The Devious Husband — Catharina Maura || Book Review

Have you ever wondered if that hot guy you butt heads with at work is actually in love with you??

Book Content Warning — explicit sexual content, profanity, talk of past human trafficking (not the FMC), gambling, surveillance, depiction of breaking-and-entering and vandalism,

Post Spoiler Level — Mild

In Catharina Maura's The Devious Husband, Sierra Windor was an architect who had been in a personal and professional rivalry with her brother's best friend, Xavier Kingston. After the latter stole her design plans and credited himself, Sierra took that as an invitation to break their three-year-long truce. Especially after he sent her an invitation to the building's grand opening. Brutal. So when Xavier noticed that his attempt at regaining her attention didn't work and Sierra was beginning to show interest in another man, he decided to offer Sierra's grandmother a business offer in exchange for Sierra's hand in marriage. The matriarch accepted, and the couple was forced to work together on a business deal as well as work on their "relationship" as Sierra began to realize that Xavier may have never truly hated her.

Shadow: III.V | Fire: Scorcher

The Devious Husband

Catharina Maura — The Windsors, Book 6

Contemporary Romance

Paperback — 356 pages

May 15, 2026 — May 19, 2026

Buy on Amazon

Musings

Exordium

I grabbed The Devious Husband at an airport storefront while traveling last week and am happy I did. Originally, what drew me in was the cover and sprayed edges, but once I read the blurb, I knew this would be my new travel read! I was able to eat up more than half the book during my journey!

After buying and starting it, I realized this book is actually the conclusion of an interconnected standalone series, so there were some things I felt I was missing out on. Things that were eventually mentioned, but most likely would've been common knowledge if I'd read the book in order. Although I'm excited to read the prior novels as well as the impending new series about the hero's siblings! I love me some dirty-mouthed billionaires.

Enthrallment

The Devious Husband was a great palette cleanse after overloading my brain cells with epic romantasy novels. At first, I assumed the book would read as a dark romance, but it was lighter than I expected. That being said, it wasn't in the whole "light dark romance" kind of way. [Hot take — I hate that genre. Makes no sense to me.] The plot was decently paced and accented with banter-heavy dialogue [love] and laugh-out-loud pranks between the hero and the heroine.

I loved Xavier's perspective the most. He was so obsessed and in love with Sierra that most of the time, my face was melting at the sweet things he said and thought about her. Xavier didn't always handle things well [👀], but I will say I found it adorable how he reacted to all her "payback" pranks. [I mean, how cute was that codename??] Sierra was a fun and tough as shit heroine who was a more controlled version of Beth Dutton. I loved how quickly she accepted Xavier's family, especially his sister, and how easy their melding was. Sierra's struggle with her parents' death, her abandonment issues, and her insecurities was artfully developed. Maura was able to touch on grief, perseverance, and the journey of self-worth without having those sub-arcs overwhelm the story.

Foley

There were very few things I held against this novel since I took it for what it was — a quick romance novel with some morally grey plotlines. I felt that the action scene could've been developed out more and that there was more of a confrontation. I did feel kind of jipped when it came to that. The only other thing that bothered me was the epilogue. But that had more to do with the timing than the happily ever after. I didn't want the ending to be at Enzo's wedding; I wanted that couple to have had more page time in this novel. I felt that it ruined the ending of the first novel of the next interlocked series; Maura should've ended this book, leading into the next. Or maybe she is, as only a few months could've passed. [I honestly never knew how much time had passed over the course of this whole book.]

Finale

Coda

To conclude, I found this read to be quite enjoyable and helped make my journey seem a lot shorter than it was! The rivalry and banter between the hero and heroine had me cracking up, while the romance had me panting like a dog in heat. 🤣

I loved that I got a glimpse of how the relationships from the prior novels panned out, and I look forward to reading about how they got their happily ever after.

I'd recommend The Devious Husband to someone who's looking for contemporary romance that has some dark plotlines but doesn't dive too deeply into those topics. If you love an overbearing billionaire who pushes his rival's buttons just to gain her attention and who is so head over heels in love with her that he lets her destroy his entire supercar collection, then this pull from the archives is for you!

Have you read The Devious Husband already? If so, drop a comment! What did you think of Xavier's approach to his marriage with Sierra after the incident? Did you understand his standpoint, or were you turned off completely by his reaction? How did you feel about Valeria's input to Sierra during that time? Did you think she overstepped, or did you think she was right to ask that of the heroine?

♡

The Keeper