I was born a monster. Cruelty ran in my veins like poison. It ran in the veins of every Vitiello man, passed on from father to son, an endless spiral of monstrosity. A born monster shaped into an even worse monster by my father’s blade and fists and harsh words. I was raised to become Capo, to rule without mercy, to dish out brutality without a second thought.Raised to break others. When Aria was … was given to me in marriage, everyone waited with baited breath to see how fast I’d break her like my father broke his women. How I’d crush her innocence and kindness with the force of my cruelty.Breaking her would have taken little effort. It came naturally to me.I was gladly the monster everyone feared. Until her.Author’s note: Bound By Honor in Luca’s POV.
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Thank you to the author and The Next Step PR for an ARC of this novel.
Oh. My. Goodness.
This book will make headlines.
It’s a retelling of book 1 but in Luca’s POV. This series was already great, but it just became that much better by having this in its repertoire. How have I lived before this book? If Luca wasn’t already everything to you after reading the first book, then he will be now. It gives a fantastic, new insight into Luca and all that occured on his side. In Book 1, we’re privy to Aria: her thoughts, her fear, her growing trust, and eventually love for Luca. Now, we see it all through Luca’s eyes: his dislike, distrust, boredom, possessiveness, protectiveness, trust, and eventually love. He fights for her almost every second of the way, even if she didn’t realize it.
I don’t have one negative thing to say about this read. I loved it from start to end. Unfortunately, the story’s events weren’t shocking or new, as it’s a retelling, so I can’t praise it necessarily for its surprising events. Again, I did like seeing the different perspective on it. Now I want to do a reread of the others, specifically the ones about Aria’s sisters.
I believed this series to be done, but the announcement of this one made me squeal in happiness. And to learn that she will be writing another one, about Dante, just makes my day. I want this series to forever go on. Although Dante’s book was my least favorite, I wonder if I was comparing it to book 1 too much at the time and now that I have read the rest I may have a different opinion about it. Regardless, it’ll get a fair reread before the next one.
Absolutely wonderful. I loved every word from the beginning to the end.
‘Bound by Honor’ was the first book I read by Cora Reilly and after reading all of her other books this is the last one of my list. Until ‘Fragile Longing’ that I’m eager to read too.
Luca Vitiello is my favorite character from the Born in Blood and the Camorra series and this book only confirms it. Luca is an intriguing and enthralling character. I’ve had a great time reading everything that happened in ‘Bound by Honor’ from Luca’s point of view. It’s been a rich and an exciting experience. Because not only we get all the feelings, doubts, fears and thoughts that Luca is experiencing but also we have some good insights of the facts that we barely saw in ‘Bound by Honor’ from Aria’s POV.
I loved everything about this book and this character, amazingly well portrayed by Cora Reilly. The only ‘but’ is that there are a few typos along the book but I’ll overlook that since the plot and story are excemely good.
This was so good! I couldn’t put it down. And I loved reading the male, Luca’s point of view. Definitely recommend. Can’t wait to read more.
THIS author.
THIS series.
THIS book.
THIS characters….
My heart is not read for “The End” . I still want more.
Luca made me fall in love with Him again. He ripped my poor heart, but made it feel and live again. I don’t know what should I write more besides that Luca Vitello is a must read title- when You’ll do it, You will know why.
Luca is a cold, dark, ruthless monster. Aria is a strong, young, sweet, very loyal girl. She is forced by honor to marry the future Capo, Luca. She is dreading her wedding day because she is scared and intimidated by her future husband. Luca sees it as nothing more than business.
They slowly fall in love and it’s beautiful to see. They are perfect together. Luca really surprised me. I loved how different he was with Aria. He is a brutal monster, but with a heart that only beats for Aria. He is so protective of her. Aria is very strong but in a more quiet way. I felt her frustration, confusion and heartache. I love that she accepted the dark parts of Luca.
