fan of this series, and judging from hints sprinkled throughout this book, and to my utter delight, this series is far from over!