Eve1972
Written on Apr 8, 2018
NOTE: This coming year I have set a challenge for myself of reading one book a week that takes me out of my comfort zone. A book that may include one (or more) tropes (scenarios) that I avoid like the plague. Cheating. Older women/younger man. OW drama. Just to name a few. Nothing is off limits. I am taking a HUGE step out of the box I usually live in and charting a course into the unknown (HaHa). My reviews for these books will differ slightly from my usual as I will focus more on whether the author wowed me despite it having content I avoid. That said, I will go into each book with an open mind and an open heart and who knows, maybe I will discover a new favorite author on the way!
I legit don't know how I feel about this book. It was weird. Seriously weird. Funnily enough, I choose this one for my "stepping out" challenge because it had a pornstar hero. Pornstars are usually not my thing, so it seemed the perfect book to push my limits. Come to find out, the porn star thing played pretty much NO part in this book. He goes on one audition and then the entire storyline is pretty much dropped when the book turns into an action-packed mafia war book. That said, you know what did completely grossed me out. The fact that the hero/heroine were double first cousins. I legit threw up in my mouth every time these two had an intimate scene together.
~THIS BOOK INCLUDED THE FOLLOWING TROPES (SCENARIOS) I USUALLY AVOID~
-- Pornstar (kind of)
-- Cousins
~WRITING - PLOT - PACE~
So like I said above, I legit have NO idea how to rate this book. It took me a long time to get into it (almost 40%) and I toyed with the idea of throwing in the towel more than once. In fact, the ONLY reason I didn't was I needed to see if a secret would come out. It did, but it didn't really change anything. At 50% in the book took a turn, and I was hooked by the action right until the end. The writing in the last half was especially good. The entire book was very well paced. The plot though was all over the place. The porn star angle felt unnecessary and forced. Last, it was all wrapped up in an ending (lol). I can't say it was sweet ending without almost throwing up again.
~HERO~
GIOELE...Gioele was a bit of a hothead. I liked his character though. I think the fact that he and Silvina were cousins just really messed with my reading enjoyment. It's hard to like a character if you are struggling to keep your lunch down every time he started creeping on his cousin. That said, I loved his overall mafia bada$$ness.
~HEROINE~
SILVINA...Between Silvina and Gioele she was certainly the one with the brain. She wanted them to move on and find other people. In any case, I liked her character a lot. She was feisty and strong.
~SECONDARY CHARACTERS~
This book had a lot of secondary characters in it. I assume characters from other books (although I have no clue since this was my first Sunniva Dee book). We also have family members. Baddies. Friends.
~HEAT LEVEL~
Super low. This one felt a bit YAish in regard to heat. There were a few very mild sex scenes, but it was certainly a tame book considering the plot line.
~ANGST LEVEL - SEXUAL HISTORIES~
High. Their cousins. First cousins (gag). Need I say more? The hero also has sex with a few OW and the heroine is forced to do something with an OM. Neither were virgins but I am fairly sure they lost that to each other... I am gagging again (lol).
~IN THE END~
Like I said, I honestly do not know how I feel about this one. I think the fact the two main characters were so closely related stopped me from fully enjoying or fully appreciating the overall story. I just kept picturing three-headed babies (lol). Lord knows I tried to go with it. That said, I thought the mafia stuff was brilliant and the best part of the book. I thought the porn angle wasn't a necessary addition and added nothing to the story. A mixed bag for sure. I think at this point I am going to go with a 3-Star rating with the option of changing that after I marinate on it a bit.