Dangerous and feared. Those words describe my future husband. Who just so happens to also be my ex-boyfriend. It’s complicated. Two years ago, he broke my heart when he left me to do his father’s bidding. After months of crying, I finally accepted he was gone and wasn’t going to look back. That maybe he’d never loved me at all. I never wanted to see Luca again. Now a cruel twist of fate has … cruel twist of fate has signed me over to him in a heartless deal. I’m his. He thinks he did me a favor, but I feel like I’ve been given a death sentence. He doesn’t want to get married because he still loves me. No, he did it for money. More power.
I’m going to be a mafia wife. And there’s only one way out of it. Death.
But as it turns out, someone else doesn’t want me to marry the ruthless Luca Bianchi. And if he has his way, I’ll see that early grave.
Due to mature content and themes this book is recommended for readers aged eighteen and over. Code of Silence is an arranged marriage and a complete standalone. This novel may contain triggers.
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Oh my soul! This book was Amazing! It kept me on my toes! Constantly revealing a new twist and making me second guess myself at each turn. I loved the characters and the cover is gorgeous! Bloody brilliant!
OMG! To say I love this story is an understatement! I am not going to spoil it, but it is ABSO-FREAKIN-LUTELY PERFECT! This book is Pure Pleasure. Dirty. Decadent. Devine. Provocative. Scintillating—sums up this book. This dark suspenseful Mafia romance is sexy, appealing, engaging, and awe-inspiring. It oozes with lust, desire, murder, mystery, and danger and drags you deep into its darkness, intrigue and suspense that is all rolled up into one deliciously dark and twisted package. I wasn’t expecting the turn this story took; it has quite an unexpected revelation that may leave you flabbergasted but it is jaw-dropping good! The author effortlessly transported me to the turbulent and violent life of the Mafia world (Bianchi family). Luca Bianchi is an enigma of a man who is the heir to Las Vegas Italian-American Mafia and he is very handsome, sexy, ruthless, cold-hearted, arrogant, dominant, violent, sweetly, contrite, and a notorious boss that no one says no to him and mess over any of his family and gets away with it! “The Mafia takes their code of silence seriously.” Luca can be the man of your dreams and nightmares all at once if he is crossed. The turbulent mystery of what happened two years ago when Luca left Haven to prove his worth and loyalty to his father to take over the Mafia business brings out the beast in Luca when he encounters his prey—Haven again. Luca is also best friends with the Dark Kings (Bones, Grave, Titan, and Cross). Haven soon starts to show Luca what she is made of—she is a force to be reckoned with, but she is also the kind of woman Luca would go to war for and discard all the rules. Their contest of wills never waivers with their love/hate relationship. You feel every ounce of pain, every slice of betrayal, secrets, lies, and it will keep you on the edge of your seat to find out what happened next. The darkness inherited in the characters will make you afraid to turn the pages, but the sexiness of it all will assure that you do. As the secrets unfold, the masks that they hold in place slips off notwithstanding being tortured and broken—they seemed perfect for each other… until they weren’t. What happens next? Well, read this amazing story and find out—you won’t regret it! Shantel Tessier manages to weave dark and twisted plots centered on romantic ideas with artfully developed main and secondary characters. This is a MUST READ!
Loved the book. So much subterfuge. Luca and Haven were essentially star crossed lovers but never knew. So many twists and turns. Wow. Poor Haven. Her father was horrible. Then learning about that huge bomb blowing up her life even more. Wow. At least when Luca was being horrible it was with strategic intentions in place to protect her. But when they came together. Wow just wow. So hot. Loved nite. Hope he gets a book and he winds up with Mia. And that Haven tells Mia about all that she learned so she doesn’t feel guilty anymore.
Luca Bianchi is the heir to the Italian-American Mafia in Las Vegas. He has no remorse for what he has done or will do. Haven is a girl that he was with while in college but things did not work out. 2 years later and she’s back in his life…even though she hates him. He has secrets that absolutely cannot get out.
Haven Knowles is living in hell. Her father just got rid of her in an arranged marriage to her enemy. Yeah, she loved him once, but now she loathes him. The terrifying part, once in the Mafia – only death gets you out.
Holy Moly this book!
This book is kind of a prequel to the Dark Kings series. I would definitely recommend reading this book first.
I hated Luca at times. He’s a bonafide jerkface. But then you realize that he’s got a soft spot for Haven, he just can’t show a weakness. Haven was such a firecracker. She was not some meek woman that just rolled over.
I loved the back and forth with the past and present. You cannot fully understand someone without knowing their past. I loved Nite. He completely surprised me! I absolutely cannot wait to read the Dark Kings series. The secondary characters intrigued me so much.
