Kelly: Dark Irish Mafia Romance
by Rie Warren 
My review:
“Kelly: Dark Irish Mafia Romance” is book two in the ‘O’Sullivan Brothers’ series by Rie Warren. It can definitely be read and enjoyed as a standalone. I never read the first book in this series, but I was able to easily jump right into this one. Before I go into detail about this particular story, I can tell you that after finishing it, I purchased the first book, and am going to be looking forward to the next one.
Marlowe is a schoolteacher and the daughter of a police detective. She’s a stereotypical ‘good girl’ with higher moral standards and a strong reluctance to ever disappoint her parents. Kelly is the underboss of a brutal mafia family, a man for whom violence and crime is an everyday activity. He lives his life without hesitation and without regrets for being a ‘bad man’. They never should have even met one another – but then they do.
The initial meeting is followed by one orchestrated at the request of her father, who’s not the man his daughter always thought him to be. This book has a fast-moving plot with a lot of layers to it, including ones about the parents of both main characters. I’m not going to delve into the details of the story because that would be a disservice to you and to the author who put effort into crafting it. I will say though, this story does a great job showing that ‘good’ and ‘bad’ people are not always as neatly defined as we think them to be.
Marlowe and Kelly are both interesting characters with much more to them than the surface shows to the world. As the story unfolds, they each discover startling things about themselves and one another. Be aware that there is a lot of sexual activity between Marlowe and Kelly, and the language is raw in keeping with Kelly’s character. If that’s something that really bothers you, then just skim through those parts because the story is a good one and it would be a shame to miss out on reading it for that reason. There’s a lot of genuine emotion in the story, and some moments that may make you cry. The secondary characters in this book are very good as well – they add to the quality of this story and make you want to know more about them.