The Spy by Sophie Lark

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We have finally come to the end. The final book in Sophie Lark's Kingmakers series is The Spy. This book also kind of wraps up her connected series Brutal Birthright and Underworld. I have mentioned this before, but Sophie Lark is doing a live show on Jenn's (The Book Refuge) channel on Saturday. The first little bit will be just an author hang out, but then there will be spoiler and the discussion will really get into the storyline of The Spy and her series. She and her husband mentioned in the previous live show that the best reading order is to do Brutal Birthright, the few couple books of Underworld until you get through Snow, and then to do the Kingmakers. That is what I did and it really was a great reading experience. Update: I applied this to the prompt of two word title for the 3rd board of Summer of Swoon.

So for this review, I don't want to be too spoilery since it's a huge deal on who the spy is, but I'll try to stick with things are fairly obvious or mentioned in the blurb. There are hints throughout the first three books. I mentioned in my review of the The Bully that I had two options I was waffling between on who the spy was. After reading The Bully, I was 90-10 on my two options. I can happily announce, the Spy is who I though he was. However, why I thought he was the spy and his real persona was a surprise. I want to talk about things, but I don't want to spoil them. 

Okay, so Nix is our heroine. She is the only daughter of the Malina mafia. We say dealings with them in The Rebel and her father is known to ignore the normal graces between mafiosos. Like honor and you don't mess with children and women when it's the man's fault and similar things. It may seem odd, but they do have their own code of ethics and you usually see worse punishments towards those that break that unwritten code. Nix has been pretty sheltered, knowing enough of her father's business to not be blind about what he's doing, but also not fully aware of his reputation and actions he's taken. She is quickly ostracized at Kingmakers and realizes that her father has rubbed pretty much ruined relationships with every other family. She makes friends with Sabrina, Nero and Camille's sassy daughter. She kind of gets dragged into the friend group we've been following, but things are still tense. 

This might be a little spoilery, but the spy is going to get close to Nix. He wants revenge on something her father did and they are going to use her. A plan isn't completely formed at the beginning of the book, but he knows that he's going to have to get close to her and then betray the trust that gets formed. Of course things escalate between them and they both quickly find a connection unlike any other. I mean, this is a romance.

Why only the four stars? I loved this book, but I did want more from the romance. I understand and liked that Sophie wrapped up so many loose ends and really tied up all three series. It was one of the best final books in a series I've ever read and I feel comfortable with things ending. Even a lot of side characters get mentions of finding an hea. The only one is Kade! Why didn't Kade get an hea? There was a lot and it makes sense that the romance couldn't be forefront the entire time. I don't know, I just was left feeling a little wanting on their connection. I feel like there were more instances where we were told about them connecting instead of shown. 

Now, I want to get into a couple spoilers, so if you don't want any, please skip to the final paragraph! One thing I really didn't like was Nix's father at the end. Even when he's dying, he's still trying to choke out his daughter. I guess it helped show that she really didn't have the connection with him that she thought, but he already tried to kill her moments before. How about he tells her really loved her or something in the final moments instead of trying to choke her. I don't know, it just really bothered me that in his last moment he didn't leave anything positive for his daughter to reminisce on. I don't care how bad he was, he was still her dad. Gah! I'm tearing up just thinking about it. Which is another issue I had. We find out that in the prologue/first chapter that the spy's father was attacked by Nix's father. We have met his father before, and I lost it crying. I had to set the book down because I was so connected to him and didn't want to see him die. Now, since this is my spoiler section, he's not actually dead. He's being kept prisoner for ransom. However, it took way too long for my liking to find out he's actually not dead as the reader. Thinking back there were little clues, but I was so emotionally distraught that I missed them. That's part of why this book took me a little longer to get through. I've been struggling emotionally anyway, but add in the Olympics on top of all that it took me longer than usual.

Spoilers are over. I really did enjoy this book and overall really enjoyed Sophie Lark's writing and series. I can't believe that she's still a fairly newer author, only really publishing the past couple years. I definitely want to get through her few standalones and finish the Underworld series. I'm excited to see what she'll write next, it seems like she has a lot of ideas. If you haven't read Sophie Lark yet, I really encourage you try her out. She is mafia and dark, but I feel like she's not quite as dark as others and feels easier to read. I think she's a great starting option! Also, if you want to talk about The Spy in a more spoiler way, feel free to message me!

