Evie is a bonafide nerd and a hyper-intelligent chick who has worked her whole life to get what she wants. Growing up, she had no support from her family and has only ever been able to rely on herself. So when Evie decides she wants to earn her engineering degree, she realizes she needs to take an alternative path to get there. She takes a job dancing at Smithie’s club thinking this would be a quick side gig, where she can make the money she needs. But with her lack of dancing skills and an alpha bad boy who becomes overly protective, Evie realizes this might not be as easy as she thought.

Daniel “Mag” Magnusson knows a thing or two about pain, but the mask he wears is excellent. No one can tell that this good-looking, quick-witted, and roguish guy has deep-seated issues. Mag puts on a funny-guy routine so he can hide his broken heart and PTSD. But when Evie dances her way into Mag’s life, he realizes that he needs to come face-to-face with the demons of his past if he wants a future with her.

MY REVIEW

4 Dreamy Stars

Only KA can get away with writing about a hero who says baby and babe instantly; if this was any other author, I might’ve DNFed it with how the hero started calling the heroine baby in the first chapter. But KA writes the perfect alpha heroes, and it’s hard to put down these books.

“Baby.”
“I’m not your baby,” I breathed.
His gaze shifted back to my eyes, and he rumbled, all sexy, hot and sweet, “Oh yeah, you are.”

I love all her Rock Chick books, and I was ecstatic when the characters from those books appeared in this story. Especially my favorite men, Tex and Smithie.

Evie, or Evan, is working two jobs to earn money for school. She works with computers and strips at Smithie’s. All while also always helping her mother and brother when they get in trouble or need money, which is a lot. When her friend, Lottie, sets her up on a blind date with Daniel Magnusson, she goes through with it. Only this man is not at all what she expected.

“Good call,” he muttered.
One could say I was correct in my concerns about Daniel Magnusson.
I didn’t know if he was toxic.
But he was a bossy damned alpha. And meddling. “I don’t like you,” I told the ceiling.
“You like my eyelashes,” he said as I heard him settle in my armchair.

Daniel “Mag” Magnusson is stunned when he first meets Evan. She’s dorky, and kind of a klutz but most of all beautiful and she’s in trouble. With her brother behind bars, he’s still managed to put her in harm’s way. Even though their first date doesn’t go as planned, Mag is adamant about keeping her safe.

I loved this book. If you’re looking to read a book with an OTT alpha hero who calls his one-woman baby and babe, this one is for you. If you loved RC, this book is definitely for you. I was sad when I finished all the RC books, but now we get a whole new series with The Dream Team, Smithie’s girls.
I’m looking forward to Ryn and Boone’s story and the others too.

“All my life, you know?”
“All your life what, baby?”
“Until you.”
He curved both arms around me and his voice was growly when he asked, “Until me, what?”
“The people I loved made loving them hard. Until you.”
I got just a growl for that as Danny slid a hand up my spine, into my hair, and then my mouth was on his again.

Pretty things aren’t meant to be broken.
But I broke her, and now we both have to pay the price.
I’m her nightmare.
I’m her savior.
And now that I have her signature on an ironclad contract, I own her body and soul.
She doesn’t remember me.
She will.
It’s inevitable.
Because as much as I know I need to stay away, for fear of unlocking the memories I helped her father bury–I can’t.
She was the apple in the Garden, dangled in front of me, her core so tempting and sweet. A voice whispered. Just. One. Bite.
I bit.
I tasted.
I fell.
Welcome to the world of the Russian mafia, where death, is your only future.

MY REVIEW

5 Stars

I loved Nikolai when he appeared briefly in the Eagle Elite series. So mysterious and oh so hot. RIP was terrific; I enjoyed every second of reading the story of Nik and Maya.They were perfect in every way.

Nikolai is The Doctor, and Maya wants to interview him for her thesis. So a meeting is arranged, only things don’t go as planned. She’s not unfamiliar with the Russian Mafia, but she wants to be free. From this life and especially her father. So when Nikolai admits that her father has sold her off to him, she’s shattered. She’s Nik’s for a year. Living in the same building, and working for him, no questions asked.

From one prison into another.