One thing I wanted to point out…this book is dark. There’s violence and pain. There will be times that you want to throw your Kindle. Luca is not a good guy. He’s Mafia for goodness’ sake! He’s a complete jerk to Haven at times. I wanted to punch him in the face just as much as I loved him! I’m not sure why some people were surprised that he’s not a lovey dovey romantic.
There is a little of everything in this book!!!! I loved everything about it. All of the things this man did for her. There was a lot of history between them. I have started the next book Dark Kings series. So much going on but it kept me turning pages! I definitely recommend!!!
I loved this story and am currently gobbling up the rest series! Lots of action and steamy scenes. Angsty teenage romance that comes back full steam in adulthood. Luca is a dime and Haven is everything he wants! Must read!
4.5
This is a great dark, mafia romance read that I wanted to read before I started the Dark Kings Series because the characters cross over a bit and it was awesome.
Haven lives like a princess and all her life her parents have been there for her throughout growing up. Lucas was her childhood sweetheart until one he wasn’t.
Luca is in the mafia and this is the life he was raised in and you always abide by the code of silence or pay the consequences. A few years pass and her father does something to Haven she never thought possible and this rips her heart out and she cant understand why. Luca is back to with a deal for her father and he has changed so much that even Haven doesn’t recognise him or the people around her that supposed to love her unconditionally. Luca’s only thing he wants to do is protect her no matter what and with the kings help he knows they’ll do it.
I enjoy reading books by this author and before I started the dark kings series I wanted to make sure that I didn’t miss any of the story or characters and once I started this hot and steamy dark romance read I couldn’t stop. This author kept me on the edge of my seat with the suspense and the twists were great. I loved the characters and now I’m totally intrigued with the kings and this story will have your emotions in a vice at times. If you like reading mafia romances then you will love this arranged marriage book and its a great opener for the series.
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3 stars for this Mafia based story. With Haven’s ignorance of events that lead to Luca’s departure and unexpected return years later, her hate/love emotions are entirely understable. His unrelenting aggressive attitude towards her feelings are hard to take at times and this, coupled with graphically described acts of violence made this, for me, a difficult read. I was very much intrigued by other characters in the book, particularly the Kings. I do want to read more about them and will do despite my reservations about this book.
Code of Silence is a Mafia Second Chance Romance by Shantel Tessier. It’s soooo good. I was on edge the entire book. It’s not long I read it in less than a day but I couldn’t put it down. I loved how Luca maneuvered everything so that he could make his dreams come true without upsetting the mafia world. It was so beautiful how he loved Haven since childhood and refused to let her go just because his father demanded it. I didn’t expect the little wrench thrown in about the adoption. Man I just can’t express how wonderful this read was. Amazing Boom!!! I received a free advanced copy to read and review.
This book was a whirlwind of secrets and lies and I loved every minute of it. Haven, I can’t help but feel for her. Everything she’s going through and the fact she has to fight tooth and nail to get any answers. And freaking Luca, I loved him and at the same time I wanted to knock some sense into him! Ugh! This story had me in my feelings for the characters it was that good!
Haven’s heart was shattered when her college sweetheart lied to her and left. She thought he was her hea.
Luca was ordered to leave for Italy leaving his life behind. Years later he returns to claim what is his. His spitfire.
Haven is still upset with Luca and fights him every step of the way. She didn’t know what hurt her the most. Him leaving or her parents betrayal.
Evil is lurking in the shadows waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.
What will Haven do when she finds out about her past?
Jasmine is hilarious!
Can’t wait for the King’s stories and the women who bring them to their knees!
Action packed drama, murder, suspense, betrayal, redemption, steamy scenes and a dose of humour.
When I first started reading this I didn’t like Luca and thought Haven needed to grow a backbone that she was some kind of ditz, but as I kept reading thing’s changed and as secrets were revealed I couldn’t get enough of these 2. This is my first book by this author and man can she tell you a story and yep now I’m a new fan. This book will have your heart in your throat with the events that take place and have you fanning yourself with the chemistry they have for each other. I’d definitely would recommend grabbing this.
Haven and Luca fell in love as teenagers but they was kept apart. Until one day everything changed, would this be their second chance? Could Haven deal with Luca’s life?
Be still my heart. Love Shantel’s imagination and writing. Mafia, dark, intense, intrigue, captivating and awesome. Hold on tight for the ride of your life!
If you like dark, violent, sexy books this is for you. Code of Silence is an arranged marriage mafia romance. Haven and Luca have a history so that also makes it sort of a second chance romance as well. I use the term romance loosely because this isn’t sweet tender or traditionally romantic, but it is SOOO very steamy.
