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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
It's written like these "adults" are children, I just couldn't get through it for the life of me. I love mafia books but it's so clear that not an ounce of research about the mafia went into this.
Notes
BR with the amazing ♛ Mademoiselle Smut ♛! I’m really glad we ventured into this series together. I loved our convos where we gushed, freaked out, got angry, swooned, and analyzed a certain A & A couple in this book
BR with the amazing ♛ Mademoiselle Smut ♛! I’m really glad we ventured into this series together. I loved our convos where we gushed, freaked out, got angry, swooned, and analyzed a certain A & A couple in this book
ARC kindly provided in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Valentine PR!
I am truly excited for Rachel Van Dyken's new mafia series featuring the next generation of characters. I've always loved The Eagle Elite and Elite Bratva Brotherhood series. It's a whirlwind journey for all the characters and now, we enter a new chapter. Regardless which series you read first, Mafia Royals can be read as a standalone series. You won't get lost as the author left a guide and a brief background from the precedent series.
Ruthless Princess is about Serena Abandonato and Junior Nicolasi. They're childhood best friends, secret lovers and sworn enemies (forced to be enemies). Their parents set a rule that their children can't form an romantic relationship, break the rules it'll be punishable by death. Serena and Junior are consumed by hatred with each other and it drains them. They passionately love each other as well as hate to save themselves. There's a lot of stakes if they get caught. Imagine pretending not to love someone for a year and the sexual tension ignited between them.
What's so good about this series is that these characters made a name for themselves. They aren't their parents' shadows and they stepped up their own rules. They aren't afraid to commit mistakes and learn from it. I'll say they are smarter. I love that aspect and I look forward for the changes as they rule the mafia. It's an intense start.
Overall, I like this book but gave it 3.5 stars. Main reason was some parts dragged on and there isn't much build up with the De Langes. We're just sidetracked and jumped back into Serena & Junior's relationship. I guess we'll see the development as the series progressed. I think it'll be on Asher's book but that's gonna be a long wait.
Final rating: 3.5 / 5 stars
I am truly excited for Rachel Van Dyken's new mafia series featuring the next generation of characters. I've always loved The Eagle Elite and Elite Bratva Brotherhood series. It's a whirlwind journey for all the characters and now, we enter a new chapter. Regardless which series you read first, Mafia Royals can be read as a standalone series. You won't get lost as the author left a guide and a brief background from the precedent series.
Ruthless Princess is about Serena Abandonato and Junior Nicolasi. They're childhood best friends, secret lovers and sworn enemies (forced to be enemies). Their parents set a rule that their children can't form an romantic relationship, break the rules it'll be punishable by death. Serena and Junior are consumed by hatred with each other and it drains them. They passionately love each other as well as hate to save themselves. There's a lot of stakes if they get caught. Imagine pretending not to love someone for a year and the sexual tension ignited between them.
What's so good about this series is that these characters made a name for themselves. They aren't their parents' shadows and they stepped up their own rules. They aren't afraid to commit mistakes and learn from it. I'll say they are smarter. I love that aspect and I look forward for the changes as they rule the mafia. It's an intense start.
Overall, I like this book but gave it 3.5 stars. Main reason was some parts dragged on and there isn't much build up with the De Langes. We're just sidetracked and jumped back into Serena & Junior's relationship. I guess we'll see the development as the series progressed. I think it'll be on Asher's book but that's gonna be a long wait.
Final rating: 3.5 / 5 stars
dark
tense
fast-paced
Book 86 towards my goal of 285! 4/5 stars for this Mafia Romance read. Yalllllllll, why didn't anybody tell me about Mafia Romance! I ate this book up like candy! Love the characters, and family drama is my favorite! I will say, bits of this get real dark and real dirty. Very violent. Lots of trigger warnings! But, I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence
Moderate: Death
let me start by saying that in the past week I have read so many books centered around the Mafia or the Bratva. So I am coming from a lot of mafia overload when I am writing this review.
I enjoyed the writing and how smooth it felt and I will be picking up more of Van Dyken's books, However, this book just fell a bit off tangent for me. I loved the idea of the book and the direction of the mafia was different from what I have read in a bit but this one just wasn't it.
Okay, so we have these group of students attending a university that is owned by the mafia. They have all the power and instead of them seeming powerful they just felt like attention-seeking bullies to me. Anyways their parents made they promise not to date or fall in love with each other which was basically to make sure that there is unity and they don't get weakened by the matters of the heart (which honesty is understandable, especially with how movies nowadays want us to believe you can solve everything with a penis). But there is Junior Nicolasi and Serena who have been having sex since they were sixteen but now that the stakes are higher and they are now in university they have suddenly become worse enemies than imaginable.
(Honestly, I don't know how to review this book) I mean one second they are almost killing each other (and I mean that literally) and the next they are having sex. Their back and forth was giving me a whiplash. Long and short of the story was their parents found out and Junior was almost killed but their loved stood strong and the 5 families allowed them to remain in love. Fuck that.
