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dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Gun violence, Violence
Minor: Death, Rape, Death of parent
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
This was a really fun book. It's not super depressing or emotional, just a good time. The couple worked really well together. If you like a very docile heroine and commanding hero, here's your book. I like more outspoken heroines with more sway over their man, but this was good too. The pacing was solid, I read this super fast and never got bored. The characters were solid too. I think if you like the whole innocent heroine thing and a morally gray hero whose only morally gray component is that you're told he's a big player in the mafia and he kills bad guys occasionally (but you never reeally see anything bad or outrageous), then you will absolutely love this. I promise I did enjoy this lol. I don't know how to get my point across. Basically, I had a lot of fun reading this. It's a super quick read. I loved the super close sister dynamic.
I loooooved the first 3/4 of this. I enjoyed all of it, but I have a very different personality from the heroine so maybe that's it, but she needed a bit more of a backbone in my opinion. I can suspend my disbelief but come on, no one bites their tongue that often. I also feel like the whole innocent/naive thing was a lil heavy-handed. It makes me uncomfortable after a minute when the heroine, who lives in modern-day Chicago doesn't know much at all about anything, especially someone who grew up in a mafia family. Sure, ok. I did really like her sister Gianna, so I'm pumped to her read her book.
I loooooved the first 3/4 of this. I enjoyed all of it, but I have a very different personality from the heroine so maybe that's it, but she needed a bit more of a backbone in my opinion. I can suspend my disbelief but come on, no one bites their tongue that often. I also feel like the whole innocent/naive thing was a lil heavy-handed. It makes me uncomfortable after a minute when the heroine, who lives in modern-day Chicago doesn't know much at all about anything, especially someone who grew up in a mafia family. Sure, ok. I did really like her sister Gianna, so I'm pumped to her read her book.
Tropes:
- mafia romance
- opposites attract
- shy/innocent heroine & grumpy/cynical hero
- super possessive hero
- the whole 'I hate that I love you' thing
- 'touch her and you die'
- hurt/comfort (not a lot, but it's there)
- 'I hate everyone but you'
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Spoilery content warnings:
*death of a parent
*heroine gets roofied and the creep who did it planned on assaulting her (but he didn't)
*infidelity (they were newly married and barely knew each other so like they weren't emotionally involved yet, ya know?)
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual content
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, Violence, Blood
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Infidelity
Minor: Cursing, Toxic relationship, Murder
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It's the misogyny I know it is, I just can't seem to get past it no matter how hard I try. Like I get yk big strong mafia man who can't show weakness, but just the rituals of the Family's and how they treated the women. I guess I'm just lucky that I liked this guy somewhat more because he didn't force himself on her on their wedding day. Aria annoyed me, Luca was better, favourite character was Romero, at least he was respectful. Even the possessiveness didn't make me feel much this time. I'll read the rest of the books, only because I need to finish the series and I'm intrigued about how it will continue.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Misogyny, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence
Moderate: Gun violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Murder
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Death of parent
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Rape, Self harm
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Sexual content, Murder
Moderate: Rape, Suicide
dark
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence
Moderate: Child abuse
this book has one of the worst smut tropes ever ("it's totally unavoidable that a woman's first time is blindingly painful and super bloody") but they did do a TON of foreplay so i'm less mad than i would be otherwise.... and sometimes it does hurt and sometimes there is a little blood no matter what... but i wish they hadn't acted like that was inevitable and i wish it hadn't been to such an extreme ?
i also didn't like that every woman in this aside from her sister was a spiteful bitch towards her lol. like there are two categories of women in this book: spiteful "sluts" and martyred/abused married women. they all feel like caricatures of women instead of characters with actual motivations or thoughts in their head. relatedly, i don't think it's romantic when a man distinguishes between his wife and his exes by saying that the exes are "those other sluts i fucked". i'm willing to accept a certain level of misogyny in na contemporary, especially in a setting like the mafia lol, but it was so repeated and eventually just got tired. like... we get it already. they're bad people. We get it
and i sort of thought this was book 1 in a series about them, because with the pacing of the novel and their relationship it seems like their relationship development should be continued in a sequel about them, but there isn't, and this was a standalone (in a series of standalones about different couples).
