Scan barcode
A review by deena_
Bound by Honor by Cora Reilly
1.0
This is my second Cora Reilly book. I really loved her other book, 'Sweet Temptation', so that set the expectations damn high. Luca and Aria had brief appearances there, they were such an unusual couple that it made me excited for their own book, but I can't say I was hoping for anything quite like this. I practically forced myself to read this; yes, that's how bad it was. If I had to suffer through one more chapter, I was really going to be sick. I don't even know which category it's supposed to fall into, there was definitely no romance or any mafia elements, and absolutely no plot. It felt like an insane amount of confusion building up to pages after pages of poorly written smut, set in the mafia world, with an arranged marriage trope thrown in to justify their actions. I never thought I'd have trouble with Cora Reilly's writing, this book did the perfect job of proving me wrong.
The characters were so frustrating; I kept hoping for some magical overnight development, but it was a major letdown in that area too. Aria's character was so weak that she'd stand by as people wronged her in every way imaginable, she forgot and forgave too easily and accepted whatever was thrown her way without a hint of a fight. I had it out for Luca the moment he started flapping his overly possessive wings around a complete stranger, his young fiancee Aria, at their first meeting. It got disturbing real quick. In the entire book, Aria was in conflict over whether to give herself up to her husband, who seemed to only care about sleeping with her. I really thought Luca was worth having hopes for cause however frustrated he was with Aria's constant rejection, he did try a great deal to earn her consent.
Just when I thought things were going right between them, he cheated on her with his ex and pretended it was alright to seek out other women if he wasn't getting it from his wife. What did Aria do? She forgave him just like that and welcomed him to bed soon after. I seriously lost all my repulses there. At some point, Aria's virginity felt like the highlight of the whole book. Every single thing was stupid, including her sisters. Lilian, who apparently acts sultry all the time, and Gianna, who riles dangerous people up for hobby. That one star goes to Romero, the only level headed person who isn't fifty shades of fucked up. I am going to make myself read the follow up installments of this series to see if it gets any better. There were vague details about some possible couples who seemed to have better chemistry than the main characters would ever have. So, to Dante and Valentina's story we go.
The characters were so frustrating; I kept hoping for some magical overnight development, but it was a major letdown in that area too. Aria's character was so weak that she'd stand by as people wronged her in every way imaginable, she forgot and forgave too easily and accepted whatever was thrown her way without a hint of a fight. I had it out for Luca the moment he started flapping his overly possessive wings around a complete stranger, his young fiancee Aria, at their first meeting. It got disturbing real quick. In the entire book, Aria was in conflict over whether to give herself up to her husband, who seemed to only care about sleeping with her. I really thought Luca was worth having hopes for cause however frustrated he was with Aria's constant rejection, he did try a great deal to earn her consent.
Just when I thought things were going right between them, he cheated on her with his ex and pretended it was alright to seek out other women if he wasn't getting it from his wife. What did Aria do? She forgave him just like that and welcomed him to bed soon after. I seriously lost all my repulses there. At some point, Aria's virginity felt like the highlight of the whole book. Every single thing was stupid, including her sisters. Lilian, who apparently acts sultry all the time, and Gianna, who riles dangerous people up for hobby. That one star goes to Romero, the only level headed person who isn't fifty shades of fucked up. I am going to make myself read the follow up installments of this series to see if it gets any better. There were vague details about some possible couples who seemed to have better chemistry than the main characters would ever have. So, to Dante and Valentina's story we go.