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A review by bibilly
When Heroes Fall by Giana Darling
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
much like stories about monarchies and rich families in general, concept-wise, mafia romances have everything I like: that irresistible mix of ambition and tradition, power and danger, drama and intrigue. the problem is that none of them seem to know what subtlety or yearning is. always too much bragging and not enough action, a lot of telling-not-showing. ok, so you torture men for a living, but what makes you different from the rest? your Cambridge degree as a rich white boy? your otherworldly beauty that has to be stated by a whole paragraph as soon as the female mc lays eyes on you? you have to give me something real, otherwise it's fucking boring. and it has to be substantial, not empty words repeated again and again.
I can't say When Heroes Fall didn't try: a traumatized icy queen of a lawyer and a big man full of candor that doesn't take any bullshit do set a nice stage if you're into romance at all. on top of that, I related to some of the heroine's insecurities; and her intense desire to conceive a child didn't make me close the book right away, which definitely says something.
however, our icy queen's worldview was too naive for a 27-year-old lawyer in New York that had run away from the Italian mafia and her narcissistic dad. her backstory wasn't convincing, probably bc it relies on other books by the author. also, despite my lust for tv shows about lawyers (I've almost finished watching The Partner Track on Netflix just bc it had lawyers and after that I binge-watched The Recruit for finding Noah Centineo's character weirdly compelling, and if that doesn't prove I'm not THAT picky I don't know what does), this plotline along with the reason for the mighty capo being charged for murder was uninteresting and sometimes even hard for me to follow.
my biggest problem with the hero was that his dark underworld didn't amaze me one bit: even his name - Dante Salvatore - sounded borderline ridiculous and all his men and enemies felt more like name tags than characters. as for the romance, it was too instalovey for this setting and premise. I was more turned on by the possibility of Elena claiming her spot next to Dante and becoming a mafia boss herself than the smut, but we don't get to see said culmination in this book, so I felt like I finished reading it for nothing.
bottom line? the cover has more personality than the actual book (a problem shared with Welcome to the Dark Side, a title by this author I've dnf'ed).
I can't say When Heroes Fall didn't try: a traumatized icy queen of a lawyer and a big man full of candor that doesn't take any bullshit do set a nice stage if you're into romance at all. on top of that, I related to some of the heroine's insecurities; and her intense desire to conceive a child didn't make me close the book right away, which definitely says something.
however, our icy queen's worldview was too naive for a 27-year-old lawyer in New York that had run away from the Italian mafia and her narcissistic dad. her backstory wasn't convincing, probably bc it relies on other books by the author. also, despite my lust for tv shows about lawyers (I've almost finished watching The Partner Track on Netflix just bc it had lawyers and after that I binge-watched The Recruit for finding Noah Centineo's character weirdly compelling, and if that doesn't prove I'm not THAT picky I don't know what does), this plotline along with the reason for the mighty capo being charged for murder was uninteresting and sometimes even hard for me to follow.
my biggest problem with the hero was that his dark underworld didn't amaze me one bit: even his name - Dante Salvatore - sounded borderline ridiculous and all his men and enemies felt more like name tags than characters. as for the romance, it was too instalovey for this setting and premise. I was more turned on by the possibility of Elena claiming her spot next to Dante and becoming a mafia boss herself than the smut, but we don't get to see said culmination in this book, so I felt like I finished reading it for nothing.
bottom line? the cover has more personality than the actual book (a problem shared with Welcome to the Dark Side, a title by this author I've dnf'ed).