Brutal Prince by Sophie Lark

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The last book I read for the Mafia Romance Readathon was Brutal Prince by Sophie Lark. This is the first book in her Brutal Birthright series. I mentioned this in both the tbr and wrap up for the readathon, but Jen is hosting a live interview with Sophie Lark later this month. I wanted to finally get around to trying her books after some great reviews by various booktubers and bookstagrammers. This covered the new author, Italian mob, arranged marriage, Irish mafia and title with ruthless or brutal prompts. I also used this for the part of series prompt for Summer of Swoon.

I really enjoyed this read. We meet Aida, our heroine. She's a little crazy and constantly getting into trouble. She is the daughter of an Italian mafia family. They are having family dinner and they all see fireworks going off. It's for the birthday party of Nessa, the daughter of the head of the Irish mafia. Aida and her brothers decide to crash the party, mainly to sneak a peek at their house, partake in the buffet and watch Demi Lovato perform. Things quickly take a turn and as Aida is exploring their library, she hides from someone coming in. Nessa's older brother Callum has entered the library for a bit of peace and quiet. Aida wants to leave and tries to cause a diversion. Thinking that it'd just smoke a little bit, she pushes one of the curtains near the fireplace. Instead of a little spark, the curtain catches in a flash and things escalate very quickly. She accidentally steals Callum's grandfather's watch when she runs. 

Things take a drastic turn, with her younger brother Sebastian losing his basketball career, and Aida and Callum end up in an arraigned marriage. I really enjoyed the writing and the set up of the different mafia families in Chicago. Once Callum and Aida stopped constantly trying to one-up and antagonize each other I really got into the story. It just felt too immature at times between them, especially in the beginning. The steam was great and I really enjoyed the banter between them after they started really connecting. When we were in Aida's POV and there was some issues she was dealing with, I do wish that they were addressed more. She's been dealing with not having a mother/mother-figure, being seen as lesser as a woman in mafia dealings and also now feeling alone since being thrust into living with what was days before the enemy without any support. I did like the evolution of the relationship between them and how the hate-to-love line was eventually crossed. I'm not usually a big fan of the enemies-to-lovers trope, but I feel like it was well done here. I just wanted more communication between the two about why they were acting out the way they were once they hit that point or some sort of reconciliation about their actions. It didn't need to be too much, but I wanted Callum to realize that she wasn't just acting out to act out. There were good and valid reasons why. 

I absolutely loved the writing style and am very excited to read more from Sophie. I'll be getting through as much as I can before the live show (linked above). I've also heard from those that have read her books that each one has a different feel, so if one doesn't hit right to try to keep reading. I'm super happy that I enjoyed it after hearing such great reviews about her books. This series is definitely getting added to my "want to own" list even though I've only read the first book so far.

Have you read Brutal Prince?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Brutal Prince, Sophie Lark, 4-stars, 1 day, eBook, 376 pages, published in 2020