The Secret Fiancée

Lexington and Raya's Story (The Windsors)

By: Catharina Maura

Narrated by: Troy Duran, Yami Habibi

Duet narration by

From the author of The Wrong Bride and The Temporary Wife comes another steamy and angsty billionaire arranged marriage romance.

When the woman he'd desperately been looking for crashes into him and spills her drink all over his shirt, Lexington seizes the unexpected opportunity — demanding six rounds of Truth or Dare as compensation.

An evening filled with laughter and a connection he never wanted to feel ends in her walking away — without even leaving him her phone number.

Raya thinks she'll never see him again, until he shows up as her professor, offering her class the opportunity of a lifetime: an internship at Windsor Motors.

What Raya doesn't realize is that none of their meetings were coincidental — and she's the sole reason he took up a teaching position at all.

After all, Lex knows something she doesn't: the two of them are arranged to be married.

©2024 Catharina Maura (P)2024 Catharina Maura

Female narrator makes it hard to finish.

The story is great but to be honest, I'm having a hard time finishing the story because the female narrator is so robotic and before starting you can hear her taking a deep breath in. Troy Duran is such a great narrator and the only saving grace tbh. IDK if the contrast between the narrators is what makes her performance seem so bland but the best part of her performance was when she was voicing the AI robots go figure...

Technically speaking…

this is the best written book of the series. We’ve come a long way from the purely emotional maelstrom that was book 1. This book was well plotted and researched. The details of the MCs careers were believable: auto manufacturing with heavy emphasis on robotics/environmental sustainability. The cultural stuff (the heroine’s South Asian heritage) was seamless and not overdone. It was more engaging than Valentina’s Latino heritage in book 2. Also Lex (H) and Raya (h) had more natural chemistry right from the start than any of the previous couples in this series.

That said, this wasn’t a perfect book. The pacing felt a little fast, I liked the immediate attraction but thought the h made risky choices for a first meeting. Second, I’m a ho for jealousy/OW drama because… well… cat fights, hysterics, and vicious honesty (like book 1). There was only the barest hint of OM drama in this book (the h has a male BFF). Third beef, the secret thing. We can’t say we weren’t warned, secret is in the title of the book, but these two don’t tell anyone outside the family about their marriage for at least 75% of the book. So we lose out on the unfolding dramatic goodness that the reveal causes. Fourth, I missed some of the Windsor glamour in this book. The wealth was there ofc, but no galas, or ball gowns, or interior redecoration. tbh it felt like Lex was a weird shut-in (a doomsday prepper type) who had a basic house, tech instead of friends, and no staff. Where was the opulence?

As for the final conflict so many people were pressed by the way Lex’s trauma explodes to the surface. Sure, we find out his surveillance systems and paranoia are lunatic level. But relax everyone 😂, his aggression wasn’t out of the blue, or ott, or unforgivable.

I almost gave up on this series after the shitshow that was Zane and Celeste. So glad I didn’t.

LEXXXXX!! I wasn’t ready!

I originally DNF’d this book while reading because I couldn’t get into Raya’s character. Then I decided to get the audiobook to help me along and well the narrator’s voice didn’t change my mind whatsoever. But LEXINGTON!! His character arc, backstory and the narrator pulled it together!

Oh do I love a tortured soul needing rehabilitation 😫🥹

Lex and Raya

This series has been so great so far you just love the couple and Lex and Raya are no different this is such a great book. I do feel this book is a little different from all the others. Lex struggle with his trauma and dealing with it the best he know how to feel safe is no different from Dion learning to fly for his wife. He is over protective but after what he went through i don't blame. Raya is a light of sunshine she loves her family and what is she doing. After reading what happened to her mother i don't blame them to feel what they are feeling. But lex won them over with his down to earth personality and actually spending time with both of them. I am so happy that all the girls took Raya in like nothing she is Thr missing piece in their group. And their second wedding sounds just amazing.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is better than the previous book. The female narrator is not my favorite but definitely better than previous book as well. As always, troy duran is amazing.

Spoiler alert for those people who didn't get it. Annie is the car.