Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Monochrome
SERIES: ORCA
AUTHOR: Vinni George
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 239 pages
RELEASE DATE: June 8, 2025
BLURB:
After a career on Wall Street, Julius Hunter is content to live his life as a modern Robin Hood. Getting corrupt corporations to invest with him while he siphons their money into charitable organizations makes his blood pump, so when he’s sent in to find out what the new CEO of a global company knows about money being used to fund the search for a priceless piece of artwork connected to his family, he’s all in.
Ethan Lin never wanted to be CEO of the company his great-great-grandfather founded. He also never wanted to be a parent, but when his sister died in a car accident, he inherited her title and her two adorable children. Balancing life as the head of a corporation and as a new dad is a challenge, and with diminishing returns at home and in the boardroom something has to give.
When Julius shows up, offering help in both areas of Ethan’s life, they learn they have more in common than they think. Including a shared enemy. Whoever is targeting the Hunter family also has their sights set on Ethan, and Julius will stop at nothing to make sure the man he’s falling for and his children stay safe as the final pieces fall into place.
Monochrome is the final book in the Organization for the Return of Criminals and Assets (ORCA) series, featuring an orca shifter financier who had no idea he liked kids, a panda shifter hellbent on making sure his family’s legacy doesn’t end with him, and a final showdown that changes everything.
REVIEW:
Note: This is the fourth and final book in this series and therefore has spoilers for all the previous book. Also, each book really picks up where the last one ends and the overarching mystery here that builds through each book, culminating in this final chapter. It not recommended to read them out of order.
This newest and last chapter in this series picks up after Quin and his mate and the rest of the Hunter brothers have returned from Amsterdam. They are in possession of the forgery of the painting that seems to be lynchpin to this problem plaguing the boys and their mates. This tine it’s Julius’s turn to bring his skills in the financial world try to determine how Grove Core Industries is involved. The previous CEO died tragically in a car accident and her brother, Ethan Lin, has taken over – moving from CFO to CEO. This if of the US branch of the business. His father remain CEO of the China based branch of the multi-national. Julius is there to do some “audit” of the financials after 3 losing quarters. But as soon as he meets Ethan, he knows he’s his mate.
Poor Ethan has been run absolutely ragged. Between becoming guardian of his sister’s 4-year-ld twins, Ethan cannot figure out what is happening at the company. The twins, Jude and Lily, are more than a handful. In fact, Jude escapes the on-site Day Care and barges into Ethan’s office, running right into Julius. Julius picks up the boy and they are fast friends. Ethan’s shocked because Jude generally isn’t go great with strangers. Add to this the grief processing and the nightmares both kids have and well Ethan is also lacking sleep. Julius only wants to help.
When signs point to Ethan being the cause of the issues and potentially embezzling and offshoring money, Julius can’t believe it. He asks Felix, his brother Nero’s mate and a master hacker, to keep looking. Then things start to look more suspicious when transactions are being authorized when Ethan is clearly not at work. Ethan also is dealing with unhappy board members who want to cause him problems too. Julius stays by his side. He’s sure that Ethan is innocent but without more proof that is isn’t Ethan it’s going to be tough to salvage his job and reputation.
Finally Ethan receives an ultimatum. There is evidence that he is being stalked and he is certainly been threatened. Despite the protection of the Hunter brothers, their cousins, the police, etc., things go from bad to worse. There is little time to get things in place for Julius to and Ethan to have the upper hand and try to get back their most precious cargo. It definitely is a full family effort to save the day.
This was a quite satisfying ending to this series. Everyone gets to play a crucial part in bringing down the person responsible for all the turmoil, death and destruction. As usual, GREED is the source of evil. Poor Ethan doesn’t know what to think, but he knows that he definitely does better with Julius than without him – after he forgives him for his initial deception 😉 I like that this story was also told from alternating POVs since Julius knows things that Ethan doesn’t for a while in this book. I loved Jude and Lily. Seeing Athina and Dimitri in this story operating as free agents was gratifying. The pace and excitement and suspense remains high in this last chapter as well which drives the action to a climactic scene once again. No more spoilers from me, but things work out as they should and the whole family gets an HEA here 🙂 Thoroughly enjoyable series and all the couples here are compelling. Loved the ending/epilogue. Highly recommended.
RATING: 
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