“you think i’d let you ever stop loving me? i’ll never let you. even in death, i’ll haunt you so you never forget me. go ahead, kill me. that won’t stop you from loving me.”

it pains me to say this, because i was excited for this book, but it was a let down. was the book necessarily bad? no, it just didn't meet my expectations, mainly due to the story not being what it was marketed as. the author teased this book continuously in her instagram and the majority, not to say all, of the scenes and quotes she shared on her stories were very misleading. first of all, this was advertised as an enemies to lovers, trying to unalive each other, hidden identities romance but none of that was true. they only became "enemies" (if you can even call it that, which i wouldn't) after the 50% mark and only tried to "unalive" each other for 5 chapters or so, and never truly wanted the other to die. those tropes were there purely to play out on the smut. and that ultimately is the main downside, for lack of a better word, of these books. yes, they have a plot but it always suffer in detriment of the smut. it'd be one thing if the stories were considered erotica romance, but that's not what they're sold as - this is a mafia romance author. do i mind the smut? not in the slightest, if it didn't take away from the plot. but at the end of the day, the smut ends up being the only entertaining element because it's the main focus. the author always wants to write more elaborate and kinky smut with each new book and the plot is pushed to the background, lacking consistency and storytelling. the only reason why i even finished this was for the next book's couple and tatiana, i love her character and truly, genuinely hope the author makes her justice.