THE BASTARD’S BETRAYAL
Series: Scandalous Scions Book 1
Genre: Mafia Romance
Author: Katee Robert
Release Date: August 25, 2021
She thought it was love.
Rose Romanov is a mafia princess, and everything that entails. Violently over-protective parents. A giant extended family, all ready to kill anyone who looks at her wrong. Learning to run a business that isn’t exactly on the right side of the law. So, naturally, when she meets a nice guy who isn’t in the life, she falls hard… Right up until the she discovers her new boyfriend isn’t a civilian at all.
But he betrayed her.
When Dante Verducci was sent on an undercover mission to evaluate the Romanov family for weakness, he never expected to have an instant connection with their unlikely heir. There’s something fierce and feral about Rose that calls to him. They’re alike, even if they’re both lying to each other during the months they date. Before he could figure out a new plan, Rose finds out who he really is, dumps him, and immediately enters an engagement with the heir of a rival family. Yeah, no, that’s not going to work for Dante.
Now he’ll do anything to reclaim her. Even go to war.
His gaze flicked to the gun in her hands. “You really think you’re going to shoot me? You were coming around my cock twenty-four hours ago.”
Fury nearly made her black out. Maybe she wouldn’t regret this after all. He was so fucking sure of her, of this situation, as if the gun in her hand didn’t mean a single damn thing. She’d prove him wrong. Rose steadied her stance, reaching for the one thing she could that would hurt him a fraction of as much as he’d hurt her.
“I faked it.” She pulled the trigger.
When a book starts with that quote, you know you’re in for a good time. I love me some Katee Roberts, and when I saw she’s releasing a spin off from The O’Malleys series, I was all over it. I love a good mafia romance, and throw in a bit of betrayal and hate lust into the mix and I’m done. STICK A FORK IN ME. I love it.
I loved the first half of this story. Rose Romanov is a heroine that you instantly love. The woman is a badass. She’s a mafia princess and the daughter of Dmitri and Keira from The Bastard’s Bargain. If you haven’t read that book, don’t worry, you can easily pick things up with this one as it is the launch of a new series.
Rose can’t seem to do right by her family. She knows that having a relationship with a sexy bartender who she recently met isn’t meant to be because of her family responsibility. But when she finds out that the bartender isn’t who he says he was and he happens to have ties to a rival mafia? Suffice it to say she’s pissed.
Boy meets girl. Boy betrays girl. Girl get pissed and shoots boy. Boy is determined and kidnaps girl on her wedding day (of her arranged marriage) and will stop at nothing, including plying her with orgasms to make her his.
Having said that, I loved the first half of this book. The kidnapping, the push and pull, the hate lust, the second chance romance vibes. All of it just did it for me. But then the story lost a bit of steam for me. I wanted more mafia action, but most of it was a bit on the meh side. Outside of a few brief glimpses and instances, not much else happens. I began to grow bored and to skim. I also found myself wishing we got some glimpse of how these two got together. That all takes place off the pages, and I would have loved a bit more fleshing out of their original connection. Don’t get me wrong, I still loved their chemistry, I just also wished for at least a flashback or two.
And then there’s the set up for the next book? GIMME! It sounds utterly delicious.
If you’re looking for a super spicy mafia romance, definitely read this. It’s not the usual grittiness that I prefer in my mafia romance, but the spice made up for it and I still enjoyed it quite a bit.
ABEL
If you’re looking for some trope candy, how about a sinfully sexy mix of revenge, marriage for convenience, and enemies to lovers? And did I mention it’s an MMF? Because GAH.
A Worthy Opponent
This series has quickly become one of my favorite guilty pleasures. It’s deliciously wicked and sinfully hot. Katee Robert manages to merge together some sizzling hot erotica with an addicting story and characters that you can’t help but love. Think has been a character that I’ve been intrigued with since the beginning of the series. She’s feisty, sassy and has this live wire spark to her that shines bright even as a secondary character. Now we finally get her story and you come to find out that there’s some dark secrets behind that smart mouth of hers. And it’ll take a sexy villain to offer her a bargain with the devil in order to survive.
DESPERATE MEASURES
Sweet mother of ovaries, what did I just read? How did I not know that Katee Robert had such a dirty side to her? I felt like I should go to confession after reading this, because this was sinfully good.
AN INDECENT PROPOSAL
What I loved most about this book is the writing style and emotions in this book. There isn’t much to say about the story. I wish the plot would have moved more. This is a personal preference. I am fan of plot writing. Nevertheless, I really enjoy Katee’s writing style. I got swept up in the emotions of the characters. Cillian and Olivia were well-developed, enough that I didn’t want to stop reading. I really enjoyed the beginning, but the middle of the book fell flat for me only because we get caught up in the characters’ heads.
FOOL ME ONCE
(I need this shirt, y’all! Lol!)
Quinn and Aubry need each other. They don’t like or understand each other, but opposites definitely attract in this book. Quinn is a wall of a man, literally. Aubry needs him to protect her from the many people that cause her anxiety so she can fulfill one of her dreams. He is her trusty steed.There is so much delicious chemistry between Quinn and Aubry. They are complete opposites, and at first, I wondered how it was going to work between a cowboy and a gamer, but I was quickly sold on these two together.
His options were sink or swim- and if he sunk, he’d take a hell of a lot of people with him. So he got up every day, and he swam, even though some of the shit he was required to do turn his stomach and made him lose sleep.
The Wedding Pact picks up right where 
I enjoyed this book much more than the first one. While I loved the premise and set up in 
It’s not going to be nice, and it’s not going to be sweet. If you want romance, you’ve got the wrong fucking guy.
I’ve been waiting impatiently for Alexis to get her book ever since I finished 
Whatever she’d expected from this kiss, it certainly hadn’t been desire. Though DESIRE was too tame a word. She’d felt desire before, and this wasn’t it. This was…need. All-consuming need that devoured everything in its path, leaving only destruction in its wake.