I love this mafia series. Very dark and twisted. I think the plot and characters are amazing. And I loved the strong connection between the characters. Loved it!
4.5 Stars!!
Finally- we get to see the events of Bound By Honor from Luca’s POV. Bound by Honor was my first Cora Reilly novel and the one that catapulted me into a mafia genre obsession and an obsession with all of her books. I’ve loved every single one, and Luca and Aria are one of my favorite couples- the more of their story I can have, the better!
But, like many of her subsequent tales, we only got the book from Aria’s POV- fortunately, Luca ultimately became more forthcoming with her, so we got to know and love him as she did, and it is always a nice ride to experience the unknown with her heroine when we, too, are blocked from his POV, but I wanted to be inside Luca’s head, especially after Bound by Love let us inside. So, thank you, Cora, for giving us this!
Certainly, there are elements of this that are plot points repeated from BBH, but they still feel fresh because we’re finally understanding what Luca thought. Want to know what really happened when Luca first met Aria? When he found out he was promised to a young girl? Want to know what REALLY happened with his nasty ex that Aria witnessed the tail end of? Want to know when he first loved her? This delivers.
We also get a window into Luca’s background and daily life that is NEW- that we haven’t read before. His childhood and teenage years, his bond with Matteo, the Famiglia interworkings, the complicated feelings Luca has about his father and mother. We already know and love Luca and know how things end, but man, this made me fall in love with him more. We understand more clearly now why he’s so careful with Aria, how her fear troubles him, Luca’s aspirations and the limited understanding he has of love and care from his background, the pressure he feels to be strong and respected. I didn’t think I could love him more, but this story made me fall even harder. And wow, how beautiful to see Aria through his eyes at this stage of their relationship.
You MUST read BBH before reading this, even though it is “Book 0”- don’t ruin the experience of reading BBH from soley Aria’s POV.. Fans of that story will be enamoured. I love this series so much.
Luca Vitiello’s book is a wonderful easy and exciting read of Lucas POV from the previous book Bound by Honor. This book gives us a glimpse into Luca’s life from a young age as the eldest son of a cruel mafia boss and how Luca had to suppress his emotions. Showing his duties as protector of his younger brother Mateo and his relationship with him. Also the treatment of his father with his wives marked the type of husband that he does not want to be and how cruelty had no place in a marriage. Then this is how he treated his emotions for Aria created a union and loyalty based on love and sacrifice.
This book is interesting, refreshing showing that he is a cruel big boss of the mob as a whole, but with room to be the man Aria needs.
Truth be told, I didn’t go in to Luca Vitiello with many expectations as I knew the events from Aria’s POV from many years ago but this book completely blew me away. We are given an insight in to Luca’s incredible mindset, his thoughts, his views and his feelings. There is a big focus on the dealings of the mafia world and how Luca was brought up to become the leader of the Famiglia, how he suffered protecting those he holds dearest.
His pure love for his brother and wife is very unique in the sense its a violent kind of love with no bounds, one that he is capable of even after enduring a brutal and harsh childhood. I was incredibly emotional during this book as we saw a caring, passionate, fierce man who suffered a lot to take care of those closest to him. I waited a long time for this book and I can honestly say the wait was completely worth it, Luca is worth it. One thing I love even more than Luca is Cora Reilly’s ability to make you sympathise a character you had previously strongly disliked, it goes to show how talented she is as a storyteller and how multilevelled her characters are. Once you see it from another POV, you begin to understand their bitterness and resentment and why they are the way they are.
Luca and Aria will both always have a special place in my heart, their love is authentic not something which happened overnight, they are the perfect yin and yang, she’s the light within his darkness. Every time another character draws me in, and I think I’m ready to get over him, Luca always swoops back in and shows me why he will be my all time favourite capo. I don’t think I’ll ever have enough of this couple, I’m still not ready to let them go.
I’m usually not into stories that are exactly the same like the one I have already read but from different point of view. I found them boring, because usually there is nothing new.
