Published: June 25, 2024
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Series: Filthy Rich Fae #1
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Pages: 392 (Kindle)
My Rating: 3.5 Stars
Synopsis:
“You made a bargain…
Your soul for his—and now, you are mine.”
Cate Holloway knows the unspoken rule of New avoid the powerful Gage crime family at all costs. Of course, that was before her brother got caught in their chaos.
Now Cate has no choice but to confront the dark and forbidding prince of New Orleans himself and beg for her brother’s life.
But Lachlan Gage is as lethal as he is beautiful…and the only currency he’s interested in is her soul.
Because Lachlan isn’t just some ruthless criminal. He’s fae. And he has his own secret reasons for binding her to him.
Tricked and desperate, Cate is torn between humanity and the breathtaking Otherworld. A place filled with shadows and secrets, with members of each fae court plotting against her just as her captor’s motives for trapping her become more mysterious.
And if she can’t break this sinister bargain in the next thirty days, she’ll be bound to the inscrutable yet infuriatingly tempting fae prince and his deadly world…forever.
I’m gonna be honest, I read Filthy Rich Fae entirely because it sounded like it was gonna be trash. To my delight, it was a decent story that I binge read in a single day because it was fun and didn’t require brain power to dissect what was going on. It’s about as predictable as a romantasy with fae in a modern setting can get, but you know, that’s completely fine because that’s exactly what I wanted!
Filthy Rich Fae follows a young woman named Cate Holloway who works as a nurse in a New Orleans hospital bought and paid for by the local crime family – the Gages. When her younger brother is wheeled into the ER after he was involved in a shooting right outside Lachlan Gage’s hotel, Cate immediately packs up her attitude and heads straight there with the intent to sort this out. You know, despite the fact that this guy is clearly very dangerous and her brother has been working for him to pay off a debt he stupidly got himself into. What she doesn’t expect is that Lachlan Gage isn’t human, but rather a fae prince and that fae bargains are tricky things…
I’m sure you can see where this story is going and you’d probably be right in your guess. Cate is now bound to Lachlan and must spend her nights with him, but surprisingly this ends up being somewhat less sexy and more fae court politics than you might imagine. Of course, until they actually start to fall for one another. Also, Lachlan is the very definition of the ever popular romantasy ‘shadow daddy’ but he’s got the added benefit of also being a drug dealing criminal that wields guns when they suit him, which was a fun addition.
Much to my delight, the romantic aspect doesn’t immediately jump from 0 – 100 on the lust and spice scale. Cate is resentful of being tricked into a fae bargain and Lachlan has actual work to do, which mostly involves setting up a marriage between his sister and the prince of another court and hosting the visiting fae. There are parties, new dangerous characters, pretty dresses and plenty of food. Cate even becomes friends with Lach’s sister Ciara. Love a good female friendship that builds despite the intense focus on the romance aspect! Even though there are dozens of minor characters only a few are truly important and even they don’t get much page time. I unfortunately even had to look up Ciara’s name while typing this review, so character development could be stronger.
Overall, this book was pure sugary fun! It’s got a slight edge of darkness to it, but it’s by no means a dark romance even though the MMC is basically a gang leader to the eyes of the humans of New Orleans. It’s got some spice (it isn’t that slow burn) and an ending that will make you immediately want the second book in hand, which unfortunately doesn’t come out until April 2025. I will absolutely be picking up the next book and will likely check out the sister series, Filthy Rich Vampires sometime soon!
Powder & Page 
I had a lot of fun with this too!
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