Made: A Sempre Novel

"What made you this way?"Made is a standalone prequel that follows the life of the character Corrado Moretti, whom we met in the Sempre series previously. You don't have to have read the Sempre books to read Corrado's story. In fact, in a lot of ways it's kind of good to start with Corrado's book. He's the guy who's been there through it all, well into the past and woven into all of the events that lead us to what the Sempre books are all about. I started this series with the Sempre and was thrilled to death when she announced she was writing Corrado's story. In those books, he was this mysterious shadow that lurked in and out of scenes and drew your focus whenever he was around. He was a commanding, lethal man who you simply didn't disrespect or challenge--cause he'd kill you without hesitation. I just HAD to know more about him.And Darhower certainly delivered with this book.If I had to sum up Corrado in one word I would say- complex. If I was given a second word it would be- honorable. A third? Probably would be- misunderstood. This book takes us back to his childhood, into a world of abuse and neglect--Hell. Corrado is surrounded by nothing but hate and pain, making us wonder if he even understands the concept of love, or even kindness. He's propelled into a life in Chicago with his father, into the silky web of La Cosa Nostra's world of crime and the promise of becoming someone important. Death becomes his life. He becomes numb to pain, to the world, and yet in the middle of it all he finds a shining light. Celia."Drawing back, Corrado stared down at her. His pointer finger--his trigger finger--gently glided across her bottom lip, pausing at the corner of her mouth, his thumb tilting her chin as he leaned down to kiss her. It was sweet, and innocent, and everything he never realized he was capable of being."Corrado has more heart than he was willing to show. His father told him long ago to never get attached, and for the most part he doesn't, but Celia DeMarco is not the kind of woman you resist. She draws out another side of Corrado, a side he believes is dead when he's not around her. A side that gets him into trouble more often than not when dealing with other members of Celia's family, like her little brother Vincent. A side that we'll see tested over and over until the end of his story.The Sempre series has a theme about freedom that continues on with Corrado. I constantly asked myself was he a "victim" of circumstances, or was he in control of his fate all along. And I think the conclusion I came to was that life is really a string of events that we think we can pull on our own but it's mostly out of our control. That string is part of a larger, tangled web of other strings, other lives. Pull one and the others move and sway and are affected too. That's the most fascinating aspect of this story. We see not only how this man's life unfolds and how he became who he is, but we see how his life touched the lives of so many other characters that we've come to know and love. We see how one action over here can affect something totally unrelated over there.Darhower is known for her mafia stories for one epic reason--no one can make that world feel more authentic or captivating as she does. Each page sings with real, authentic history woven with the organized world of her fictional crime family. She understands this world and translates it to the reader in not only a very accessible way, but in a way where you are living it with them. She doesn't romanticize it. This book is gritty and gruesome at times. Corrado's early years in the organization are brutal and unrelenting. We're told getting into "the life" is that pie in the sky dream. It seems wonderful, they tell all the best lies to pull you in, but then once you're in it's for life and the only way out is in a box. No, she doesn't make it sound like a fairytale to work for the mob, but the way she writes her mobsters, the men and the relationships that they have within these books will grab ahold of your heart and soul and never let go. Corrado might not be a good man by society's standards but he loves his wife more than anything in the world, and he's a man of honor. You can't help but love the man.I could gush about this book forever, but honestly all I need to say is GO READ IT! See how Corrado became the man we've known in other books. See the roots of Vincent and Carmine DeMarco's stories. And fall madly in love with one of the greatest mob stories ever told.

I watched the movie Goodfellas, but this is great. I like reading about the life of the mafia. I like learning how Corrado learned Vito's line of work from the age of nine. Vito states, "life chooses you". This is a great statement because it shows how easy it was for Corrado to accept the life of his father because it became familiar to him.It's interesting the pride you receive for being the son of a mafia leader. Corrado never fit in or had many friends, but he found his fit into the mafia. Corrado proved his worth to his father.Interesting how Corrado thought he was good enough to take orders from the boss, but not good enough to date the boss's daughter.Celia is amazing. She is a breath of fresh air. I love her attitude and her comment to not follow the rules or fall within the standards of life. Celia decides for herself what she wants and does not let people like her father control her. How very different these scenarios are. Corrado is in a position where he follows the orders given by the boss and Celia who is the daughter of the boss gets to choose to deny his rules.I like these tough Italian mafia women. They know how to handle their men.JM Darhower uses powerful words to evoke so much passion and emotion. I'm hooked and consumed. Corrado and Celia are two amazing characters. Corrado is a man who believes himself to be a monster. Celia is a woman who sees Corrado as a charming man. For Celia growing up in the life of the mafia has been a rewarding and powerful experience, but not for Corrado. Corrado's life in the mafia has been violent and full of anger and depression.The detachment that Corrado has for his job in the mafia is stunning. This same man can show love, honor, and trust to Celia and then turn around and stab a man with no emotion.JM Darhower wrote this story with such the perfect calculations of events. Every event was done for a reason. This is the most time I have spent on a story and I love it. I get so lost in the story and enthralled that I become one with the story. Not one scenario is boring. It's so carefully written that I have no idea what direction she is going to take the story. It's like nothing I've ever read before. Who knew I could be so entranced by a story that was not erotic or abusive. Its beautifully executed.I'm sad it's over. I could have continued reading. Very entertaining.

