Dark! I'm intrigued enough to want to read about the supporting characters. I wasn't bored at all but did gloss over some of the sadistic sex scenes. There are a LOT at first. I did hate that Una was so "badass" in the beginning but then totally became like all the other women in the family. Another issue was the fact Cillian said they had to be protected from this person wanting to kill all of them. The bodyguard would drive Una places then wait in the car for her! Cillian went to the car and left Una to take a phone call at the halfway house. Just lots of little things that made me go hmmmm. ( )

This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review.

Book Evaluation:
Plot: 🎞️🎞️🎞️🎞️
World Building:🌎🌎🌎🌎
Cover:📔📔📔📔
Hero: 🦸🦸🏻🦸🏻🦸🏻
Heroine:🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️
Intimacy Level: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Relationship Building: 💒💒💒💒
Heart & Feels:💞💞💞💞
Witty/Banter/Reaction of Laughter: 😂😂😂😂
Page Turner Level:📖📖📖📖📖
Ending:🧧🧧🧧🧧
Overall View: ✨✨✨✨

First Impressions
Vicious Hearts is the second in the “Dark Hearts” series and I found this installment to be quite interesting. After the first book, I was really curious about Cillian’s book and after seeing a raving review of this one from “The Book Refuge” I was highly intrigued by it especially as it features a psychopath of a hero and an assassin heroine. Even though this setup doesn’t always work out for me, I was still curious about it and I really fell hard for this world in the first book and I was fascinated to see where the author would take this one, especially in seeing a male author portraying their take on a dark romance. While its not a perfect read, it’s a delightfully entertaining one. If you are a fan of mafia romance, then I highly recommend it.

First Line
To Kill monsters, you have to know the darkness.

The Main Protagonists
The Hero: Cillian
Cillian is the head of Irish mafia, and the head of his family. He has psychopathic tendencies and will protect his family at ALL costs. He is an alpha male, highly possessive, and dominant in and out of the bedroom.

The Heroine: Una
An assassin in training, her father is the enemy of the Kildare’s and tried to kill Cillian and his niece. She is determined to save one she loves, even if that means going into the lion’s den to kill her target.

Summary
Una, is being blackmailed, in order to save her twin brother’s life. She would do anything for her brother no matter what. They were trained as kids to be assassins, even though they thought that they had escaped that life, the darkness is now ready to consume her again. And the target that she is given is Cillian, the head of the Irish mafia. What she doesn’t expect is that while on the mission to assassinate Cillian, they form a sexual connection to each other and something deeper forms between them. Even though Cillian is furious, there is something holding him back from killing his prey, he instead wants to discover all of her secrets and own her body and soul. They enter into an agreement of marriage of convenience and it will throw their families off but their relationship forms something more tangible and we see what a love match between a mafia psychopath and a assassin would look like…

What I Loved
Vicious Hearts is an action packed romance that definitely delivers on all fronts. I absolutely had so much fun with this story and most especially these characters. Unlike the first book, this has a whole different type of enemies to lovers element to it. Its apparent that this is what the author prefers to write as the whole series seems to be enemies to lovers, but this one really seemed to work for me. And man their dynamic is so fiery hot. So be prepared for plenty of hot scenes and some BDSM elements. From their first meeting though, chemistry is explosive. I really enjoyed how Jagger Cole writes the more sexual scenes. Definitely knows how to write well done spice. While these scenes are super hot, there is also something more building within the scenes themselves and I found myself being impressed with the careful buildup of this quality within the sexual moments.

The tension between them that is outside of their sexual relationship, makes so much sense. In the first book, we see how evil Una’s father is and in this one we see another side of evil to him that not even his own children were protected from and in fact received it worse as he manipulated them in the worst of ways and because of how they were treated as kids, they both suffered as they matured. The last element to this story that I expected was to see a marriage of convenience but honestly it ended up working even if Cillian’s family wasn’t completely supportive of it. It made sense that they would come to this agreement with each other.

What really made this couple really work for me in the end though was seeing how they each had darkness they had to battle. There are black in each of their hearts, and neither of their individual upbringings were positive and both carry deep scars and this is where a marriage and even a emotional intimacy between them really makes sense. They understand each other in a way that they could never be understood by those closest to them. I really admired the way in which Jagger Cole was able to build upon this element and when these two fight for each other…its pretty kick ass!

And the ENDING….we have to talk about this ending haha This is what made me a Cillian stan forever! This hero is WILD and crazy especially when those he loves is in danger. And what he is willing to do to protect them, well he literally is a psychopath and the manner in which he goes about it was hilarious, and intense. He gets creative and has to battle the villain in only the ways this villain can be battled with dark intent and crazy maneuverings. But it works and his family remained safe. Poor God of War is all I am going to say haha

What I Struggled With
Now this is NOT a perfect book. I wish it was, but this author just hasn’t reached five star status for me. Now these books aren’t bad or anything. In fact I absolutely have a crazy fun time with them. But there was just something missing to keep it from getting a higher rating. Its really long and I do wish that there was a bit more softer intimate moments between our couple. Even in a super angsty read I still need those vulnerable moments between a couple, and only saw a fraction of it.

Overall View
Vicious Hearts is a powerfully engaging read that will keep you in tenderhooks from beginning to end. It’s a tale of darkness, of the forbidden and of connecting two dark damaged souls that when brought together is a force of nature.

Favorite Quote(s)
“This might all be for show,” he growls, his hand cupping my cheek as the other arm circles my back. “And you might have fucking stabbed me, and there might be an expiration date to all this.” I tremble as green fire ignites behind his eyes. “But I will never let anything or anyone hurt you.”

“I might be broken, Una….” The words rasp in my ear as I lose myself in him, feeling him utterly take control, claiming every part of me. “But I’ve never felt more fixed than when I’m with you.”

Two black hearts. Two broken black pieces, glued back together with gold.

She makes the chaos in my head…” I shrug. “Slightly less chaotic. That thing in me—the violence. It’s quieter with her.

It means I want to find the dark, black, parts of you and rip them out,” I rasp. “It means I want to expose those needs you have that you’re so ashamed of that you keep them hidden away, and inflict them upon you until you’re mine.

Book Details (also in my shelves)
Sub Genre: Dark Suspense Romance
Character Type: Alpha Male, Mafia, Assassin-Female, Psychopath
Themes: Family Connections, Danger, BDSM, Praise Kink, Dirty Talkin, Kick Ass Scenes
Tropes: Blackmail, Fake Relationship, Marriage of Convenience, Enemies to Lovers, May to December(Age Gap).

Book Perspective
Duo POV

Recommendation For Reading Order
Yes! You definitely want to read this series in order.

Steam/Spice Explanations

Simmering cup of tea---soft warm touches and light intimacy
Warmin' by the fire- a medium level of sexual tension, a balance of sexual and emotional intimacy, lighter on the details in the sexual moments.
Steamin' up the room -the sexual content is more explicit in the language and tone, heavier amount of sexual scenes.
Blazing fire to the building-The prime focus is the sex scenes, scorching hot, and could burn one. Less focus on the emotional intimacy to the relationship. ( )