Scan barcode
wolfscout's review
4.0
so i wanted to read bound by honor and then write my review on this book, overall i loved it and it honestly explains a lot of what happens in bound by honor, loooved luca, loooved his relationship with aria, and looooved his relationship with matteo too.
if i have one bad thing about this book is that we don't really talk about his mother that much and i wanted to read about luca and his mother more.
Overall the book was good would totally recommend.
if i have one bad thing about this book is that we don't really talk about his mother that much and i wanted to read about luca and his mother more.
Overall the book was good would totally recommend.
gypsygirlfl's review
5.0
Speechless
This is Luca’s POV during the story Bound by Honor. So this isn’t a standalone, BBH will need to be read first imo. Reading Luca’s young life events and his POV during the marriage to Aria explains a lot. Like many readers, I don’t agree with his reasoning for cheating on Aria with Grace. I guess it makes sense from a man’s POV, but I wouldn’t be so forgiving.
This is really an enjoyable story now knowing both sides of the main characters. I don’t know if they could be combined into one giant book and have the same impact.
Definitely a recommend after reading BBH.
This is Luca’s POV during the story Bound by Honor. So this isn’t a standalone, BBH will need to be read first imo. Reading Luca’s young life events and his POV during the marriage to Aria explains a lot. Like many readers, I don’t agree with his reasoning for cheating on Aria with Grace. I guess it makes sense from a man’s POV, but I wouldn’t be so forgiving.
This is really an enjoyable story now knowing both sides of the main characters. I don’t know if they could be combined into one giant book and have the same impact.
Definitely a recommend after reading BBH.
amberisalwaysreading86's review
4.0
Going for a new record to see how many times I can reread both this book, and the complete series.
lizziehughie's review
2.0
started off rly good and then became so fucking boring. fmc might be one of the most insufferable ppl ever written
shanayaareads's review
4.0
I have a lot of feelings about this novel, most of them not good. Cora Reilly is a good writer and the story was compelling enough to keep me invested and reading but Aria’s character was positively lackluster and left quite a lot to be desired, compared to the other characters in this story.
I loved Luca, I absolutely adored the man, all his broodiness and bad boy appeal. The dark and twisted bits of his character. I love a good morally grey man, truly. But he could not have been married off to a woman more goddamn annoying than Aria Scuderi. There was not a moment during which I was reading this book that I was not annoyed with her. Frankly, with how often I rolled my eyes, it’s a wonder they’ve still remained in my head.
If I had to rate this book based on how much I hated Aria and not the actual story, I’d give it a bloody two, maybe even a one star rating, honestly. The girl grinds my gears and I disliked literally everything about her.
The only small consolations here for me was Luca and how much I love him, Matteo and how absolutely hilarious and twisted the guy is and the hope that Matteo and Gianna will offer me more than Aria did. Frankly, those two had more chemistry in their pinkies than Luca and Aria had this entire damn book. Gianna looks like a fighter, so I hope I won’t have to deal with the meekness and the incessant fear for three hundred pages, because this was absolutely tiresome.
I had wholeheartedly intended to read Luca’s POV of Bound by Honor and then move on to the actual book itself but if Aria was as annoying in a book not even being narrated by her, I know I’ll tear my bloody hair out if I have to read her droning on and on about how much Luca scares her or whatever she’d whimper about. And I’m not willing to endure that frustration the way Luca was here. I can’t.
I don’t think I’ve ever hated a female character the way I hated Aria and I’ve said this before about a lot of women in books. She takes the cake though, that’s for certain. I absolutely abhor this girl and her weakness. Even at the end, when she finally seemed to “come into herself” it never felt like enough. My dislike for her ran too deeply. Considering that I read Sweet Temptation, which is a novel set in this world, before actually having read this series, I had expectations about what the female character would be like, I was throughly disappointed. Aria has nothing on Giulia who is literally a spitfire at heart despite her initial fear of her husband. I had hoped that eventual the girl would develop a spine of some sorts but even in the end, there wasn’t much there.
