Book review: THE DEVIL, by Michelle Heard

 

Mafia Empire #5

Enzo Oliveira & Jenna Dotson

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

What I love about Michelle Heard’s books is how she crafts these intense, dangerous men—Mafia bosses, lethal killers—who seem untouchable… until they meet the right woman. Suddenly, the cold-hearted enforcer becomes utterly devoted, protective to the extreme, and hopelessly in love. Sure, they’re possessive, jealous, and have a “touch her and die” attitude—but once they fall, they fall hard. And they live for her.

That’s exactly what happens with Enzo Oliveira. Orphaned as a child and raised on the unforgiving streets of Lisbon, he grows into the ruthless boss of the Portuguese mafia—a killer for hire, a loner who trusts no one. The Alliance—Sebastian, Dominik, Cassia, and Leo—have tried to bring him into their fold, to make him feel like family, but Enzo’s walls are high and impenetrable. Until now.

When he travels to Aurora to resolve a conflict between his factory and a hostile MC club, he meets Jenna. And everything changes. He falls for her, faces off against the MC, and realizes—for the first time—he needs help. That’s when he calls in his army of friends. What follows is gritty, high-stakes action with a pulse-pounding edge.

Jenna, like Enzo, is a loner with deep scars. A traumatic secret has left her selectively mute, and she’s built her own fortress of solitude. Watching these two broken souls find each other, slowly open up, and learn to trust is just beautiful.

Throughout the book, we witness Enzo’s transformation—falling in love, learning to trust, embracing the Alliance as his chosen family, and ultimately avenging Jenna’s past. The ending is tender and emotional, a soft landing after all the grit and violence. I adored the contrast—it made the romance and the found-family theme even more powerful.

Purchase links

US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FMR8TKPW

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FMR8TKPW

CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0FMR8TKPW

AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0FMR8TKPW

About the author

Michelle Heard is a Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling Author who loves creating stories her readers can get lost in. She resides in South Africa with her son where she's always planning her next book to write, and trip to take.

 

Connect w/Michelle:

Website: https://michelleheardauthor.com

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

FB Readers Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/118971435201074

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authormichelleheard

Amazon: https://amazon.com/author/michellehorst

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18108320.Michelle_Heard

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/michelle-heard

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@michelleheard_author

Newsletter Signup: https://preview.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/p6m4o4

Book review: CRIMSON RIVER, by Devney Perry

The Edens #5

Lyla & Vance

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Devney Perry’s books are a delight to read, enchanting and endearing.  She always presents a beautiful story, charming characters who are dealing with some personal issue, a family that you would want for yours, and in this series, a lovely small town called Quincy, picturesque and very touristy.  So apart from reading a wonderful story, you get an idillic setting that really makes you wish the place was real and accessible.  Her books are a true delight to read!

Lyla has an intervention from her sister Eloise, convincing her to take a break from her coffee shop.  Lyla has been working non-stop for over a hundred days and Eloise is worried.  So Lyla accepts, goes hiking to the mountains and is almost strangled by a scarred-face, ginger haired man.  He leaves her unconscious and when she wakes up, she goes lickety-split to the hospital to her doctor sister Talia.  After a week long search & rescue hunt for the man doesn’t give results, efforts are stopped and in comes Vance Sutter.  

Vance has personal history with the scarred man, when he heard about the APB he came, hoping to finally capture this fugitive, who killed his own wife and daughters.  We know that Vance has some personal connection with the man and his family but it won’t be revealed until later in the book.

There’s a lot of hidden pain in Vance, from his personal family history, to his professional life as a backcountry deputy in Idaho.  The chemistry between Lyla and Vance is electric, Lyla wants to forget her nightmare and with Vance, everything vanishes from her mind.  Vance finds relief from the grief of losing people he considered family.  Both find surcease to their demons together, and a secret alliance is born.

There’s a low thrum of suspense through the book as Vance continues the  search for the man, interspaced with the budding relation between Lyla and Vance.  You go from very sexy and sweet moments to the nitty gritty of a hike where you’re looking everywhere.  I kept expecting the guy to suddenly jump in front of them!

I loved the wonderful connection between Lyla and Vance.  Although Lyla shared everything about her family and her town to Vance, he was very reticent.  She knew he would leave, and she accepted it, and lived for the moment.  It was sad and beautiful, how she loved and gave and didn’t demand anything in return.  I think this space that she gave Vance is what made him fall so hard in love with her.  

There are very emotional moments in the story, as only this author can write.  The love of family is always strong and present.  And Vance, who was somewhat estranged from his family, found another big and loud group to mesh with.  Bittersweet at the end, beautiful and passionate, completely riveting and entertaining.  This book is made to enjoy during one day when you play hooky from work and hide in your couch to read, as I did!  And the bonus epilogue was everything I needed from this story!

Purchase links

Amazon: https://bit.ly/3Ca5bGg

Amazon Worldwide: https://mybook.to/CrimsonRiver

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/3Te9pV1

About the author

Devney Perry is a Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author of over forty romance novels. After working in the technology industry for a decade, she abandoned conference calls and project schedules to pursue her passion for writing. She was born and raised in Montana and now lives in Washington with her husband and two sons. 

 

Connect with Devney

Website: www.devneyperry.com

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/2kncXnb

Amazon: https://geni.us/nAXkP

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/devneyperrybooks

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/324585607979213/

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/devneyperry

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/devneyperry

Bookbub: http://bit.ly/2v1Hr7t

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/devneyperry