Ah, the kind of book a mini-review was made for! You know the kind- spoilery stuff happens within the first like, 20% of the book making it nearly impossible to tell you anything else about the book? Yep, this is that stuff!
I wasn't sure about it at first, to be honest. The beginning was a little "meh" for me- not for very long, mind you, but the very beginning was a bit underwhelming, even with assassining. ("Assassining" should absolutely be a word by the way, and I am adding it to my dictionary.)
I was kind of nervous about the whole mafia-themed assassins storyline would be really unbelievable, but the way it was presented made it really work in the story. I accepted the premise behind it, so that was good. I can't say much (seriously, this may be the most impossible review to write ever), so I will just give you the vaguest bare minimum of things I liked a great deal:
- Lea is a fabulous protagonist. Coming from her background, you know she is going to be tough on the outside, but she grows a lot on the inside too during the book.
- There are a lot of other characters who were very well done. No matter if I loved them or hated them (and there were characters that I really hated), there were feelings involved. And, their motives made sense and fit with their characters.
- There were some fabulous themes running throughout the book. The one that was my favorite, and that I can definitely mention, is family, and how important it is.
The negative? Well, there were some points where I felt that things were getting a bit drawn out and repetitive. Like, we get it, you hate those guys. Let's move along now. But luckily it did move along, and I was pleased with the story as a whole.
Bottom Line: Definitely a win for me. I enjoyed the characters, plot, and world building, and I am very excited to see what happens in the next book in the series.