Maybe it’s because I don’t like the weakness in Aria’s character, that I can’t see the appeal but aside from her overly described beauty, this girl doesn’t have an interesting bone in her body. Not an intelligible worthwhile thought exiting her mouth, so really, I’m compelled to question, what exactly is Luca Vitiello actually in love with because damn, I’m not seeing it at all. Maybe I should go ahead and read Bound in Honor, maybe it’ll give me some insight, something I’m missing because the pieces are certainly not connecting for me right now.
The four star rating here really comes as a result of my interest in Luca’s story itself, his rise the new Capo in this world and literally nothing more. The romance between him and Aria as I’ve said before was sorely lacking and I was not very impressed. I wanted so badly to love this book the way I did Sweet Temptation, but I just can’t. Overall though, the novel itself wasn’t bad. The writing was good but it left a lot to be desired for me. I know that I would have loved this book had Aria not been so weak willed a great majority of it.
Hopefully, the others in the series are not like this.
I loved Luca, I absolutely adored the man, all his broodiness and bad boy appeal. The dark and twisted bits of his character. I love a good morally grey man, truly. But he could not have been married off to a woman more goddamn annoying than Aria Scuderi. There was not a moment during which I was reading this book that I was not annoyed with her. Frankly, with how often I rolled my eyes, it’s a wonder they’ve still remained in my head.
If I had to rate this book based on how much I hated Aria and not the actual story, I’d give it a bloody two, maybe even a one star rating, honestly. The girl grinds my gears and I disliked literally everything about her.
The only small consolations here for me was Luca and how much I love him, Matteo and how absolutely hilarious and twisted the guy is and the hope that Matteo and Gianna will offer me more than Aria did. Frankly, those two had more chemistry in their pinkies than Luca and Aria had this entire damn book. Gianna looks like a fighter, so I hope I won’t have to deal with the meekness and the incessant fear for three hundred pages, because this was absolutely tiresome.
I had wholeheartedly intended to read Luca’s POV of Bound by Honor and then move on to the actual book itself but if Aria was as annoying in a book not even being narrated by her, I know I’ll tear my bloody hair out if I have to read her droning on and on about how much Luca scares her or whatever she’d whimper about. And I’m not willing to endure that frustration the way Luca was here. I can’t.
I don’t think I’ve ever hated a female character the way I hated Aria and I’ve said this before about a lot of women in books. She takes the cake though, that’s for certain. I absolutely abhor this girl and her weakness. Even at the end, when she finally seemed to “come into herself” it never felt like enough. My dislike for her ran too deeply. Considering that I read Sweet Temptation, which is a novel set in this world, before actually having read this series, I had expectations about what the female character would be like, I was throughly disappointed. Aria has nothing on Giulia who is literally a spitfire at heart despite her initial fear of her husband. I had hoped that eventual the girl would develop a spine of some sorts but even in the end, there wasn’t much there.
Maybe it’s because I don’t like the weakness in Aria’s character, that I can’t see the appeal but aside from her overly described beauty, this girl doesn’t have an interesting bone in her body. Not an intelligible worthwhile thought exiting her mouth, so really, I’m compelled to question, what exactly is Luca Vitiello actually in love with because damn, I’m not seeing it at all. Maybe I should go ahead and read Bound in Honor, maybe it’ll give me some insight, something I’m missing because the pieces are certainly not connecting for me right now.
The four star rating here really comes as a result of my interest in Luca’s story itself, his rise the new Capo in this world and literally nothing more. The romance between him and Aria as I’ve said before was sorely lacking and I was not very impressed. I wanted so badly to love this book the way I did Sweet Temptation, but I just can’t. Overall though, the novel itself wasn’t bad. The writing was good but it left a lot to be desired for me. I know that I would have loved this book had Aria not been so weak willed a great majority of it.
Hopefully, the others in the series are not like this.
denissereads's review
5.0
“Being born into our world means being born with blood on your hands. With every breath we take, sin is engraved deeper into our skin.”