Good looking? Check.
Brilliant? Check.
Rich? Check.
Possible sociopath? Double check.
Great. I was dining with Ted Bundy.

I love Maya. She is fierce, loyal, sarcastic, took no shit kind of gal, and fit perfectly with Nik. I loved their back and forth banter and her ability to unwind him. Their chemistry was off the charts, and the sexual tension went off the roof!

The day had been difficult, but she was making me laugh, just like Andi had. I needed it more than oxygen.

There were many secrets in this book, and the suspense kept me on the edge of my seat. I read this one in one sitting and thoroughly enjoyed Nik and Maya’s story; if you’re looking for a sexy mafia romance with a lot of suspense, one-click this bad boy!

This book can be read as a standalone, but the characters from Eagle Elite do appear in this book.

All is lost.
All.
I don’t recognize myself in the mirror anymore.
My thoughts are filled with hatred and dripping with rage.
I’ve lost my soul.
She took it to the depths of Hell with her and haunts me with images of what could have been.
Sixty lives are mine to take.
Sixty lives stand in the way of my vengeance.
Sixty lives plus one more.
Mine.
When the last drop of blood falls — mine will be spilled.
Only one person stands in the way.
She doesn’t realize I’ll kill her too.
I don’t own a heart.
And even if I did — I wouldn’t fall prey to its lies again.
I am Chase Abandonato.
Heir to a legacy of betrayal.
And I will kill them all.
Even if it means pointing the gun at myself.
A life for a life.
A soul for a soul.
Now I lay me down to sleep… I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
Blood in. No out.

MY REVIEW

5 Chase stars

I was so unsure about reading Eulogy when Mil died in the previous book. I’d read Mil and Chase’s story a long time ago, and I wasn’t ready to witness Chase fall in love with another woman. But RVD wrote his second chance so well, magnificent. Luciana is Chase’s soulmate. His best friend. Something Mil never was.

Chase, the funny one, has been my favorite. But after losing Mil, he’s different. Betrayed by the person he was married to, he has been left broken. No soul. Nothing. His mission is to kill the De Lange bloodline…before he ends his own suffering. Then a woman appears on his doorstep. She wears headbands, pearls, and red lipstick. She’s different from Mil. And she’s the new family lawyer.

“I used to be the funny one.” He grabbed my hand and examined it like he was looking for scratches. I let him, too exhausted and petrified to move away. “I know it’s hard to believe, trust me. Everything was a joke. Everything was funny. Life itself was funny. The darkness always attacked, but I never let it in. I was stronger than the darkness. I laughed in its face. But you can only taunt for so long before it finds a chink in your armor, and then, it consumes you, and you let it because it feels better than the pain.”
I turned to him. “Darkness always feels better. It forces you to ignore the light.” His smile was sad. “There is no light, Luc. Not anymore.”

Luciana doesn’t know what she’s getting into when she signs the papers and agrees to work for The Family. She’s never really known violence until her first day at Chase when they’re attacked, and she needs to hide in the pantry for her safety. And now she has to live in the same house as the man who answers with his gun. A man who’s so broken he cares not for anyone.

I love Luc. She was so very different from Mil; thank god. She made Chase feel needed and brought light into his life when all he ever saw was darkness. I loved that she was fierce and stood up for herself when Chase went too far. She showed this broken man what it really felt like to be loved and to love. But how do you save a man who’s already dead?

Her easy trusting smiles, even though I’d threatened her and mistreated her, and finally, the way she’d thrown herself into eating the pancakes like she’d never had real food before. I wasn’t insecure in anything.
Except cooking.
Because I’d lived with someone who rarely ate.
Always too busy.
Always on the run.
Always leaving food on the plate.
I would never tell Luc that my anger matched my panic when she’d picked up the plate and examined it. I wasn’t even aware it was a test until she passed with flying colors and devoured the whole thing in front of me. I half expected her to start eating the plate. With each bite, my heart cracked. And I hated that my first thought was So that is what it’s like… to give something and have someone actually take it without reservation.
So that was what it felt like.

