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A review by loverofromance
Brutal Defender by Maggie Cole
3.0
This review was originally posted on Addicted To Romance
This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review.
Brutal Defender is the next installment and I was super excited for this one which is why I immediately jumped right into it because it had my favorite trope “arranged marriage” and I was so eager to see how this author would implement this trope as she hadn’t really done this trope and its such a classic use in the mafia world. I really found both individuals so different and boy were they explosive together. I would like to say that I absolutely loved this one but unfortunately, it didn’t quite work for me. Killian and Arianna are part of different territories Killain agrees to a trade and if he breaks his word, then it will mean his brother will face life in prison more than likely. But he will have to marry a stranger in order to do so. Arianna’s father is determined to get her away from someone who has a bad influence and gives Arianna two choices ….Killian or a mafia head in Italy who is twenty years older than her and she easily chooses Killian. But Killian and Arianna do not like each other and have bitterness against each other. And they have to work to make adjustments for each other, and learn to work together as they are now married.
I had so many issues with this book, and I am sad to say it, but these two were a struggle to read. I found both Killian and Arianna both selfish, arrogant, and acted childish to each other. Every time you would think, they have learned their lesson and will start to treat each other like decent human beings, something would happen and it would be this endless circle and it was so exhausting and if I didn’t love this author so much I probably wouldn’t have kept with this book if I am being honest. And I knew there would be other factors to the serial plot so I did want to stick with it due to that factor. But this romance was not enjoyable or fun to read at all and I wanted to strangle these two because they acted like spoiled children instead of adults. While there were aspects to their relationship that I enjoyed at times, the pettiness between them was never-ending and draining and took the fun out of the story for me. It’s just not a story that really appealed to me and felt lackluster overall.
This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review.
Brutal Defender is the next installment and I was super excited for this one which is why I immediately jumped right into it because it had my favorite trope “arranged marriage” and I was so eager to see how this author would implement this trope as she hadn’t really done this trope and its such a classic use in the mafia world. I really found both individuals so different and boy were they explosive together. I would like to say that I absolutely loved this one but unfortunately, it didn’t quite work for me. Killian and Arianna are part of different territories Killain agrees to a trade and if he breaks his word, then it will mean his brother will face life in prison more than likely. But he will have to marry a stranger in order to do so. Arianna’s father is determined to get her away from someone who has a bad influence and gives Arianna two choices ….Killian or a mafia head in Italy who is twenty years older than her and she easily chooses Killian. But Killian and Arianna do not like each other and have bitterness against each other. And they have to work to make adjustments for each other, and learn to work together as they are now married.
I had so many issues with this book, and I am sad to say it, but these two were a struggle to read. I found both Killian and Arianna both selfish, arrogant, and acted childish to each other. Every time you would think, they have learned their lesson and will start to treat each other like decent human beings, something would happen and it would be this endless circle and it was so exhausting and if I didn’t love this author so much I probably wouldn’t have kept with this book if I am being honest. And I knew there would be other factors to the serial plot so I did want to stick with it due to that factor. But this romance was not enjoyable or fun to read at all and I wanted to strangle these two because they acted like spoiled children instead of adults. While there were aspects to their relationship that I enjoyed at times, the pettiness between them was never-ending and draining and took the fun out of the story for me. It’s just not a story that really appealed to me and felt lackluster overall.