Book review: VICIOUS DEVIL, by Michelle Heard

Kings of Mafia #9

Adriano & Laurie

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book felt a little different from the others—grittier in some places, cheesier in others, but in a way that completely worked for me. We get a real look into Adriano’s life: the violence that comes with being a capo, yes, but also the softness of his world. His parents and sister, the other capos who are basically his brothers, the older generation he calls “uncle,” and Rosie, their IT genius who’s like a little sister. There’s a warmth in his circle that balances the brutality of his job.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is Laurie, who is living a truly miserable life. She works as an accountant in a construction company, once had her own rented room, and then made the mistake of falling for a coworker and moved in with him. Years later, she’s basically a servant in his home. She works endless hours under the owner’s wife—who is also her boyfriend’s sister—without compassion or extra pay. She’s drowning financially and emotionally, stuck in a hole she can’t climb out of.

Because her workplace is near a club Adriano manages, they have a few chance encounters. Adriano is instantly smitten—this woman becomes the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen. And because these capos are possessive, unhinged men, he immediately starts debating whether he should just… kidnap her. Never mind that she has a boyfriend!

Then Laurie’s life collapses in one brutal sweep. Her boyfriend is with another woman and throws her out. She sleeps in the office. The next day she’s fired, falsely accused of stealing from petty cash, and denied her paycheck. Completely desperate, she goes to the club, even considering stripping just to survive. Adriano happens to be there—and swoops in.

And that’s when the story goes full‑tilt crazy.

Adriano is determined to keep her. Laurie needs the money he offers but is terrified of the strings attached. She signs a contract without realizing it includes marriage. Adriano enforces it, of course. Laurie tries to escape multiple times, gets caught every time, and eventually settles into this strange captivity—one filled with luxury, safety, food, clothes, and a roof she can trust. I think the moment everything shifted for her was meeting Adriano’s parents. She received the love and acceptance she never got from her own parents, and that cracked her open.

From there, we slide into the cheesy, swoony part of the story.

Adriano is utterly besotted. Laurie is slowly softening. And now he needs to avenge the cruelty she endured at work. Those scenes were delicious—terrifying, satisfying, and exactly the kind of justice I wanted. It felt like music!

I truly enjoyed this book, just like the others in the series. The men are possessive, jealous, and absolutely whipped once they fall. There are glimpses of the capo world and their business dealings, but this book is really about Adriano’s obsession and the woman who unknowingly owned him. Watching Laurie go from unwanted and unloved to a cherished wife, embraced by a family that actually cares for her, was beautiful. Another winner, and easily five stars.

Purchase links

Amazon: https://geni.us/uteWAK

About the author

Michelle Heard is a USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Amazon #3 Bestselling romance author. She writes emotional, heart-shattering stories with a whole lot of angst and romance that will leave you smiling with satisfaction. Every book shows the strength of the characters who will burn down the world for each other.

Before becoming an author, Michelle had a career in banking. She lives in South Africa with her son, Sheldon, who's also her right-hand man when it comes to all things publishing, and her daughter-in-law, Tayla, who's her best friend. 

Connect w/Michelle:

Website: https://michelleheardauthor.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHeardAuthor

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Book review: TWISTED PAWN, by L.J. Shen

Society of Villains #2

Aquilles & Tierney

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I am still reeling from this epic story. It’s a full-blown saga, and honestly, it could be titled Love vs. Hate because Aquilles and Tierney’s relationship never stops teetering between the two. You can feel the profound love simmering beneath everything, yet circumstances twist it into hatred: their families, their loyalties, and above all, their guilt. That old saying about the fine line between love and hate? This book is basically a doctoral dissertation proving it true.

Aquilles puts Tierney under suffocating surveillance—bodyguards tracking her every step, preventing her from having lovers, and killing any man she manages to escape long enough to touch. For a woman who survived a Siberian gulag at fourteen, who endured years of sexual abuse, starvation, cold, and utter lovelessness, this is just another layer of tragedy on top of a life already carved by desolation.

Tierney inspired so much pity and compassion in me. When she and Tiernan escaped the gulag and reunited with their father and older brother, Tiernan immediately stepped into the Irish mafia world like he’d been born for it—accent, swagger, ruthlessness and all. Their father Tyrone was too depressed (and I think lazy!), and Fintan too addled in addictions (booze and gambling), so Tiernan became the de facto leader. Meanwhile, Tierney was dismissed as “too broken” and left alone with her wounds. No wonder she harbored resentment; the men got to reinvent themselves while she was expected to quietly survive.

She reinvented herself anyway—into a socialite with a glittering network of useful contacts. But beneath the sparkle, her life felt like a downward spiral, all motion and no meaning.

It takes a near-death moment for Aquilles to realize that without Tierney, his life is worthless. And that’s when the book shifts. If the first half is war and hate, the second is love and devotion. Aquilles does a complete 180, dedicating himself to helping her live rather than trapping her in fear. The angst doesn’t disappear—it just transforms. And now we get the subtle humor and razor-sharp sarcasm I adore in LJ Shen’s writing. The first half was angst on steroids; the second half is angst with heart.

