gluvsbooks 's review for:

Be With Me by Gabrielle Sands

4.0

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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‘Be With Me’ is the first book in the ‘House of Ferraro’ series; it centres around Mia who’s this picture-perfect daughter of the future mayor, and Romolo the morally grey mmc and the son of a Mafia Don to which Mia’s father has it out for. 

Mai is portrayed as this well put together person who does everything that’s asked of her—she’s such a people pleaser and hates to disappoint others. As we gain more of an understanding on Mia’s character we begin to see that in fact she’s crumbling under the pressure to live up to everyone’s expectations; she slowly learns that she can’t please everyone and that it’s okay to be selfish and takes things for herself. And i think that was one of my favourite parts about her character growth. 

Romolo’s character also suffered from a traumatic past. Yet he didn’t want to believe he deserved to be loved. From the beginning he’s captured by Mia; showing signs of possessiveness and jealousy from the get go. HEHE. I loved how he always wanted to take care of her. 

The author does a good job balancing the mystery and suspense; throw in some political intrigue, secrets, betrayals and you have an interesting concoction. 

Overall, this was an enjoyable read. Rom and Mia had such a pull when it came to each other. They equally and respectfully brought their own baggage to the table yet the way they were both there for one another and pushing each other to be better versions of themselves was so sweet. Also another note, I really enjoyed Mia’s friend group. I hope to see more of the girls and potential have each of them coupled up. We’re already getting Cosimo & Fabi. So that leaves Alessio & Zo and Nina & ???. 

Tropes:

- Enemies to lovers

- Good girl X bad boy

- Forbidden romance

- Protective x obsessed MMC
 - Slow burn
 - Touch her & die
 - Scandalous political twists