From USA Today bestselling author Willow Winters and B. B. Hamel comes a darker emotionally-gripping, standalone, romantic suspense. I should have known that one day I’d be at the mercy of a monster. And all I am is the daughter of his enemy. I was stolen and gifted to him – a dominating, brutal and a cold hearted killer. My pleas fall on deaf ears as I stay trapped and held hostage to his will. … trapped and held hostage to his will.
He could do anything he wanted with me.
And I know what it is he’s looking for.
He can’t hide the desire in his gaze.
The flicker of heat between us is something I can’t deny either.
And as the days grow colder, I’m finding it harder to resist.
With each gentle touch and act of kindness that lures me closer to him, I’m finding it impossible to remember why I should fight this.
“A powerfully written and deeply emotional read. Where innocence meets darkness and a light finds a way to shine through.” – Dare to Love Romance Book Reviews
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exciting read
Loved this book. An enforcer with a great heart! Hot, sexy, intriguing with surprise betrayal all nicely wrapped up with a HEA
This book is definitely dark and taboo! Fantastic storyline with amazing characters that you couldn’t help but love.
Gio and Grace were able to connect eventually even after coming from rival Mafia families. Grace’s father abused her terribly because he wanted a son. Being a Dom, he expected that. Great read!
Wow this book is great. Hot, sexy and intriguing. Darkness and innocence coming together in an emotional story of betrayal with twists. Could not put the book down.
Emotionally gripping, dark and all-consuming.
This is my first book by BB Hamel, but not my first for Willow Winters. Willow is one of my all-time favorites so I knew I would love this. I’m intrigued to see what else BB writes because if it is anything like this I know I will love it.
This is a prime example of why I love dark romances. They grab at your emotions on a deeper level and have your mind ticking like a time bomb and this book did just that for me. It’s a mafia romance. Both main characters are damaged beyond belief so it seems. One is a hitman and the other is about to become a sex slave, but her damage was done years ago. Gio is a train to be a hitman and never thought he would fall in love with the woman who became his sex slave. Gio wasn’t really the type to fall in love. So I thought. Oh, I was wrong! He was obsessed with this woman and he wasn’t giving her up for anything.
What unfolds between these pages took me on a ride of my life. Dark, twisted, all-consuming, emotional, and just completely mind f*cking. My head was spinning and my reeling with so many questions. I wasn’t a fan of Gio at first. The way he was with Grace, but as the characters developed and their connection strengthened throughout the book. I couldn’t help but fall in love with him and Grace together and well I was completely addicted to all things Gio by the end. Anti-hero type, broken and damaged? Yes, please!
If you like getting your feelings and mind f*cked then this book is perfect for you! I couldn’t get enough!
5 Stars aren’t enough for this emotionally gripping story!
This one starts with sadness from the heroine. She shares her thoughts on her life that’s truly sad. Then we get to Gio his story is sad in some ways but also a little dark. We all seem to love the anti- hero! Jump in to the story of how they fall for each other along with finding love.
A dark mafia romance between a hitman and a mafia princess.
Grace is the daughter of the Don of the Rossi family mafia and has had a rough life. She’s stronger than she seems though. Gio is a hitman who Grace is given to by the Romano mafia family. He’s supposed to break her and turn her into a sex slave for the Romano’s, but finds himself addicted to her. He wants to keep Grace for himself. She knows it’s wrong to have the feelings she does toward her captor, but he’s the first man to show her true affection and kindness.
Good character development and storyline. Suspense and tension with some great plot twists. I really enjoyed this book.
I am not really sure why I haven’t read this book before now! Forsaken is a dark, mafia standalone romance told in Dual POV. Grace is the daughter of a Don to one of the main Mafia families the Rossi’s. A girl raised firmly under her father’s cruel hand, abused and despised throughout her life she is then used as a pawn in her father’s rivalry with another family. Grace is told she is to be taken and used a bait to gain information on the rival family before her Father will come to take her back.
Grace is captured and handed over to a hit man for hire, Gio is a man who works for whoever pays him to get the job done, a man loyal only to himself and the job at hand, which for now is breaking Grace to serve as a slave to the family who hired him.
I loved the psychological play that this story depicted between Captur and Captive in Gio and Grace. The fight that Grace had because that’s all she knows how to do to survive under the wrath of her abusive Father, made her a compelling heroine. Gio wasn’t overtly cruel, he was clever and tactical, using kindness to tempt and I liked that element and how it played to the story. Another thing I loved was Gio’s filthy mouth, boy that man can talk dirty, give me more of that please!
