_valorie_'s review
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
-SPOILERS-
What a mess of a series. This seems like it came straight out of wattpad, and don't get me wrong, wattpad was good back in the days, but I'm ready to move on from that lifestyle and actually read published stuff.
The thing that really annoyed me about all of these books was the constant misogyny and weird gender norms. Women have to stay home barefoot and pregnant while the men go out and do the other stuff. Don't even get me started on how all the women love children and knew they wanted to have some ever since they were young.
I also really wanted them to have a daughter instead of a son, and I think the authors' internalised misogyny is really showing here because having a daughter wasn't even really an option. Whenever they were talking about the baby, they always talked about him as a boy, like the idea of having a girl was just disappointing. It pissed me off so much because it's just so weird. If you're not ready to have whatever gender child, you shouldn't be trying to get pregnant in the first place.
The entire plot of the series wasn't even that interesting either, like I could see the plot twist coming from a mile away, and this entire thing seemed to drag. They weren't even trying that hard to find the killer because how have you gone 8 months just lazing around and pregnant and not having done anything. This entire thing of the men wanting to suddenly impregnate Chiara is just so silly to me. It seemed like the author ran out of stuff and just decided to do the pregnancy.
The authors attempt at making Chiara a badass wasn't successful either. If I've been introduced to a character as them being weak, innocent, and vulnerable, then if they suddenly start acting tough, I'm not taking them seriously. Made me want to crawl inside a hole and die of second-hand embarrassment.
The bonus scene at the end with the MM content is weird as hell as well. It feels like fetishism and sexualising gay relationships because nowhere in the entire book was it mentioned that Vinicius and Lorenzo have slept together. If it weren't for the bonus scenes, then I would have never thought they had been together because there were no signs of their relationship whatsoever. If you're going to include a gay relationship, do it properly and actually develop their emotions and not just their dicks like animals or something.
It was a pretty entertaining and quick read, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
What a mess of a series. This seems like it came straight out of wattpad, and don't get me wrong, wattpad was good back in the days, but I'm ready to move on from that lifestyle and actually read published stuff.
The thing that really annoyed me about all of these books was the constant misogyny and weird gender norms. Women have to stay home barefoot and pregnant while the men go out and do the other stuff. Don't even get me started on how all the women love children and knew they wanted to have some ever since they were young.
I also really wanted them to have a daughter instead of a son, and I think the authors' internalised misogyny is really showing here because having a daughter wasn't even really an option. Whenever they were talking about the baby, they always talked about him as a boy, like the idea of having a girl was just disappointing. It pissed me off so much because it's just so weird. If you're not ready to have whatever gender child, you shouldn't be trying to get pregnant in the first place.
The entire plot of the series wasn't even that interesting either, like I could see the plot twist coming from a mile away, and this entire thing seemed to drag. They weren't even trying that hard to find the killer because how have you gone 8 months just lazing around and pregnant and not having done anything. This entire thing of the men wanting to suddenly impregnate Chiara is just so silly to me. It seemed like the author ran out of stuff and just decided to do the pregnancy.
The authors attempt at making Chiara a badass wasn't successful either. If I've been introduced to a character as them being weak, innocent, and vulnerable, then if they suddenly start acting tough, I'm not taking them seriously. Made me want to crawl inside a hole and die of second-hand embarrassment.
The bonus scene at the end with the MM content is weird as hell as well. It feels like fetishism and sexualising gay relationships because nowhere in the entire book was it mentioned that Vinicius and Lorenzo have slept together. If it weren't for the bonus scenes, then I would have never thought they had been together because there were no signs of their relationship whatsoever. If you're going to include a gay relationship, do it properly and actually develop their emotions and not just their dicks like animals or something.
It was a pretty entertaining and quick read, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
guardyourhonor's review
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Series review: It's a mafia reverse harem and it delivers on that front. Chiara felt like an actual person, and I particularly enjoyed that she makes a lot of decisions that are bad but understandable and not just idiotic and brainless. She's neither dumb as bricks nor flawlessly perfect. The men are all distinct from each other rather than cardboard cutouts and I'd go as far as to say they're distinct even among the general world of mafia romance Heroes. The set up of the first book is worth it (though I could quibble with a couple of character changes from start to end) but I found the 2nd and 3rd more satisfying.
kfriend's review
4.0
Overall really enjoyed this series. A yummy harem, A LOT of spice, amazing OTT protective heroes, and a heroine that comes into her own. The mafia and mystery played nicely overall.
What I loved the most about the finale was how we see these characters solidifying as a team, individual relationships and the harem. I also loved Chiara's evolution. She went from an 18-old innocent princess with a bit of a bratty streak to being a fierce woman capable of being with all these men AND to stand up to her enemies. And each man has their own value add to her, each brings something new to the table. Personally I'm a Cassius girl- I love our big, burly giant d'ed Italian who protects hard and loves harder. But truthfully each are part of her journey, each supporting her in a unique way. Plus, I love how breeding happy the kinks got in this book. That competition- I can't even with this alphas. And certainly Lilith knows how to deliver the STEAM. I don't know how she kept one-upping herself with every seen in the whole trilogy, but the spice got better and better, and it was delicious.
I was a bit disappointed in a few things. Firstly, the pace in this finale is really slow and the suspense/action pretty slight. It was a lot of sitting around and waiting, a lot of casual run ins with danger that didnt' translate to any actual danger, and the overall finale while entertaining felt a bit anticlimactic when all was said and done. But, the killer twist certainly worked (though hard to not see coming, we have so few secondary characters that there were little suspects) but how it all played out was a great dynamic.
