A review by kikyorin
Cruel Paradise by J.T. Geissinger

4.0

I think that this book beats Liam's (the first book in this series) out of the water. I love Killian and I love Jules. They are such a good combination of light and dark. Killian is charming and tries to woo Jules. What I appreciate about Jules is that she was relatable in the way that a sane person would question why a mafia boss would try to charm her. Killian tries to figure out why she would steal diapers from him and give them to an organization that needs it. Later, Killian protects her because the Serbians came after her due to her father, head of the Italian mafia.

Killian tries to give her space and when she says one night, and then later on five days, Killian is all in. Throughout the book he just wants her to trust him so that he can reveal his true identity as a spy posing as a mafia king. She doesn't reveal her feelings or that she trusts him until after she had been captured by the Serbians and had her feet whipped. When he comes to save her I felt it was a little anticlimactic because I wanted there to be more of a vulnerable moment. However, Jules is not weak and she is definitely not one to back down just because she was kidnapped, she grew up with that fear.

I do wish that there was a memory of Juliet, Fin, and Max together. I didn't really warm up to Fin and Max until the end of the book. I found them to be jaded by the possibility of being caught. Maybe it is the mafia upbringing that made them apathetic to it.

Overall, this book was a good read and I really enjoyed it for being a mafia romance. It is definitely the tamest of the books I have read but nonetheless entertaining. The banter was also great as well.