First things first, the writing clearly did improve, and I was happy with that. There's also some refreshing elements here that I liked, especially the FMC being able to resist the MMC and not succumbing too fast.

The small town setting definitely caught my eye and the mafia combination. Anything small town— I'll read it right away.

I think I would have loved to see more of a mafia element here or the gangster one, but it turns out that the content bere was ptetty generic or mediocre for my liking. It was pretty superficial to me. I would say i wasn't impressed at all.

I also didn’t like that the FMC was kind of weak and stupid at times, especially with Brett—  I hate this Brett guy so much. Definitely needs an improvement with the character.

The same goes for Nero or Rowan. He didn't really feel a mafia guy to me? Doesn't ooze that dangery kind of character. I would go so far as his character not really convincing.

The romance as well. Definitely need more development. 

I'm quite not happy overall with the story. I feel like the plot wasn't even there? The only thing that saved this book for me is the ending, which I believe did good to hype me up for the 2nd book.

 Thank you, author, for the e-arc opportunity. 2.5⭐️