Have you read The Spy?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: The Spy, Sophie Lark, 4-stars, 3 days, eBook, 518 pages, published in 2021

The Bully by Sophie Lark

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After finishing The Rebel, I had to immediately jump into the third book in Sophie Lark's Kingmakers series, The Bully. This Saturday, August 7th, Sophie Lark is going to be doing a life show to wrap up the Kingmakers series on Jen's (The Book Refuge) channel. I'm excited for the live and really enjoyed the previous live show. Update: I applied this to the prompt of indie published for the 3rd board of Summer of Swoon.

If you've been following my reviews from the previous two books in the series, our main characters aren't anyone new. Our hero is the 3rd pov in The Heir, Dean. Our heroine is Cat, the 3rd pov and Zoe's little sister from The Rebel. Things happen in The Rebel and Cat makes a big decision to change Zoe's life. Dean finds out about this and uses his leverage of keeping it a secret in exchange for her being his slave the following school year. Cat reluctantly agrees. As we start the new school year, Dean quickly exerts his power over Cat. It quickly turns sexual and emotional between them.

I loved the redemption arc of Dean. I know that a lot of people's enjoyment in bully romances relies on the redemption and I feel like this is a really good one. Dean finds himself so drawn to Cat and opening up in ways he has with nobody. Is this book perfect, no. Does it have some kink I don't really enjoy, yes. The overall story between them just makes everything feel epic between them. I didn't really enjoy the conflict that separated them and wish that they were a little bit more communicative. I had to keep reminding myself though that they are young and in college. It just sometimes feel more than a new adult series because their mafia life just brings about more maturity. 

This isn't too much of a review, but there are a lot of spoilers I don't want to get into. I think if I were to pick at this point I would put The Rebel above The Bully in my favorites of the series so far. Oh, and our 3rd pov in this book is titled "The Spy." We starting getting more clues for who it might be and going into the spy I have someone that I'm really guessing it is. I have secondary option as well, but I don't think it's him after this book. I feel like my first choice is the correct one, but we'll see. I can't wait to jump into The Spy!

Have you read the The Bully?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: The Bully, Sophie Lark, 5-stars, 0 days, eBook, 372 pages, published in 2021

The Rebel by Sophie Lark

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Moving right along, the second book in Sophie Lark's Kingmakers series is The Rebel. In case you weren't already aware, the fourth and final book in the series came out last week. To celebrate and discuss, Sophie will be doing another live show on Jenn's (The Book Refuge) channel on August 7th. They did mention there will be spoilers, so I wanted to binge the series before then. I was also able to apply The Rebel to my Summer of Swoon board 2 covering the prompt diverse main character.

Our intrepid and charming hero is Miles, the eldest son of Callum and Aida (from Brutal Prince). We actually got to see him as a baby at the end of the series. His heroine is Zoe, a dorm-mate and friend of Anna's from The Heir. Miles is a year ahead of his cousins and Zoe. He's well known as the school smuggler and charms most everybody. He's saving up money to start his own music/celebrity management company and loves doing things behind the scenes and setting up others to succeed. Zoe, as we found out earlier, is betrothed to a student at the school named Rocco. He's known to be a sadistic psychopath and gets a lot of enjoyment and amusement out of Zoe's disdain for him. After an event over the summer, he decides to manipulate Zoe's younger sister's future and she gets switched from going to an art college to joining Zoe at college. Her name is Cat and is very timid. Zoe is really going through on the marriage to protect her younger sister. Now that she's also at Kingmakers, things start to change. Once Miles realizes that Zoe is his soulmate, all bets are off. 

