calling this book a romance is a bit of a stretch.
i just don't think this book knew what it wanted to be. there was STRONG insta-lust and a decent bitcalling this book a romance is a bit of a stretch.
i just don't think this book knew what it wanted to be. there was STRONG insta-lust and a decent bit of smut. and a lot of attempts at plot. and a lot of possessiveness induced by our heroine having an attacker that the hero wants to protect her from.
i think this would have been more entertaining as a smutty novella, cutting down on 100 pages and ditching the assault plot line. i get that mafia romances tend to veer into dark romance territory but reading multiple on page descriptions of assault and then a few pages later our heroine jumping into bed with the hero just didn't feel well handled. the beginning of this book was delightfully silly and i was looking forward to a breezy mafia read with an alpha hero but once it turned weirdly dark it just wasn't for me.
might be for you if you're really on the hunt for a possessive alpha. those seem to be harder to come by these days....more
boooooo. the writing of this and the set up were actually surprisingly solid but when our main dude starts throwing punches at people who don't deservboooooo. the writing of this and the set up were actually surprisingly solid but when our main dude starts throwing punches at people who don't deserve it and threatening to assault the heroine i had to tap out. i don't think i'm getting more sensitive in my old age but i've been having a rough go of it when looking for new dark romances. yeet....more
romances should never be more than 350 pages and i will die on this hill
(view spoiler)[also what's the fucking point of having 3 POVs when it's not poromances should never be more than 350 pages and i will die on this hill
(view spoiler)[also what's the fucking point of having 3 POVs when it's not polyamorous... i literally did not care about the other dude who obviously wasn't the love interest (hide spoiler)]...more
going to need to sit with this one for a little bit but if you liked the leo/claire danes romeo and juliet... i think you'll like thisgoing to need to sit with this one for a little bit but if you liked the leo/claire danes romeo and juliet... i think you'll like this...more
yeah i dunno, i usually sum up my thoughts in bold but i can't think of a good tag line for this book. first thoughts though: much bettyeetus deletus
yeah i dunno, i usually sum up my thoughts in bold but i can't think of a good tag line for this book. first thoughts though: much better than dirty headlines (which is a book i wish i could forget forever).
i think i'm starting to realize a pattern with lj's books and tbh once i start seeing patterns it's all downhill from there. 98% of lj's heroes are dickheads. i mean BEYOND dickheads. and you always fall for them which is fine and dandy. except that it's really hard to believe in their love. she does this thing at like 80-90% into the book where the hero comes to this epiphany that he loves the heroine and it's always done the same way. like 2 pages of him waxing poetic on how he's treated her like garbage but he can't live without her.
and that was barely ok the first time it showed up in her books, but it's getting hard to sympathize with after 3+ times. get creative, lady.
what didn't bug me
you're going to see a lot of reviews mentioning other woman/other man drama. and there is. but it didn't really bother me. neither character truly cheats on the other. if anything it just shows how juvenile the two main characters are.
beyond that, if the plot interests you at all i would say give this a try. it's certainly not a bad book it's just a little repetitive with the lack of trust and endless cycle of trying to one up each other. the chemistry is definitely there between the main characters tho.
trigger warning though for: (view spoiler)[dubious consent when heroine is losing her virginity. it was mildly disturbing. (hide spoiler)]...more
i'm not sure why i'm so surprised but i really fucking loved this book. it continued to story of our funny, fucked [image]
what a CONCLUSION, my dudes
i'm not sure why i'm so surprised but i really fucking loved this book. it continued to story of our funny, fucked up boi lorenzo & his headstrong lady morgan. in this stunning conclusion morgan is finally able to escape her past for good, with the help of her depth perception-less man. it was... cute.
i adored the ending, i loved the scenes with morgan's kid, and i liked that there wasn't any stupid ass declaration of love in this. and that morgan realized she didn't need a man but wanted one? pretty feminist, much like the first book.
the only reason i'm docking a star is because i felt that the abuse depicted was... maybe not extremely graphic but definitely made my stomach turn. i think the story would have had the same impact had it not included that. but like, also hats off to the author for making me feel actual anxiety when reading this. she really did create a great bad guy....more
a mafia romance with a wise crackin disabled hero & a bad ass sex positive sex worker? in the year of our lord 2018? you bet your ass
okay so this stora mafia romance with a wise crackin disabled hero & a bad ass sex positive sex worker? in the year of our lord 2018? you bet your ass
okay so this story follows morgan and lorenzo. lorenzo is a fun loving, mafia- boss- killing sociopath with a narrative unlike any i've ever read. i genuinely laughed out loud more than once, which i was not expecting for something marketed as a mafia romance. morgan is a 21 year old sex worker who has a run in with lorenzo when she pickpockets him at a bar. from there we are taken on a character driven journey with some nice plot twists as the icing on the cake.
what genuinely surprised me about this was the complete lack of slut shaming, problematic misogyny, or 'alpha' maleness. dare i say this book was even sort of feminist? morgan is not ashamed of her profession and doesn't want any sympathy for it. there's an especially awesome scene that she has with lorenzo where she talks about rape culture and the lack of respect for sex workers that i found fcking bad ass and so so rare in romance, especially a mafia romance.
other things i liked: - the narrative style (alternates between lorenzo, morgan, and an unnamed character) - the attention to characterization and inner dialogue that made the romance convincing!!! (seriously why do all mafia romances try to come up with an elaborate shoot-em-up plot, no one cares) - lorenzo's humor (whoops i already said that didn't i)
the only thing i didn't love were the sex scenes. a tad too plentiful since the banter was off the charts entertaining to me. it says a lot about an author's chemistry building when i'm like "skip the good stuff let me listen to them talk."
if you kind of roll your eyes at mafia romances or usually avoid darker stuff i'd recommend trying this out. a genuine stand out in this genre, and a whole lot of fun....more
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