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A review by koistyfishy
The Sweetest Oblivion by Danielle Lori
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
2.5 Countenance Stars⭐
Spicy Level: 🌶️🌶️/5
I have no idea what made this book so popular, but I clearly missed that cuckoo train because this was just MEH. Absolutely underwhelming.
This is a Dual POV that follows Elena and Nico(las). Both are from two rival Mafia families (how Romeo and Juliet) but in this case, to bring about a truce between their families Elena's father agrees for Nico to marry his daughter. However, that daughter happens to be Adriana, Elena's strange younger sister. What unfolds is this forbidden attraction between Nico and Elena because Nico is ENGAGED to her SISTER...but it's so blatantly obvious that it's almost not a secret to ANYONE with eyes as they can see the tension and looks between the two.
I feel like I might be a bit deluded with what my expectations are for a Mafia Don vs what this book portrayed as a Mafia Don... and I am really disappointed in what I got... I wanted this dark and disturbed Mafia Don who was the epitome of morally grey. And while Nico is a little bit psychotic in his head and quick to use his gun and burn down buildings, dark to me is not just the murderous ideations of a character... I wanted somebody a little bit more kinky and not just a possessive alphahole. He was also the most vanilla sex man I have ever seen in my life and the smut in this book could be taken out of a cutesy small-town romance about butterflies with a little bit of dirty talk.
Elena was about as annoying and irritating as her name doppelganger in The Vampire Diaries. She was quite honestly vapid, insufferable, selfish and spoiled and just really irritated the shit out of me because she was stupid. She goes on and on about how she doesn't want to be this sweet little Elena personality that she has following her around and wants to break out of that mould. And obviously the only person who's ever seen the real her is Nico. I just wanted to puke my guts out at how corny and cliché that relationship dynamic was. I just felt that the two main characters in this book were extremely superficial and played directly into their stereotype of young Mafia Don and Mafia Princess and I expected more from them...
Nico really takes the whole "touch her you die" trope to the extreme, as he will not only literally burn down your livelihood but will literally blow a bullet through your head...
From a writing perspective, it's good as most of it flows really well and it's pretty easy to pick up and generally, the story is easy to get lost in. I did like the sprinkling of the Italian culture coming through and those family dynamics. I can't say if this is something in every Mafia and I am just new to it... but for me that part was sweet. The one thing about the writing that was weird though is MOST CHAPTERS felt like they started with something akin to "metaphorical prose", almost like a nostalgic memory. This is normally fine if you are switching POVs or time jumps but even in the same POV switches and in action-heavy endings to the chapter it would start weird and only after a few sentences would it jump back to the plot...
The other aspect that took me out of the story, but it's my own personal ICK is my dad's nickname was "The Don". Every time I see the word Don, I think of my dad and I don't necessarily want to be thinking of my father when they're talking about smut and the Don in the same scene. But that's my issue and I don't think many people will be experiencing this. If anything... If I plan to read more Mafia...I might just have to become desensitised to the word Don...
I'm really sad because I wanted to love this. I wanted to enjoy my first tiptoe into Mafia Romance. But it just fell flat. And in the end, I feel empty and let down.
Tropes for your summary:
The tropes you can expect in this are:
▶ Mafia Romance
▶ Rival Families
▶ Touch Her You Die
▶ Forbidden Romance
▶ Arranged Marriage
▶ Morally Grey MMC
▶ Instant Lust
▶ Posessive MMC
▶ TSTL FMC
Spicy Level: 🌶️🌶️/5
I have no idea what made this book so popular, but I clearly missed that cuckoo train because this was just MEH. Absolutely underwhelming.
This is a Dual POV that follows Elena and Nico(las). Both are from two rival Mafia families (how Romeo and Juliet) but in this case, to bring about a truce between their families Elena's father agrees for Nico to marry his daughter. However, that daughter happens to be Adriana, Elena's strange younger sister. What unfolds is this forbidden attraction between Nico and Elena because Nico is ENGAGED to her SISTER...but it's so blatantly obvious that it's almost not a secret to ANYONE with eyes as they can see the tension and looks between the two.
I feel like I might be a bit deluded with what my expectations are for a Mafia Don vs what this book portrayed as a Mafia Don... and I am really disappointed in what I got... I wanted this dark and disturbed Mafia Don who was the epitome of morally grey. And while Nico is a little bit psychotic in his head and quick to use his gun and burn down buildings, dark to me is not just the murderous ideations of a character... I wanted somebody a little bit more kinky and not just a possessive alphahole. He was also the most vanilla sex man I have ever seen in my life and the smut in this book could be taken out of a cutesy small-town romance about butterflies with a little bit of dirty talk.
Elena was about as annoying and irritating as her name doppelganger in The Vampire Diaries. She was quite honestly vapid, insufferable, selfish and spoiled and just really irritated the shit out of me because she was stupid. She goes on and on about how she doesn't want to be this sweet little Elena personality that she has following her around and wants to break out of that mould. And obviously the only person who's ever seen the real her is Nico. I just wanted to puke my guts out at how corny and cliché that relationship dynamic was. I just felt that the two main characters in this book were extremely superficial and played directly into their stereotype of young Mafia Don and Mafia Princess and I expected more from them...
Nico really takes the whole "touch her you die" trope to the extreme, as he will not only literally burn down your livelihood but will literally blow a bullet through your head...
From a writing perspective, it's good as most of it flows really well and it's pretty easy to pick up and generally, the story is easy to get lost in. I did like the sprinkling of the Italian culture coming through and those family dynamics. I can't say if this is something in every Mafia and I am just new to it... but for me that part was sweet. The one thing about the writing that was weird though is MOST CHAPTERS felt like they started with something akin to "metaphorical prose", almost like a nostalgic memory. This is normally fine if you are switching POVs or time jumps but even in the same POV switches and in action-heavy endings to the chapter it would start weird and only after a few sentences would it jump back to the plot...
The other aspect that took me out of the story, but it's my own personal ICK is my dad's nickname was "The Don". Every time I see the word Don, I think of my dad and I don't necessarily want to be thinking of my father when they're talking about smut and the Don in the same scene. But that's my issue and I don't think many people will be experiencing this. If anything... If I plan to read more Mafia...I might just have to become desensitised to the word Don...
I'm really sad because I wanted to love this. I wanted to enjoy my first tiptoe into Mafia Romance. But it just fell flat. And in the end, I feel empty and let down.
Tropes for your summary:
The tropes you can expect in this are:
▶ Mafia Romance
▶ Rival Families
▶ Touch Her You Die
▶ Forbidden Romance
▶ Arranged Marriage
▶ Morally Grey MMC
▶ Instant Lust
▶ Posessive MMC
▶ TSTL FMC
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Murder, Blood, Death, Sexual content, and Gun violence