Reviews with content warning for Death - Riches to Riches: Part Two

Reviews tagging 'Death'

Riches to Riches: Part Two by Ames Mills

9 reviews

bookbaddiebree's review against another edition

2.5

dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I have so many thoughts on this series as a whole, I’ll try to keep this strictly on Part 2 I am going to leave one on Part 1 as well. For starters this broke my chilli pepper scale. On a scale of 1-5 this is a 6 🌶️ This is probably the spiciest book I’ve ever read. That being said the spice was so frequently the plot struggled to take hold. I felt like they talked about defeating their enemies all through book 1 and 59% through this book before they finally took action. The plot was a side focus next to the relationships. I need a minimum of 50/50% plot/spice ratio and this was probably 75%spice to 25% plot which greatly affected how much I enjoyed it. Some plot isssues I had are: 1. The author spent the whole first book making us dislike and distrust Zane to add him to the mix. I found myself not liking Zane and being annoyed he was there for 80% of this book until I succumbed to acceptance. 2. Some things felt like after thoughts thrown in there, like the dynamic between Ryder & Zane they explained the switch in their relationship however I feel like that breadcrumbs should’ve been dropped in book 1 that just wernt. 3. Couple pairings a lot of the guys started developing feelings for each other but then we didn’t spend much time showing those connections being nurtured. I wanted to feel Ryder & Holdens connection depen, as well as Gage & Leo’s especially which *spolier* All the guys started developing feelings doing stuff together it’s like outside of spicy time what connection beside Alyssa is keeping yall together. Idk I think the book was already long as it is sorry to say she had too many guys and too many pairs going on that she couldn’t focus on connecting and making us invested in the pairs. I feel like all the focus was spent on spice times. 4: spicy times got so far fetched at certain points like some of these moves are straight out of x rated movies that I couldn’t even imagine feeling good so that pulled me out of the connection from the scene. This these formally straight guys are willing to backdoor for the first time in a 7 way with 6 other guys watching/around. Far fetched. I know when reading not everything needs to be realistic and you can just join for the ride but too many far fetched things take me out of the experience. Last Les was in my opinion the worst mafia boss I’ve ever read about she was crying every other page, she was always rushing into danger with no regard instead of deligaring, she didn’t take threat serious until multiple attempts on their lives. Didn’t have concrete will thought out plans. Was childish a lot of the time nothing about her screamed leader. This book wasn’t the worst thing I’ve read it was okay. I was surprised with how LGBTQIA it was I wasn’t expecting that at all. I’m a spicy book girl thru and thru but even some of these scenes made me blush. This is not for everyone. If you are looking for a dirty book lots of spice with a lot of group “activity” this is would be right up your alley.

Content Warnings

havenotreadinyears's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

abrown04's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring lighthearted reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

OH. MY. GOD.
Not to be vulgar but i need a new pair of underwear after reading this book. Not only are the group sex scenes with Les and then the one on one scenes with Les HOT, but THE GROUP SEX SCENES BETWEEN ALL THE GUYS WITHOUT LES AND ONE ON ONE??????????????

I loved seeing Les’s relationship grow with Zane again and I especially loved Ryder submitting to Daddy Zane 😏

This book represented PTSD and anxiety perfectly with Les and shows how much people can suffer from traumatic events no matter how long it has been. The way they helped each other and loved each other was inspiring.

And again can i just say OMG THE SEX SCENES WERE AMAZING, HOT AND MADE ME…… AHHHHHHHHHHHH. Would read again solely based on that.

Loved this book, would recommend and will be reading again… and again…. And again and so on so forth! ❤️

Content Warnings

book_lover_irl's review

4.0

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

SUMMARY:
When Dad died, he made me the leader of the Italian Mafia. That position was unheard of for a woman until me. Ryder, Dex, Gage, and Holden are my team, my closest friends. Then Leo waltzes into my life, turning it upside down, along with everyone in it. With a new guy in my life, four guys vying for my affection, a past flame that refuses to be blown out, and threats lurking in every corner; I have to fight like hell to come out of the fire alive and still leading the Italian Mafia.

REVIEW:
Oy vi! Book two continues to be the spiciest and darkest novel I have read to date... and I’ve read a few (on my 63rd book of 2024 with 4 months still left.)

Riches to Riches by Ames Mills is a dark, reverse harem / polyamorous / why choose story with one kick ass FMC and 6 amazing MMCs. It includes M/M content, as well as almost any variation you can imagine for s3xy encounters and s3xual tropes. Definitely check the tr!gger warnings. It includes some extremely sensitive topics.

Book two had more plot than book one and included lots of angst and amazing spice. To be fair, book one was 85% spice and 15% plot (basically just an audio p0rno), so it would've been hard to top that much sm*t. If the author wanted to continue the story in a meaningful way, they had to step back from the spice and focus at least a teensy bit more on the plot and they did, which was welcomed with open arms.

