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A review by reeyabeegale
The Rebel by Sophie Lark
4.0
I may be considered a bit of a rebel myself (no, not really) because I rarely read series in order. And by that I mean, I skipped the first book and went directly to this.
I got until chapter 8 in The Heir, but it was boring. Initially, I didn't mind the slow pace and the information overload (as expected in the first book of a series), but I got a sense of the romance and I am not comfortable reading through it. Plus, I am not fond of Leo Gallo, he was a bit too immature for my taste. Anyway, all that out of the way, let's move on to my thoughts for this book.
The Rebel was so much better than the first book, as evidenced by completing this book. This was fast-paced and had enough sinister that I was expecting out of a mafia romance. It's not perfect in my opinion, for one, I didn't like the romance all that much. It may be that I'm just way too picky and have extremely high expectations when it comes to mafia romance, but I didn't enjoy the romance aspect of this book as much as others did.
To be honest, I think you can also start with this book if you end up not liking the first installment (don't give up, there's too much intrigue and political power play that you wouldn't want to miss out on). The Rebel still allows you to get a sense of the Kingmakers and the family ties and background surrounding these characters. I didn't feel lost and I liked the Kingmakers atmosphere and history just the same, although I realized that the author is more invested in the world-building than the actual romance.
I was originally going to rate this a 3-3.5 star read, but then I hit that 70%, and I had to stop myself from crying because -- Ozzy. From there, the plot picked up more speed and intrigue that I was hanging onto every word, I felt alive while reading the last 30% and I've been more invested in these characters.
My favorite out of everyone will have to be Cat. With The Heir, I wasn't sold on the multiple POVs, I have yet to read a romance novel that uses that approach and I don't think it worked well. For this book though, it worked perfectly. And in the end, I realized Cat's my favorite character so far -- she's strong-willed though almost always underestimated and she's loyal. I can't wait to see her grow throughout the rest of the series.
This may not be the best mafia book out there but there's something special about this series, and now I understand why a lot of people are fans of the Kingmakers series. I wouldn't go as far as to consider myself one of the biggest fans but it definitely left an impression on me.
I got until chapter 8 in The Heir, but it was boring. Initially, I didn't mind the slow pace and the information overload (as expected in the first book of a series), but I got a sense of the romance and I am not comfortable reading through it. Plus, I am not fond of Leo Gallo, he was a bit too immature for my taste. Anyway, all that out of the way, let's move on to my thoughts for this book.
The Rebel was so much better than the first book, as evidenced by completing this book. This was fast-paced and had enough sinister that I was expecting out of a mafia romance. It's not perfect in my opinion, for one, I didn't like the romance all that much. It may be that I'm just way too picky and have extremely high expectations when it comes to mafia romance, but I didn't enjoy the romance aspect of this book as much as others did.
To be honest, I think you can also start with this book if you end up not liking the first installment (don't give up, there's too much intrigue and political power play that you wouldn't want to miss out on). The Rebel still allows you to get a sense of the Kingmakers and the family ties and background surrounding these characters. I didn't feel lost and I liked the Kingmakers atmosphere and history just the same, although I realized that the author is more invested in the world-building than the actual romance.
I was originally going to rate this a 3-3.5 star read, but then I hit that 70%, and I had to stop myself from crying because -- Ozzy. From there, the plot picked up more speed and intrigue that I was hanging onto every word, I felt alive while reading the last 30% and I've been more invested in these characters.
My favorite out of everyone will have to be Cat. With The Heir, I wasn't sold on the multiple POVs, I have yet to read a romance novel that uses that approach and I don't think it worked well. For this book though, it worked perfectly.
Spoiler
I enjoyed experiencing the Kingmakers lifestyle through Cat's eyes.This may not be the best mafia book out there but there's something special about this series, and now I understand why a lot of people are fans of the Kingmakers series. I wouldn't go as far as to consider myself one of the biggest fans but it definitely left an impression on me.