Cora managed to put in Luca Vitiello some new scenes, something that wasn’t in Bound by Honor, and I really appreciate that as a reader.
It was better than Bound by Honor, actually. I loved to see what was going on in Luca’s mind during some of the scenes. I can’t really have any comments in terms of plot, because there were only a few scenes added and everything was the same as in BbH. Then, characters? I loved Luca already, so nothing has really changed. And the same thing is with Aria.
So I think, it is only fair to give Luca Vitiello the same number of stars, which Bound by Honor got. It was quite better than BbH, though, but not as good as any of my four-stars ranked books.
I absolutely ADORED this book. After having waited literal YEARS for this to come into existence, Luca’s perspective during the events in Bound by Honor is finally revealed and let me tell you, this man is an enigma!
Luca has always been one of the most intriguing men in the Bound by series and finally having the opportunity to understand his motives and feelings in the first book in the series sheds a lot of light on who Luca wants to be and why he does the things he does.
Luca Vitiello follows Luca through parts of his childhood as well as pivotal moments in his life all the way through the events we’ve already seen in Bound by Honor in Aria’s perspective. This book allows the reader to have the perspectives of both protagonists in the series and compare them with one another as well as understand the story that much more.
I thought Luca Vitiello was wonderfully written and I cannot wait to read more novels with Luca and Aria in it! Amazing job once more, Cora! You never disappoint.
Omg with the way of writing of this woman, Cora really is incredible, she told us the same story of the first book but with some surprises and things that you really did not suspect were like that in the first one, I just love Cora’s way of writing It is very engaging, agile, it makes you feel the same as the characters, you can go from smiling in love to being afraid of what is going to happen now and you are so putting it into the story that when you least realize you are almost done, I honestly love this story, as I loved every book I read about her, this story told us everything we needed to understand and understand about the Luca from the first book, it hurts to read certain scenes with a witch (Thank you Cora for not making these so descriptive), but It is fascinating to enter Luca’s head and see how that monster that everyone believed him to be, is falling in love with Aria without realizing it and without recognizing or accepting him.
It is so nice to see all those protective and possessive thoughts with her, as he does not want her to be deluded with more, but he is unable to make her suffer or hurt her to get away, because for him it would be unbearable not to see that smile anymore, LOVE MUCH MORE TO THIS MAN AND I CONFIRM BECAUSE IT IS MY FAVORITE.
The book is literally the first but told by Aria, if you have already read it you will understand the story more and understand some moments more clearly and you will be surprised with others, if you have not read it yet (what are you waiting for?), This is the story of Luca A young gangster who was cruelly raised to be tough, not show feelings and pity for anything, will be the next boss of New York and has to prove that he can handle it, his dad is a horrible monster who believes that women are disposable and you can Treat them like trash, I raised Luca to think like this, but Luca just promised himself never to be like his dad, Luca is young, attractive and very powerful, he never lacked feminine attention, so when his dad warns him that he will marry Aria, he simply accepts the decision and hopes that everything will go well with that young man he does not yet know, when Aria meets her he is a girl, so he asks that the marriage be until she is a little older, he p She looks like a beautiful young woman and feels super protective with her, he believes that it is because now she is his and he has to take care of her, when the marriage arrives he realizes that although Aria accepted to marry he is very afraid of him and he does not know how to react to this and make her understand that the monster that is outside will not be with her and little by little he will get to know her and show her that he can be more than a monster and will demonstrate to himself that he is capable of feeling and trusting someone else and that he could be happy that that may also be part of the equation.
for the audio –
Luca gutted me from the start. From the moment I started listening, my heart went out for Luca. He is a very dark character living in a dark world. The story takes the listener through the young Luca to the older Luca and how his world is shaped and what he does to survive it. Ari is an unexpected light to Luca. They were crushing once they learned each other and how their roles played together. XX has the perfect deep and strong voice for to be Luca. I truly thought that I was listening to the dark Luca. The female parts were good and didn’t sound to deep and not falsely high or whiny. This is part of a series but can be listened to as a stand alone.
