I picked up this book in the hopes of using it for Books and Lala’s Storygraph 2025 reading challenge. This review will go over both Part One and Part Two, with no spoilers. Please check the trigger warnings for this series including but not limited to: rape, kidnapping, murder, torture, cnc, dub con, pet play, knife play. 

I’m learning there are very specific things that I like, or that work for me, in mafia romances. I want the raw, underground, feral vibes that come with having a constant target on your back just for being part of your family. I want the forbidden romances that blossom and are threatened at every turn. I crave the danger and violence, mixed elegantly with moments of tenderness, care, and devotion to one another. And I obviously want hot, passionate, kinky sex. 

While this duet had some of these elements it definitely didn’t satisfy all of my mafia romance cravings. We meet our FMC as she is hiding out from her baby daddy in her four year olds pediatrician's office. I loved the set up for this novel, and the way we were introduced to all of the main love interests. This story is a why choose, eventual polycule, romance with many differing dynamics at play. 

I thought the first book in this duet was the strongest. The characters each had very distinct voices in their chapters, and it’s always entertaining watching characters interacting in new ways for the first time. Our FMC Sofia is a mafia princess who has been used for her sex appeal and had it thrown back in her face. She’s survived domestic abuse from her baby daddy and kept that information from her family, who would prefer she marry him now that she’s ‘tainted goods’. 

Our three MMCs are Nick, Dante, and Lorenzo. Nick is a former mafia son turned pediatrician. He left the life after his first kill at 18. Dante is a scary mother fucker from Sicily who ends up in New York, determined to use any means necessary to get what was stolen from him. Lorenzo is Sofia’s father’s closest soldier besides his own son, and has pined after Sofia their entire lives. 

Each man brings their own dynamic to their relationship with Sofia as well, who previously had led a very vanilla sex life. This is probably one part of the books I had the biggest problem with. Characters, in general, are just so confused all the time about what they’re feeling and what it means. This is not a book for someone who is curious about how poly relationships and multiple dynamics might work. Nick was probably the closest to a character with good and safe Dom/sub representation, while Dante exhibited Master/pet dynamics that were borderline unsafe, and Lorenzo had no idea what dynamics were and said some pretty fucked up things along the way because of his ignorance. 

This story had an underlying plot that should have felt more engaging, but moved so slowly. I was honestly bored through most of the second book. The only reason I wasn’t bored in the first book was because of the newness of the characters and their interactions together. The novel was very character driven, but this didn’t work either because the characters were just confused the whole time. There was no clear direction, and by the time we got to the second book there were no clear or distinct character voices. I often had no idea whose chapter I was in anymore as everyone started sounding exactly the same. 

This duet had a really encouraging start. I thought it would shape up nicely in the second book and become a series I could easily recommend to mafia dark romance enthusiasts. Unfortunately this series fell flat. While I can understand that confusion may play a role in new poly relationships, the lack of communication for the entirety of the story leaves me to believe this isn’t great representation, and not something I would recommend to someone looking for a kink positive, poly positive story. I can tell it was trying to be those things, and somehow it missed the mark for me personally. I also don’t think there was a decent balance between mafia antics and interpersonal relationship time. I’m sad this wasn’t a win, but I’m another step closer to knowing what I do and don’t want from these types of romances. So that’s a win for me overall.