Review: When Hearts Surrender by Victoria Lum

★★★★★
🌶🌶🌶

Series: The Orchid, Book 3

Review:

First, I would like to thank the author and Literally Yours PR for providing me with an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Reminiscent of the curse in Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman, a tragic curse cast by a heartbroken woman plagues the Anderson family. In When Hearts Surrender, the third book in The Orchid series by Victoria Lum, the beloved wives of first-born Anderson sons will perish. In order to bypass the curse and continue the family line, marriages are arranged. But what happens when you have already met the love of your life, only to find out later that she is your betrothed? Forbidden to fall in love, can Maxwell and Belle break the curse that is destined to take her life?

After reading the synopsis, I was so excited to read this standalone, spicy romance, and it did not disappoint. The gothic vibes, magical realism, forbidden love, and looming danger were addictive. Maxwell tries to keep Belle at a distance by being cold and distant, but there is a power pulling them together that transcends generations. Their desperation made the steamy scenes so much more irresistible. Maxwell’s social anxiety and panic attacks are treated with so much care, making the positive representation of mental health a focal point of the book. When Hearts Surrender gave me a reading hangover, and it will live rent-free in my head until the next installment, When Hearts Awaken, releases in February 2025.

Audience: adult
Trigger warnings: suicide, miscarriage, infertility, death, murder
Recommended for fans of: fated mates, forbidden love, gothic vibes

Publisher's Synopsis:

A cold, reclusive billionaire, a dark family curse, and an arranged marriage with the one woman he's forbidden to love.

All my life, restlessness has haunted me, as if a piece of my soul were missing. Then, I met him.

A mysterious, charismatic bad boy in a leather jacket who whisked me away on the ride of a lifetime.

For the first time, I felt truly alive.

But as suddenly as he appeared, he vanished, taking my heart with him. I thought I wouldn’t see him again until I walk into a room to meet the man my parents arranged for me to marry to save my family’s business.

Maxwell Anderson is one of the city’s most powerful men. The reclusive billionaire—the frigid king, as the press calls him—is cloaked in shadows and secrets. He’s overbearing and mercurial, his moods giving me whiplash. He’s the complete opposite of the man I met that magical night.

He tells me he’s cursed, that he can never love me—his love is a literal death sentence.

But what if I’m willing to risk everything—my body, my heart, my very life? And judging by his heated gazes and scorching touches, he’s just as desperate to defy fate?

Can we conquer the curse or will our love be our undoing?

Source:

Literally Yours PR

©Eternal Hearts Publishing: October 9, 2024
Edition: Digital ARC
452 pages


Read The Orchid series on Kindle Unlimited, or purchase your copies today!
1. When Hearts Ignite: https://amzn.to/4dRNStT
2. When Hearts Collide: https://amzn.to/48hoCw4
3. When Hearts Surrender: https://amzn.to/3Yqz7d7
4. Pre-order When Hearts Awaken: https://amzn.to/3Np1vWK

Disclaimer: By clicking the links above, you will be directed to Amazon.com through my affiliate links. Should you decide to make a purchase, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. This commission helps to cover costs associated with running this blog.

Follow me on Instagram and Goodreads!

@winecellarlibrary