And listen, I'm a dancer, I love reading books where dancing is included. But this was so stupid that it did not work for me.

One more moment of Riona stan behaviour: "“You wouldn’t shoot your Uncle . . . ” he says, his yellowed teeth bared in a stiff rictus of a smile. “I absolutely would,” I say. I pull the trigger, shooting him right between the eyes." Author’s additional notes: “This was the first romance novel I ever wrote. It’s a loose modern adaptation of my all-time favorite romance “Persuasion” by Jane Austen. I identify with the heroine’s inability to ever stop longing for her first and only love. I later gender-swapped this concept for my mafia novel “Bloody Heart”.” Now with all of that being said, I don’t think the point of this was to get me interested in Dean.. but yet here I stand. very much. interested. in. Dean. I don’t agree w any of the choices he made (of course) But I feel like his character has a lot of growing up to do, and many mistakes to own up to & I’m really intrigued in seeing how he finds himself in his book. I've read spoiled heroines and I've read hellions who act first and think later. The problem here is Aida had zero depth outside of that loud crass mouth of hers. She's loud, rude, obnoxious, childish and self-absorbed. Everyone is a "punk ass bitch" to her and an attitude fitted for a teenager to go with it. She's the spoiled baby sister of the Galos who is supposed to come off like rough and tumble I guess tomboy girl but it doesn't really translate that way. She came off more lazy and spoiled who doesn't like to be told what to do. I love tomboy heroines who give as good as they get but this was not it. I wanted to strangle this little demon. This is clearly a hate to love romance but all Aida and Callum do is snipe and threaten each other which is no surprise and I'm sure there is more to come including "hot angry sex" but I don't care. They are both insufferable assholes. I want to read about characters who I want to root for, not immature childish idiots who think poisoning people as revenge is funny or stealing stuff on a whim cause they are bored. The hero Callum for his part was weak. He's a 30 year old man who lives at home running for the Aldermen position for his District but the way he acts and his dialogue didn't really ring impressive or manly to me. He's supposed to be 10 years older than Aida but it really didn't come off that way. No 30 year old guy says he wears suits to "look mature". 🙄 Just saying. Like I said, this felt more NA cause everyone talks like they are still in college. But… It was also a love triangle, which I’m not a huge fan of. It gave me a lot of anxiety while reading it… especially because of the circumstance that lead to the triangle. Not gonna lie… I liked the first half of this book much better than the second. I was really into the build up of the story until mid-book and then bam… anxiety hit and I needed to run through the rest cause I was like damn… don’t like where this is going. But it worked out how I wanted it to at the end so it’s fine. I made it through.Anyway this was really fun and enjoyable, I loved how the two families are now and omg I can’t wait for Sebastian and Riona!! Also Dante tho I heard his book has a second chance trope and I don’t like it much but I really like Dante so hopefully it won’t disappoint I have tons more to say, but I will just add a couple of more notes: this book is not "funny", it's better, it's humorous. I can say that for every Sophie Lark book though. That's another thing I love about these books: the tone is so serious, it's not the histrionic and impossible lighthearted fluff that makes me want to punch myself so my eye swells and I can't read. The stories are alive, gripping, the darkness doesn't make me roll my eyes or suffocate me, it is complemented by the beauty of love and the lightness of dry humor and wit. Also - the cameos had me screaming. How can they, without even stealing the scene? Now I can't wait for Sebastian's book. I think I'll just read Nessa's book again sometime, which is Yet Another Irrelevant Point that I want to make: I like how little, I think, we see of Nessa in the books after hers. It's like she and Miko retreated to the eerie, mesmerizing, lovely beauty and the beast atmosphere of the mansion and their own lives.

