Book Description:
VAL
When I was nine, I went to my first funeral. Along with accepting my father's death, I had to accept new and awful truths I wasn't prepared for.
When I was nineteen, I went to my mother's funeral. We weren't close, but with her gone, I became more alone than ever before.
Sure, I have a half-brother who runs The Alliance. And yeah, he's given me his protection — in the form of a bodyguard and chauffeur. But I don't have anyone that really knows me. No one to really love me.
Until I meet him. The man in the airport.
And when one chance meeting turns into something hotter, something more serious, I let myself believe that maybe he's the one. Maybe this man is the one who will finally save me from my loneliness. The one to give me the family I've always craved.
DOM
The Mafia is in my blood. It's what I do.
So when that blood is spilled and one funeral turns into three, drastic measures need to be taken.
And when this battle turns into a war, I'm going to need more men. More power.
I'm going to need The Alliance.
And I'll become a member. By any means necessary.
When I was nine, I went to my first funeral. Along with accepting my father's death, I had to accept new and awful truths I wasn't prepared for.
When I was nineteen, I went to my mother's funeral. We weren't close, but with her gone, I became more alone than ever before.
Sure, I have a half-brother who runs The Alliance. And yeah, he's given me his protection — in the form of a bodyguard and chauffeur. But I don't have anyone that really knows me. No one to really love me.
Until I meet him. The man in the airport.
And when one chance meeting turns into something hotter, something more serious, I let myself believe that maybe he's the one. Maybe this man is the one who will finally save me from my loneliness. The one to give me the family I've always craved.
DOM
The Mafia is in my blood. It's what I do.
So when that blood is spilled and one funeral turns into three, drastic measures need to be taken.
And when this battle turns into a war, I'm going to need more men. More power.
I'm going to need The Alliance.
And I'll become a member. By any means necessary.
Ok, so this is going to get really personal. I try not to be super personal but it honestly can't be avoided with this book.
I had a really hard time with this book. It honestly just hit a little too close to home and hit a raw nerve. I love this author's work, and I was excited to read this book...but I had to walk away from it at one point and I wasn't sure if I was going to pick it up again.
I loved Val. I identified with Val. Not only did she suffer from anxiety attacks (same), she was alone in the world (same). Yes, she had a brother and sister, but she didn't feel like family to them (same). They weren't raised together, there was a big age difference between her and them (same).
Val shared a father with her siblings but they had different mothers (same). Val's dad was pretty much absent, she only saw him 6 times a year...even though he lived across town (not that she knew that). Her mom was just plain awful (this was the biggest difference between us...my mom was awesome. Best mom ever). The first time Val saw her siblings (or even knew they existed) was at their dad's funeral. Their mom looked at Val like she hated her. Even Val's sister Aspen looked at Val like she hated her. Val says at one point in the book that she worked hard to make Aspen and King like her. But even then, they weren't close and she felt like they merely tolerated her. All she wanted was to be accepted and loved by her family. Her siblings didn't even show up when her mom died. Yeah, it's one thing to hate her mom as the "other woman" but that's their sister. They should have been there for HER. That definitely hit hard because even though my mom wasn't the other woman, she was my mom and my siblings couldn't be bothered to be there for me either. I got a text from one and a card from the other. My world had been rocked and they couldn't bother to show up. So yeah...this book really struck a nerve with me.
That leads me to Dom. I wanted to like him, and at times I did. But...I had such a hard time with the way he manipulated Val, how he tricked her and made her think he was falling in love with her, all to join the Alliance. He just tore her heart out with how he used her. I just wanted to hug her. She deserved so much better than what he did. Yes, he kind of redeemed himself but at the same time, he'll never deserve her.
Hands down, the best part of the book was when Hans showed up to save the day, and then revealed himself as the savior in the epilogue.
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