Synopsis

MILENE.

I know the rules, and I broke them anyway. I left Chicago to get away from the mafia and settled in New York, another Don's territory, without asking permission. Now I have to pay the price: marry the head of the New York Cosa Nostra, a man almost no one has ever laid eyes on, and be bound forever to the world I tried to escape. But when I finally stand in front of him, I realize he's no stranger.

SALVATORE.

Nothing has surprised me in a long time. I've seen too much and done worse. Until she showed up, scraping by in my city, without my approval, and waking up something in me I thought was dead. Stealing a touch now and then isn't enough anymore. I want all of her. And what Salvatore Ajello wants, he takes.

The protagonists

My review

The first time I read this book I liked it, it was fine, I enjoyed it and moved on with my life. But I don't know what happened, because out of nowhere I couldn't stop thinking about this couple, and I ended up rereading it a couple of times. Salvatore has me completely in love, besties, he's become one of my favorite characters in the entire series.

Milene moves to New York to start from scratch, far from the life the Chicago mafia had planned for her, hoping to keep studying and build something of her own. The problem is that Salvatore runs that city, the Don almost nobody knows, and from their very first encounter he can't get her out of his head. When he finds out who she is and how she's tied to the Chicago mafia, he does what any obsessed Don would do: he plans a marriage between them. And Milene, obviously, is not amused.

What I love most about this book is the contrast. Salvatore is cold, calculating and controlling to absurd levels (the cameras, the bodyguards, all of it), but with her he comes undone little by little, and watching a man who thought he was incapable of feeling discover that he can is just beautiful. Milene holds her own too, she's stubborn, compassionate, sets boundaries and doesn't let anyone walk all over her, and that dynamic makes every scene between them spark. Also, Neva Altaj gives Salvatore a physical disability that's part of who he is without turning it into cheap drama, and I really appreciate that.

These two are pure fire and, at the same time, total sweethearts. There are some seriously hot scenes, but also tiny moments that melt your heart. It's one of those books that gets better with every reread, and that's why it earned its five stars.

Content warnings: mafia violence, extreme physical violence in the hero's past, stalking, kidnapping, obsessive surveillance.

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Painted Scars

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