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colleenreads40 's review for:
Dante Varga, a deadly assassin, leads a lonely life. He believes there's no room left in his darkened soul to care for anyone other than himself. When he's completing an infiltration job, he stumbles upon Luca Davenport. Luca can't be anymore than 19 years old, and he's a victim. Logically, Dante shouldn't leave any witnesses behind, but something compels him to save Luca. Luca's life has been a nightmare since he was sold at eight years old. Not only does he want to get to know this cold man that saved him, he wants revenge for the 11 years of pain he'd endured. And Dante's the perfect man for that job.
"Something told me deep within the recesses of my mind where the darkness couldn't reach to not kill him. That little bit of light left over from when I was a child. The only goodness left inside me."
This was a heavy book, but I think it was beautifully written. The author didn't shy away from some difficult topics with this one, and I think it was handled appropriately. We meet Dante when he's in the midst of a high-stakes infiltration job. He doesn't expect to encounter Luca, and he ends up bringing him home. The things Luca endured are absolutely awful. They hurt my heart and made me as thirsty for revenge as he was! And then there's Dante - he's been hurt too, and he's your classic grumpy lone wolf. We get bits and pieces of his story, with a full flashback later in the story.
His soft spot for Luca is everything. Luca truly is the sunshine to Dante's grumpy (it's fitting he uses Sunshine as a term of endearment for Luca). I was a little worried when I started reading their story because although Luca is 19, he's so childlike because of what's happened to him over the last decade. I think it was handled well by the author through Dante's character. I appreciated the amount of patience Dante showed towards Luca, and his willingness to teach him the things he'd missed out on so that Luca can be a fully independent adult. It didn't feel like Dante was preying on Luca or taking advantage of him, and I thought that was very important.
I loved the found family vibes The District had, and I can't wait to get to know them better as the series continues! Cleo, Dante's Cane Corso guard dog, also stole the show. I loved that her and Luca immediately formed a friendship and Cleo protected Luca as if she'd known him since she was a puppy. Coupled with Luca's insightfulness, honesty and all the action and violence, I really enjoyed this story and couldn't put the book down! Luca and Dante get their happily ever after and find peace and healing together in their own way, and I think that's beautiful.
"As the days went on, the more I softened for him. He smoothed out all my jagged edges without even trying. It got to the point that I didn't even mind caring for him anymore, and I had gotten used to him climbing into bed every night.
My soul remained dead, and my heart was cold, but not for him. Never for Luca. Not anymore."