The Broken Vows

Zane and Celeste's Story (The Windsors)

By: Catharina Maura

Narrated by: Teddy Hamilton, Lacy Laurel

Length: 15 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

Duet narration by Lacy Laurel and Teddy Hamilton.

She was his first love, his first heartbreak, and his only regret.

Zane Windsor always loved the way Celeste Harrison’s eyes light up when he infuriates her. It just took him years to realize that what he felt for his childhood rival wasn’t hatred.

When they begin working for their family businesses, competing on a larger scale than ever before, he decides he wants it all with her—and what Zane Windsor wants, he gets.

Zane and Celeste discover just how thin the line between love and hate truly is, falling harder than either of them thought possible....

Until an unexpected tragedy leaves them wondering if any of it was ever real at all.

Led by a desire for revenge, Zane brings Celeste’s company to the brink of bankruptcy, leaving both of their grandparents no choice but to intervene.

The Windsors and Harrisons agree to a merger—on one condition: Zane and Celeste must marry each other.

©2023 Catharina Maura (P)2023 Catharina Maura

Never give up

I love the they made it despite all the odds. It is so real all the struggles and miss communication and the way the chose to not give up on each other

Angsty, second chance, arranged marriage!

3.5 stars! The Broken Vows is the fourth book in the Windsors series by Catharina Maura, which I’ve had a great time with! This one is a second chance, hate to love, arranged marriage, with a whole lot of angst!

So this book is told in two parts, in part one we get Celeste and Zane falling for one another in the past and together for a couple years. And then part two we catch up to them 5 years after they split and their grandparents arrange for the now-enemies to marry! 👀

Celeste and Zane are from rival families, they are both in the hotel industry and always competing with one another. The first half of the book we see Celeste and Zane, former childhood rivals, fall in love. He definitely falls first and is determined to win her. First she thinks he’s playing games, since they have a history from prom night years ago as well. But we see them falling for one another before something happens that splits them up. And then in part two we see them thrown back together again when their grandparents decide to merge their hotel empires and arrange a marriage.

This was a very long one and it felt like it often. I knew this was second chance but I didn’t realize how long we’d spend with them in the past when they were together. The second half of the story in current day is a lot of back and forth, tons of angst, but also a lot of them assuming the worst and having doubts because of their past. I liked this one, but didn’t love it, it’s not a fav in the series, but it’s also not my least fav in the series either. I did like the hate and angst, how he notices her nail polish and all the hidden messages in the colors she chooses, and how close she is with some of his family.

Thank goodness for Teddy Hamilton

I really looked forward to Zane's story. I wanted to know what Celeste had done to hurt him, but this story REALLY annoyed me. I REALLY couldn't stand the FMC and found myself rooting against her. Even in the end, I could not say that I liked how they ended up being okay. I grew to love Zane's character in the first 3 books, but I do not like Celeste at all and don't think she deserved a HEA. Zane deserved better.

Good book but female character disappointing

I am a little bit conflicted in this review.

Firstly I listened to this book on 1.75x-2.0x speed. The narrators were fantastic.

The story started off great, very well paced and the ground work for the love story between Celeste and Zane was well developed.

But the response of Celeste's character to the tragedy was excessively disproportionate. Even though I rooted for them initially, what she did was such an alarmingly terrible thing to do that honestly, I don't think she deserved his taking her back into his life and keeping her there. She is literally the only romance heroine I have EVER
disliked by the end of the novel.


That said the story was still well written and I am looking forward to the next story.

Spoiler below.
I could understand her leaving him but to set someone up for corporate espionage, that was just calculated and deceptive.

Such a disappointment

I was looking forward to this story since the first book and this was such a let down. If it wasn’t for Teddys voice I wouldn’t have gone as far as I did before DNF this. The story was so slow and boring and just could not keep my attention and I would have been able to push through if it wasn’t for the female narrator. Omg did she RUIN this story. She sounds so congested and talking as if she’s holding her nose close to speak. Please don’t ever use her for any more books. It was like pins and needles for my ears.

Great story female narrator not my favourite

Loved this story, as usual Catharina nailed it! I love all the Windsor stories. I also really enjoy Teddy Hamilton as the male narrator but the female voice sounded very nasal and kind of ruined the vibe. Definitely not the voice I picture Celeste having so it really threw me off.

the broken vows

I can't believe this but this story is my least favorite in the Windsors series. I wished there would be more about Lily, it was said that her condition was manageable until she started working for Zane so did she genuinely love Celeste or was she jealous of her? how did her childhood friend miss the signs? lot of things doesn't make sense

A+ on the story, female narrator not so much

There is not a thing wrong with this story. I loved Zane and Celeste. It was a nice change-up that it was the female protagonist that had to mea culpa. Celeste was hard to like, but I loved Zane's pure heart SO MUCH that I wanted him to be happy, and if Celeste made him happy, then I was rooting for them. As usual, Teddy Hamilton was perfect - especially in duet. He could narrate tax code and I would be impressed.

The problem was the female narrator. I'm not sure if she had a cold, or sounds nasally and congested naturally, but it was so distracting. Like she needed to blow her nose. I read this in Whispersync, so fortunately when it became too much, I would switch. I am not familiar with this narrator, so she may just have been having an off session, but this would've been a a perfect audio if not for that.

Great Story!

Enjoyed this one the most! Definitely love this weird family dynamic that always ends with family over everything.

Emotional and physical

This book are amazing, a lot of drama and suspense but at the same time a lot of love and guilt.