Before I get too much into my review, I do want to mention that the third pov in this book is Cat. I didn't mind her as the third pov at all and really enjoyed seeing a different perspective of the school. Also you get to learn more about the spies since she was placed in that house. I really liked how almost slow-burn feeling Zoe and Miles's relationship was. Another thing I really liked was how their outward personalities differed so much, yet they were really similar deep down and saw past all of the pomp. It was also really fun to see pieces of Aida and Callum in Miles. I don't want to give too much away, but I enjoyed this book a lot more. While Rocco was a complete dick and I hated his scenes, I knew this was a romance. Trusting in Sophie and knowing that there had to be a hea made it easier to get through the tougher scenes. He just was so good at both physically and emotionally hurting and triggering Zoe.

I really liked this a lot more, but it also didn't have a trope that was super hard for me to get behind. While I liked the big competition scenes in the first book, I did wish that it wasn't taking up so much time in this one, especially with neither of them being captain. It was still fun though. I'm super intrigued by the set up for The Bully and can't wait to see how Cat evolves. I also want to see how Dean changes and falls for Cat. This binge is certainly helping keep my reading slump at bay which is nice as well.

Have you read The Rebel?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: The Rebel, Sophie Lark, 5-stars, 2 days, eBook, 526 pages, published in 2021

The Heir by Sophie Lark

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The time has come to start Sophie Lark's Kingmakers series. This is her newest series and the fourth book came out earlier this week. To celebrate the end of her series, Sophie and her husband will be doing a live show on Jenn's (The Book Refuge) channel. There was a mention there will be spoilers, so I wanted to get them binged before then. The Heir (formerly The Freshman) is the first book in the series. I was able to apply this read to the Summer of Swoon board 2 prompt booksta recommendation.

If you haven't seen my previous reviews of Sophie's books or weren't aware of her, Kingmakers is a spin-off of her Brutal Birthright series and also connected to her Underworld series. Our hero is Leo, Sebastian and Yelena's only son (from Heavy Crown). Our heroine is Anna, the eldest daughter of Nessa and Miko (from Stolen Heir). They've grown up together and are best friends. Instead of going to a traditional college, they both are accepted to Kingmakers. It's a secretive and secluded school to train mafia children. There are four "houses," the heirs, accountants, enforcers and spies. Everyone has a little bit of overlap, but there are also house exclusive trainings. There is also a big event every year where each grade competes to win. Leo wants to not only be the freshman team captain, but also be the first freshman team win.

This book was a struggle for me. I had known going in that it was going to be a love triangle since Sophie Lark mentioned it in a previous live show she did on Jenn's channel. I do not have the patience for love triangles most of the time and just get so frustrated with a lot of the situations. While Anna never really quite fell for Dean, she was open and vulnerable with him. Where I really struggled though was partly with Dean and also the situations they were put in. I didn't like that Dean orchestrated Leo getting drugged and that it wasn't addressed until the end of the book. I also didn't like that there was any communication between Leo and Anna about their relationship changing until almost 70% of the way through. On top the misunderstanding and small time jump, it just was something I didn't enjoy. Then we kind of fast forward through time and don't see much of Anna and Leo being together outside of the competition or a couple sexy times. I did think it was sweet that they both ended up being virgins and were almost subconsciously saving themselves for each other.

I think the big crux for me was I wanted more romance between Leo and Anna. Actually, to see it instead of it being montaged until the end of the school year. I also had a lot of issues with Dean. He was so blind in his hatred towards Leo. It was kind of mentioned once, but I wish that Anna would've pushed Dean more about just even recognizing that there are two sides to the story. I do know that the third book in the series is Dean's book and he's intentionally set up to be the big bully moving forward. I don't know, it just felt like too much at times and made me question if he really was as smart and he was made out to be. While I understood his jealousy of Leo and how drastically their lives differed from the same starting point, but I didn't like his constant belief that Leo didn't deserve any of it. That's another thing to mention, this series has a third pov. This book was Dean. I don't think I mentioned it before, but Dean is Leo's cousin and the son of Yelena's twin brother Adrian.

Even though this book was really a 3.5-star read for me (that I rounded up to 4), I was still engaged and really enjoy this mafia universe Sophie has created. I'm certainly intrigued to read the next book and am wondering who the other couples will be outside of knowing Dean is the third book. I've heard spoiler free reviews of her last book that says she wrapped everything up really well, even for our side characters. I hope we get to see, even if it's in the background, Ares get his hea. I really liked him a lot and want him to be happy. I just connected so much with him, especially with his introverted nature. I'm also loving the Harry Potter and Hogwarts inspiration for the school. It's done so well!

