MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
I do love love love to get my paws on a good Mafia romance and, even though this was a new-to-me author and narration duo, I thought it too tempting to resist. A forced fake marriage to Donatella Moretti would link the powerful Rossi and Moretti Crime families together and was Cristian Moretti’s plan to make him the richest and most powerful Italian Don. For years Mafia Princess Donatella Rossi was presumed dead by everyone – but she owes her life to her late mother who had secretly hidden her out of Assassin’s sight for over a decade. Now however, rather than keeping undercover and out of sight for her survival, oh no.. no.. no.. not this reckless pink haired superwoman.. no, she’s now THE Ella Rose who makes successful daring world travel videos of her swimming with sharks, skydiving and an endless variety of extreme sports that’s earned her plenty of adoring fans. So Cristian knows where she is now, he has a dastardly plan to jab and grab her.. and then he’s going to preach and teach her how to be a good Sub wife to his Dom alpha wicked sexy ways and lay down his rules, expectations and demands for their loveless marriage. Yeah folks, it went down well ?.
However (and unfortunately), the storyline became just too unbelievable because Ella was some kind of Superwoman who escaped a Mafia cell, had absolutely everybody loving her, had Cristian drooling and disciplining the hell out of her with BDSM tools and tactics, had hardened South African Mercenaries wrapped around her finger.. and had all of Cristian’s men there too. She also added some pretty nifty clauses to a Contract that was drawn up by her dying Rossi Don Grandfather and Cristian and fooled not one but BOTH Rossi and Moretti Mafia Dons. Her feisty personality, her endless strengths, abilities and her boundless skills at absolutely e-v-e-r-y-thing outsmarted and outmanoeuvred ALL the legions of underworld men, She outsmarted the Rossi Board of Directors too and set up Charities giving $trillions of the Rossi empire away. And she tames and re-educates a Dom Don with her skills in the boardroom.. and the bedroom!!
H-h-hot? it most definitely smoked and steamed from the start. Realistic? no, not even close.. it became too far-fetched. Dark?.. it started off that way with kidnapping, punishments, pleasures and multiple ‘Os’ and there were bullets and bloodshed but it got stupid. A likeable cast of characters? “meh” didn’t like any of them much. Seismic chemistry? didn’t feel it – just sex.. and way more than any meaningful conversations. Enjoyable? well it was ok with lots of verbal push n pull angst, some suspense and a few chills. Narration? the dual POV narration was quite good and worth three stars.
Worth a credit? If I hadn’t of listened to some really great Mafia books recently, I’d may be saying yes.. but FOR ME this book sadly didn’t deliver a believable storyline.. don’t get me wrong, I go with the flow, I don’t mind insta and I know these stories are adult fairytales, but even so its a no. However, this is just my own personal opinion – you may love it.