While I understood Nessa and Miko, I didn’t connect with them. Again, I was baffled how Nessa could change Miko so much. And I just do not see how someone like Nessa (so pure and wholesome) would ever be comfortable with Miko. Maybe I’m reading too much into this. 🤦🏼‍♀️ Of all the evil things I’ve done in my life, and they are legion, I’ve never forced myself on a woman. It’s the one thing I won’t do.” Leo and Anna have been friends their whole lives but them going away together to a faraway school for the mafia has them gradually discovering their friendship has grown into something more. If you’re into the suspenseful, crime-induced romance genre, look no further than Sophie Lark. She is an incredibly prolific author that produced over 20 books in a span of a few years, each one greater than the other.Description: “Starlet” is a Romantic Mystery set in Hollywood’s Golden Age, right at the cusp of the Second World War. It includes both fictional and real-life characters like Clark Gable and Cecil B. DeMille. This standalone novel includes steamy scenes for mature readers only. We all consume movies created there, without really understanding what it means to live and work in that space. I thought it would be fascinating to throw an outsider into that hotbed of glamor and sin, with the imperative of unearthing a secret that everyone else wants to keep buried…”

Author’s additional notes: “Two of my favorite films are “La La Land” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”, because they show how Hollywood can be a world unto itself, with its own history and culture. The kidnapping trope wasn’t done well. The only kidnapping stories I have read were on wattpad so idk if I have any say in this but the kidnapping trope was just not it??? Yk what I mean?? When it comes to dark romance story’s like kidnapping the story has to be written in a specific kind of way to make it enjoyable and not make you feel creeped out or like ��what. Is. Going. On.” Dark romance is after all a side of romance that can go wrong very easily if it’s not written well. This girl has no idea how easy she is to read. She’s never learned to put up walls, to protect herself. She’s as vulnerable as a bed of tulips. I intend to stomp through her garden, ripping the blossoms from the ground one by one." While Holly and Byron say that they are going to just remain friends, it appears that actions speak louder than words here. The two are constantly hooking up and taking the clothes off the other one. It’s clear that they have incredible chemistry together and they probably would be a fantastic couple if things got serious. The dance/str*pping scene was very out of character and just not Nessa. The Nessa she was supposed to be would not do that + the other sxual thing she did during and after that scene with her kidnapper while she was just crying 1 minute ago begging him to not kill her brother- if you haven’t read this you probably don’t understand what I’m talking about, but basically, these scenes were very out of character.The Griffins and the Gallos have been in a battle, to the death, to have the control of the mob underworld of Chicago for generations. Their legacy of violence and death has been a part of their culture for decades. There appears to be no resolution towards peace between the families. For the rest of the book, she was okay. I never really loved her throughout the book but I didn’t hate her either Terrified by the growing tension with her kidnapper, Nessa loses herself in a dark fairytale ballet that parallels their increasingly twisted relationship. Synopsis: “I’ll Protect Her… Whether She Likes It Or Not. Riona Griffin is gorgeous, intelligent, and iron-willed. My perfect woman, except she hates my guts. She thinks she doesn’t need anybody. But she needs me.

This book was so great. The characters, the plot, the suspense, the flow of the story, I loved them all. Holly Summers has all grown up, it seems. She used to be a thing thing that lived across their hall. Now she has bloomed into adulthood and her chosen line of work is a political advisor. As such she is the hottest and most in demand advisor in London and everyone would love to offer her a job.But yeah like...even the first book had stereotypes, but to a lesser degree because only the villain was Polish. Now we have a main character who's Polish, who hates his country, makes constant jabs at it, the Polish mafia is basically described as the worst in brutality (at the start we even see their members raping a girl, but we never saw that with the Italian or Irish ones)... After an incident at school that leaves Anna heartbroken, Dean, Leo's cousin and archenemy swoops in and tries to keep them apart and have Anna all to himself. Riona Griffin is gorgeous, intelligent, and iron-willed. My perfect woman, except she hates my guts.She thinks she doesn’t need anybody. But she needs me.She’s being hunted by an assassin who never misses his mark.I’m going to stay by her side, day and night, keeping her safe. Riona thinks that’s a fate worse than death but I know she’ll learn to love me.If this hitman wants to kill her, he’ll have to go through me first... more I’ll Protect Her… Whether She Likes It Or Not. Bent on revenge, Mikolaj abducts Nessa, holding her captive in his mouldering gothic mansion. As he plots the destruction of everything she holds dear, he finds himself fixated on his little ballerina’s newest dance.