3.75/5. Re-releases 7/25/2023.

For when you're vibing with... a softer mafia romance, modern arranged marriage shenanigans, rebellious heroines + stern heroes, and some mild dubcon (like, so mild).

When Aida Gallo causes a clash between her father's Sicilian mafia family and prominent Irish mobsters the Griffins, there's only one solution. Aida will be wed to Callum, the heir apparent to the Griffin throne. Naturally, they can't stand each other, and the marriage begins with a series of oneupmanship (along, lots of sex). But as danger mounts, Aida and Callum will be forced to realize how much they might care for each other.

A fun mafia romance! It was a little rushed for my taste, but I enjoyed it and definitely plan on trying out more from this series.

Quick Takes:

--In terms of this being a mafia romance, I say this in a good way: I'd consider this a good "baby's first mafia romance" for a reader who prefers lighter, romcom-type books. There are a good amount of non-lethal hijinks, the mafia politicking is minimal, there is very little or no true gore, and while I would call a couple of sex scenes dubcon-ish, it's light. Like, everyone is into what's happening. Compared to Kings of Italy, which I found easy to read but a good bit darker/more dramatic, this is a gentler kind of mafia romance. Which isn't a bad thing!

Conversely, if you are really into a super built up mafia world and atmosphere in your mafia romance, plus a lot of serious loathing and murder and maybe some very dubious consent... This might swing too gentle for you. I personally appreciate there being options for both sides of the spectrum, so I didn't mind this being lighter, as I figured it would be going in.

--As far as the enemies to lovers set up goes... Yes, they are true blue enemies in that their families are on the opposite sides of a mob rivalry. On a personal level, they're really just into needling each other. She's a brat, he's a lot more into that than he realizes. There is one incident where someone ends up in the hospital, but it's very unintentional. If you need these two to stab each other to be satisfied, you won't get that, but if you're tired of "rival bakers" type enemies to lovers, this is definitely a step up.

--There are illustrations in this edition! I do appreciate a good porny illustration (I honestly could've used a lot more of THAT type than the random ones of Aida like, on the piano). I will say that I am not certain the illustrations render themselves as well as they could in Kindle Paperwhite, especially in terms of the saturation.

--One thing I will say is that like... I don't know. I think that there was definitely a point when a character like Aida would normally get on my nerves. And I wasn't in love with her in this book; she's not a favorite heroine of mine. She's very rebellious for the sake of being rebellious. But I didn't hate her, and I think that a lot of that came from her having consequences for her actions. The entire plot comes about because she's immature, and she has to pay for it. I felt like she grew and settled as the book went on. And because Callum was very cool to her at first, it did feel as if he needed a bit of brat to really make him live.

That said, she did feel very stereotypical hotblooded Italian-American girl at times; less mafia princess, more My Cousin Vinny... Which isn't inherently a bad thing, but it was a rougher look on her brothers, who I would assume get books later? Interested to see how that turns out. Callum was more legitimately intimidating-sounding because he was a guy in a suit with a lot of money and rising political influence, who knew how to wheel and deal and behave in public (which made his outbursts over Aida more striking, as well). Aida's brothers kind of sounded like... West Side Story side acts, but today.

--While I appreciated the quick pace of the plot, I did feel like we needed more scenes through which Aida and Callum emotionally bonded. It felt like we went from the liking each other and having great sex to being legitimately in love rather quickly, and I just didn't really see it. I think we kind of needed a mini breakup in between the true forging of a bond and the end. Something to make it feel more like they came back together and chose each other.

The Sex Stuff:

I've gotta say... the book shines here. The sex scenes are great, and I think their intensity tempers the lightness of the book? A couple of the scenes have a very mild dubcon vibe, which to me added to their heightened nature and the feeling that these two seriously disliked each other. Plus, I really appreciated that they began having sex fairly early in the book, well before they actually like each other at all. Look no further if you want a book with hate sex.

I wasn't blown away by this one, but I did enjoy it, and I found it worth the read. Like I said, it got me interested in the rest of the series (the second book definitely sounds up my alley) and that's half the battle.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bloom Books for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I wish I liked this story more. The story was okay, average with nothing to crazy happening.
I think my biggest gripe was that I didn’t connect with any of the characters and often found them a little insufferable.