This book is kinda the preview of the real first book (which is Aria’s POV) and I’m one of the lucky ones that started the series with this version (Luca’s POV). I said that I’m lucky because I liked Luca’s POV so much! And I really laughted at his interactions with Matteo, his brother. Their relationship and bond is definitely something.
Now, about the story between Aria and Luca I don’t want to say anything until I read her side too. But I can say without a doubt that I really liked Luca in this book. He was patient when needed, calm in the chaos and still a monster to those who deserved it.
Overall it was a great story about the mafia, it took me a little longer than expected to finish it, but hey, at least I finished it and I still want to read the other ones. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ⭐ Stars for Luca, cause he deserves ‘em!
This book is kinda the preview of the real first book (which is Aria’s POV) and I’m one of the lucky ones that started the series with this version (Luca’s POV). I said that I’m lucky because I liked Luca’s POV so much! And I really laughted at his interactions with Matteo, his brother. Their relationship and bond is definitely something.
Now, about the story between Aria and Luca I don’t want to say anything until I read her side too. But I can say without a doubt that I really liked Luca in this book. He was patient when needed, calm in the chaos and still a monster to those who deserved it.
Overall it was a great story about the mafia, it took me a little longer than expected to finish it, but hey, at least I finished it and I still want to read the other ones. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ⭐ Stars for Luca, cause he deserves ‘em!
cala_p's review against another edition
5.0
Thank you to the author and The Next Step PR for an ARC of this novel.
Oh. My. Goodness.
This book will make headlines.
It’s a retelling of book 1 but in Luca’s POV. This series was already great, but it just became that much better by having this in its repertoire. How have I lived before this book? If Luca wasn’t already everything to you after reading the first book, then he will be now. It gives a fantastic, new insight into Luca and all that occured on his side. In Book 1, we’re privy to Aria: her thoughts, her fear, her growing trust, and eventually love for Luca. Now, we see it all through Luca’s eyes: his dislike, distrust, boredom, possessiveness, protectiveness, trust, and eventually love. He fights for her almost every second of the way, even if she didn’t realize it.
I don’t have one negative thing to say about this read. I loved it from start to end. Unfortunately, the story’s events weren’t shocking or new, as it's a retelling, so I can’t praise it necessarily for its surprising events. Again, I did like seeing the different perspective on it. Now I want to do a reread of the others, specifically the ones about Aria’s sisters.
I believed this series to be done, but the announcement of this one made me squeal in happiness. And to learn that she will be writing another one, about Dante, just makes my day. I want this series to forever go on. Although Dante’s book was my least favorite, I wonder if I was comparing it to book 1 too much at the time and now that I have read the rest I may have a different opinion about it. Regardless, it’ll get a fair reread before the next one.
Oh. My. Goodness.
This book will make headlines.
It’s a retelling of book 1 but in Luca’s POV. This series was already great, but it just became that much better by having this in its repertoire. How have I lived before this book? If Luca wasn’t already everything to you after reading the first book, then he will be now. It gives a fantastic, new insight into Luca and all that occured on his side. In Book 1, we’re privy to Aria: her thoughts, her fear, her growing trust, and eventually love for Luca. Now, we see it all through Luca’s eyes: his dislike, distrust, boredom, possessiveness, protectiveness, trust, and eventually love. He fights for her almost every second of the way, even if she didn’t realize it.
I don’t have one negative thing to say about this read. I loved it from start to end. Unfortunately, the story’s events weren’t shocking or new, as it's a retelling, so I can’t praise it necessarily for its surprising events. Again, I did like seeing the different perspective on it. Now I want to do a reread of the others, specifically the ones about Aria’s sisters.
I believed this series to be done, but the announcement of this one made me squeal in happiness. And to learn that she will be writing another one, about Dante, just makes my day. I want this series to forever go on. Although Dante’s book was my least favorite, I wonder if I was comparing it to book 1 too much at the time and now that I have read the rest I may have a different opinion about it. Regardless, it’ll get a fair reread before the next one.