Reviews with content warning for Murder - Stolen Heir

2.5⭐️ 3🌶️

Mafia dark romance
Beauty and the beast retelling
Enemies to lovers
Professional ballerina
Opposites attract
“Touch her and die”

The writing is really stilted int he beginning. Maybe it’s the dual first person POV. And it’s needlessly repetitive. Something said in chapter 2 is almost verbatim in chapter 6.

The monotonous replay of a specific scene in the other POV in first person isn’t interesting, it’s boring.

The characters are under developed. There is such potential, but their character arcs are rushed and their relationship arc hardly goes beyond Stockholm syndrome. Their on page interactions are very few, making their relationship seem very immature. There is very little on page tension because they hardly ever interact.

But it was a quick and easy read.

Thank you NetGalley and Bloom Books/Sourcebooks for an Advanced Reader Copy of the ebook in return for an honest review.

Content Warnings

carla20's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Content Warnings

a_libra_library's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

boomwormbrittany's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Stolen Heir is the second book in the Brutal Birthright series. This book follows Nessa, the youngest Griffin child who is kidnapped by another mafia boss, Mikolaj, who is bent on revenge against her family. However, as they start to become closer, it's harder to keep her captive.
I really loved this book. It gave me a darker Beauty and the Beast vibes and I loved that. I thought the writing was so well done. I love Sophie Lark's writing because it's so easy to fall into. I always find myself flying through her books when I am reading because it is so accessible and addicting.
I really loved Miko and Nessa as characters. I thought that they were really interesting and distinct from one another. I really loved that Nessa was a dancer and that she was very focused on her dancing. I thought Miko was really interesting to read from as well. He had a very rough start to it and the beginning of this had me heartbroken for him.
The reason this book got a four and a half stars was because the relationship between Miko and Nessa seemed to have developed really quickly without them being around each other as much as I expected. However, it was acknowledged in this book and I appreciated seeing the way Sophie Lark brought them together.
I would say if you want a very accessible and well written mafia romance, definitely pick up this series.

Content Warnings

elisabethsbookshelf's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Mikolaj is so sexy, I can’t even talk about it. Nessa is perfect.
I loved the sweet & innocent vs. bad boy vibes in this🥹

Content Warnings

darkclouds's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Wasted potential really.

Miko's character was much more compulsive and for the most part, I could bear the leads for this story. What Sophie Lark couldn't sell me on was the immediate empathy between them two following ONE dinner and a dance. We went from Nessa being frightened, to a forced dinner playing dress up and dancing like Beauty and the Beast (which this story tried so hard to reimagine) to suddenly placing niceties and an odd shared compassion for one another.

It did not flow. At all.

We knew the Stockholm Syndrome vibes was already toeing the line but there was barely any development for them to have reached an understanding after 2/3 interactions. Also Nessa being SO SMART that she could speak Polish that fluent after reading translated books of her favourite children books? Being receptive when it comes to learning choreography in dance is NOT the same as adeptly learning a whole new language. Especially one so difficult.

A whole lot was happening and yet nothing at all. Because it's just narrated to us without actually showing us what's happening. So the whole book went on Nessa being pampered. Miko stalking her on CCTV. Lot of food and scenes with bonding with the Polish speaking maid whom Nessa easily understood. Intelligence you guys. Remember?

We went from lowkey slow burn to instalove in moments I don't even know how that was possible.

It was a messy wrap up but it was a degree better than the first story that's for sure.

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