What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

Family Ties
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SOLVED: Adult Fiction > SOLVED. m/m, arranged marriage between wealthy son and ostracized son of rival families. [s]

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Anna (annalet) | 5 comments I read this in the last five years and it was recently published at the time, I believe. I don't recall paranormal elements but I could be mistaken.

A wealthy family's only son and the ostracized (possibly illegitimate) son of a rival family are being coerced into an arranged marriage that is supposed to benefit both families in some way.

The wealthy family's son is very kind and seems to bend to his mother's will all of the time. He considers himself just a regular guy and kind of boring. I think he runs a small publishing house dedicated to gay romance? literature? He and his little sister are close, I think. Their mom runs the family, somewhat ruthlessly. There is an aunt who lives with them but is seldom seen in public since having been left at the altar years before.

The aunt's deserting fiance was from a rival family. The fiance ran off and married another woman. Their son is now the ostracized man they are forcing to marry the wealthy son in order to gain something (protection? legitimacy? power?). The rival family's son's father has died but the mother is still alive, though in poor health. The rival family's son is trying to start his business (architect?) and is extorted by the rival family into the marriage agreement or they will block a lucrative this-can-make-us contract with the city.

The rival family's son is very angry at being manipulated and decides to bring in the Feds to try and trap his family in their shady business deals as a means to escape them. The Fed he contacts is very focused on bringing down the wealthy family so he goes rogue and sets up the rival family's son to accept the marriage and then act as a spy while the contract is being negotiated. He leads the rival family's son to believe that the wealthy family is corrupt and needs to be brought down.

There may have been an attempt to marry the wealthy son off to the daughter of the rival family's patriarch. I sort of recall a fiancee who ran off before the wedding (possibly she ran off with a caterer? I may be mixing up my arranged marriage plots).

It may have been a library book but I read it in ebook format so I don't remember the author or title. None of the titles in the list of my books seems to jar my memory. And I don't think this was part of a series or anything like that; it was a stand-alone, from what I recall.

Thanks for any help you can provide!


message 3: by Kris (new)

Kris | 55041 comments Mod
Double Dealing: A Marriage of Inconvenience?

Anna, can you describe the rival families - their businesses, criminal connections, locations, etc.?


Anna (annalet) | 5 comments Nope, that isn't it. But I appreciate your help, Kris!

I don't recall the business or criminal connections. The only thing I kind of remember about the location was that it may have been near docks (though that could have been in another book). And I kind of remember the two men driving to a mountain hotel or B&B to get away for an evening.
That's the frustrating thing about this. I remember many of the plot elements but not enough of the pertinent details which might help me locate it.


message 5: by Julia (new)

Julia (bibliocharylodis) | 1 comments this book sounds interesting, following. :)


message 6: by Sarah (new)

Sarah Winters | 129 comments Maybe Matters of Courtship?

Was the setting fantasy or real-life?


Anna (annalet) | 5 comments Hi, Sarah.

Nope, that wasn't it either. But thanks! And it was real-life, not fantasy...I think. I was reading a lot of paranormal stuff at around the same time so I did originally confuse it with Tara Lain's The Pack or the Panther. But this particular book took place either in a real-life city or a in a setting which was as close to real-life as to make me remember it that way. I'm pretty sure the setting was in the U.S. but it may have been Canada.

Thanks, everyone, for your help with this! I really hope to find it again so I can re-read it.


Anna (annalet) | 5 comments *bump*


message 9: by Anna (last edited Oct 18, 2017 09:44PM) (new) - rated it 4 stars

Anna (annalet) | 5 comments Ha! I found it!

Family Ties by Lisa Gray Family Ties by Lisa Gray

Yay! I'm going to go read it again.

PS - How do I move it to Solved? Anyone?
PPS - I moved it to the Solved Adult Fiction folder. If that's wrong, I apologize.


message 11: by Kris (new)

Kris | 55041 comments Mod
That's great. Glad you found your book, Anna.


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