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eshurricane's review
5.0
Dark, spicy, classic Biel traumance!
I wasn’t sure what I was getting into with this one, because I don’t read a lot of mafia romance. But I knew even if it wasn’t my flavour that I’d still enjoy the flawed effed-up characters that Lauren Biel is so good at weaving. And I wasn’t disappointed!
Enzo and Gia have heaps of baggage, and they make the delicious mistake of intertwining that baggage and causing more trouble for each other than they expected. It’s a dark, twisted tale, peppered with glorious spice and complex emotions, and I can’t wait for the next book!
Mind your triggers on this one, for there are many.
I wasn’t sure what I was getting into with this one, because I don’t read a lot of mafia romance. But I knew even if it wasn’t my flavour that I’d still enjoy the flawed effed-up characters that Lauren Biel is so good at weaving. And I wasn’t disappointed!
Enzo and Gia have heaps of baggage, and they make the delicious mistake of intertwining that baggage and causing more trouble for each other than they expected. It’s a dark, twisted tale, peppered with glorious spice and complex emotions, and I can’t wait for the next book!
Mind your triggers on this one, for there are many.
library_of_joanne's review
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
tanya_ac's review
4.0
“we let ourselves become a wildfire, ripping apart everything in our path. with her, I never felt burned”❤️
laur_mere's review
dark
medium-paced
4.0
🖤🖤🖤🖤 🌶️🌶️
“”How about this? You give me that pretty mouth of yours, and I’ll show you what h*ll tastes like. Then you can decide if you want to walk through fire with me.”
“He didn’t care if I wanted it or not. He only cared that it was what he wanted. I was his to take. And I f**king want him to take it.”
These two are toxic as h*ll, but damn if I didn’t enjoy their chaos! They’re both manipulative and dangerous, hate f**king their way into each other’s hearts and leaving a trail of bodies in their wake. I am excited to see what havoc they reek in book 2 🖤🔥
“”How about this? You give me that pretty mouth of yours, and I’ll show you what h*ll tastes like. Then you can decide if you want to walk through fire with me.”
“He didn’t care if I wanted it or not. He only cared that it was what he wanted. I was his to take. And I f**king want him to take it.”
These two are toxic as h*ll, but damn if I didn’t enjoy their chaos! They’re both manipulative and dangerous, hate f**king their way into each other’s hearts and leaving a trail of bodies in their wake. I am excited to see what havoc they reek in book 2 🖤🔥
brittanylee0302's review
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Enzo & Gia are my favorite Mafia couple ever! This book was so good! Usually Mafia romances aren't really relatable (for obvious reasons) but Enzo & Gia were both very relatable & I loved their dynamic. I am running to read the next book!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, and Murder
Minor: Animal cruelty, Drug use, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and War
witchling_books's review
4.0
He’s forgotten who he’s dealing with. Who my family is. He may have won this battle, but I’ll win the war.
they were young and dumb, now Gia can’t escape, she’s now stuck with the one man she should have never been with. Crime families who have been rivals since the beginning, now asking to be kidnapped to try to get herself out, but how sorely she’s misjudged the entire situation.
Enzo has been just as smitten since a one night stand at 18, but this time, he’s got no choice but to keep her.
they were young and dumb, now Gia can’t escape, she’s now stuck with the one man she should have never been with. Crime families who have been rivals since the beginning, now asking to be kidnapped to try to get herself out, but how sorely she’s misjudged the entire situation.
Enzo has been just as smitten since a one night stand at 18, but this time, he’s got no choice but to keep her.
hellolieselore's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
stucknbooks14's review
5.0
(I received an ARC for this book)
This book ends on a kinda cliffhanger! It’s definitely open ended!
(there's a second book coming to complete the duet!)
Trigger Warnings include, but are not limited to:
this is a dark mafia romance that includes a kidnapping/hostage situation, torture, edging as punishment, dubcon, sexual assault, attempted rape, rape
(many of these acts in detail on page)
I give five stars to books I know I’ll reread. When reading them once just isn’t enough. And while this dark (very dark and twisted) book should be good enough after one read, there’s something about it that I wouldn’t mind revisiting. There’s something in these characters that I feel like I could gain more from if I were to visit them again. See things differently with a better understanding. But I’m sure you can imagine from the trigger warnings, it’s a heavy read. So even with a reread, I know it will affect me. Enzo Vigione and Giovanna Silvani are the next generation of prominent mafia families. Families with blood between them. So when Gia walks into his family’s home to request to be purposely abducted for ransom, you know nothing is going to be good. And nothing is going to go as planned. Enzo and Gia aren’t strangers. Sure, their families are connected by bad blood, but there is more than that. When Enzo becomes Gia’s babysitter, everything changes. Everything. Her family played dirty through compassion, but Enzo’s family was so much worse. And she was reminded of that; a reminder she needed. A reminder Enzo needed. They are both casualties of wars. Wars of multiple magnitudes. When you look up ‘toxic’ in the dictionary, you’ll see Glinda pointing at a picture of Enzo and Gia with a caption that says “there they are, and there they’ll stay”. Very rarely does a mafia romance focus on the next generation of family leaders, so this was a refreshing change of scenery. There was no romanticizing or celebrating any of the terrible things any of the characters have done. This was a story about murderers…and it was written as such. I COULD include some “romantic” tidbits to reel you into reading this…but you need to experience those first hand…you’ll need the rare goodness as breathers. I WILL say that Enzo has NO right crawling onto my book boyfriend list has if he doesn’t have a neon red flag above his head like a sim character!
