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3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
It was alright but super fast!
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Definitely a fun and entertaining start to what seems to be shaping up to be an intriguing, gritty, and super sexy reverse harem mafia series. While I’m no stranger to reverse harem or mafia, I’m new to the writing of Penelope Black, and I found a lot to enjoy in this first book, though I also felt I wanted a bit more in some areas.
This story really shines when it comes to suspense and secrets. PB weaves a dynamic and complicated story of mafia intrigue, hidden identities, past entanglements, and light taboos. Our heroine is a bit of firecracker, she has some spunk that I can appreciate, and the leading men all have enough edge to feel dangerous but enough alpha devotion to feel swoony. This is a lower burn, though the primary character chemistry here centers around lust, but Matteo, Dante, and Leo each have their own areas of interest, and sexual tension is definitely well done.
Where this book didn’t work for me as much was in the emotional chemistry and character development. This isn’t unusual for reverse harem series starters- you’re establishing lots of character dynamics and trying to lay the foundations for character complexity with several leading men. This story is also interesting in that some of the relationships are new, and some of them have years’ of history to explain and unpack. I expect that RH stories take longer to establish the emotional chemistry and character depth for that reason, but normally at least I feel like I know the heroine, and while I enjoyed the read (and it was super sexy), I left feeling like I don’t know any of these characters at all. Some of that is in that we only have two POVs- but those two characters are the two that feel the most unclear to me. I feel like we got a lot of action (mafia and lust) without a lot of authentic understanding of just who these people are. Some of that is intentional, I know- we’re meant to be shocked by their real identities when they are exposed- but even when a lot of that came out, the relationships felt underdeveloped and shallow, and Maddie and Matteo’s especially felt accentuated since they SHOULD have so much complexity given their history, and it just felt a bit one note. So, while I loved the characters foundationally, I just wanted more- and it felt like something was missing- emotion, of any kind. And I want to feel connected to our heroine- but I don’t feel like we know her yet. Hopefully the next book will dig deeper, because there is a lot of promise here.
The writing is high quality and beautifully constructed. The pacing was a bit inconsistent for me personally (the beginning took a while to capture me- again, RH has a lot of exposition, so this isn’t unusual for me.) But, the last leg of the book did get really interesting, though- and one of the moments that did have a spark, that did feel passionate, was a very steamy interaction with a mystery man and the promising hints about him at the end made me hopeful and excited about the next book.
This story really shines when it comes to suspense and secrets. PB weaves a dynamic and complicated story of mafia intrigue, hidden identities, past entanglements, and light taboos. Our heroine is a bit of firecracker, she has some spunk that I can appreciate, and the leading men all have enough edge to feel dangerous but enough alpha devotion to feel swoony. This is a lower burn, though the primary character chemistry here centers around lust, but Matteo, Dante, and Leo each have their own areas of interest, and sexual tension is definitely well done.
Where this book didn’t work for me as much was in the emotional chemistry and character development. This isn’t unusual for reverse harem series starters- you’re establishing lots of character dynamics and trying to lay the foundations for character complexity with several leading men. This story is also interesting in that some of the relationships are new, and some of them have years’ of history to explain and unpack. I expect that RH stories take longer to establish the emotional chemistry and character depth for that reason, but normally at least I feel like I know the heroine, and while I enjoyed the read (and it was super sexy), I left feeling like I don’t know any of these characters at all. Some of that is in that we only have two POVs- but those two characters are the two that feel the most unclear to me. I feel like we got a lot of action (mafia and lust) without a lot of authentic understanding of just who these people are. Some of that is intentional, I know- we’re meant to be shocked by their real identities when they are exposed- but even when a lot of that came out, the relationships felt underdeveloped and shallow, and Maddie and Matteo’s especially felt accentuated since they SHOULD have so much complexity given their history, and it just felt a bit one note. So, while I loved the characters foundationally, I just wanted more- and it felt like something was missing- emotion, of any kind. And I want to feel connected to our heroine- but I don’t feel like we know her yet. Hopefully the next book will dig deeper, because there is a lot of promise here.
The writing is high quality and beautifully constructed. The pacing was a bit inconsistent for me personally (the beginning took a while to capture me- again, RH has a lot of exposition, so this isn’t unusual for me.) But, the last leg of the book did get really interesting, though- and one of the moments that did have a spark, that did feel passionate, was a very steamy interaction with a mystery man and the promising hints about him at the end made me hopeful and excited about the next book.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
fast-paced
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
fast-paced
adventurous
dark
tense
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:
Complicated