WHen it is all said and I done,I also felt like two guys really outshone the other. Cassius and Lorenzo had more clear personalities, more authentic chemistry with our heroine, and more meaningful emotional growth and moments throughout the story. At times the others felt like secondary harem, less memorable and less developed. I did love the harem as a whole though, and the two more central guys are my favs and super delicious, but I did feel at the end that two guys didn't quite have the same "moments" that the other two did.
All in all, a fun and super sexy trilogy and a great overall read.
What I loved the most about the finale was how we see these characters solidifying as a team, individual relationships and the harem. I also loved Chiara's evolution. She went from an 18-old innocent princess with a bit of a bratty streak to being a fierce woman capable of being with all these men AND to stand up to her enemies. And each man has their own value add to her, each brings something new to the table. Personally I'm a Cassius girl- I love our big, burly giant d'ed Italian who protects hard and loves harder. But truthfully each are part of her journey, each supporting her in a unique way. Plus, I love how breeding happy the kinks got in this book. That competition- I can't even with this alphas. And certainly Lilith knows how to deliver the STEAM. I don't know how she kept one-upping herself with every seen in the whole trilogy, but the spice got better and better, and it was delicious.
I was a bit disappointed in a few things. Firstly, the pace in this finale is really slow and the suspense/action pretty slight. It was a lot of sitting around and waiting, a lot of casual run ins with danger that didnt' translate to any actual danger, and the overall finale while entertaining felt a bit anticlimactic when all was said and done. But, the killer twist certainly worked (though hard to not see coming, we have so few secondary characters that there were little suspects) but how it all played out was a great dynamic.
WHen it is all said and I done,I also felt like two guys really outshone the other. Cassius and Lorenzo had more clear personalities, more authentic chemistry with our heroine, and more meaningful emotional growth and moments throughout the story. At times the others felt like secondary harem, less memorable and less developed. I did love the harem as a whole though, and the two more central guys are my favs and super delicious, but I did feel at the end that two guys didn't quite have the same "moments" that the other two did.
All in all, a fun and super sexy trilogy and a great overall read.
csaraiva310's review
challenging
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
hunterslibrary's review against another edition
4.0
4 / 5 stars
This is my favourite book in the series and Lorenzo is my favourite of Chiara’s men. I enjoyed getting more of the boy’s backstories from the bonus chapter and how the plans for them sharing Chiara were put into place. I also enjoyed watching Chiara become the queen she was meant to be. Her growth from the first books to the last was so cool to see. Questions were finally answered in this book, and I was happy to see the characters finally getting some form of closure for everything they went through.
I do wish the book was a bit longer, perhaps, an extended epilogue, where we got to see more of them experiencing their lives as parents and seeing them be a family. Apart from that I really enjoyed the conclusion to this series.
This is my favourite book in the series and Lorenzo is my favourite of Chiara’s men. I enjoyed getting more of the boy’s backstories from the bonus chapter and how the plans for them sharing Chiara were put into place. I also enjoyed watching Chiara become the queen she was meant to be. Her growth from the first books to the last was so cool to see. Questions were finally answered in this book, and I was happy to see the characters finally getting some form of closure for everything they went through.
I do wish the book was a bit longer, perhaps, an extended epilogue, where we got to see more of them experiencing their lives as parents and seeing them be a family. Apart from that I really enjoyed the conclusion to this series.
booksabrewin's review against another edition
3.0
After escaping the would-be Black Orchid Murderer Chiara has decided that she is done being a mouse and she is done letting her men lead for her. She is the Princess of Coldlake and it is time that she steps into that role. She lays some smack down and her men support her finding her strength while she tries to find their sisters' killer and how the killer ties into her father. Chiara will have vengeance for both her mother and her lovers' sisters if it is the last thing she does.
Meanwhile, after meeting Salvatore's new nephew, the men have a new obstacle in their way: their unrelenting baby fever. What better time to start a family than when you have bounties on your heads, a serial killer on the loose, and a evil mayor bent on remind Chiara that she is not outside of his reach? It sounds like stellar time to the boys and Chiara has never been one to tell them no.
Between family making and vengeance taking will Chiara and her men make it out in one piece?
This book was kind of all over the place where the others were very concise. The mystery of the killer is still undiscovered and while there are a few more clues to be gathered in this book the culmination of how they discovered the killer's identity had nothing to do with any of their work for intel and was just an absolute fluke. There were a lot of things in this installment that just seemed scattered. It was kind of like the author knew where she wanted to take the book but if she dove directly towards that ultimate resolution the book wouldn't reach the length that she wanted. So everything else was just fluff added in to kind pad the story.
The sex scenes were definitely even spicer than before, which is saying something since they were all pretty hot to begin with. They were still bountiful but it kinda felt like the author had done all the kinks and taboo things between the couples so there wasn't much else to tantalize the readers. Don't get me wrong, still hot stuff, but it felt like almost a cold shower next to the other two books.
I did like the resolution to the series. I like that there was a mix of violent judgment as well as legal judgment so that everyone got the ending they wanted. I think it was a good ending to the series and the world of Chiara and her boys.
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smithrachaelynn's review
5.0
Incredible. I am officially obsessed with this series. This book was so beautiful I loved getting to see them settled in their relationship and take steps forward. We also get a resolution to the serial killer situation. Overall, an amazing story with wonderful romance and spice. It really had everything.