Lost a star with the whole "It's taking everything within me not to hurt you, Caterina." It's not a bad book, but I can't handle the whole "I want to hurt you but also want you" thing.

I enjoyed the world the author created. I adored Caterina! Callum, not so much. The rest of the cast of characters were intriguing and I really want their stories. I will definitely read more of this series.

Highly interesting and compelling love story within the mafia world. Greatly enjoyed it and can’t wait for the stories of the other brothers.

4.5 Poison and Wine Stars🌟

Gosh it’s been a while since I’ve read a book by this author and it was so nice to jump back into a “different” world that she’s created.

Firstly, I want to say how much I loved Caterina’s character and her sass. When Callum told her she shouldn’t do something, she’d do it. Clearly, men don’t know us female folk at all😂 Secondly, I really enjoyed the dynamics of the family and on occasion there were some I even wanted to help “torture”😈 but overall a really good story and I eagerly want to jump into the next book but it might be a bit before I get there. The last thing on my mind is that I saw this book on Netgalley and jumped to get myself an advanced copy, thinking it was a new release - only to discover I’d purchased it last year🙈🫠 So I own a copy as well as got one from Netgalley…so thank you to Netgalley😁

Review of Poison & Wine by Katie Ashley
* * * * *
A thirlling dark underworld romance as enemies become lovers. Women fight back, the men accept weakness is strength, and so much sizzling tension you'll love it!

Callum grew up in a world where he knew his role, and was shown with brutal force by his father that if he showed weakness, he was a dead man. Now, a grown man making his own path with his brothers, haunted by the monsterous ghost of his father, Callum has decided to take a wife.
A woman with ties to the Italians, and one who made a bold move to escape the pressures of her own powerful family.
Caterina wanted to fall in love. She wanted to marry a good man, and have children.
Those were all just fantasies.
She's made her choice to escape her father and the man she was being forced to marry by entering the church. However, in the dead of night, she is taken from her sanctuary and facing a new challenge.
Together, they decide to help each other out...if they don't kill each other first.

Fantastic read and I cannot wait to dive into the rest of the series.
Caterina is a strong woman who knows her worth, with great brothers, and a plan for her future. She won't bend like most of the women in her world, and will fight for what she wants. Callum and his brothers have made mistakes in the past, and even with the world they live in and how they have to get what they want, they won't become like their father or the men that enjoy hurting others for kicks. The spark between our FMC and MMC is instant and fun, the brothers enjoying the banter between the two as the rest of the family tries to accept the union.
A great start to the series, and already see hints on what is to happen next.

Thank you to NetGalley and team for providing this book as an advanced copy.

My TLDR is that this was your normal mafia style book where nothing is what it seems and yet you end up really enjoying yourself. Was it cheesy? Yes. Was it predictable in some places? Yes. But did I have a good time? I did surprisingly. It's not often that I ever reach for these books, but I found myself intrigued at the arranged marriage of a soon-to-be nun, and a long time rival mafia boss hitching.

My main complaint was that it did feel repetitive in some aspects of the story. It could have been about a hundred pages shorter, but honestly - I still didn't mind the overall story.

I need books on all the Kavanaugh brothers, RIGHT NOW. Dare, Kellan and Quinn, even Uncle Seamus!!

Brilliant banter, I was smiling through interactions! Reminded me of Navessa Allen with the character quirks and wit!

The way Callum tries so hard not to give in to being romantic or wanting to please his bride, was unbelievably cute. I was giggling so much!

The rest of the brothers interacting with Caterina, I genuinely thought this would be a "why choose" and I'd have loved that kind of ending too!!

The slow burn was well written and more believable that some stories I've read as your feelings for the characters grow as their feelings for each other do too! It doesn't seem forced or quick for the storyline.

My only grumble was missing out on what would have been an EPIC fight scene at Chapter 37/38!

When the spice was spicing, it spiced!! 🥵🌶 3/5 spiciness!

Irish and Italian mafia, violence, abuse, assault, psychopaths, greed, and betrayals - through it all a stolen marriage between total opposites, enemies to lovers - after quite the rocky road. If you like mafia romance with a bit of darkness, you will like this one, and no cliffs!

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC. Im not sure what the title had to do with the book but the book itself was FIRE! My biggest petpeeve is when the two main characters meet and immediately sleep together even though the girl is almost always a virgin. Im so glad this didnt happen this time! I loved the Sassy Sister and her spirit so I am glad her virtue took the path it did. No spoilers from me! I totally loved this book and could see it being a movie or even a series. The action on both sides of the mafia families was just as good as the love story itself!

Not what I expected but I definitely enjoyed this read. Can't seem to go wrong with a forced marriage trope in a mafia romance, it makes things interesting, just like here. The best part? The obsession of the MMC Callum has with Caterina, why can't men like that exist IRL?! I suppose that's why we all read these books and enjoy them as much as we do. Between that and the banter, I loved this book.

I don’t really get the title in relation to the book but I did think it was a good read. The conflict was maybe too quick and done in a chapter and I thought the relationships with the brother were more relatable than with calum but overall it was a good read and I thought the epilogues were funny! Thanks NetGalley for letting me read and review

Good lord almighty this story was an absolute nightmare to get through. In fact, more often than not I debated on just shelving this one as a DNF and moving on with my life. In retrospect, I don't know why I didn't as there was very little redeemable about this story at all in my opinion.

Part of the main issue that I had with this one is that there were numerous instances where the author seemed to forget details they had already established.

