The Marriage Ultimatum

This is my first time reading the author and I just didn't enjoy the book. Sabrina just did not hold my attention. To some degree her days are very boring and lackkluster. She has a child but its very glossed over. Everyone is pretty much out to get her and that includes the hero of this story, Vlad.

Vlad and Sabrina have a hook up but again its very glossed over. Where that might have kept my interest its mentioned the before after but not the during. So after they hook up, he fires her. Does she deserve it yes. But he is very dispassionate about it even as Sabrina tries to tell him she has family issues and a child.

Even when he fires her and she does not know what to do, she was still so calm about it. I just really didn't like the writing which I hate to say. But it just was dragging me into the story. The story really improves some when the news services claim her is the father of her child.

I just like this book should have held my interest. I loved the plotline I just didn't really feel much for Sabrina even though I should have. Vlad was a jerk at times as well and I didn't like his character either.

Perfect amount of romance, humor and steamy love scenes. Vlad the billionaire alpha CEO and Sabrina the struggling employee/sister/mom that he wants from the moment they meet. Fate brought them together and passion kept them moving forward. I laughed, cried and rooted for them to find their HEA. I loved the way this this author told this fabulous story and look forward to reading more of her books.

3 Secretive Stars
* * *
What happens when two people drowning in deep secrets collide...lots of sexual tension and a rocky road to love. Charlotte O'Shay tackles these situations and more in The Marriage Ultimatum.

We have a harried young woman trying to hold together the raising of her brother once her mother dies tragically in a head on car crash. Life already has been an up hill battle and with the loss of her mother, her fear of the System taking her 9 month old brother away causes her to claim he is her son.

As the years go by, she has worked hard; taking care of her brother by accepting all overtime offered at the international company where she works. A neighbor with a loving heart has been a life saver doing the necessary childcare.... Freeing our gal to work, do online college and make a way in the world for her and her brother.

We meet Sabrina as she is rooting through the frig at work one evening... someone has taken her Red Bull. We are not alone in watching this taking place.... a well built intense man is enjoying the vision of her bent... reaching into the shelf, throwing cans of sodas left and right...with each movement accompanied with the most colorful of language. He lets her know she has an audience by inquiring what seems to be the problem....

Sabrina looks, sees and cannot believe of all days she is dressed in the most non-put together way...but then figures.... what are you supposed to do when it was a choice of taking care of Alex by putting him to bed with a story or doing laundry. As both of these naturally attractive people stare at each other...a type of force field starts... and if Vlad hadn't stepped away at the last minute...lips would have touched....

Both go about their business for the rest of the evening and after finishing all of the overtime admin work, Sabrina is out on the street waiting for a company car in the rain. The boots are soaked, no umbrella and frustration in waiting for the car is how Vlad finds her. She looks at him and cannot believe this guy is still here at midnight and still looking like he stepped off a runway in his suit.

When the car arrives Sabrina says a polite good bye but instead of closing the door for her...he climbs in.
Oh, no this isn't happening... Sabrina asks why are you in this car... there is a fleet for the company...Vlad says they are saving the environment by sharing and before she knows it they are going to her place in Brooklyn, not his downtown.

Something else happens in the backseat of this car, too...those lips connect then hands touch bodies with an urgent need... but are disrupted by the realization the car is in front of her place. Vlad asks if he is coming up and Sabrina shuts him down...she has her brother, job and life to think about.

The next part of this story is no surprise...Vlad is the owner of the company and it seems her supervisor from hell has written Sabrina up for being late or not participating in some retreat required by the company. This information is in the file Vlad has in his hands. He believes in manning up and doing the difficult job of releasing ... or firing his employees himself.

When Sabrina walks in and sees the man she almost climbed like a tree, she dies. Vlad is shocked it is Sabrina but at the same time doesn't stop the process of reading all the things she has supposedly done wrong... dropping the final comments of you are released from your position here.

Now this is where things get a bit cray cray...Sabrina at first is shocked and explains the tardy days and also how she was excused for family obligations from the retreat. Vlad, a man who was left in the streets with his baby brother only to land in an orphanage back in Russia, has no sympathy for Sabrina's mention of her "son". Words are said that cannot be taken back...but the bottom line is Sabrina has been fired and with no financial cushion to take care of Alex, her brother.

It was just her luck, Sabrina had arranged for Alex to be the lobby with her neighbor. He had a Dr.'s appointment to go to but now it was too late. As she is there with Alex, she gets her second wind and the anger of this situations starts to bubble. The next thing she knows, she is stomping with Alex in his stroller into Vlad's office while his assistant tries to stop her...