Have you read The Heir?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: The Heir, Sophie Lark, 4-stars, eBook, 0 days, 509 pages, published in 2021.

Snow by Sophie Lark

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Moving along in Sophie Lark's Underworld series, book 2 is Snow. As I mentioned in my previous review of Ivan, Sophie is going to be on Jenn's (The Book Refuge) channel on August 7th to celebrate the end of her Kingmakers series. During the previous live show, she and Mr. Lark mentioned that it was best to read her Brutal Birthright series, then the Underworld until Snow before going to the Kingmakers. Thankfully Snow is book 2 and I don't have more to cram in before the 7th. I was also able to apply this to the prompt indie romance for the Summer of Swoon board 2.

Snow is an underground boxer/fighter in St. Petersburg. He's working on improving high enough in the rankings to join a tournament and earn good money. He'd like to eventually move to America to fight professionally. Our heroine is Sasha. She just graduated from medical school and arrives home to find her family destitute after their restaurant started failing and her father now owes a lot of money to one of the local Bratva families. In exchange for what's owed, she offers her service as a private doctor. Snow meets Sasha and one of the fights, run by the same mafioso.

I loved this book. Sasha and Snow were both so sweet on each other. I loved how they both were able to really see the other person and not be drawn into each other's appearances. I loved how protective Snow was to Sasha, but it ended up being Sasha protecting herself and family when it came down to it. We do get a little cameo of Ivan and Sloane which was cute, but I almost wish that there was more done with them. It was almost laid out that Sloane was going to do or say something, but it never happened. This also was a little more insta-love, but it felt more believable here for me. I love Snow and Sasha and am intrigued how Snow will fit into the Kingmakers series. 

There was a lot more brutality in this and I was really uncomfortable reading Sasha's pov, especially when being paraded in front of the other bratva boss. I haven't read too many fighter romances though, so it was really interesting to see behind the scenes a little bit. I've heard good things about quite a few mma/fighter romances lately, and this certainly helped move them up my tbr. 

I can't wait to jump over the Kingmakers and hopefully it lives up to the hype. I'm a little nervous since it's really been blowing up on bookstagram and booktube lately, especially with the release of the final book earlier this week. I do plan to come back and finish the Underworld series as well as the few standalones Sophie's written. It just won't be as pressing for me to binge it.

Have you read Snow?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Snow, Sophie Lark, 5-stars, 1 day, eBook, 312 pages, published in 2020

Ivan by Sophie Lark

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After feeling a little ragey from Overruled and still fighting off a book slump, I wanted something that I knew I would enjoy. I checked through my tbr, but decided to jump back to Sophie Lark. She is having another live show with Jenn (The Book Refuge) on August 7th for her Kingmakers series. However, she and Mr. Lark mentioned in the previous live show that it would be best to read the Brutal Birthright series, the Underworld series until Snow and then go to the Kingmakers. I previously binged the Brutal Birthright series and decided to jump into the Underworld. The first book is Ivan, previously published as Emerald when the series was called Colors of Crime. I applied this read to the alternate/updated cover for the Summer of Swoon board 2.

We meet Sloane and assassin for hire in St. Petersburg, Russia. She's on a job undercover as a stripper to take down a politician. After finishing her job, she usually moves along. This time, a big contract comes through and she decides to go for it. Her new target is Ivan, head of his family. He captures Sloane as she breaks in to kill him and ends up keeping her prisoner. They both feel a pull to each other and she quickly becomes more than just his captive. 

I really loved this book. If I were to be super strict, it'd be more like a 4.5-stars, but I don't think it's quite there to round up to 5 for me. It felt quick, especially their trust in each other. Now don't get me wrong, I can get on board with insta-love and have liked a lot of it. This definitely felt more insta-lust to me. It was set up nicely, but I think you can tell it's an earlier book for Sophie. I certainly enjoyed how bad-ass that Sloane was and how she was willing to work with Ivan. She made it clear though that it would be with and not for him.

