It's very easy with the feuding family trope to bring up comparisons to one of the original feuding families, and by that I mean of course Romeo and Juliet. In The Marriage Contract, however, we have three Boston crime families: the Sheridans, the Hallorans, and the O'Malleys. And what is the saying? "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer"? Well what better way to do that than by forcing the children to marry? The Romeo and Juliet aspect comes up in the fact that Teague O'Malley and Callie Sheridan actually end up forming this loving bond with one another. Just because they're being forced into marriage doesn't mean they need to like each other, but they do which is great because due to a certain event the already heated tensions between the families explode into an oncoming war. War which none of the second generation (meaning the children) of the current heads of family want, but it is an eventuality no one can overlook. 
 The Marriage Contract plays out like the best tragedy / drama. You don't know truly where loyalties lie and you don't know when someone will have to make a decision that could compromise their soul in order to save their family. Because at the heart of The Marriage Contract (and I'm assuming for the rest of the series) is family. Despite not wanting anything to do with his family "business", Teague will stand for them. Callie, in the same way, wants to turn the Sheridans into a legit business. It's a prospect she knows may never come to fruition, but she still stays with the family in order to keep safe those under their protection. 
 The bond that forms between Teague and Callie works because you can see they really care for one another even though they may have secrets. Their relationship is great because even when those secrets come to light, they still stand behind one another for better or worse. Probably the thing I loved most about this book was the fact that their relationship was the least dramatic thing in the book. It was the one constant thing the reader could count on to remain steady, it was all the family dynamics that brought the trouble and the drama, but with that one point of solidarity, the book didn't flounder. 
 I loved The Marriage Contract. Highly recommended. Because of events in the book it's easy to see where things are going next, and by that I mean what couple will be featured next. It seems like it will definitely be interesting indeed.