Gio and Grace can’t help but be drawn to the strength they see in each other, they see survival and that holds true as the story plays out. The writing is compelling and easy to read, I thought it paced well and I liked how the plot played out. You often assume that characters in Gio’s position are going to be cruel and unfeeling and Grace to be weak and fearful but neither is true here. For anyone looking for a psychological darker romance then this is the book for you.
Not only a dark romance but a mafia romance as well. It was a thrilling, chilling, intense, suspenseful, emotional story with one hell of a plot twist and super hot sex scenes! If you like dark mafia, this is the book for you!
Wonderful dark romance!!
Gio is a hit man that works for the Romano family. When he is asked to take out a rival family member, Gio knows it’s going to be difficult because the man barely shows his face in public. Then they offer him Grace Rossi, the rival family’s princess to train for them into a s*x slave. After seeing her picture he can’t turn them down, she will be his and he will train her to be perfect and dependent on him. This is an intriguing read and I highly recommend it!
This is a tough one for me. It’s a story of two mafia families so, naturally there is violence, betrayal, deceit and vengenance. I considered there to be many deeply disturbing and upsetting elements to this story.
Gio’s childhood was consumed with lessons from his father on how to hurt, humiliate and kill other people. He is now a hitman. Grace has suffered physical, emotional and psychological abuse from her father her whole life. Then, she is set up by her father to be kidnapped by a rival mafia family and trained to become a sex slave. These are some truly horrific elements so, bare that in mind.
Grace and Gio’s relationship is unique. She’s his prisoner and she is afraid but, appreciates the his sex appeal on a base level. Gio finds her gorgeous and intriguing but, he has a job to do. Over time they open themselves up and find deeper feelings for each other. There are some truly tender moments between them that help balance the dark stuff. Thank goodness the ending is justified and gave me a sense of relief for Grace and Gio.
Aside from the storyline not being within my comfort zone for a romance, I did think it was good. It is well written and thought out. It is an intense and emotional read.
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.
Whew! Erotica mixed with Mafia. What could go wrong. He is charged with kidnapping a Dons daughter and then making a hit. He puts her in a cage in a safe room In his house. He thinks she is a princess but she was string since her father had been abusing her all her life. She is stubborn but eventually gives in and starts to care for him. They start an erotic relationship and he starts to fall for her too but he still has to kill.
What a great read. This is a dark read but so good. I couldn’t put it down. This is a must read, great collaboration between B.B. and Willow!!
What a great story. As I got to reading the book it was plan to see why these two authors chose this name for the book. Here we have Gio who is forsaken and betrayed by someone close to him and we have Grace who is forsaken by her family.
As I was reading about Grace my heart broke. She had a father that did not love her. A father that abused her and a father that wanted to use her. Grace starved for love and freedom.
I can only imagine the fear Grace must of felt when being forced to do as her father asked. I wonder how a man could be so heartless when it came to his own blood.
Oh sexy Gio. He was freaking yummy. Gio was another that did not know love. My heart broke for him. Here he was raised by a man that should of loved and protected him, instead he was raised to embrace the darkness and become a cold blooded killer. I am sure Gio felt he had no humanity left, well until he met Grace.
I love how Gio and Grace clicked. It was like each other had what the other needed. They were truly helping each other and learning what love really was.
These two will have a lot of rough patches to go before they will have their happy ever after but I assure you it is well worth it. FYI, make sure to read the deleted scenes at the end of the book, they were awesome and super hot.
This a real page turner. Romantic with a twist, with some unpredictable happenings and suspense all rollup into one entertaining book. Story kept my interest to the end. Couldn’t put it down. I really enjoyed the story. 5 STARS
First things first: there are warnings and triggers that needs to be addressed. This is a true dark romance and readers need to be aware. There is graphic language, violence and a story line that revolves around slaves (and a girl in a cage).
That said: this was a fantastic story! It was packed with action and romance. There were mafia ties, challenging situations and dark dealings. I loved those characters as they were strong. Gio is a man who has been taught to be one thing and he does it well: kill people. His father taught him how to break his enemies down and he is the best at it. Grace is a broken submissive woman who desperately wants to escape her life. She finds herself the captive of Gio and the story and their unique relationship develops from there. I want to go into detail but it might ruin the emotions the reader develops while reading this story; and that is the best part.
I was blown away with the feelings, and emotions that I felt during this story. I like dark books but this one was extremely strong for me and I found that I was a little unsure if I could finish it. I am glad that I did as after it was over and I had time to step back I realized what an amazing book this truly was. I love both of these authors separately but together; WOW, perfection.
The book was 27 chapters and written with dual narration. The Epilogue was amazingly beautiful. After such a harsh dark book, it was nice to have the lightness of the epilogue. I cannot write my favorite lines from this story in the review as all of them has strong language and that is not accepted in reviews; however, know that there were many. I highly recommend this book if you like dark romance.