Ok. So I have mixed emotions about this book. I think that I expected it to have more romance in it maybe? I'm not sure. We she gave us was a string of events that showcased Corrado Alphonse Moretti's life. It was dark. It was bloody and 100% mobster. What did I want more of? Corrado's wife...Cecila DeMarco.Ms. Darhower, as usual, was very thorough with her character building. Very thorough with her descriptions. I think this book came in at over 500 pages. We get to know Corrado Moretti from the time he was about 7 years old. We see the house he grew up in. The lack of love from his mother. The absence of his father and in those childhood years we see him meet Cecila. This seems to be the one bright spot in his life.Then Corrado grows up. He comes across Cecila again and they fall in love but this courting was brief. There are a lot of secondary characters in this book that I also came to love. In reality this read more like an autobiography of Corrado's life.I see the way he became who he was and I sympathized with him. I understand him but to me I wanted to see more romance. More loving of his wife. More attention toward her. She seemed to be an amazing woman but in the end I never knew much about what she wanted. She hinted at it but I felt like I wanted to know more.Did I like this book? Yes. I guess I just wanted more. More love. More Cecila. More happiness. The dark wasn't bad, the book was good. Would I recommend it to someone else? Absolutely. Just because I wanted more of the other stuff doesn't mean it wasn't a great Crime/Mystery/Thriller type book.

La storia di Corrado Moretti, il mafioso per eccellenza, il freddo calcolatore che si è visto nei due romanzi "sempre". Dall'infanzia cresciuto all'ombra di un padre del crimine, Vito, odiato dalla madre e continuamente messo in punizione a causa di sua sorella gemella Katrina. Decide di seguire il padre a Chicago e di entrare nella Cosa Nostra. Lá ritrova Celia, figlia del boss, l'unica persona per cui Corrado ha mai provato qualcosa. Uomo freddo e lucido, sempre pronto ad essere la roccia per chiunque. Questo romanzo aiuta i fan della saga di "sempre" a comprendere meglio l'uomo dietro la maschera di Corrado Moretti. Consiglio di leggerlo dopo aver letto i due romanzi principali della saga, in quanto fa da cammeo per chi conosce già un po' il personaggio Corrado.

Made is Corrado Moretti's story. We met Corrado as the "Kevlar-Killer" in Sempre and Redemption. But who is he really? The good guy or one of the bad guys? My answer is neither. Corrado is exactly who he was supposed to be.In Made we meet him as a seven year old. Growing up with a negligent, even abusive mother and absent father and his evil twin sister Katrina. He learns his lesson early, not to get too attached to anybody, when he witnesses his mother brutally beating "the help" (and yes, I actually mean slave) to death. He idolizes his father, who unbeknown to Corrado is a “Made Man”, who works and owns his loyalty to the Boss, Antonio DeMarco.As a child Corrado meets the DeMarco children, Vincent and Celia, and Celia becomes the only person who can get close to Corrado. As a grown-up he starts working for Antonio DeMarco himself and pretty fast he builds his reputation as a merciless killer. But there is also another side to Corrado. He and Celia fall in love and marry.Corrado also has a front-row seat to the love story of Vincent and Maura and all the heartbreak that follows.Made is not simply a love story, even though the relationship between Corrado and Celia is a big part of this novel. Corrado is an Anti-hero and his story is heartbreaking. He is a killer but reading this story it seemed like there was never any chance of Corrado becoming anything less than the (in)famous Kevlar Killer.Made should definitely be read after Sempre and Redemption, even though it actually takes place mostly before. For everyone who has loved the Sempre books and has been intrigued by Corrado, this is definitely a must-read.

