Review: Ruining Dahlia by C.R. Jane (Mafia Wars)
4 STARS || Standalone, Book Three of the Mafia Wars series || Amazon + Goodreads
England and New York are about to collide and oh, yeah, it’s yummy, crazy, bloody good.
I’ve been wanting to try a C.R. Jane novel, and since I am determined to read each and every one of the Mafia Wars books, it’s working out for me. I really enjoyed Jane’s writing and the way she weaved this story, I loved that she gave us predominately Dahlia’s pov, but also the guy’s pov’s as well. T’was well done.
Dahlia, oh, Dahlia, she could have been a sad Mary Sue just following orders – the Bride bargain of forced marriages to end the Mafia Wars, and yet, she bloomed. This woman has heartbreaking secrets, blood-drenched, nauseating, terrible secrets. I really, genuinely enjoyed her as a character. She’s got grit and a tight right hook.
“There are some secrets that have to stay buried. Everyone has something they keep hidden, even from the ones they love the most. Because once those secrets are out, nothing can ever be the same.”
When the story begins, Dahlia is flying first class from London to NYC, to meet her new husband and trading what she hopes will be the lesser of evils of one set of shackles of one Mafia family for another, she doesn’t expect to stumble across an angel in the form of Raphael in the airport and then later sitting next to her on the plane, kismet?
Raphael may look like an angel but he is pure psychotic devil beneath his pretty veneer, but like, the good kind that can only be found in books, he’s also her new brother-in-law. She decides in a moment of pure rebellion and crazy chemistry with this mysterious stranger to throw her virginity at Raphael and woah, I’ll never walk past first class again without thinking of these two. She of course doesn’t know who he is, he knows though, oh, yeah, he knows.
Then you’ve got the husband-to-be, Lucian, the next in line, controlling, dominant, and full of his own self-hatred and secrets. He’s a mess and I love him. Even when he’s being a total jackass to Dahlia, I still loved him, he’s so yum and so tightly wound, and his own obsession with Dahlia is delightful.
And last, but most certainly not least, the youngest brother, Gabriel. He has OCD and when he falls in love which is apparently frequent – it is obsessive. No one, least of all Gabriel is expecting his obsession to light on Dahlia and not waver, hold on to your tits, he’s delicious and sweet and kind and good.
“Dahlia,” I murmured, and she winced because she could hear the ache in my voice. “If I have to, I’ll love you enough for the both of us.”
This story has it all. Secrets on all sides, forced marriage, mafia machinations, a psycho, a Dom, and a golden retriever and the one woman that ties them tightly together even though they have blood to do that as well.
It’s a great story, and I genuinely enjoyed myself, at 65% I began to get bummed that it was getting closer to the end. The characters are ones to root for, the relationship – beautiful, the healing found amongst the four of them – perfect.
Brava C.R. Jane, Brava.
Synopsis:
I was sold to my enemies. And not just my enemies. I was sold to monsters.
I should know all about how to survive monsters though, I come from a family of them.
We aren’t Butchers in name only, and surely the Rossi family can’t be as bad as the devil that’s been destroying me since I was eight years old.
New York City, the powerful head of the Cosa Nostra, is my new home. Where Lucian, Raphael, and Gabriel Rossi now think they own me.
The thing they don’t realize is that I’m more than what I seem.
A dahlia has always bloomed best in the light, and even though everything about this place and these men is shrouded in darkness, I’m determined to thrive…to win.
They play a game for keeps, a game where the only rule is that there are no rules.
They want to ruin me. But what disturbs me most is that I just might like it.
It’s me against them, and only time will tell If I’ll be the winner or be destroyed in these cruel and merciless Mafia Wars.
Binding Rose Review > HERE < + Gunmetal Lily Review > HERE <