Vlad starts to see flashbacks of his fighting to escape the horrors of the orphanage with his brother, remembering all he did to provide for them. He steels himself and holds strong against all of the pleading and words Sabrina says. Oh, and not to be forgotten... there is an audience right outside his office door.

Still fired and furious, Sabrina leaves the office. Once home, she settles Alex down and tries to collect her thoughts. She is going to figure this out... she always does...

She is awoken with banging on her door and there, steaming and angry, is Vlad. Yelling at her, demanding to know who got to her to set him up. He shows her all the pictures of them together as she left the building with Alex captured "Father of a love child he ignored!!!!!" on his phone. He will not have it. He demands she immediately go with him and has already sweet talked the neighbor into agreeing to watch Alex. Sabrina is out maneuvered and goes with him. Vlad believes Sabrina set this up, will not listen to her and the only way to fight the negativity is to have them in a relationship.

This book had an interesting premise...and there were strong moments after the set up.

(view spoiler)

This had a story to follow, conflicted main characters and their journey through a love maze of their making.

A gifted copy was provided by The Wild Rose Press via NetGalley for an honest review.

a good story with well-rounded characters. Unique plot. interesting

As long as you do not want the characters or the story to have too much depth this is a easy read.
The one thing for certain is you will not have to think too hard about what is going to happen.

This was an ok read. There were some good moments but it was hard to like both characters. They flip flopped too much for me to like them. Sabrina was strong one minute and then turns around and becomes a doormat. Vlad wasn't any better, one minute a jerk and then he was not.

​​​​​I just loved The Marriage Ultimatum by new to me author Charlotte O'Shay. This standalone story incorporates everything I enjoy....a strong damsel in distress, a self-made billionaire, a marriage of convenience, and a villain that turns out to be a complete wimp.

Sabrina is in college when her mother tragically passes away. In order to prevent her three-year-old brother Alex from going into foster care, she runs herself ragged to keep a semblance of normalcy. Sabrina loves her brother with all her heart and will do whatever she has to do to keep him in her care. Sabrina's life changes completely when she is photographed with Vladimir Grigory, a corporate magnate with a squeaky clean record. Their photo, along with the made-up headline that Vladimir is the father of Sabrina's toddler, becomes a worldwide sensation. Furthermore, Vlad believes it is Sabrina who set the whole thing up. Vlad will do anything to keep his reputation pristine, so that his past remains undiscovered, and his charitable foundations continue to be funded. As a result, Sabrina, Vlad, and Alex are forced together for better and for worse.

I really enjoyed this book and the cover is very pretty. Marriage of Convenience stories are my absolute favorite type of romance trope, and this one does not disappoint. This is a well-written book that will keep you entertained from beginning to end. The story is nicely paced, the characters are well developed and replete with determination. Sabrina and Alex are a hot couple and their sexy times are sizzling. Alex is a cute toddler and I loved how the author brought out his true personality as his environment improved. Furthermore, Ms. O'Shay evolves Vidal's intimating personality thoughtfully, and in the end, he turns out to be a loving man who needed to be exposed to true familial happiness.

Complimentary copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley.

The Marriage Ultimatum is Vlad and Sabrina's story. Sabrina is forced to raise her three-year-old brother Alex after her mothers' death. When she gets fired from Vlad's company she takes Alex with her in Vlad's office to convince him to hire her again. Unfortunately for them, the paparazzi find them and everyone begins to think that Alex is Vlad and Sabrina's child. In order to save the situation, Vlad blackmails Sabrina into marrying him.

I can't say that I had a favorite character, but I liked Sabrina the most. She tried to make things as good as possible out of a situation she found herself in. She had a lovely relationship with Alex and she put it first which is something I always love reading about. Her friend Lacey made a brief appearance early in the story, but most of the time she was out of the picture and I didn't like that. I believe Sabrina needed her friend and it bothered me that she wasn't there. Most of the book is just Vlad, Alex and Sabrina.
Alex's father is an enigma for most of the book. I didn't see the revelation coming and I was worried for a second about the identity of that person. I saw some things coming, but they weren't as important as this was. So the book gains points for not been completely predictable.

Overall the book is a good story. The forced marriage is always an element I enjoy when I am reading a book because it gives a slight dose of angst in each story and I love that. The book wasn't big on angst, but it worked out. Vlad is not the best hero, but he is not completely bad.

This is not what I expected. This was a good story with interesting characters. I loved vlad’s character. Ooh lala! It did have a great ending and I found the book hard to put down. This was definitely a sexy story. What woman wouldn’t love to be utterly irresistible to a hot man? I kinda hit it with the brother angle, what a tool.