Part of a world I loathe.
Part of a family who hates me more than I hate myself.
Living with a girl who reminds me of my darkness.
I’m. In. Hell.
Also known as the Cosa Nostra.
My life was over the minute I stepped off that plane.
Son to a murdered mob boss.
Heir to a throne of murder and lies.
My name is Dante Nicolasi.
And there will be blood.

MY REVIEW

4.5 stars

Wow! I liked Dante in the previous book, but I completely fell in love with him in this book. This man, so strong and loyal to his brothers in The Family.

El is broken. She’d married the devil and had been his sex slave until Frank killed and saved her from her abusive husband. Now she’s brought into the Sicilian Mafia. Out from one hell and pushed into another, if you will. But things are different here. The women of the men are treated differently; she’s treated better by the men… well all except one.

Dante hates her for the sole reason that she was married to Xavier Petrov, and he was a part of the Russian Mafia. And now he has to live in the same house as her, sharing one bathroom and driving her to school. But he notices things, she’s different, innocent and not at all what he expected.

As Dante and El grow closer, the family believes El needs protection, and she needs to marry for her to be safe. Dante doesn’t think he’s worthy of her. She’s known violence for so long, and his life has changed, and all Dante knows now is violence and death. So he’ll let her go for her to be safe and away from the world that she hates. But things do not go according to plan. How can Dante let go of the one thing he is finding himself he can’t live without?

“How will I know when you’re telling the truth,”
I fired back before grabbing the handle to the door. He shoved the keys in his pocket and grabbed my arm, twisting me back in my seat until I was pressed against the soft leather, his face inches from mine.
“I will never lie to your face.” He blinked slowly, his cool blue eyes assessing. “My only tell, is that if I lie to you, I look below your eyes, above your eyes, near your eyes,” he touched one side of my face. “And I might even look through your eyes, but I will never look at the soul behind them. You’ll know I’m lying because I won’t be speaking to your soul, El.”

This book was so well written, I sat at the end of my seat as the suspense increased. The dialogues between the guys were hilarious. I absolutely adored the relationship between Chase and Dante and how protective of all the guys were of El.

“And the sexy as hell way that she rose above it, continues to rise above it, every day of her life.” He stood. “I loved that girl.”
“What happened to her?” Chris asked his eyes ping ponging between me and Dante.
“Beauty was never supposed to end up with the beast, Chris, she marries the prince. That’s what happened.” He grabbed the wine bottle, scooted his chair back, and walked out.

I have lost everything.
My purpose.
My love.
My soul.
Death knocks on my door, I want to answer, but every time I reach for the handle–the promise I made her, brings me back.
So I breathe.
I live.
I hate.
And I allow the anger to boil beneath the surface of a perfectly indifferent facade.
I am broken, I dont want to be fixed.
One last trip to New York, one last chance to redeem a lost part of the mafia family. The Empire is crumbling and it’s my job to fix it, my job to mend the pieces that were scattered over thirty years ago.
The only issue is, the only way to fix, is to do something I swore I’d never do again.
An arranged marriage.
Only this time.
I won’t fall.
Or so help me God, I’ll kill her myself.
My name is Sergio Abandanoto, you think you know my pain, my suffering, my anger, my hate–you have no idea.
I am the mafia.
I am the darkness.
Blood in. No out.

MY REVIEW

5 Stars

I skipped Elude… and I don’t regret it.

When Sergio and Andi were introduced in Ember, I was thrilled for their story. And when I read the description of Elude, I was so excited. An arranged marriage in the mafia, yes, please! But then… I read some reviews full of spoilers and found out about Andi’s death.
Sergio falling in love only to lose her, yeah my heart couldn’t bear that. And I didn’t want to get attached to And only to have her die and then for Sergio to marry another.

I’m not that strong. I need a HEA.

So, therefore, I skipped their story and read Empire. And my god, did I love Valentina and Sergio. Especially Val and her whole family. Sergio is left a shell of a man after Andi’s death. When they had married, there was no love, and he vowed not to fall in love; however, he did. Now, he’s broken and nothing like the man he was before. And although his wife is dead, duty doesn’t let you take a day off.

Val is naive and knows nothing of the mafia. She doesn’t know they exist outside of books and movies, and when she finds out that she is the daughter of the once mafia boss, Luca. Not only that, she’s also betrothed to a man in the mafia. Her fiancé is broken, she finds out that his recent wife had just passed and that he’ll never love her.

