fucking hell.

i went into this book blind, not really knowing what was waiting for me and i must say, i loved it very much.

its been a long time since i actually picked up a book and read it front to back in such little time, but i was hooked from the very beginning of this book and i couldn’t, for the love of me, put it down.

shivvy was literally so sweet and i can not imagine the shit she went through with her dad, and im actually so fucking happy that she got to kill him in the end bc that bastard deserved it, well maybe he deserved to be brutally tortured first.

anyway, i loved since shivvy’s development as the book went on and how she stayed sweet but not quiet anymore, and instead asked for what she wanted and honestly slayed while soing so.

nessa was probably the most badass character i’ve ever read about. she was so fucking strong, both physically and mentally, and she just i don’t know, she had this thing about her the made shivvy and even fucking me feel a little safe any time she was to appear in scene.

she had a hard exterior but a soft interior, and you could see that any time she thought about shivvy and how she would literally murder anyone if it meant to keep shivvy safe from any sort of danger.

the relationship between shivvy and nessa was the fucking best. they started out as enemies but that only made things hotter for them. they had such an insane chemistry that was fucking palpable through the pages of this book, and you could just see how much they cared for each other, and how after everything they still stood stronger than anybody ever has. its safe to say that i fucking loved them.

also, fucking thomas being nessa’s father, i didn’t saw it coming in the beginning, only when nessa got that file on him and it said he had two children did i piece the puzzle together.

lets talk about the situationship between seb and ois, like girl i want to know all of it, like im pretty sure they were “together” and it hurts my fucking heart to see sebastian so heartbroken after oisin comes back from fucking italy after marrying another girl. i felt for sebastian and i wish i could give him a big hug, but i know the next book is about the three of them and i will for sure eat that shit up.

all in all, i must say i LOVED this book, so utterly and completely that i will be thinking about it 24/7 and from now on there will only be shivvy and nessa in my brain.

“does it scare you? that i’m fucking you in the same room as death?”

this book is my holy grail. i’ve been looking for a dark ff mafia romance for what feels like forever. the homophobic subplot in mafia surrounding gay men is easily found and there’s even mm stories out there, but a mafia book for queer women written by queer women? and there’s no internalized lesbophobia or closeted fmcs? most women in the mafia are either pawns or princesses, but not these two. a female heir to a gang she doesn’t want and a female enforcer that makes grown men cry, they are the chess players that end up dominating the entire board game. one was forced into the life, not able to defend herself and the other was saved from life and taught how to protect herself. so to have their first time be after a sparring session because nessa wanted to teach shivy how to fight added so many layers to the bond they share. but the climax of it all was the church scene. two queer women in the house of a god neither of them believes in praying to each other, desecrating sacred ground with blasphemous confessions, sexual penance and spit as the blood of christ was a religious experience for me.

One half of this author duo was already a for sure must read author for me, and after Broken Vows I will 100% be looking for any of Nadine O’Keeffe’s future projects too!

I absolutely love a dark romance book and have been desperate to get into more Mafia romances. The synopsis of this book had me eager to read it and I can safely say I was not disappointed.

I loved Siobhan, Nessa and Sebastian; as a group their interactions were brilliant and I loved the dynamic between them as friends. Nessa and Siobhan as a pairing was excellently done and the spice between them was well written and gripping.

I cannot wait to see where these two authors take this series of interconnected stand-alones next and it is for sure a brilliant mafia romance rec for your tbrs.