This begins directly after Her Consigliere (June 2021). It isn’t listed as a sequel, so it can be a stand alone story in the same world or it hasn’t been correctly tagged on GR. Siobhan, protagonist from Consigliere, is largely part of the story and to a lesser degree her partner Royal. The action takes place after the death of Don Carlo’s. His oldest daughter Siobhan has left the country leaving her body guard Neal to head the family. Russian Mikhail Petrov is being aided by the Don Carol's other daughter in attacking the family businesses. Mikhail’s wife Anastasia wants to rid herself of the spouse whose arranged marriage keeps peace between two Russian families. If that means forming alliances with Neal she will.

Taite is great at strong plotting, jumping from scene to scene, always leaving the reader breathless for what happens next. The timeframe is quick covering just a few weeks. There is posturing from both Ana and Neal as they decide if they can trust each other. Neal has a good back story of how she goes from college basketball star to working for Siobhan. Ana’s story is more of a sketch. Her best friend may be reporting back to her husband.

I like the story. I don’t read a lot of mafia books but I will for writers like Carsen Taite or Ali Vali. With all that being said I wish there were more details in some of the scenes. The terse wording that leaves you on the edge of your seat is great. But when it is over the realization comes that not much happens. There are lots of meet ups trying to gage loyalty, but few open conversations or action scenes after the opening. I’m unclear of Ana’s role in her husbands enterprises, her information sources or how she gets the cash she gives to Neal. Either I was reading too fast or some details are missing.

If Taite returns to the mafia world I will be there to read it or anything else she writes. There is one fade to black romance scene and the book is a shorter novel (57,000 words, couldn’t get a page number). Thank you to NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for the ARC in exchange for a review.

A sequel to “Her Consigliere” which I really liked. This continues the efforts of the Mancuso family to come to a peaceful agreement with the Russian mafia. I didn’t find it quite as enthralling as “Her Consigliere” but still good. Again I felt the ending was bit sudden. And from the ending I’m assuming there is at least one more book to come. I will be looking out for it.

This book feels like a second in a series, it starts where the previous one ends and it features the previous MC heavily. In fact, their actions determine the outcome of this book. I did not read Her Consigliere and I was left wondering throughout the book if I missed something important by not doing that. Maybe I would have connected better with this story if I had. We’ll never know.
Now to the book at hand, it’s a classic Taite, with fast paced actions and turnarounds. And no epilogue. You tend to miss the romance between all the ‘mobstering’ going on but that’s expected and not a deterrent in reading this book. 3.5 stars
Free ARC via NetGalley

Fastpaced mobster story with strong women
I spend many happy hours reading the wonderful tales Carsen Taite spins around the courthouse where she brings her knowledge from the bench right to the pages of her books. I loved when she turned with „Her Consigliere“ to the world of mobsters (and their attorney Siobhan). So I couldn‘t wait to start „Made for Her“ which is set in and in fact a continuation of the story begun in „Her Consigliere“. So my first observation: The start of „Made for Her“ is not easy to follow, nearly impossible if you haven‘t read the previous book, and even then, not easy …. Frankly, I don‘t understand why this connection is not made clear by the publisher - it would not be the first series we have come to savor by Carsen Taite. And I was left confused why the connections between the characters are not made clearer from the outset.
I liked how Taite reveals more and more about Neal and her background and vulnerabilities. There were quite beautiful scenes which I really appreciated. Ana, married to the Russian mobster, and her schemes are interesting but not quite as fleshed out … and Katia and her role is not as clear. I loved the references to the situation of women and f/f relationships in Russia and the impact of the Ukrainian war. What comes as quite a surprise is their not-romance suddenly taking a turn to romance - I would have liked to see more of a build-up.
When the story really takes off it is very fast paced with quite a few twists and turns and an end which left me in the dust … Hold your horses Carsen Taite the next time around and please work more of your magic story-telling instead of only a quick sketch as an ending - I was reeling.
BTW I loved that Carsen Taite brought in quite a few references to the well-loved Devil-series about mobster Cain Casey by Ali Vali. The end seems to leave open a door for more - please with a bit more of leisurely story development before the horses drawing the story cart get totally out of hand, go through and race the reader.

This is a book set in the same world as Her Consigliere but you don’t need to have read the first book to enjoy this one. It also has references to the great Cain Casey, a character in books written by Ali Vali. We are deep in organised crime and corruption here and Carsen Taite sure can tell a story.

I didn’t quite connect with this one as I have with others by Ms Taite (It Should be a Crime and Best Defence remain in my top books list) because I didn’t really warm to Anastasia as a love interest for Neal. Anastasia seemed two dimensional and I didn’t get the attraction that strongly.

The writing and plotting are excellent, the pacing is good as you wonder what will happen next and the ending was satisfactory. Ms Taite is one of my favourite authors and I’ll be first in line for any book she writes. The crime milieu is certainly her forte.

I was given a copy of this book by Netgalley

This is a novel that does not belong to any series by this author. It is a standalone. Although the protagonists of a previous novel, Her Consigliere, have appeared in a fairly relevant role.And as in all of hers, it is set in the world of organized crime, security forces and state justice.

This time the protagonists are Neal, the bodyguard of Don Carlo's daughter who has had to flee, leaving her in charge of what remains of the organization after the death of the boss. She is used to watching without being a protagonist and now it seems that she will have to take over her reins even temporarily, while her enemies headed by the Russian Mikhail Petrov try to annihilate what remains of Don Carlo's empire.
And the other protagonist is Anastasia Petrov, Mikhail's wife, who is married for interest and is increasingly fed up with having to put up with her husband, even more so when she is a lesbian and has to keep herself in the closet.

As is also usual in Taite's novels, a lot happens in a very short time, including crushes between the protagonists, which go from zero to a hundred in a matter of days, sometimes hours.

So the plot here is not only complicated by the differences between the two women, cultural, social and rivalry, but the interests of the gangs and the struggle for power are added to the impediments that already exist between them.

The story is simple but convoluted in its development, although it remains interesting and its rhythm means that you do not get bored while reading. And the end is a bit rushed, finalized in the concept but not in the details. Perhaps in future stories we will be able to learn more about these two leading women here.

I admit that I chose to read this because it weirdly reminded me of the Carsen's previous novel, Her Consigliere, and come to find out, they're related, that cracked me up. (Also has a cool callback to Ali Vali novels too!)

It's the story of Ana and Neal (Siobhan's bodyguard from Her Consigliere). But, there was actually quite a bit of Siobhan and Royal in it too.

Ana is in a marriage that she doesn't want to be, and Neal finds herself over her head.

Oh, and then it gets so very very twisty and turney, with loyalties being questioned (or just wondered about quite a lot), and then there was the end, which was super interesting and a little surprising to me too.

It was a fun read, and a thrilling one too. And, it even had me guessing, which is always great.