Always a twist you didn't see coming. Shantel is a talented writer. I look forward to the rest of the series. ( )

Luca and Haven were college sweethearts who were very passionate and loved each other and even knowing Luca’s family business Haven loved him no matter what. Luca breaks her heart and it shatters her world and even years later she is never truly healed from that pain, so when she is forced into a marriage with him and he is back to stay this time her anger is what she clings to. All she ever wanted was a life with Luca and now that she is getting that it’s not like she ever planned. She thinks this cruel Luca who does his father’s bidding only wants this marriage with her for more power, not love. Luca knows he has his work cut out for him when it comes to winning Haven back, but if he has to show her what they still have he can be cruel to her. His cruelty is to show her that she still does feel the same way about him and their future and because he is the mafia. As they try to navigate this new situation someone out there doesn’t want this marriage to happen and will do everything they can to stop it. Will Luca be able to keep Haven safe and will Haven be able to trust Luca and let him in again? This story was action packed and steamy. Luca could come off as a heartless jerk but when we get to see some of his vulnerable Sid she only shares with Haven it makes everything perfect. i am very curious to read more about the Kings and their Kingdom because they seem like the perfect alpha jerks who we love. ( )

The writing was really good but the misunderstandings were OTT stupid. A simple conversation could have prevented all the issues between Luca/Haven. Haven kept running off to the bad guys (when they called her cell phone) without her guards or telling Luca! TSTL doesn't begin to describe her actions. She has this hot, mafia husband who would kill or maim to keep her safe but she just quietly runs off to the bad guy. UGH! ( )

4.6 stars

When I saw this amazing cover and discovered that one of my favorite authors was going to be writing a story in my favorite sub-genre, Mafia, I just about lost my mind. One of my favorite things about this author is her give no effs about whether she is going to push someone too far with what she writes in regards to violence or bloodshed. This book kept that going. It was Mafia at its finest. There was no sugarcoating what this life is about. It is dangerous, it is violent, it is criminal, and it is intense. I won't lie, there were a few scenes that were pretty dang gruesome but it added authenticity

Luca and Haven were everything that shouldn't work but did. A Mafia son and a sweet college girl. Luca was the epitome of what I picture as being a part of the mafia. He knew that the only way out was via death. However, there was more to him than meets the eye. Haven loves Luca and knows about his family but cannot seem to stay away until she is forced to do so. I liked that the author played on this and didn't shy away about showing to what lengths Luca will go for Haven. Not everything is black or white and this relationship showed it. Their chemistry is OFF the charts. With both Luca and Haven, this author has created yet another power couple in which the man is Alpha and decadent and the woman is not afraid to stand up and fight for herself.

The author created a story that had a fantastic plausible plot, suspense, betrayals, secrets, and also intrigue galore. The secondary characters were FANTASTIC. I need more of them as soon as possible. I wanted a few parts expanded more in regards to a few people but I am assuming that will come out later on down the line. ( )

I really did not enjoy this. This is probably actually 1.5 stars but there is so much that I didn't like that I don't want to round up.

As I wrote this in my kindle notes, I like dark romances and I don't mind stories where the main guy would actually be a bad person if he really existed. However, if that is the kind of story we're going for, I still need the main guy to respect and genuinely care for his love interest. It was clear to me that Luca had no respect for Haven. Some of the things he said to her were incredibly misogynistic and mean-spirited (please see my kindle highlights for some examples and more of my thoughts I had while reading). He would talk about how he wanted to have a marriage that was different from his parents and how he didn't want to treat Haven like a toy and then he would tell her all about how she was meant for breeding.

Haven frankly, was not any less annoying. She was stuck up and whiny. She was trapped in a bad situation and I do think Luca was the worse party in the relationship but goodness gracious was she frustrating. She acted like a petulant child even though she was 24. She was supposed to be the one I could sympathize with in this story because she was the one that got sold into marriage but she made it so hard to feel bad for her.

Really this is one of those relationships that I talk about in a lot of my reviews where the relationship is so unhealthy at the beginning that I can't see it ever being healthy. I think that is somewhat to be expected with a dark romance but I think there is a line between sexy, semi-unhealthy relationships where both parties end up improving each other and a genuinely dark, unsexy, unhealthy relationship where both parties give nothing to the other and end up actually hurting each other.

I am not opposed to mafia romances and I would probably read more in the future but this book was not for me which is really unfortunate. ( )