Ok, wow, wow and wow. This book was everything I thought it would be and more. I love me a bad boy and Luca is that and then some. Told from Luca’s pov. Sebastian did a great job narrating this book.
I tried to like this book,but unfortunately I didn’t.
While reading this I was reminded why Bound by Honor is not my favorite book from this author.
I like Luca and I was very interested in finding out how he became who he is.It was nice to see the glimpse of his childhood,his relationship with his brother and father.
And of course it was nice to see how he came to love Aria.
As far as the characters goes I liked Luca but Aria is another story.
My problem with this book is that,considering that is arranged marriage topic,it’s too short.And pretty much underdeveloped.Every thing was happening pretty fast and most scenes ended with Luca and Aria having sex.There were too many sex scenes and very little actual conversation.I feel like their relationship is build on sex.
For that reason I didn’t like this book,just like I didn’t like Bound by Honor.
I’ve committed the cardinal sin-I have never read anything by Cora Reilly! I’ve promoted previous books but never got the chance to actually read one. Well, I started my journey with Luca Vitiello, and that was probably a mistake. Luca has ruined me for all other “mafia men”. He’s a lot of HOLY MOLY with a dash of WOW and a sprinkle of….sigh. It’s that whole protect my woman at any cost, including murder, if necessary, vibe he’s got going. That intensity of possession is the trait that makes him sexier and more desirable than all the others. I was shocked by his childhood and early teens, and I almost put the book down, but I had a feeling better things were near. I’m glad I kept reading because I loved it in the end. Luca is an intense, dark, brooding slice of beefcake, but he has valid reasons for his harsh behavior. The bond with his brother is a great way to show that he does have a wee tiny bit of softness buried somewhere. He has earned respect, and I like that about him because he’s the next Capo. Show them exactly who you are, and they will fear you, as they should. Be a Made Man. Always. Aria could have been more intense than what she was. I almost felt she was feigning innocence and fear at times. After reading the hot Luca story, I’m not sure if I want to read Aria’s perspective. Haha! I read Luca Vitiello so quickly! I was sad when it ended, and I would love to continue reading his thoughts. The story is excellent, and I highly recommend for anyone who loves hot, like surface of the sun hot, mafia guys. Don’t pass this one up-go, get your copy right now!
First of all you should know that this book is Bound By Honor told from Luca’s POV (and a few new scenes from his childhood and teenage years). But it can be read as a stand-alone. Normally, I am not really interested in reading the same book told from a different POV. However, I read Bound by Honor almost five years ago and forgot most of what happened, so I decided to give this book a go. I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed reading Luca and Aria’s story again. Cora Reilly’s writing style has such a great flow and keeps you engaged. The story is sexy, suspenseful, dark and romantic.
I loved seeing how Luca experienced everything with Ari, and how he came to the decisions he made. Is he a good guy? No, he is an anti-hero but not a cruel one. Did he make mistakes and messed up? Of course he did. However, he is a product of his environment so you can’t judge him the way you would the heroes in your contemporary romance. But he also did a lot of things the right way, especially when he gave Aria the time to get to know and used to him. Aria is a strong young woman and I loved seeing her grow and come out of her shell. She is very loyal and protective and would give her life for the people she loves. Luca Vitiello is a great mafia romance, and I think fans of that subgenre would enjoy this book.
Light to his dark
Luca Vitiello is the first story in the Born in Blood Mafia series and features his life from early childhood until he eventually marries Aria, to ensure peace between the Outfit and the Famiglia. A lot of the story is similar obviously to Bound by Honor purely because it is about Luca and Aria, but being from Luca’s POV is different as it gives us insight into his mindset and his actions that we weren’t privy to before!
Thank you to Cora for my advanced copy for which I leave my honest review