My Favorite Quotes:
• “We’re in this now. Balls deep in it.”
• “It ain’t your mind I wanna sink into.”
• “Besides, I’d want you awake to feel every inch of me.”
• “Sometimes you gotta go toe to toe with a lioness and hope she doesn’t bite ya.”
• “You ain’t ever been my enemy.”
• “You give me that pretty mouth of yours, and I’ll show you what hell tastes like. Then you can decide if you want to walk through fire with me.”
• “You’re the worst drug, and I just want to overdose on you.”
• “I just wanted to make sure you knew you were mine. The only thing that matters is that you are f!cking mine.”
• “I hate you right now, but you're mine. Give me a little time and I’ll remind you of that.”
• “You can’t touch yourself because I’ll be the only one making you come.”
• “You only need to remember that you’re mine.”
• “I will make every f!cking day we're here feel better than the last.”
10/10 Dirty Birdy
9/10 Enemies to Lovers
8/10 Forced Proximity
10/10 Mafia Romance
10/10 Series
This is my review for Closer to Sin
This book ends on a kinda cliffhanger! It’s definitely open ended!
(there's a second book coming to complete the duet!)
Trigger Warnings include, but are not limited to:
this is a dark mafia romance that includes a kidnapping/hostage situation, torture, edging as punishment, dubcon, sexual assault, attempted rape, rape
(many of these acts in detail on page)
I give five stars to books I know I’ll reread. When reading them once just isn’t enough. And while this dark (very dark and twisted) book should be good enough after one read, there’s something about it that I wouldn’t mind revisiting. There’s something in these characters that I feel like I could gain more from if I were to visit them again. See things differently with a better understanding. But I’m sure you can imagine from the trigger warnings, it’s a heavy read. So even with a reread, I know it will affect me. Enzo Vigione and Giovanna Silvani are the next generation of prominent mafia families. Families with blood between them. So when Gia walks into his family’s home to request to be purposely abducted for ransom, you know nothing is going to be good. And nothing is going to go as planned. Enzo and Gia aren’t strangers. Sure, their families are connected by bad blood, but there is more than that. When Enzo becomes Gia’s babysitter, everything changes. Everything. Her family played dirty through compassion, but Enzo’s family was so much worse. And she was reminded of that; a reminder she needed. A reminder Enzo needed. They are both casualties of wars. Wars of multiple magnitudes. When you look up ‘toxic’ in the dictionary, you’ll see Glinda pointing at a picture of Enzo and Gia with a caption that says “there they are, and there they’ll stay”. Very rarely does a mafia romance focus on the next generation of family leaders, so this was a refreshing change of scenery. There was no romanticizing or celebrating any of the terrible things any of the characters have done. This was a story about murderers…and it was written as such. I COULD include some “romantic” tidbits to reel you into reading this…but you need to experience those first hand…you’ll need the rare goodness as breathers. I WILL say that Enzo has NO right crawling onto my book boyfriend list has if he doesn’t have a neon red flag above his head like a sim character!
My Favorite Quotes:
• “We’re in this now. Balls deep in it.”
• “It ain’t your mind I wanna sink into.”
• “Besides, I’d want you awake to feel every inch of me.”
• “Sometimes you gotta go toe to toe with a lioness and hope she doesn’t bite ya.”
• “You ain’t ever been my enemy.”
• “You give me that pretty mouth of yours, and I’ll show you what hell tastes like. Then you can decide if you want to walk through fire with me.”
• “You’re the worst drug, and I just want to overdose on you.”
• “I just wanted to make sure you knew you were mine. The only thing that matters is that you are f!cking mine.”
• “I hate you right now, but you're mine. Give me a little time and I’ll remind you of that.”
• “You can’t touch yourself because I’ll be the only one making you come.”
• “You only need to remember that you’re mine.”
• “I will make every f!cking day we're here feel better than the last.”
10/10 Dirty Birdy
9/10 Enemies to Lovers
8/10 Forced Proximity
10/10 Mafia Romance
10/10 Series
This is my review for Closer to Sin