Val is the most innocent in the group and also very naive, which I found quite funny. She never believed in violence and to then be thrust into a world full of drugs, guns, and murder does things to a person. But Val kept her belief, and her innocence brought only light into Sergio’s dark life. But how do you stay with a man whose hearts belongs to a dead woman? What do you do when that man only pushes and pushes and never gives?

“When you move on with your life, when you find that person, whoever she may be, she isn’t going to remove every last remnant of Andi from your heart. She isn’t going to take over and squeeze out memories. She’s going to fit with them. Live with them. Laugh with them. It’s not a matter of replacing, it’s a matter of joining.”

I understood Sergio and his pain. When you’ve loved and given your heart, how do you let go and move on? When is the right time? And to then be forced into another marriage with a woman so young, how do you not feel guilt.

But Valentina was absolutely perfect and patient. She did not take shit from Sergio and made her place in the group. I loved how all of them were so protective over her and would give Sergio shit for always hurting her.

What if his wife was still alive?
Would he choose her or me?
Who would he keep alive?
Her. Every. Single. Time.

I believe if I’d read Andi’s story with Sergio, I wouldn’t have liked this one as much as I did. I love Sergio’s soft side with Val. How he’s intention was never to hurt or scare her but to only keep her at a distance so that he wouldn’t fall again.

Only he does. And she does. But will he be able to let Andi go and completely give himself to Val?

I am a Killer. A Rapist. A Monster.
I know only pain and survival.
That is until the Cappo’s sister walked into my life.
And changed everything.

She’s a light who makes my darkness darker, her smile makes my heart turn to ice, and I can’t escape the fear her seductive looks instill–knowing it’s only a matter of time before I fail–again, and take her for myself.
This is the story of my redemption.
But it’s not pretty…I died, and now I’m alive, but not living, breathing but not surviving. I am Phoenix De Lange, son to a murdered mob boss, estranged brother, horrible friend, monster in the making, newest leader to one of the most powerful families in the Cosa Nostra.
And I will have my vengeance.
Or die trying.
I am Phoenix De Lange.
Death is all I know.
Until she offers me a piece of life–I can’t resist taking.

MY REVIEW

3 stars

I haven’t read the previous books in this series except for Entice, and I think I’ll keep skipping books in this series and only read those that grab my interest. And boy did the description of this book caught my mind and soul.

I am a Killer. A Rapist. A Monster.

So, because I have not read the previous books, I had no clue about the relationship between Phoenix and his friends, especially Nixon and Trace. There was some information that Phoenix had kidnapped and tried to rape his best friend’s girl…right.

Anyhow, Phoenix is broken, inside out. He’s scarred from his past and sees no light in his future. But then there is Bee, the Cappos’ sister. She’s bright, young, and everything he should stay away from, so he uses cruel words to keep her away.

“How many times can a girl face rejection before the only way to find comfort is to close herself off from the very world that rejected her in the first place?”

Bee has loved Phoenix for a long time. He is her only friend, but she wants more. Phoenix, however, keeps rejecting her advances, not because he hates her but because he doesn’t want to drag her into his dark and injured world.

“I believe in you,” she blurted, tears in her eyes. “I just… I want you to know that despite everything… I believe in you.”

But Phoenix’s plans to stay away from Bee backfires when Tex, Bee’s brother, assigns him as her bodyguard when she starts school. There was a lot of suspense, and the chemistry between Phoenix and his friends was excellent. It was Bee that I didn’t fancy. She was kind of…too much? Her practically always clinging to Phoenix even when he was so cruel and when he went too far, she stayed away for maybe a day before she was back to drooling by his side.

“Warm fuzzies?”
“I don’t do warm fuzzies.”
Well, we can’t win ’em all.
“I do scorching blazes,” he muttered under his breath. “That sear you alive.”

Phoenix and the guys were the stars in this book. I absolutely loved this man even with such a broken soul; he was so strong. I was sad for him. He felt not to be worthy of Bee, not feeling worthy of light when that was what he deserved. And when he accepted his fate, his Bee, my heart was whole.