Cruel Obsession: A Dark Mafia Arranged Marriage Romance (Boston Mafia Dons) Paperback – January 24, 2024

I love a good damsel in distress books, but even more so I love dark romance. Unfortunately, most dark romances leave a lot to be desired, but definitely not this book. It's definitely dark but still has the HEA. There were 2 or 3 misplaced words in the book but they are minor and rare.This was definitely the best book I've read so far this year, and I'll likely end up reading it again before the end of the year.

Where to start? ... The not so good...and some of this is just preference. 1. A few minor editing issues and backward Italian translation. (Mio Amore s/h/b Amore Mio.). 2. (This is just my preference.) I don't care for "Daddy" kink. If it's an age play story where the MFC is clearly in little girl mindset, I can tolerate the MMC being called "Daddy". But when the MFC is clearly an adult, as in this story, it just creeps me out when he makes her call him Daddy. (Instead, I read " husband' in place of 'daddy' everytime.) Fortunately it doesn't happen often. In spite of the aforesaid....it's still a great story.What I loved ...The story premise. A sheltered, untouched mob princess; motherless since the age of 11, and largely ignored by her father. She has her two best friends she spends time with at the beach and always has her bodyguard with her. Just after her 21st birthday, her father informs her she is to be married. The man, a boss in Boston, is known for his cruelty and viciousness. She argues and begs...to be so far from the only home she's ever known and how can her father give her to such a cruel man? But he cares only that the daughter, who reminds him so much of his dead wife, will no longer be in his sight. She's drugged and put on a plane. Left to meet her future husband, alone.The characters. Yes, he's cruel and unfeeling, a sadist even. He enjoys metting out pain. He expects to be obeyed and never questioned. She quickly earns her first punishment ... the belt. (Another issue: She's welted and bruised, but she gets turned on? ...Really? ... an innocent?) In the first part of this story, some may take issue; might complain that it glorifies abuse and tries to make it acceptable. It's not...ever! But...and that's a big but.....Turns out our girl is a bit of a masochist. She purposely challenges him sometimes for the end result. She's not what he expected. He thought he'd be getting a meek, spoiled and pampered mafia princes, afraid of her own shadow. Someone he could easily controll, use for pleasure and ignore the rest of the time. Instead he gets a beautiful, proud and controlled woman. One who challenges him. At first he means to break her and treat her like property. Instead, this big bad, who intended to stay unaffected and just use her, begins to fall and the dynamics soon begin to change. But change doesn't come easy. Events in his childhood taught him early that it's not safe to love or care for anyone or anythng. And she hates the hot and cold, so their HEA doesn't come without some trials.It was a delight seeing (reading) how these two navigate each other and bring change. By the end of this book, the cruel, vicious and unfeeling man was still a tough mafia boss, one still with a kink; but also learned to be tender and loving as well. So yeah... While I started out not liking him or the story, I grew to love both. 4 stars.

Main character was horrible 90% of the time.Also, it was a turned off that he made her call him daddy when they were intimate, gross. Not big plot. I can see why the low reviews now, but I wanted to give it a shot. If he wasn’t so MEAN, the book will have being better, but he was extremely abusive.

This is a great mafia book. The storyline was great, the banter was good, the drama was intense and the smut was great, too.

I love how this writer's no-holds-barred writing style. Milo is massive...gorgeous, crazy tall and, well, yeah, massive. This book had me riveted from the first page, with the storyline taking off at full speed as Aida is faced with treachery from the one person she should be able to trust. Her arranged marriage to a gorgeous, bossy mobster instills a delicious tension in the steamy interactions between husband and wife. A yummy read, highly recommend.

Unfortunately, he wants her. He never wants anyone, it’s not his style. They’re lucky to be bedded by him, as it’s an honor. They can’t handle him and his need to cause pain, to totally dominate them. Then she comes along and makes him FEEL things. Things he swore to never feel. That won’t be tolerated. She will be punished for it… nightly.

This story is pretty good however it is very unbelievable because some of the things in it I just couldn't take it it was something that I couldn't imagine handling or dealing with it so I'm really glad I got a chance to finish it and plus I'm glad that was a wonderful ending at the end because I became close to not reading the rest

This book was good, buttttttttt there were just a lot of things I couldn’t get over. The title IS perfect for this book, Milo is an OTT MMC and definitely CRUEL towards Aida. It threw me that he wanted her to call him Daddy… he isn’t THAT much older than here and the embarrassment of it just seemed like too much? I’m sure he did it to get under her skin but in the scenes it was used it gave me the ick. The spice is top notch in this book, but I hate that she wasn’t always able to decide what she wanted. I will say that I liked Aida and she didn’t break under Milo like he wanted her to. She is a strong woman. The ending fell really flat for me. It was rushed and the realizations at the end of the book didn’t seem genuine? There just didn’t seem to be enough character development for them to be so happy and loving at the end? I don’t know. The plot was good. Happy reading!