I really enjoyed this book and it definitely helped stave off my book slump for another day. We'll see how the next book fairs and I'm excited to get to the next book, Snow. Then I can jump to her Kingmakers series that almost everyone I follow that has read it absolutely loves. I do have a couple book club books I'd like to read by the end of the month. With me trying not to get slumpy and the Olympics happening, I'm not sure it's going to happen. I am definitely intrigued by this series and am excited to meet Snow (it's also his name). 

Have you read Ivan?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Ivan, Sophie Lark, 4-stars, 0 days, eBook, 243 pages, published in 2020

Heavy Crown by Sophie Lark

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The final book in Sophie Lark's Brutal Birthright series is Heavy Crown. My goal was to finish the series before the live interview Jenn (The Book Refuge) had on June 19th. I ended up not quite finishing, with 20% left before the show. It was a great interview and discussion that made me love Sophie Lark even more. If you like her books or even just like learning about authors that are in the indie publishing space, definitely check it out! Also, I was able to apply this to the prompts favorite author for the Summer of Swoon and date auction for the Ripped Bodice Summer Bingo.

Heavy Crown focuses on our remaining Gallo brother, Sebastian. He is walking home after a goodbye dinner with Dante (he and Simone are moving to France) and comes across a lady getting kidnapped. He ends up saving her and then accompanying her to her cousin's party. They have an instant connection and he also learns she is the daughter of the new Bratva boss in Chicago. There is a lot of twists and turns and we get more mafia in this book than the others. Yelena has always been seen as an object to be used by her father and her only positive relationship since her mother's passing is with her twin Adrian.

There were some things I wasn't too fond of in this book. It was really good though and I liked being able to see Sebastian find his place in the family and really find himself. I kind of got the feeling beforehand, but we do see him step up as the new head of the Italian Mob. I did not like Dante at all in this book. It felt like he was abandoning his family, which really rubbed me wrong. Family is a big part of the mafia romance novels, both blood and found. With the Gallos and Griffins (Irish mafia) moving to more legitimate businesses, I kind of wanted Dante to maybe split his time between the two locations. It just felt weird to me. Then he had to the gall to call Sebastian out. It just really rubbed me wrong.

The other thing that really bothered me was how Sebastian reacted after the wedding. It took to long to come to the realization that Yelena wasn't made aware of the plans. I know he was grieving, but it also seemed odd it took him a few days to question her for information. Then it felt a little too quick for them to be back at peace. I would've liked for there to be more discussion between them once everything was over. I was also disappointed that Adrian and Yelena were never able to reconnect and he allowed their father to tear them apart. I understand that it helps set up the spin-off, but I just wanted some sort of bridge between them, even if it was just a "in the far future" kind of thing.

Overall I really loved the series and while the final book wasn't quite what I wanted, it still ended well. I did enjoy the epilogue and the lead in to the Kingmakers series. I'm excited to jump right in. During the live Mr. Lark, Sophie's husband, recommended to read the first two books in the Kingmakers, go back and read the Underworld series, then jump back into the Kingmakers. I might read in that order, or I might just read Underworld before jumping in to Kingmakers. I am planning on getting to them soon either way, but it might not be until next month since I have several book club books to read as well as the Historical Romance Readathon later this month. I'd like to get caught up in time for the release of The Spy, the fourth book of Kingmakers. I'm guessing it'll be out sometime in July or August, but I didn't see an official release date yet. I'm definitely excited to read more though!

Have you read Heavy Crown?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Heavy Crown, Sophie Lark, 4-stars, 1 day, eBook, 371 pages, published in 2021

Broken Vow by Sophie Lark

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Broken Vow by Sophie Lark is the fifth book in her Brutal Birthright series. I'm hoping to get through at least this series before her live show with Jenn (The Book Refuge) June 19th. After getting teased for this couple at the end of Bloody Heart, I was super excited to move on. I was also able to apply this book to the stable romp prompt for the Ripped Bodice Summer Bingo and small town prompt for Summer of Swoon.

