<b><i>"i'm yours just as the moon is the sun's. there's no light in my world aside from you."</b></i>

this read more like a novella than a full lenght novel - it was light on the mafia and on the smut, making this a great introduction to sapphic dark romance. i especially appreciated the normal and mundane way queerness was approached in this book. the best way i can put it is as if it were a mf couple dynamic, there were no labels, no questioning, no homophobia, they were just together and they happened to both be women who loved women. no one questioned their sexuality or their relationship, they didn't question themselves identity nor sexuality wise, there were no stereotypes, it normalized and validated sapphic relationships in the simplest form. and i found it precious. did i wish there was more romance to the story? yes, despite being grateful for the representation, i wanted more - more passion, more drama, more darkness. this almost felt like a prequel before a fully fleshed out story, as if we were being introduced to the characters before their arc. the potential for development was there, the plot had good bones, albeit a bit predictable and safe (i called that plot twist in the first chapter). there should have been a more nuanced and clear evolution to the story, instead of it feeling rushed and superficial, to me it lacked depth. not that it wasn't emotional at times, but overall i just wanted more.

* i was sent an arc by the author in exchange for a honest review