I just want more of Asher's story, I feel Dyken did him dirty. I will not say more than so I don't spoil this book further.
I enjoyed the writing and how smooth it felt and I will be picking up more of Van Dyken's books, However, this book just fell a bit off tangent for me. I loved the idea of the book and the direction of the mafia was different from what I have read in a bit but this one just wasn't it.
Okay, so we have these group of students attending a university that is owned by the mafia. They have all the power and instead of them seeming powerful they just felt like attention-seeking bullies to me. Anyways their parents made they promise not to date or fall in love with each other which was basically to make sure that there is unity and they don't get weakened by the matters of the heart (which honesty is understandable, especially with how movies nowadays want us to believe you can solve everything with a penis). But there is Junior Nicolasi and Serena who have been having sex since they were sixteen but now that the stakes are higher and they are now in university they have suddenly become worse enemies than imaginable.
(Honestly, I don't know how to review this book) I mean one second they are almost killing each other (and I mean that literally) and the next they are having sex. Their back and forth was giving me a whiplash. Long and short of the story was their parents found out and Junior was almost killed but their loved stood strong and the 5 families allowed them to remain in love. Fuck that.
I just want more of Asher's story, I feel Dyken did him dirty. I will not say more than so I don't spoil this book further.
Sorry I couldn’t finish it was just so dull and the “mafia” element was lacking like what type of mafia runs a school idk the whole thing seemed to just be dumb
It's written like these "adults" are children, I just couldn't get through it for the life of me. I love mafia books but it's so clear that not an ounce of research about the mafia went into this.
Wow I finished this book. what a lengthy and painful story. It was good, but I felt like I couldn't quite grasp the importance of the Brvata rules and had I read the previous series, it would have made more sense to me. So I am going to re-read this after I complete the other series. At present this is a 3.7 rating for me.
This was an epic beginning with this new set of characters. I cried. I giggled. I swooned. This was like old school EE and I adored it!! I want more!
I love seeing the new group of Elects and I can’t wait to see what comes next!!
I love seeing the new group of Elects and I can’t wait to see what comes next!!
The Laughing Listener
May 2020
Format: eBook
I was graciously given a free copy of this in exchange for an honest review.
Story Rating: 4 Stars
Did anyone order some intensely angsty drama? Because it’s being served PIPING HOT TODAY MY FRIENDS. Having never read the previous Eagle Elite books (which definitely isn’t required for Mafia Royals), I wasn’t quite sure what to expect going into this. Being a mafia romance, obviously I knew some craziness would be in my future, but DAYUM. I was not prepared for the wild ride this book took me on and I mean that in the best possible way.
First of all, I really do feel like it’s important to read the short prequel novella [b:Royal Bully|52244660|Royal Bully (Mafia Royals, #0.5)|Rachel Van Dyken|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1583801894l/52244660._SY75_.jpg|77334824] before diving into this, especially if you’re like me and haven’t read Eagle Elite. You could probably get by fine if you really wanted to dive straight into this book (honestly, who could blame you?), but it really helped me get a good feel for the characters and mafia hierarchy. Plus, the ending of the novella sets up the feud between Junior and Serena, which plays an essential role in this story.
Reading the novella gave me a small taste of how awesome these characters would be, but oh man, they were so much better than I could have hoped. Seeing them all bicker with each other one second and then get fiercely protective the next was great. At one point Serena stabs Junior in the leg with a knife during class, they throw down on the school’s front lawn (first blood wins), and then they all argue over who steals the bread rolls at dinner. I’m 100% ride or die for this family now. BLOOD IN, NO OUT.
I’m so excited to see the other characters get a spotlight in the future books!! I’M LOOKING AT YOU BREAKER.
And let’s not forget the actual story because wheeeeeeew, WHAT A RIDE. During the first few chapters I thought I knew exactly where this book was going to go, but WOW WHAT A CLOWN.
ME:
There were so many twists that I didn’t see coming at all and I loved it! Both Junior and Serena are perfect and I liked watching their relationship progress over the book, but by the end I was completely hooked by this mafia family and I NEED to know what happens to them. Admittedly, I did kind of feel like there were a few deeper histories at play that I didn’t completely understand since I haven’t read the previous series. There was a very intense hatred towards the De Lange family that I never fully got a handle on. Now I’m just dying to go back and read all the other books in the universe because I need MORE.
FINAL WORD
This book was craziness and I mean that as a compliment. If you don’t mind some violence with your romance, this is definitely for you. But remember, BLOOD IN, NO OUT.
#0.5 ↦ [b:Royal Bully|52244660|Royal Bully (Mafia Royals, #0.5)|Rachel Van Dyken|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1583801894l/52244660._SY75_.jpg|77334824] ↦ ✦✦✦✧✧
#1 ↦ Ruthless Princess ↦ ✦✦✦✦✧
#2 ↦ [b:Scandalous Prince|52060336|Scandalous Prince|Rachel Van Dyken|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1583273827l/52060336._SY75_.jpg|76815310] ↦ ????
#3 ↦ ???????? ↦ ????