Marrying the Mobster
by Victoria Vale
My review:
Marrying the Mobster is an intense, dark story about an enemies-to-lovers connection that develops into a forced marriage, and ultimately leads to some very unexpected outcomes. I’ve enjoyed historical romances from author Victoria Vale. I wasn’t really sure what to expect from a very different type of book from her hands, although I did expect it to be well-written. Well, in addition to being well-written, it was startling, violent, passionate, and very entertaining.
Elena encounters Diego as he’s got a gun to her father’s head, fully intending to execute him for failing to pay back a huge debt. Diego is the merciless head of a Colombian crime family. He’ll accept nothing but the money he’s owed, and then he sees a chance to use Elena as additional incentive for her father to pay up. Diego expects he’ll have to kill her because he really doesn’t expect her father to come through. At Diego’s level in the world of organized crime, political type maneuvering and alliances can be as important as ruthlessness. When circumstances make it expedient for him to quickly find a bride, he decides that captive Elena is perfect for the role. Elena is no swooning, weak-willed miss. The way she handles her captivity and her changing circumstances is terrific.
This book caught my interest from the very beginning and kept it until the end of the epilogue. I thought the pacing was done well, and the intensity kept building to a fantastic finish. The author managed to make me like and even feel sorry for Diego, and I thought that was an impressive accomplishment. There were several very shocking moments, a little bit of humor, and scorching hot chemistry between Elena and Diego. The secondary characters were interesting, particularly Diego’s sister and his second-in-command. Overall, this was a very entertaining book.