Betrothed Book 1
This is a new to me author and I whizzed through the book.
I liked the author’s straightforward writing style. It wasn’t flowery and provided a great balance between the pace and description. However, some of the descriptions were repetitive, especially when it came to physical descriptions. The reader is constantly reminded about how beautiful and physically perfect both of the MCs are.
Anyway, I found the premise of this story compelling. Hades visits a fortune teller who says he will love a woman who will never love him in return, and I liked the idea of the hero pining for the heroine for a change.
However, after the interesting opening, the characters and setting came across as bland and sanitised. The story was set in Florence, but it could have been any city in the world. Nothing identified it as an Italian city; the same goes for the characters. They spoke and acted like Americans without any other clues to their nationality. There was nothing interesting enough to connect me to them. They had no hobbies. All they did was go to work or have sex. Or perhaps go for the occasional drink in a bar.
What kept me reading this book? I’m not sure. It was heavy on the sex and light on the plot. I can’t say I’ve not devoured similar books.
Sofia is portrayed as possessing high morals and strong ethics. She wanted to take over her family legacy, prove she could succeed in a man’s world, be independent, and never marry.
When she begins a sex-only relationship with Hades, I liked that she stated what she wanted: great sex, nothing else. Then, when she discovers her family legacy is entwined with the mafia she is upset. However, she seems to recover quickly enough and accepts it. It just seemed a little hypocritical, but then again we’re talking about someone happy to share her bed with a drug lord just because he’s the “best sex she ever had”.
Hades is another one of those romanticised bad guys. He runs a crystal meth empire, launders money for the mafia and kills people. But he supposedly has a conscience and only kills people who deserve it (cue eye roll).
Contrary to his dangerous monster persona, he does come across as a sensitive guy and falls hard for Sofia, but he pushes too much. I think that’s what kept me reading. I loved seeing him fall deeper and deeper, while she pushed back at every step. It kept the tension high all the way through.
This is one of those books where I can’t understand why I enjoyed it. I have issues with the contrived plot, the contradictory characters, and bland setting, but for some reason I couldn’t put it down.
Plot: ⭐️⭐️
Feels: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Heat: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
