I should warn you: I’m not a good person.

I tried to be good…normal.

But darkness can’t be suppressed forever.

Six years ago, I walked away from the family. Now, I must go back. I have no choice. But things will be different this time. I’m stronger, smarter, and I refuse to submit in a world ruled by dangerous men.

My name is Maura Quinn. I’m the Banphrionsa—the princess of my father’s dark kingdom of crime. Everyone has a story. Even the bad guy. So proceed with caution, because this is my descent or my rise—it depends on how you look at it. But most of all, this is how I embrace the darkness.

I probably should have switched to some crime thriller books before putting myself back into a smutty romance book but I’m trying to read through all the books I have on Kindle Unlimited so I can borrow more!

Today I finally got new heaters in my flat! It was a momentous occasion. I’ve been surviving on heated blankets and an oil radiator for more than 4 years. The new cosy warm environment was the perfect excuse to finish reading this book that I started the day before.

I was a little hesitant going into this because it’s a ‘Mafia Romance’.

To me, mafia romances – regardless of sub-genre, can be hit or miss. They can capture my attention fully, but they can also give me the worst case of the heebie-jeebies.

I read the first 70% of this book in one sitting and I was leaning more towards the overall read being average at best. It was filling my gut with the bad anxiety. I read the last 30% today and I became pleasantly surprised. It was more imaginative than I expected and less ‘run of the mill’. I wasn’t surprised by what happened, but it was still interesting.

Sub-genre would be – in my opinion – smutty romance. I thought there might be an element of reverse harem later in the series (assuming this is a series). But for this book there was one main pairing.

Maura is the MC. She is a troubled women with a trauma filled past. She returns to her mafia family a little lost and confused but rises to the challenges presented to her. She clearly has a lot of issues with her father, which was blatantly obvious, but I enjoyed through the story that those she was bursting with the need for approval and love from her father, she was also up for finding her place in the family, evolving, and ‘embracing her darkness’.

Stefan, her father, is the head of the mafia. He is a quiet, steely man. A man you don’t cross. It’s clear that being the don comes easy to him but being a father does not. As the reader we get glimpses of the past through Maura’s eyes, which of course are tainted, but in the present, we also see Stefan make an effort to be more father first rather than don first. It’s a challenge.

Jamie is the man she grew up with. He was her best friend, and they were both trained (or groomed) by Stefan from a young age. At the time we meet Maura and Jamie, Maura has been away from Jamie for 6 years. There is a very emotional connection between the two of them. A lot of tension, sexual and otherwise. Jamie is right-hand man of Stefan; he knows how to occlude. He is quick to anger when Maura is involved. He can be a bit of a twat.

Louie is Jamies best friend and by extension Maura. The three of them grew up together. Louie joining the two of them later. It was clear to me that Louie had a thing for Maura, even if she couldn’t see it. It made for an interesting dynamic, and I’m intrigued to see how it plays out. Louie is a breath of fresh air among all the other serious personalities. He is happy, loud, and quite sassy.

As a character, Maura has the charm and the wit that make you want to stick around and see what happens. That trauma and baggage she carries with her make her fierce. I don’t quite know what she feels about them, but from a reader point of view, I saw her a resilient, strong, intelligent, dramatic, creative. I think when we think of mafia’s we think of strong ruthless men and meek mild women. That’s definitely something that is spoken about in this book, so it is almost intoxicating to watch Maura perform to the crowd of egotistical men and still come out winning.