My biggest struggle was with Aida. She's loud, rude, obnoxious, childish and self-absorbed. She's the spoiled baby sister of the Galos who is supposed to come off like rough and tumble I guess tomboy girl but it doesn't really translate that way. She came off more lazy and spoiled who doesn't like to be told what to do.
The other characters often felt forgettable aside from Seb and Nessa.

Overall, it was an okay story but one that I didn’t find much enjoyment in.

A bit darker than I'm use to by still enjoyable. It reminded me of Books like King of Wrath by Ana Huang and Dark Succession by Katee Robert.

This book in 3 words: Angsty. Fun. Sexy.

We love enemies to lovers but Sophie Lark really gets herself into one of the strongest executions of the trope. Nothing like characters legitimately hating each other right out of the gate.

What I loved most was the strong voices from Aida and Callum, our main characters. They're both sharp and fun to read. Also, the arranged marriage execution is wild but so good.

I feel like this is a good start to a series and also an entry into the Mafia Romance realm.

I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review.

4⭐️

This was my first Sophie Lark read and it was good—but I’m not sure I’d read the rest of the series. I liked it but I didn’t love it. The spice was good, it made me laugh a couple times, but I think I just felt like I needed *more* across the board.

Overall, a good read and I’ll check out other stuff by this author.

Enemies to lovers AND arranged marriage in one book? What is this, the lottery? This book started out strong, with the constant back and forth between Callum and Aida. I loved their chemistry and banter. This series debut perfectly kicks off the plot for the remaining five books. However, I do wish we'd seen more of the behind the scenes mafia disputes. Aside from the first 37%, you can almost forget this was supposed to be a mafia romance. Overall I loved this book, and devoured the series (and the second gen series). I will recommend to anyone who will listen!

Well, what can I say? This book had a little bit of everything: Love, hate, action, grief, and all that goes in between. The Gallo and Griffin families have been warring for years. Decades. Finally, after a party mishap that leads to the Griffin family mansion almost being burned down, the head members of the families decide that enough is enough and come to an agreement to arrange a marriage between Aida, the youngest Gallo, and Callum, the eldest Griffin. Both resistant in the beginning, with Aida believing Callum to be nothing but a cold and heartless robot, and Callum believing Aida to be a less than intelligent chaotic tornado. Once the vows are said, the heat turns up between them and they find their way to love.

This felt like an echo of Romeo and Juliet, except they hate each other at first, and without the tragic ending. It was a lot of fun, and I am so excited to read more from the "Brutal Birthright" series! Sophie Lark kept me entertained from the first page to the last. I couldn't put it down and finished it all in one sitting.

I absolutely recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of romance and spice.

This isn’t my favourite book of the series. I read the rest of the series first and then read this book. To be honest I found myself wading through it. I can’t point my finger to anything specific. The rest of the series drew me in instantly and I was captivated from start to finish, not so much this book. I like the characters and the story. I suspect that it could be me and not the book.

I got this as an ARC since Bloom is now publishing this book and I was not a fan. It was ok hence the two stars but it just wasn’t good writing in my opinion. The two characters just kinda got pushed together and then kinda started to like each other but it didn’t feel like enough time had past if you ask me. Overall I just didn’t like it. It was a quick read but I won’t be continuing with this series.

This extremely spicy dark mafia romance book had me hooked from the beginning! I loved it. However others may wanna check trigger warnings. Me, I loved every word of it!
I just reviewed Brutal Prince by Sophie Lark. #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

A flaming hot enemies to lovers romance that will melt your panties off! The tension and hate that turns hotter than molten lava is absolutely palpable. It started off a little more brutal than i normally like, but Callan and Aidas relationship grows on you once they begin to trust each other!