There are plot twists that genuinely gave me whiplash. I kept getting hit with surprises, one after another, and I was so glued to my Kindle that I went shopping with my daughter and basically followed her around like a zombie, eyes locked on the screen.

What I loved (besides the sheer awesomeness of the story): Alex Rasputin’s appearance and his genuine remorse for what his father put them through. He may be the new Pakhan, but he’s not ruthless with Tiernan and Tierney. I loved seeing Tiernan and Lila so happy—Tiernan is a total sap with his wife, which gives me hope we’ll see Aquilles in full whipped-husband mode in future books. Enzo remains my favorite deadly Golden Retriever—capable of murder, yet adorable with the family. And Luca… that cold-blooded man intrigues me. I’m crossing my fingers he gets a book so we can watch him fall just as hard as the others.

Overall, I loved this book and the way LJ Shen crafts her characters. The men are savage, ruthless, and terrifying—until they fall in love. Then they become passionate, jealous, possessive fools for their women. I adore that dichotomy. And the women, even when carrying unimaginable trauma like Tierney, have an inner steel that makes them survivors—women the men must fight to deserve. It’s delightful. It’s delicious. It’s everything I want in a dark romance.

Purchase links

🖤 Deluxe edition: http://amzn.to/47IUAkN

♥️ Walmart exclusive: shor.by/bw13

🖤 eBook: http://amzn.to/3WQeANt

About the author

L.J. Shen is a Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Washington Post, and #1 Amazon bestselling author of contemporary, new adult, and young adult romance. Her books have been sold in twenty different countries, and she hopes to visit all of them.

She lives in Florida with her husband, three rowdy sons, and rowdier pets and enjoys good wine, bad reality TV shows, and reading to her heart’s content. Connect with her on her website at www.authorljshen.com or on Instagram (@authorljshen), or join her Facebook group at http://goo.gl/QZJ0NC. Sign up for her newsletter at https://bit.ly/3LhsIrb, and text SHEN to 313131 to get new release alerts (United States only).

Connect with L.J. Shen:

https://www.authorljshen.com 

Book review: IF HE HADN’T CHEATED, by Carmen Rosales

The book opens in raw despair: a woman unraveling after the ultimate betrayal. With a wedding planned, a venue booked, graduation on the horizon, and dreams of conquering the world, everything collapses like a house of cards when she discovers her fiancé in bed with another student.

The fallout is brutal. She drops out of college, numbs herself with booze, drugs, and strangers, and lives in a loop designed to erase memory and feeling. Yet every morning, she still checks her phone—hoping for a call, a message, anything—and finds nothing. The cycle begins again.

Then, by accident, she dials her ex’s best friend. He hears her break down in the street and rushes to her side. Against her protests, he becomes her reluctant savior. Slowly, their history unfolds: he was her first choice, but he didn’t want commitment. She settled for someone else—and paid the price.

The narrative weaves between past and present, showing her destructive spiral alongside his quiet determination to pull her back from the edge. What struck me most was her flicker of self-awareness: even in the darkness, she knows she wants better. She insists she doesn’t need help, but what she truly craves is hope. Knox offers that—just enough light, just enough push—for her to rediscover her strength.

I’ll admit it: cheating romances are my forbidden pleasure. I love watching heroines claw their way back from devastation, and this one is among the darkest I’ve read. I admired her resilience and the love she eventually finds. Still, the book wasn’t perfectly structured. The backstories felt hazy, Luna’s family was absent, and the timeline wavered—sometimes the betrayal seemed fresh, other times years old.

Even so, the emotional intensity kept me hooked. It’s messy, it’s painful, but it’s also about survival, hope, and the complicated ways love can heal.

Purchase links

FREE in Kindle Unlimited

Amazon: https://amzn.to/4p5P1Fd

Add If He Hadn’t Cheated to Goodreads: https://tinyurl.com/ihhccrgr 

About the author

Carmen Rosales is a best-selling Dark Romance and Latinx author. She loves to write in different genres of Romance and erotic horror under her alter ego, Delilah Croww. Beyond her writing, Carmen is a devoted mother who loves spending time with her loved ones. Join her VIP list at www.carmenrosales.com

Book review: BAD BISHOP, by L.J. Shen

Society of Villains #1

Tiernan & Lila

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Tiernan Callaghan finally gets his own book—and it’s brutal, beautiful, and unforgettable.

If you met Tiernan in Handsome Devil, you know he’s the kind of man who kidnaps fiancés and doesn’t flinch when blood is spilled. In this story, LJ Shen peels back the layers of a character who seems heartless, only to reveal a man capable of fierce, all-consuming love.

