BEAUTIFUL CARNAGE
Series: Dark Empire #1
Genre: Dark Mafia Romance
Author: Caroline Peckham & Susanne Valenti
Release Date: January 4, 2020
A dark, mafia standalone from Wall Street Journal #1 bestselling authors Caroline Peckham & Susanne Valenti
His family killed my brother, so I stole his bride…I was there to murder her father, but then I saw her walking down the aisle.
She’s been my secret obsession for too long. The sinfully beautiful Calabresi princess.
Sloan was the perfect payment for their crimes.
Now she’s mine.
Mine to claim.
Mine to possess.
Mine to destroy.
Her fiancé is still hunting for us, but his bride might not be so innocent by the time he tracks her down.
I’m lining her family up like dominoes. And she’ll be the first to fall.
Unless I fall prey to temptation and decide to keep her for myself.
Rocco and Sloan’s story is a Stand-Alone Enemies to Lovers Dark Romance with a HEA and no cliffhanger. It contains heat, passion and explosive steamy scenes for readers who enjoy mature content.
It all began with letters. Every word he wrote etched itself into my mind, into my soul.
I had no choice but to fall for him. Was it really so bad that the letters were part of a penpal program … for prisoners? Or that they weren’t addressed to me?
It’s not as if we’d ever meet. It’s not as if I’d ever get to look into Beau’s eyes that yearn for the ranch he left behind. Or that I’d ever get to feel his work-roughened hands dominating my body just as he does my fevered dreams. What harm could there be?
Until one afternoon when I find myself standing in front of Beau—pretending to be someone I’m not. But the joke’s on me because for all my pretenses, his deception is much crueler … The hardened, dangerous, impossibly beautiful man is nothing like the man in the letters.
And it’s too late for me to run.
Content Guidance:
The contents of this dark romance book may be triggering to some readers. It contains explicit sexual content and a morally gray hero.
Trigger warnings: false identities, stalking/obsession, revenge/retribution, abduction, drugging, blackmail/coercion, forced marriage, violence, bondage, knife play, gun play, dubious consent, non-consent, off-the-page domestic abuse set in the past, off-the-page murder set in the past, parental grief
I didn’t think I could hate anyone more than I hate you,” she breathed as the silence stretched between us.
A dark laugh escaped me and I leaned forward in my chair, moving so close to her that she had no choice but to turn and look at me. “I don’t think that’s true, bella,” I said in a low voice.
“You don’t think I hate you?” she asked, arching an eyebrow at me like I was insane.
“I think you hate me so hard, it eats you up. You hate me so hard you dream about me and all the awful things I might do to you. But I think that in those dreams you don’t actually hate it so much when I do them…”
Oh the giddy excitement that I devoured this book with. OMG. I have wanted to try more of their books since I read and loved Forget-Me-Not Bombshell but I’m not yet adventurous enough to delved into their series. Don’t judge me. I have the attention span of a fly. But I digress. I was in the mood for a true enemies to lovers dark mafia romance but everything I would pick up was just sort of BLAH. Ya know? Like it just wouldn’t hit the right way. I’ve had this one on my TBR for a while and 5 DNFs and 1 star later, I thought, why not. What do I have to lose. Apparently my entire day is what. Because it was an absolute blur as I devoured this book.
It had me hooked from the very first page. And I mean HOOKED. We’re talking true enemies to lovers where these two first meet when Rocco comes after her family but for some reason decided to spare her life. A few years later, Sloan is back to where it all started. She’s not the same 18 year old girl who was almost a victim. SHe’s a fighter. But one thing that she can’t fight, is her father’s plan for her. Which is to marry Nicoli, his protege. And it’s her duty to agree. But the wedding goes off with a bang when Rocco and his brothers crash it. And what’s a man to do when his revenge plan to kill a rival family doesn’t go as planned? Kidnap the bride, of course. DUH. And here, my friends, is where the real fun begins.
Because Sloan is not some easy prey. She gives as good as she gets and the banter between these two was EVERYTHING. This book had everything; a dark and gritty story, a slow burn romance full of tension and chemistry, delicious spice when it finally hits, and two main characters that I couldn’t get enough of.
If you love dark mafia romance and you haven’t read this one yet, do yourself a favor and grab this one. You won’t be disappointed!