We pick up not too long after Bloody Heart and Riona is working in her office. After a long day at work, she's an attorney, she heads home. She goes to work out in the swimming pool at her condo and is almost drowned. She escapes and calls her brother who also brings in Dante. Dante calls his friend Raylan, a.k.a. Long Shot, whom we met at the end of Bloody Heart. He's tasked to be Riona's bodyguard until they can deal with the hit out on Riona.

This is kind of a reverse of the grump/sunshine trope with Riona being the grump. I wouldn't necessary call Raylan "sunshine," but he's definitely very optimistic and gives off a very laid-back/easy-going vibe. He is a veteran that's currently working in the private sector and was a sniper with Dante. After Riona's building catches fire, he escapes with her to return to his family's horse ranch in Tennessee. I really enjoyed the push and pull between Raylan and Riona. He kind of sees her as a challenge, but once he starts getting glimpses behind her walls, it becomes more than that. I also loved that Riona was also up for the challenge and they were both super competitive. It did go a little overboard a couple times and I wanted a little bit of bend from them. Either swapping who bent or both at the same time. The steam level is pretty high again although a lot of it is the sexual tension between them. I do have to say, I was not a big fan of the riding crop scene. I would've wanted some discussion a little about it. I know if Riona had said something about it Raylan would've stopped, but it just was a little too much "sudden kink" for me. I'm not super into the spanking or whipping, so I was definitely a little squeaked out. Like I said, its probably just me.

That's really the only complaint I have. Otherwise I really liked the book. If I were to be a little more strict, my rating would be more like 4.5-stars. I loved seeing Riona around horses for the first time and her being forced out of her element. It was also fun to see how at ease Raylan was on the ranch. I really enjoyed the other little side stories and want Bo to have her own book (Raylan's younger sister). Maybe a novella? His family was really great too and it was fun to see it contrasted with mafia families. This is a super unique setting for a mafia book and it makes me want Sophie to write some small town and/or cowboy romances now too! I'm a little sad the series is almost over and I only have one more book left. Although that does mean I can start her spin-off series Kingmakers which focuses on the children of this series. I've heard a lot of great things about them and the third book actually just came out on Tuesday (June 15th)! I can't wait to get to them!

Have you read Broken Vow?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Broken Vow, Sophie Lark, 5-stars, 1 day, eBook, 406 pages, published in 2020

Bloody Heart by Sophie Lark

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Continuing my Sophie Lark binge, I read Bloody Heart. This is the fourth book in her Brutal Birthright series. I also applied this book to the saving for summer prompt for Summer of Swoon.

I'm very torn on this book. There were parts I really liked and parts I ended up kind of skimming. It just didn't hit me right. I do have to say though, after completely loving Savage Lover, I knew that the bar was certainly raised for the rest of the books in the series. Bloody Heart is also a second chance romance, which is one of my least favorite tropes. It also has the hidden baby trope. While that is also something that usually bothers me, I'm a little more forgiving when it comes to hiding it because the father is in the mafia.

So a brief rundown. Dante, the eldest Gallo brother, meets our heroine Simone nine years prior. They date for a couple months and fall in love. They are both young but it's such a strong connection formed that they both know that they are each other's person. Simone is the daughter of a diplomat and fairly sheltered. When Dante steals her town car, with her inside gathering herself before a gala, things start to heat up quickly between them. Things happen and family drama ensues and Simone is kind of forced by her parents to leave Dante. She was thinking about going against her parents, but Dante gets injured and shows up to the rendezvous injured and slightly crazed (because he was trying to get to her). Simone ends up leaving and not telling him she's pregnant or in love with him. We time jump back to the present and they end up meeting again as her father and Callum are speaking at the same rally. There's an assassination attempt and Dante is the lead of security for the rally. He takes point and starts his own investigation.

Now, before I get too harsh on the book, I want to go over the parts I did love. First off, Dante is a veteran and it was nice to learn more and see how he's using his skills now. We also learn that he was a sniper in Iraq. I loved the take charge attitude he had during the rally and it was so sexy. Just competence porn all the way. I also loved how despite Simone completely smashed his heart, he knows that it's her and only her. He's resigned himself to not have children or getting married if they can't be together. I also liked the moments showing the friendship between Dante and Callum's sister Riona. I really enjoyed the climax events and getting to see Dante and his friend Raylan do their thing.