Ada Sinclair and Patrick Zeller were back as the narrators and they did a great job. Sinclair ensured Alessa (Les) was multi-dimensional with her own demons, feelings, and vulnerabilities. It was a relief that Alessa was portrayed with depth. Zeller had a particularly hard task before him since he needed to give each of the 6 male MCs a distinct voice, cadence or accent so the listener knew which man was talking, especially in group situations where multiple MMCs would talk. Zeller nailed it and greatly enhanced the listening experience through his expertise.

A couple quick pet peeves -- I was exasperated by the number of times the FMC cried in book 2. She is supposed to be a big-time mafia princess and kick a$$. The sheer number of times she cried seemed excessive and happened all.the.time at the drop of a hat. It was also irritating how frequently someone’s “lips popped off” other folk's body parts.

Aside from those slight irritations, if you love angst and spice, including lots of M/M and M/M/M/M, then you will enjoy this book. Reminder to check the tr!gger warnings!

Stars: ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
POV: Multi (dual narration)
HEA: Have to read next novel to figure out ending
Cliffhanger: Yes
Tropes: Check tr!gger warnings

Instagram: @Book.Lover.IRL
Goodreads: Book Lover IRL
StoryGraph: Book.Lover.IRL

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved this book
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really liked this book
⭐️⭐️⭐️ I liked this book
⭐️⭐️ Meh… bored or annoyed
⭐️Seriously? Not worth it

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ INFERNO. P@nty melting
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Blazing h0t
🌶️🌶️🌶️ Now we’re talking
🌶️🌶️ Meh… uninspired miss!onary vibes
🌶️ Does weak f0replay count

s3xual content, s3xual ass@ult, k!dnapping, vi0lence, g0re, v0yeurism, an@l, double penetrat!on, F/MMMMM, M/M, organized crime, alcohol, death, medical tr@uma

Content Warnings

adaskam's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Aye. Zane 🟰The glue. He was straight Zaddy 🫦. This is still polyamorous, chocked full of death, destruction, and sex. I rarely find the second book in a series as good as the first & this lived up to my expectations. 👏

Content Warnings

jessiv14's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I really enjoyed the first book Riches to Riches Part One. This one, though, honestly annoyed me more than anything. It was (to me) highly unbelievable. The nicknames eventually annoyed me each time one came up, which was often. There were several parts that lacked descriptions that would have made it more believable. To me, it seemed like there were topics the author was rather uneducated about and would have benefited from some research. I think the motive for the book was reverse harem and the mafia "theme" was an afterthought, which made it less believable. I was disappointed.

Content Warnings

joifulreads's review against another edition

3.0

fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Content Warnings

briannagriffin567's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

abetterpaige's review against another edition

3.0

dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

⭐️⭐️⭐️ (this review is for the duet as a whole and has been cross posted between both books on review platforms)

Okay y’all I saw one quote on TikTok about this and said “hold up” to my TBR and immediately downloaded this. It’s a mafia why choose, two of my fave things, and there’s literally every variation of sandwich in here that you could possibly imagine. I’ll dig into the plot and my thoughts but please know that if 1. mafia romance AND 2. why choose romances aren’t your thing… this book is most absolutely not for you so mind your business and don’t yuck other people’s yums lol.

Riches to Riches introduces us to Alessa, the US head of the Italian mafia, and her new boyfriend Leo. They’re hooking up for the first time when she notices a tattoo on his chest of the Mexican mafia’s insignia, and all hell breaks loose. She brings Leo back to her home, where she lives with four other guys, Ryder, Dex, Gage, and Holden. Gage and Leo immediately have tension, and for reasons unbeknownst to anyone, Les lets Leo live even though he lied to her. His brothers (the heirs of the Mexican mafia) call a truce with Les and they all agree that Leo should stay with her for further protection. Amidst all of this trouble, Les also has a stalker, and the Russians are going behind her back and breaking the rules of their alliance. Did I mention yet that Les doubles as a serial killer, murdering rapists who get away with their crimes? Yeah this duet kind of bounces all over the place. It’s multiple POVs so we get to get inside of all of the guys’ heads, including Les’s ex-boyfriend Zane (we get more from him in book 2). This makes the spicy scenes, especially the ones with sword fighting, particularly interesting, since we often see them from multiple angles.

All in all, this felt like a Tate James wannabe to me. It was incredibly poorly edited with a multitude of grammatical errors (including the wrong form of “your” more than 4 times) and a plot that fell flat despite the interesting premise. The three stars I gave are all for the boys… because sheesh these spicy scenes are SPICY. I cannot believe I read 1000+ pages of this but ya know what, I gots to see it through!

Content Warnings

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