To begin with, Callum and his brothers break into the mission where Caterina is living at in the dead of night in order to kidnap her, and his first thought upon meeting her in the flesh is to immediately sexualize her in his thoughts AGAIN (as he had already done so when shown pictures of her prior to this). Of course, she fights back, kneeing him in the family jewels and biting his hand hard enough to draw blood (both of which he has the audacity to get angry about like he didn't just break into her room while she was sleeping with the intent of kidnapping her).

But then she shoots him - and once again, here is where details matter and this author obviously either didn't remember what she wrote, or didn't bother doing any research into gunshot wounds. You see, Caterina says that because her hands were shaking so badly, she only manages to GRAZE Callum with the bullet. Even Callum calls it a graze, yet a few paragraphs later he is thankful one of his brothers knows how to tie a torniquet. Something that is definitely not needed for a graze wound. By the time a doctor gets around to looking at it (during which time said torniquet would have been on for far too long which would result in nerve damage, tissue death or loss of limb not to mention the fact Callum has been walking on it and even carried dear Caterina up the stairs), the doctor is able to patch him up with nothing more than gauze and some tape. No stitches needed, ergo no reason for a torniquet in the first place.

Another example of this author's failure to pay attention to their own details comes from Caterina when she wakes up in a private jet. You see, the nightgown she had been wearing was soaked through to the point "nothing was left to the imagination" (although Callum said if he thought his brother's could see he would have put his coat on her, but it was too dark for all that even though they were going onto a plane, but I digress). So Callum stripped her from her wet things and dressed her in a dry robe before covering her with blankets. When she regains consciousness, Caterina is obviously distressed and worries that she may have been assaulted by the four men she finds herself alone with. So she tries to discreetly check her thighs for any signs of blood. When the men tell her they didn't touch her, she yanks the slit on the robe closed. Except, wouldn't you know, a few scant paragraphs later when the plane lands, she is absolutely horrified to see she is wearing a robe and demands to know why she is. Miss ma'am. You already knew you were wearing one so the time to be outraged about it has passed.

Now I was hoping once these two got settled and started getting to know one another, the story would improve. However, I couldn't be more wrong. And I think this is in part to the fact that neither of these characters are even remotely likable.

Callum is a disgusting pig who if he isn't sexualizing Caterina in his thoughts, he is being downright vile towards her (in fact at one point despite knowing he had you know kidnapped her from her way of life as a nun in training he yanks her to her feet from where she had been praying telling her that the only time she should be on her knees in their bedroom is when she is performing oral sex on him. Of course, he puts it in a much more vulgar way than that).

Caterina for the most part isn't any better, in fact the phrase insufferable shrew comes to mind. In fact, she even goes so far as to argue with him while they are being shot at and trying to flee from her murderous father. Then even when they are married, she tries to argue with him about sharing a bed, even though he's not pressuring her to have sex with him, merely sleep in the same bed. I get it, she claims she doesn't know him that well, but then she doesn't make an attempt to get to know him. Sadly, throughout the first part of book she had better interactions and more chemistry with every single one of Callum's brothers than she did with Callum himself.

Even when there were moments of promise between them (like that scene in the dining room when he made promises to her than no self-respecting mafia man never would have made, and no true mafia wife ever would have demanded), they still end up arguing with each other and Callum once again leaves the conversation utterly enraged with his wife, but that doesn't stop him from being horny for her as well. Only on this particular instance, the reason he is so enraged at her is because she asked him to respect her one tradition and not kiss her until they were married. Hardly something to get that upset over.

Eventually, they do try to put the events of the past behind them and try to at least find some common ground. Caterina even goes so far as to buy a sexy dress in order to impress her husband at the opening of his new club that she had to beg him to take her to, only to be insulted by him. Of course, she then takes offense to him telling her that she's his. God these two made me want to rip out my hair more than root them on.

Of course because this is supposedly a romance novel, the two eventually find their way and start claiming to be in love with one another. Eventually they consummate their marriage, over and over until you guessed it Caterina becomes pregnant. And on this joyous day, she holds her driver and body-guard at gunpoint and forces him to take her to the strip club that she didn't know her husband owned alongside his brothers. She storms in, takes something completely out of context and makes a scene. Finally she yells her secret out at him, then screams about how "disgusting and demoralizing it was that" she was "reduced to" telling him he was going to be a father in a strip club. I'm sorry sweetheart, but you made that choice all on your own. She then runs out of the club despite knowing her father is looking for her. So naturally, she gets kidnapped.

There is a scene of violence against women that occurs during her kidnapping, but we never actually see her get rescued. As soon as Callum and her brothers arrive, she blacks out so of course we don't actually get to see the fire-fight that must have occurred. We just find out after the fact that happened (or will happen as the case may be). And of course, in true Caterina nature, despite it being her fault she was kidnapped for running off unprotected in the first place, she still has the audacity to scream at Callum, and shove him away from her hospital bed while cursing at him.

Yeah, looking back over all of that ... it really is a miracle that I made it through this novel.

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.

This was a super engaging read and I really enjoyed it! Fans of mafia romances will definitely not want to miss this one!

This was pretty good! I found myself a bit of a bigger fan of Cal than Cat early on, then it flipped, and eventually I grew fond of them together but it was certainly a ride. I’m really waiting for Dare though!

Irish mafia x Italian mafia, an age-gap arranged marriage, and all the tension you could ask for! The chemistry is 🔥, the drama is nonstop, and the push-pull between the broody hero and his fiery bride is perfection. If you love Cora Reilly, this one’s a must-read!