This books has a lot of promise and a good storyline but the writing could have been better. It felt like you couldn’t really connect with the characters because it isn’t written with depth. We need to have more dialogue that doesn’t keep repeating itself. It ends on a cliff hanger and will leave you hanging to see how it ends. I was given a copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, this was not written the best IMO.
Grateful for another ARC, but unfortunately neither the characters nor storyline had any depth to it.

Start of the book is a mafia lord telling a dancer she belongs to him. She let's him "capture" her and take him to his penthouse where she is trapped and forced to stay. All of this happens within the first 70 pages.

And the dialogue was very bland. Many, many one word line banters.

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC., I finished this book and immediately went online to look for book 2. it kept me on my toes the whole time. I will admit there is one sentence that kept being repeated to the point where it got on my nerves but that didnt make me love this story any less. i cannot wait for book 2!

⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️

The chapter names need to change as this doesn’t add anything to the story, if anything it confuses the reader as the narrative is told from 3rd perceptive from both the MMC & FMC so naming the chapter after the character is pointless.

The switch between third person to first person really messed with me. I didn’t understand why that was necessary. Changing POV’s during the chapters as well, without an obvious break in the chapter left me feeling unsatisfied when it came to understanding how both characters were feeling.

I don’t get it, tell one of your guards to not involve her and then tell her the plan on the next page, I think that’s could have been dragged out tbh. Could have made a really interesting plot line.

The ending as well, that kinda came out of no where and it wasn’t as thrilling as I believe it was intended to be.

For me there were too many plot lines and they all got resolved to quickly so when I got the read it felt really lack luster.

Tormented heart is the first book that I have read by this fabulous author, and I believe wholeheartedly that she’s a fabulous storyteller and an absolutely remarkable writer.
Phoenix world is upended when she goes to sing at Luca's club and capture's his eye, she realizes she has made a terrible mistake when she feels his eyes latch onto her.. the second he saw her. He knew that she was his
The problem for me was it ending on a cliffhanger and finding out it is part 1 of a duet.

DNF by the end of chapter 3. TW for rape.

The POV was supposed to be third person and each chapter was specific to MMC or FMC but that didn't stop each chapter from switching. By the middle of chapter three, I had already noticed a few phases being repeated enough that it was noticeable-- so not great writing. I'm not an insta-love kinda person but the FMC was literally saying "no", although her internal dialogue was mixed, she clearly told him to stop in a few ways and he literally told her that it wasn't her choice. Then because her "juices ran down her leg" that was enough to roughly rape her against a wall? Yikes, all around a no for me and I love a good mafia romance but this was not worth even the 200 pages quick read.

Touch her and you die vibes, if you love a mafia story of a possessive man, this is for you. Phoenix is the main female character in this book, and it all started by needing a new job. Luca, the possessive, aggressive main male character, is there during the audition process. When he sees Phoenix, that's it!.
The book is composed very nicely, it flows very well and you just want to keep on reading more. It does end on a cliff hanger BUT there is a sequel!.
The beginning gave Stockholm syndrome vibes for Phoenix, but you can see that they care for each other immensely as you read further into the story.
I highly recommend this book if you love the mafia tropes!

I had to dnf this as I love a good mafia spice romance but this wasn’t it. It’s stated at each chapter which pov it’s meant to be in but instead it switches and is mostly 3rd person which makes this really confusing. I also think it has potential but I also feel like the story jumps rather than explains. I like fast space books but this is just missing information out or maybe it’s just because the pov/ 3rd is confusing so I’m not understanding what’s going on.

I did enjoy this book but it was also very samey to alot of other mafia books I loved the characters growth for each other depsite the mmc being obsessed with phoenix from the start it was the right amount of smut and plot I will probably read the second but not sure.

This is a Mafia Romance, and this is the first book in the Tempo Mafia Familia series. This book is mostly written in the 3rd person point of view, but it will jump to the characters point of view at times. I have found the 3rd person point of view is really not my favorite, but having the point of views jump around is way worse. I think this author's writing style is just not for me. I found the way this book was written was hard to connect to the characters. I liked the storyline at first, but I found the ending to be boring. The suspense/action parts could have been better. I also did not love that the ending left you hanging, but I understand why that was done. I received an ARC of this book. This review is my own honest opinion about the book like all my reviews are.

2.75
Books like this tend to be “palette cleansers” because I read them fast and don’t remember them much. This book is a mafia romance and that’s a tag that I can always get behind, honestly, I’m always down for any smutty romance.

This was a lot of tell-not-show which is not my favourite but I guess that’s why it’s 207 pages. A lot of the relationship and character development felt both rushed and stilted. It was also weird because there was open-door smut but then in another section it did a fade to black/ skip kind of thing which really confused me because it was written like it was building towards a smutty scene. Is this a book with smut or not?

“Something else— something darker and….” was used enough that I started to notice it, which brought me out of the story. There are also a couple of typos so maybe another round of editing? Other than that the writing was pretty good, some sentences were a bit clunky but it’s very readable which is always a plus with these types of books. I burned through it in one day.

The MFC was super annoying not to mention her name is Phoenix. I found that to be a confusing choice; it felt out of place.

Phoenix is terrified of him (MMC, Luca Tempo), but also attracted to him, so attracted that she allows him to maul her (& have sex) right after he kidnaps her to his mansion (of course). But also.. “As her resistance slowly crumbles.” Girl, it was never there to begin with.

Also a bit weird but the chapter title doesn’t necessarily just follow the indicated character which is a bit different.

I think this book is too short for the relationship and inner conflict it’s trying to show. Not to mention there's a lot happening and it’s all done very quickly, there’s not enough time spent drawing out the tension. This would be an amazing slow-burn and another 250 pages.

It also leaves on a pretty cheap cliffhanger but I don’t think I’ll be continuing with the next one.

Mafia, violence, dominance, entitlement - a world unto itself where the strong take what they want, including women. Spicy and violent.