Now where I had issues. Maybe this is just me, but it took until 40% in for Dante and Simone to reconnect. I feel like the flashback portion was too long and it left the rest of the book a little rushed for their romance emotionally. There is a lot of hurt and issues on both ends that I would've liked to have been resolved more. Not just banged out. Also, I was not on board with their reconnection scene. It was a little much for me, even though Simone was into it. I think it would've been perfect to do the flashback portion as a novella that ends up with them meeting at the rally. Then this book could pick up there and we would have more space to work on the emotions. Like I said though, second chance romance is harder for me to get behind. I find I'm usually okay with it if the second chance is more that they missed their first chance and never actually dated or got together in the past. Just circled around each other or pined for each other. (A great example of this is Fluffy by Julia Kent.) 

Another thing that bothered me is Simone kept putting off telling Dante about their son until the end. I just wanted her to "man up" and say it. I know she was scared and she was hurt too, but I didn't feel as sorry for her. She's the one that broke up with Dante and ran to London. While Dante says he could've gone after her, I didn't like him trying to put so much of their break up on himself. I didn't like the issues with her parents and wish there was more resolution between them. I did not like that their issues were never dealt with, but just buried. It also felt very odd that they were so adamant that she not raise Henry, but wanted to be grandparents. So most of what bothered me about the book was Simone. Like I mentioned above, there's mentions that she went through depression and all this other stuff, but I wanted more. From what I understand, as someone who has been through depression in the past, it's never really fully "cured." There are things you can do to mitigate and treat it, but it never goes away completely (I know that there are different types; this is just generally). This might be too personal, but as someone that is mostly fine and not dealing with depression symptoms daily, I certainly have down days where it takes everything in me to just get out of bed. There are things that trigger me and can cause me to spiral. Thankfully I've learned how to combat those instances. I just wish that if it was going to be mentioned, that there was actually some representation instead of it feeling more like a character trait. To give Sophie some credit, Simone could've suffered post-partum depression. It just wasn't quite addressed or mentioned what kind. That's were I feel like novella would've been helpful so Simone and Dante could deal with the deeper and darker emotions that was caused by their whirlwind romance and subsequent break up. (Although I'd love to see more representation of post-partum depression in a romance novel.)

Yes the bar was raised by Savage Love, but it was also paired with some tropes I don't like and not getting into the meat of their emotions. I did still enjoy the writing style and will continue reading the series and Sophie Lark for sure. We get a little teaser of Raylan and Riona's book, which is next. I loved Raylan in his few scenes here and can't wait for more. He also fits my young/new adult reading habits as some of my favorite books in late high school and early college where romantic suspenses. My favorites usually had main characters that were former military turned private sector (aka mercenary). I'm definitely planning to read Broken Vow next.

Have you read Bloody Heart?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎 

STATISTICS: Bloody Heart, Sophie Lark, 3-stars, 0 days, eBook, 436 pages, published in 2020

Savage Lover by Sophie Lark

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After finishing my book club book, this past weekend, I immediately jumped back into Sophie Lark! The next book I had to read in her Brutal Birthright series was Savage Lover. This is the third book. I ended up applying this read to the indie prompt for Summer of Swoon and Canadian author prompt for the Romancing Summer Challenge.

I loved this book. This is my favorite Sophie Lark so far and I read it in one sitting and couldn't put it down. We return to the Gallo family, this time focusing on Nero. He's the wild child of the bunch, after Aida, and is helping to plan the next big construction project for their company. He's interested in redoing an area, but it'll take a lot of money to get things going. At the same time as him coming up with plans, he runs into former high school classmate Camille. She works as her dad's auto-shop as the 2nd mechanic. She was also bullied a lot in school, but necessarily by Nero. He's very aloof and definitely plays up his persona.