🔥 Mafia Romance

🔥 Arranged Marriage

🔥 Scarred Hero

🔥 Hates Everyone But Her

🔥 Dark Romance

🔥 She Tries to Kill Him

🔥 Opposites Attract

Lila Ferrante is unlike any heroine Tiernan has ever encountered. Deaf, brilliant, and underestimated by her world, she’s been hiding in plain sight—until Tiernan sees her. What begins as a strategic marriage quickly morphs into a dangerous, magnetic connection between two people who should never have worked… but somehow do.

This book is darker than Shen’s usual fare, with more grit, more blood, and a hero who’s been through hell and wears the scars to prove it. Yet it still carries her signature wit, emotional depth, and that delicious slow-burn tension. Tiernan’s transformation—from a man ready to die to one who finds purpose in protecting the woman he never expected to love—is both heartbreaking and exhilarating.

Lila and Tiernan’s dynamic is electric. Their banter, their battles, their bedroom searches—it’s all foreplay to a love that’s as violent as it is tender. And when Tiernan finally lets himself feel, the result is poetry: “I’d stop the night from falling if darkness scares you, Lila.”

If you love morally gray heroes, heroines who bite back, and stories that walk the line between vengeance and devotion, this one’s for you.

Purchase links

eBook: https://shor.by/4470

Paperback: https://shor.by/0CJ8

UK/Commonwealth: https://shor.by/jbE1

About the author

L.J. Shen is a Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Washington Post, and #1 Amazon bestselling author of contemporary, new adult, and young adult romance. Her books have been sold in twenty different countries, and she hopes to visit all of them.

She lives in Florida with her husband, three rowdy sons, and rowdier pets and enjoys good wine, bad reality TV shows, and reading to her heart’s content. Connect with her on her website at www.authorljshen.com or on Instagram (@authorljshen), or join her Facebook group at http://goo.gl/QZJ0NC. Sign up for her newsletter at https://bit.ly/3LhsIrb, and text SHEN to 313131 to get new release alerts (United States only).

Connect with L.J. Shen:

https://www.authorljshen.com 

Book review: HANDSOME DEVIL, by L.J. Shen

Forbidden Love #3

Tate and Gia

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Gia and Tate’s relation went from toxic to devoted and we got to enjoy the turbulent ride.  Gia is a beautiful and kind woman with a lovely British accent, biracial due to a Jamaican father and white Cuban mother. Tate is everything dark, ruthless, a predator with a perfect body and broken mind.  He’s obsessed with Gia, and when she needed help with her ailing mother, he pounced and demanded marriage in return.  Then the war began!

This was similar to the movie War of the Roses.  They were both feral, but under all that toxicity there was attraction.  Gia fought her attraction, denied Tate of his marital rights, he was horrid in his treatment of her, and yet, underneath it all, you could sense that he was taking care of her.  

As the book progresses, I enjoyed seeing a Tate that starts to care for his wife, protects her not out of responsibility but of concern for her safety. Gia is snarky and sassy, never gives an inch, but is falling, very reluctantly, in love with her husband.

I loved how his heart jump-started and started feeling again, although it took a lot of rife and mayhem and danger, before it happened.  His horrible childhood and Gia’s family loss were very sad moments in the story, but it was balanced with the subtle humor, sarcastic prose, and slightly unhinged moments of the story.  There were some ick moments (e.g. the Ferrantes initiation), a kidnapping, some gritty violent events.  Even though the author warned about triggers, none of it fazed me except the ick moments, and they only caused some indigestion.

All in all, this was another fantastic journey into LJ Shen’s brilliant and creative world, where anything goes, it’s all crazy ongoings before the couple settle into domestic bliss.  It was certainly a page-turner full of all the emotions, highly entertaining.

Purchase links

FREE in Kindle Unlimited

ebook: https://amzn.to/4cTjUqJ

Audible: https://tinyurl.com/hdljsaud

Deluxe Edition Paperback: https://amzn.to/3ELzTtZ

Indigo Exclusive Edition: https://shor.by/NMB5

Walmart Exclusive Edition: https://tinyurl.com/y979h86h

Add Handsome Devil to Goodreads: https://tinyurl.com/hd3ljsgr

 

Start the Forbidden Love series today → https://amzn.to/4lsG6LX  

About the author

L.J. Shen is a Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Washington Post, and #1 Amazon bestselling author of contemporary, new adult, and young adult romance. Her books have been translated in over twenty different countries, and she hopes to visit all of them.

She lives in Florida with her husband, three rowdy sons, and even rowdier pets. She enjoys good wine, bad reality TV shows, and reading to her heart’s content. 

Connect with L.J. Shen

Website  www.authorljshen.com 

Instagram (@authorljshen)

Facebook group at http://goo.gl/QZJ0NC. 

Sign up for her newsletter at https://bit.ly/3LhsIrb, and text SHEN to 313131 to get new release alerts (United States only).

Join LJ's mailing list for exclusive material ➜ https://bit.ly/3LhsIrb

Website ➜ www.authorljshen.com