I was a little nervous when I started this book. I felt that Aida came off as irresponsible and childish. As I got more into the story and she meets and marries Callum, Aida becomes more likeable for me. I loved her defiant spirit and the fact she was not a meek participant in any scene. I enjoyed the mafia tension and sometimes brutal fight scenes. While there were lots of action and sexy scenes, I wanted more personal “getting to know you” scenes between Callum and Aida. As it was, they jumped from hatred to love pretty quickly although their attraction was combustible. I also think the title was a bit misconceived since Callum did not come across as brutal either with Aida or with his mafia enemies. This was my first book by this author and I am interested in reading more.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review!!

I have heard so much about Sophie Lark’s books on Instagram, that I was super excited to read this one. These types of books aren’t what I usually read, but I enjoyed this one.

THINGS I LIKED:
- Aida was the best part of this entire book. She reminded me of some of my other favorite characters, such as Aelin (tog) and Juliette (sm).
- The overall plot was good. I wasn’t really sure what was going to happen, but everything tied together in the end

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE (as much):
- Callum. He annoyed me a little
- they went from enemies to lovers SO QUICKLY and the family rivalry basically went away once they got married. I wish that they didn’t fall in love that fast into their marriage, the tension could have lasted a little longer.

This book was good! I would definitely recommend reading it (and it’s already out on KU and Amazon, but the version I read hasn’t come out yet)

This book is everything. This is a true enemies to lovers book (And I mean like the FMC tries to unalive the MMC enemies). I devoured this book in a single sitting because I didn't want to put it down.

Ada is one of my favorite FMCs I think I've ever read about. She is forced into an arranged marriage, but she never gives up fighting. She is strong and always speaks her mind and I fell in love with her so fast. This world that the author came up with is also amazing and I can't wait to read more about all of the other side characters.

The characters are all amazing, the storyline is phenomenal, and don't even get me started on how beautiful those illustrations were. This book deserves all of the love and I am so happy that this beautifully written dark/mafia romance book was picked up by a publisher. It makes me so happy to see the publishing industry heading in this direction.

Aida Gallo, one of our siblings, grew up as mob princess. Headstrong, beautiful with italian temper graced, she's not amused about her arranged marriage to the heir of the irish mob. May she choose? No, she may not. Married to Callum Griffin, the biggest shark in the pool, she soon learns what it means to be partnered with him. She loves poking the bear, takins away his honeybees.
A fast paced, action packed, complex story that is the introduction in the new series, the Gallo family.

I just wanted to take a peek at the story, and now, hours later, I'm sitting here, read the whole book and already borrowed with KU the next books in this fantastic story.

All around a good book. I didn't really care for Aida though. I loved how Callum got Aida back for the strawberries. This had a nice steady pace which made it hard to put it down!

Thank you to the publisher for the eARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

This is only my second Sophie Lark book, but my first of her mafia romances (I previously read “Anastasia” and loved it). “Brutal Prince” is certainly different but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

The story follows our main characters from rival families as they enter a marriage of convenience. Their first interactions were funny at some points just because of how much they hated each other.

Please keep in mind that this is a dark romance and there are some darker themes represented throughout.

In full honesty, I did not enjoy the beginning of the book/their relationship. At some moments it was too dark for me. Once the novel hit the middle point, however, I started to really enjoy it.

For fans of dark romance, I say check this out.

This book was just everything I wanted in an enemies to lover's romance. They hate each other so much and literally almost kill each other at one point. They push each other's buttons, but they cannot avoid how attracted to each other they are. I loved the development of their relationship and completely believed how they fell for each other. Their relationships with their families were fun and this plot was non-stop action, which I loved. I was never bored and was DYING for them to admit they had feelings for each other. I definitely recommend you pick this up you won't regret it.

I thought this was a good enemies to lovers book, but they were a little insta lovey. I will say that I am happy that when Chicago was talked about, it wasn't just the basic places. So many authors will just look up touristy places and leave it at that. I did like the danger element of their lives, even if Aida was a little annoying. I think people who like organized crime romances would like this one.

I liked this book so much more than I thought I would. Pegged as a mafia romance I had no idea what to expect. The main characters attitude and humor were really enjoyable. I will definitely be reading more by the author. It was the ultimate enemies to lovers and forced marriage read. Loved it!