This book is a stand alone but it is in the same universe as the Dark Kings series. I read Titan (DK #1) and Graves (DK #2) before Code of Silence but I recommend you read Code of Silence first because it takes place before the events in Titan, I don’t feel like it took a lot away from the story but I feel like I learned things in Titan that I should not have known yet for Code of Silence.
Overall I love this whole universe so far and I can not wait to read more. I especially love Nite and I want to know more about his backstory.
Disclaimer if you’re one of those woman who bash other woman for liking dark an abusive books, then you shouldn’t read this. Wow! I am a new found lover of mafia romance! Shantel did it again this has the perfect amount of suspense darkness and murder. I couldn’t get enough of Haven and Luca. This story has so many twists and turns that’s you dont see whats coming next! Be prepared to lose sleep and get the infamous book hangover with this one!
Unfortunately, the writing style just didn’t work. The story had potential but it wasn’t taken. I am disappointed. This story had lots of potential but the way the author chose to write it took away from the story rather then enhanced it. By the constant lies, contradictions, misdirections, and keeping information from the readers, all the flash forwards, flash backwards and sideways, the author tried to bring mystery and suspense but it did’t work. Instead, we feel absolutely no chemistry from the couple – we had nothing but lies to go on and the (h) didn’t know any better either. Everyone was either lying or keeping secrets. As well, the author introduced 3-4 new people at a time, several times throughout, with hardly any information so it became impossible to keep characters straight. Every paragraph the H said one thing but his actions and statements completely contradicted it, and this went on for almost the entire book – by the time we have an inkling what’s going on and why, it’s too late, by that time we have could care less what happens – we could careless about a HEA – it just didn’t work!
Action packed from start to finish! Luca and Haven have a long history. They are college sweethearts torn apart by the mafia, only to be thrust back together as Luca finally takes back what he wants. The Kings are along for the ride as Luca tries to defeat the enemy!
ARC received from the author.
Mafia + Arranged marriage is my cup of tea and I was so excited to learn that Shantel was giving us a story from this genre.
I had some problems with this book at first. We’re introduced to a mafia man Luca and his brother Matteo, while unwilling woman is handed over to Luca in an arranged marriage. Read the first of Cora Reilly’s series because this is the same situation with the same names being used. I had a difficult time separating the two.
Thankfully, this only lasted the first 2-3 chapters. The book soon took its unique spin and Shantel wrote her own. The story woven in this book is complex. Don’t read the ending fast. Take your time and absorb because there are a lot of names with a complex situation. Interesting, and creative for sure, but complex.
This was presented as a standalone that introduced characters of her coming series, but this read almost more as a prologue to the series, as the four men mentioned are pretty woven into this book. At first mention of shared business, I thought it makes for a good introduction and it would be that, but in the end they played a large and helpful part to Luca and was really with him every step of the way. No complaints for sure! It gave us a sneak inside into the four men. But it didn’t read as a standalone that is connected, and more as a separate prologue book.
On the note of characters, all of them played such an interesting role. I thought Haven’s reactions were very realistic. Considering her past with Luca and how they ended I could see why her anger. Paired with just being handed over by her parents… Luca is first and foremost a mafia man. But like every mafia man in books as these, he has a heart and cares for Haven deeply. Her parents are crazy. Her mother is determined. The four men coming up already fascinate me and I can’t wait for book one! Her bodyguard and Luca’s man, Nite, is one of my favourite characters easily. He too has a bit of a secret place in the plot. He’s mute, which we learn why as the book develops. Even Haven’s friends have a bit of an interesting take on them. One is party girl and loyal friend, while one never picked up her phone. I believe this is foreshadowing for one of the series’ books?
What really made this book stand out from all the other mafia books is Luca and Haven’s relationship. They had one as teenagers, have had sex, loved each other, and so on. They were set. Until Luca left unexpectedly. So now he is back and marrying Haven, who of course is not happy with his leave. So this book is a second-chance romance. It wasn’t about falling in love and learning one another; it wasn’t even about falling in love again. It was about forgiveness and moving onto a better future. This warmed my heart throughout the whole read and I appreciated the author’s uniqueness.
While this is a standalone, it appears to be getting a standalone sequel, Silent Nite, about none other than Nite. I already can’t wait and I hope to see it sooner than 2021. I think his book will be so interesting and I wonder if I will feature a certain friend of Haven’s or someone new.
Great read and already looking forward to Shantel’s next one.
Code of Silence by Shantel Tessier is the story of Luca Bianchi and Haven Knowles.
Luca and Haven at one time when they are younger had strong feelings for each other but Luca just left. Now a few years later, Haven is being force to marry him. Of course Haven’s feelings are still hurt from their blunt ending so she not going easy. They have a rocky road to get back to the love they once had for each other. There needs to be a lot of forgiveness along with understanding. Enjoyed this book and can’t wait for more from this author.