Made (Forever 0.4) by JM Darhower5 stars!! (but that is seriously not enough)“What made you this way?” He blinked away the light rain as it hit his long lashes, and after decades of no comment, he finally… finally… broke his silence. “Sweetheart, I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”I am sitting here, tears streaming down my face just trying to come to terms with what I have just read. I have to take my hat off to JM Darhower because there are no words that could articulate just how brilliant this book is. I loved with a passion Sempre and Sempre Redemption and didn’t think that JM Darhower could exceed them, but not only did she exceed them, she blew them out the water.I loved Corrado Moretti from the time I first read about him, he was an enigma and I was intrigued about the man nicknamed the Kevlar Killer. I always felt that this man was intrinsically deep, he kept himself to himself, showed no emotion, was completely cut off and only had one Achilles heel, that being his wife Celia. I wanted, no needed to know what had happened that had shaped this man to be what he was today. Don’t get me wrong, he was honourable, he was fiercely loyal, protective, and ruthless but in his own way he was always a bit insecure in himself, he didn’t believe he had the capacity to love and be loved. Corrado never showed any attachment or emotion, only with Celia, so how had she infiltrated this man of steel? What was so different about Celia? We soon see that Corrado does in fact have the propensity to love and when he does, he falls hard, irrevocably, that forever kind of love. The blinkers are on, no other woman exists, this is the woman that he is prepared to die for, to kill for, and she is his forever, his soul mate, his reason to live. This relationship is truly beautiful and a match made in heaven, but where did it all begin?"You're worth more than a moment, Celia," he said, reaching out and grabbing her hand again. "I'd rather give you a lifetime."This is where JM Darhower’s literary genius shines through, so descriptive was the prose it felt like I was a bystander looking in and watching this child grow up. Thought provoking, emotional, gut wrenching at times, but we finally see what maketh the man.From the first page I knew that I was going to be destroyed reading this, when you try and fathom a background for a character that you know nothing about you run through so many scenarios, but nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to read. Corrado’s childhood was awful, I mean truly awful. The only person he had fighting in his corner was his dad Vito and him being in the Mafia meant that he was away from home all the time. Corrado was left at home with his mother and sister, his twin sister. We live Corrado’s childhood through Corrado’s eyes and you cannot help but imagine and feel everything that happened. This is where my allegiance to Corrado begins. This is where I became his protector, like a tigress with her cub, anyone that hurt him was on my s*** list and there are quite a few on there. But it is through these early chapters that we really see why Corrado is like he is, like I said, heart breaking. Words cannot comprehend and I wish I could just use this review to vent but I don’t want to give anything away, but those early chapters killed me, kudos to JM Darhower because they were raw but just so perfect.I have to pick out one scene in particular and that is Corrado’s beginning through his father’s eyes. Father and son don’t often have a heart to heart, but how Corrado took his first breath will forever be ingrained into my heart and head. This scene was brutal, but just so perfect, the tears fell freely, but this scene showed a totally different side to Vito and one that totally cemented my hatred of another character.“The part of him, he guessed , that had died the day of his birth. The part of him that never got brought back to life. It was a part of him that knew nothing of sunshine, of happiness, of love, of compassion. His heart didn't beat. His lungs didn't breathe . He was a walking corpse. The living dead.”This book lives Corrado’s life from beginning to part way through Sempre Redemption. We get a lot of background on him, Celia, Vincent and Maura, Antonio and the rest of the gang. How Corrado entered the Mafia, his fight to earn his place and prove his worth, the immense recognition he earned from Antonio, how trusted he became and how him and Antonio could communicate through looks alone, these two together were unstoppable. We learn how Corrado became a MADE man, all questions are answered, all loose ends are tied up in a pretty bow and some not so pretty. But one thing I can take away from this book is that Corrado was more of a man than I ever gave him credit for, my eyes have been opened and I love this character with a passion. I may feel an immense amount of sorrow for his childhood and what he had to go through to get where he was, but he made the best out of the bad hand he was dealt. He became indispensable, he more than made his mark on so many lives, he may not have thought himself worthy, but he was worth more, so much more.“Gotta do what we gotta do, any means necessary to make it out alive. And besides, people should never be punished for protecting family, no matter what."As I have said, I love Corrado, this book was more than I ever could have imagined. I championed for his book and I was not disappointed. JM Darhower should be immensely proud of this book, by far her best book to date. I kneel down before you, Queen of Mafia, truly fantastic book, no amount of superlatives could do this book justice so I am just going to say READ it and if you haven’t read Sempre and Sempre Redemption, please read them in order, it is a fantastic series and one of my all-time favourites.“But I named you Corrado… my wise, brave ruler." "Why not Vito Junior?" "Vito Junior died," he said, matter-of-fact. "You're the one who made his way back."”

How does one describe feelings for a character who does such terrible things, yet elicits such deep feelings of respect, sorrow and beauty? What can I say about Corrado?J M Darhower, in Corrado you have created a flawed, complex character with deep beauty that only few discover - Cecilia being one.Can there be any goodness found in such darkness? I guess it depends on what kind of vision one uses.This is a brilliant story, along with the other Sempre stories.

This was Corrado's story, but it was also Celia's, and Vincent's, and Antonio's, and Maura's. They all deserved so much more from life.I adored Sempre, it will forever be a favourite, Made is the perfect addition to the story, as tragic as it was.