otherwise it was a typical mafia book with the classic tropes. i wish there was a sequel because i think the main couple has a lot of potential and could be really good, but i have mixed feelings about them because this was the only book. if they grew a little in a sequel i would probably like them a lot more.
somewhat less of an issue imo, but in terms of typos and "desperately needs a series of thorough line-edits," this book kind of embodies the pitfalls of self-publishing. there were dozens and dozens of very obvious typos that make me think she didn't even have beta readers, much less actual editors look over this. the dialogue is very strange at times, with almost no contractions ever (even when it sounds unnatural not to use one) and just the general... phrasing and pacing of the dialogue sounds like an AI sometimes, lol. instead of having what is maybe the intended effect (formality? if it was intentional) it actually just looks like. amateurish / inept ? i can set that kind of thing aside but if it gets to you then maybe read a more recent edition (assuming it's been rereleased, because the cover on my version is different than this cover).
also important as far as tw's go: there was very pervasive talk of graphic sexual violence, it never actually happens on-screen, but constantly throughout the book people are talking about being "fucked bloody" (and unwillingly, i.e. rape) and other things, again the rape never occurs but it is discussed with relative frequency. just something to be warned about
i also didn't like that every woman in this aside from her sister was a spiteful bitch towards her lol. like there are two categories of women in this book: spiteful "sluts" and martyred/abused married women. they all feel like caricatures of women instead of characters with actual motivations or thoughts in their head. relatedly, i don't think it's romantic when a man distinguishes between his wife and his exes by saying that the exes are "those other sluts i fucked". i'm willing to accept a certain level of misogyny in na contemporary, especially in a setting like the mafia lol, but it was so repeated and eventually just got tired. like... we get it already. they're bad people. We get it
and i sort of thought this was book 1 in a series about them, because with the pacing of the novel and their relationship it seems like their relationship development should be continued in a sequel about them, but there isn't, and this was a standalone (in a series of standalones about different couples).
otherwise it was a typical mafia book with the classic tropes. i wish there was a sequel because i think the main couple has a lot of potential and could be really good, but i have mixed feelings about them because this was the only book. if they grew a little in a sequel i would probably like them a lot more.
somewhat less of an issue imo, but in terms of typos and "desperately needs a series of thorough line-edits," this book kind of embodies the pitfalls of self-publishing. there were dozens and dozens of very obvious typos that make me think she didn't even have beta readers, much less actual editors look over this. the dialogue is very strange at times, with almost no contractions ever (even when it sounds unnatural not to use one) and just the general... phrasing and pacing of the dialogue sounds like an AI sometimes, lol. instead of having what is maybe the intended effect (formality? if it was intentional) it actually just looks like. amateurish / inept ? i can set that kind of thing aside but if it gets to you then maybe read a more recent edition (assuming it's been rereleased, because the cover on my version is different than this cover).
also important as far as tw's go: there was very pervasive talk of graphic sexual violence, it never actually happens on-screen, but constantly throughout the book people are talking about being "fucked bloody" (and unwillingly, i.e. rape) and other things, again the rape never occurs but it is discussed with relative frequency. just something to be warned about
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Sexual content, Blood
Moderate: Physical abuse, Rape
the rape that I tagged doesn't occur on-screen or between the main couple, I only tagged for it because of the scene after the wedding where everyone is basically celebrating that they thought she was raped (again, she wasn't) and all the wives are sharing their rape stories ???? so no specific instance of rape occurs but there is a LOT of talk about sex as violence and lack of distinction between sex and rape, and expectation of rape / people telling the mc that she'll be raped. it's pretty pervasive even though it never actually occurs, and it could easily be discomforting so i tagged it.