First, what I didn't like. (Need to get this out of the way).
1. Better proofreading and editing needed - There were a few typos or misused English words (double negatives used where it shouldn't have been) and the Italian wasn't always correct, maybe just more typos. (e.g. "Vaffanculo" was written as "vaffanlo"). English translations are provided, and if you don't speak or understand Italian, you won't even notice the latter. I do, so I did.
2. Giana Darling has a very colorful, descriptive turn of phrase that I admit sometimes was distracting. Some examples early on:
"The sound moved through the Town Car like the crescendo of noise at the beginning of a jazz song, each note a building block leading to something richer, brighter." Or "...just as the sun broke over the crust of the metallic cityscape and spilled like broken yolk through the streets." Or "The courtroom. My haven. A place so entrenched in rules and customs, its hierarchy so pretty and plainly delineated as rice fields."
It wasn't necessarily bad, just that sometimes I found myself rereading to make sense of the analogy. (A sunrise to broken egg yolks and a courtroom to rice fields?) Then, a couple of times a character commented or asked a question and Darling goes on and on describing emotions so that by the time the other character responds you forgot what the comment or question was. Mostly, it was just in the beginning, or maybe I just got used to her style of writing....or this story was just so good that I quit noticing!
Because YES, I loved it! The characters are amazing, particularly the H and h. Dante and Elena are both deep and multi-layered, each having two sides, almost like two contradictory people. Both had difficult childhoods. But Dante had the support of a man who loved him and guided him so he grew up comfortable with all his sides and became the Don of Dons; respected, loved, but also feared. Unlike Dante, Elena didn't have that support. She is a very complicated contradiction. Everything she's ever wanted has been taken away from her. A lawyer, living in N.Y, she's developed a black and white view of right and wrong. She wants to do good, but she also wants power. She can be loving, but is scared of losing again and being hurt. She geta angry and says hateful thing when she is wronged or hurt, but she hates that side of herself. As a result, she has learned to squash all emotion, she's become the ice queen.
Having so far refused to defend any Mafia clientele of the firm she works for, a plea, from the one sister she cares about, finds her Dante's defense team when he's charged with murder and racketeering. She makes her dislike of Dante and the Mafia apparent from the start. But Dante provokes her to test her mettle and begins to see the fire underneath the ice. With a degree in psychology, he becomes very intrigued by her and sets out to uncover the real Elena. I loved the interaction between the two. While Elena is discovering that Dante is so much more than just the Mafia Don capable of murder and illegal acts; Dante peels away her layers to reveal all her sides and begins to show her she can be both. She begins to realize that all is not black and white...there are so many shades of grey in between.But defending a Mafia Don has it's perils. There are those who want his power, his position as well as other, older heads of the N.Y mafia families who resent him because he is not full blooded Italian; add in the Irish Mafia and a mole in his own organization and it makes for some dangerous situations for Dante and his legal team...particularly Elena.
This story is exciting, intriguing and emotionally moving. I even learned something new...that there are other Italian Mafia organizations besides the Cosa Nostra (the Sicilian mafia). Both the Camorra (originated in Calabria) and the Ndrangheta (originated in Campania) are mentioned in this story. I did some research on both and learned some very interesting facts. I can't wait to get started on Book two of the duet..."When Villains Rise"!
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About the author
5 star mafia romance
“𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘴, 𝘭𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘦, 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥.” YOU GUYS! This book! Ugh. It was absolutely amazing! I freaking loved Dante & Elena. If you love a good mafia romance with a badass heroine.. I HIGHLY recommend you pick this one up ASAP. I think Elena might be in my top favorite heroines yall. I absolutely loved her from the very beginning of this book. I loved that she was a take no shit kind of women and knew how to stand her ground around of bunch of mafia men. And I really loved that after all the shit she has gone through in her life, she’s still deep down, got a heart of gold. I honestly just loved everything about her. “𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦? 𝘎𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨.” And Dante.. y’all. I can’t tell you how many times this man made me swoon. Like dear lord this man.🥵🔥 he is pure perfection. I already knew I loved him after what we got of him in the Enslaved Duet, but after reading an entire book with him as the main character.. my love for him grew exponentially. He is seriously one of the most swoon worthy characters I’ve ever read about. “𝘉𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪-𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘰. 𝘈 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘥𝘰 𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮 𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘰, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘴, 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥.” When Heroes Fall is a story about two anti-heroes falling in love. It is the journey of our ice queen Elena, learning how to love and be loved again by a man. This story had all the drama, suspense & angst you would want in a mafia romance and it kept me hooked from the very beginning.
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