unfortunately i did not enjoy this novel. from the writing to the pacing to even the characters, this was a hard read (i am so very sorry). i ended up kinda just skimming through after actually reading about 20%. it just felt like someone wanted to write a “dark smutty mafia romance with an enemies to lovers trope and lots & lots of cussing to up the steam” and didn’t really plan it thoroughly.
i’m going to be brutally blunt. writing is terrible if i’m being honest. like you can tell this is an early work by the author. pacing is all over the place as well — they have sex during their second encounter?? and he’s crazy obsessive over her hella fast like i understand it i mean we all love a morally grey obsessive man but holy shit this was like “i seen her once and my cock got so hard i want her so bad nobody else should even be able to look at her” type timing and i am not with it! and then with anya, she knew this man was out to get her yet after the second time coming face to face with him she was all like “holy fuck i want this man so bad i can’t stop thinking about him” ??? i mean i guess that’s what good dick does to you… but c’mon girl he literally wanted you dead… honestly i would have excused this if the writing was better, with a larger range of vocabulary; i say it’s not very good because of the lack thereof. reading this made me feel like a middle schooler wrote it. everything was super direct and even the dabs of sarcasm here and there did not amuse me. as for the characters; everyone was just super bland. now i don’t mind the supports being boring but both the mcs??? anya had no personality of her own, no development no nothing, her past & trauma were never really talked about (which i think is super important with a plot like this), and nico was thirsting over the girl - seemingly - every paragraph. it would have made more sense had they been fuck buddies and nothing more. i’m really sad about this because i had such high hopes for this book. however i really do see the potential and i have no doubt all the critique i have on this book can be improved. overall just seemed like inexperienced writing which is okay!
one star for bad writing, weird pacing, and unlikeable characters ★
mafia / enemies to lovers / insta-lust / heiress fl / mafia leader ml / complicated family