What really got me with this book is the way that Nero and Camille connected. At one point Nero talks about the walls they both put up emotionally and how nobody has been able to breech either of theirs except each other and how lonely they both are. He's really drawn to her and loves that she smells like his favorite things, car grease/gas, mechanic soap and a touch of vanilla. I really like how they both can't stop thinking of each other after their reconnection. Nero especially was so drawn to Camille and kept trying to convince himself otherwise. While I wouldn't call Camille a wallflower, she is definitely a quieter person and doesn't really do the things a lot of other women do like spend lots of time on hair and make up and have a nice wardrobe. While I myself am not a mechanic, I work as the office assistant to a mechanic shop and my father's a mechanic. I really enjoyed that she was the mechanic but not too much was made about the fact she was a woman in the industry. 

Another fun thing was the plot and Nero's plan to do a bank heist for the money they need. I haven't read a bank heist plot before in mafia that was more mission impossible-esque. I didn't really enjoy the subplot with Officer Schultz, but it was whatever. It kept bringing Camille to places she wouldn't normally go and connecting with Nero, so it did have a place in the story. Also, they were fire together and I couldn't get enough of their chemistry. I don't want to just list everything little thing I loved, but as I said above, this was my absolute favorite so far. There has been a lot of hype and good reviews of Sophie Lark around lately on booktube and bookstagram. I'm so excited that while I did have higher ratings in the first two books, I finally have one that really hit me. If I did 6-star ratings, this would be one. I want to collect her books in paperback and this will probably be the first I buy. While I try not to let other books by an author affect my rating too much, I do think that the last three will probably get a harsher judgement due to how much this book blew me away. I can't wait to continue the series!

Have you read Savage Lover?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Savage Lover, Sophie Lark, 5-stars, 0 days, eBook, 320 pages, published in 2020

Stolen Heir by Sophie Lark

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After reading Brutal Prince for the Mafia Romance Readathon, I knew I wanted to continue in the series. As mentioned in both of those posts, Jenn from The Book Refuge is doing a live show wit Sophie Lark June 19th. The second book in her Brutal Birthright series is Stolen Heir. For my summer reading challenges I applied Stolen Heir to the new/young-adult prompt for the Romancing Summer Challenge and the starts with "S" prompt for the Summer of Swoon.

Stolen Heir starts shortly after Brutal Prince. Miko is the new leader of the Polish mafia in Chicago and wants revenge on the Griffins and Gallos after killing his adoptive father. He creates this elaborate plan that starts with kidnapping Nessa, the youngest Griffin daughter (and sister to Callum). Nessa is the ray of sunshine and seems almost out of place in the Irish mafia. She is just inherently good and kind. She's also training to be a ballerina, although is aware that she will stay as a corps member. She is however starting to get into choreography. 

I absolutely loved Nessa and really felt for her at times. I loved that she was almost timid around others because they judged her on her appearance, but was able to really let go and "be" when she was dancing. This is a captor/captive romance, but it was done so well. Miko almost instantly starts to second-guess himself when he does or says something to Nessa. Partly it's based of his original judgements of her being delicate and naïve, but he quickly learns how smart she is. Another aspect I loved about Nessa's character is how she loves to read and easily picks up languages. She pretty much learns basic Polish just from reading a translation and original book and learning random words from the maid (like shampoo and food stuffs). 

Nessa also learns to find herself when not under the constant presence of her family and I loved seeing her learn who she is. It was also really fun to see her create a ballet retelling of Beauty & the Beast and even breaks the 3rd wall a little talking about how she herself is in a Beauty & the Beast situation. I also loved the nods to the Disney movie, including a "you will come to dinner" scene followed by some dancing in a ballroom. I also loved how Miko is able to completely cut himself off but Nessa somehow just seems to naturally read him. I also loved how he has bookish tattoos mixed into his full sleeves that relate to his twin sister's favorite books. There was just a lot of little nods and mentions throughout that appealed to me as a reader. 

I'm really excited to continue the series and am loving Sophie Lark's writing style. It's very easy to read. I am definitely going to keep going in this and her other series. We'll see how many I can get through before the live show!

Have you read Stolen Heir?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Stolen Heir, Sophie Lark, 5-stars, 2 days, eBook, 276 pages, published in 2020

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