Sweet Temptation

I am all up in my feelings. For this being my first time reading a Cora Reilly book it was something else. I fell, and I fell hard for this story and for Giulia and Cassio. The writing was *chefs kiss* I’m still reeling, and the obsession is quite real. I’m addicted and there’s no going back.

Giulia was young, naive, and innocent. Being the daughter of an Underboss, she knows what’s to be expected with the Mafia lifestyle. She has no choice in who she marries and once she graduates high school, she’ll be walking down the aisle towards a man her father chose for her and who is so much older than her. Don’t let Giulia’s age fool you though. Despite her being young, she’s determined and was willing to learn and take on responsibility in her new role. She’s no pushover either, she stands up for herself and has a backbone, and she definitely made her presence known to Cassio. I loved her tenacity and strength. She was exactly what Cassio and his kids needed.

Cassio was a man with many layers. He’s intimidating, dangerous, and imposing. His job takes a lot out of him and that life has left him focused on his work and ensuing that his children were taken care of. He’s broody and closed off, but dear lord he’s a sweetheart. He’d do anything for his children, and the things he was willing to endure for them put him above and beyond. I loved him in such an intense way—he took my breath away.

Giulia and Cassio are as opposites as can be. How can this arranged marriage work? It was a challenge given the circumstances, but these two complimented each other beautifully. Giulia’s stubbornness is what propelled Cassio to open up and allow her to breathe new life into him. She taught him how to be happy and more importantly, she taught him how to have trust in someone again. And let me just say, Giulia and Cassio’s chemistry was out of this world. Straight up fire, their passion was definitely felt in the pages of this book. They might not have started on the right foot, but with time love grew and oh how beautiful it was.

Sweet Temptation is a bevy of things. It has an arrange marriage, an age gap, mafia, a single parent—with danger and suspense and unexpected twists and turns. I loved everything about this story. I loved the growth of both Giulia and Cassio. And I especially loved the children and the relationship Giulia formed with them, that ultimately led to an unbreakable bond. Simply put, I was captivated and swept away with Cora’s writing. And without question Sweet Temptation will definitely be in my best 2020 reads.

Sweet Temptation was a bit terrifying. Imagine being super young, mafia family, inexperienced and engaged to an older guy. He’s a widow with small children. Say what? That was the aspect of the story that just stuck with me. This poor girl goes from carefree fun to mother and obedient wife in a millisecond. I always have a suspension of disbelief with mafia stories, but this one still seemed less plausible. Otherwise, the story was everything I expected it to be-steamy, tragic, joyful, heartbreaking and tense. Cora Reilly never disappoints me, and I look forward to every new release.

I received a complimentary copy courtesy of the author and The Next Step. I voluntarily reviewed this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

Cora Reilly once again, this time with „Sweet Temptation”, wrote an amazing, addicting story. Cassio, Giullia, kids and their stories will steal your hearts and you will remember it for a lot time after finishing the book. After bits that I saw here and there I haw really high expectations from this story especially that it was written by one of my favorite authors. And my expectations were surpassed. If your go to story is single parent, arrange marriage with the age gap and mafia romance that this story is definitely for you.
This book is not a part of Born in Blood and The Camorra Chronicle series but main characters were known for me because they appeared in previous books. Giulia for example was mentioned in “Twisted Emotions” as elder cousin of Kiara Vitiello also known as one and only Kiara Falcone from The Camorra Chronicles. She is also a cousin of Luca Vitiello. As for Cassio he is Luca’s most loyal and one of most powerful underbosses and he rules Philadelphia.
Giulllia knew that growing up in this world means she won’t be choosing her husband or how her life will look like. Little did she know… Barely of age she is marrying a man she knows only form gossips that are straight horrifying and one encounter and becoming responsible of two young children and one definitely wayward dog. So you can easily say that in one night her whole life changes. But what I loved about her character the most is that she instantly tries her best to take control over the household and is determined to bring happiness and make Morettis happy one again. But will she succeed or will it be first mission impossible for her? Will Cassio’s secrets be too much even for her? And how much from previous gossips is true? If you want to find out you need to read this book which you won’t be able to put down until the end.
What is quite new here is that we can see in writing that this is Cora’s next book but it’s quite different because we don’t get a lot mafia stuff compared to her previous books but instead we got incredibly well done character development so I definitely wasn’t disappointed. “Sweet Temptation” is that kind of story that will make you swoon, laugh, cry and fan yourself and it is such a beautiful story that will stay with you for a long, long time.

For months, I couldn’t contain my excitement levels—I was thrilled to bounce back into some delicious mafia romance with a marriage of convenience threaded into it. I also hadn’t read Cora Reilly’s Born in Blood Chronicles series in such a long time either. In my all honest opinion though, Sweet Temptation didn’t exhilarate me. It was a decent read, kind of tame and the lead moments to the wedding infuriated me. Overall, this narrative lacked grit, angst and suspense to make it memorable.

“It was as easy as that. Whenever I looked at the photo of Giulia and our little family that I carried in my wallet, one overwhelming feeling filled me: happiness.”

Cassio Moretti deserves a roundhouse kick for his views on women and the unreasonable demand that his new wife—who’s just turned eighteen, something he always reminds us of—will be an immediate mother to Daniele and Simona. I realise and understand, in this make-believe environment, that housewives aren’t uncommon but instead the standard. However, I don’t need to be told. all. the. time. especially when there’s no chemistry between the characters. Don’t even start me on honey.

What shocked me most is Giulia Rizzo. She doesn’t resemble a withered heroine, scared of her future outcome. Instead she realised and understood her future within a male-dominated society, and followed each encounter with determination to survive the uncertain circumstances. Giulia’s this bundle of kindness, tenacity and fierceness, all equally admirable qualities that more heroines need in romance literature!

“I won’t become someone else only because you don’t like who I am. You chose to marry me. You can’t form me into the wife you want. You can’t control everything, even if you think you have to.”

I felt awkward and uncomfortable reading Cassio and Giulia’s first night together. Written clinically, the entire situation was awfully stunted in emotion and forced in deliverance. Even when emotions started to blossom and flourish between Cassio and Giulia, it felt like a transaction—demand and receive, rather than equally divided. It also came across as unbelievable as hell. Cassio obtained himself a perfect “wife” slash live-in nanny with benefits and Giulia somehow became a mother to a traumatised toddler, baby with no memories, and trained the abused dog with innumerous issues.

Sweet Temptation was solid and decent, but a few sections missed its intentions. I ached to have more sacrifice and ruthlessness that we’re accustomed to in mafia romance—Cassio is described as merciless and this wasn’t showcased—and rather this came across as domesticated; as Daniele and Simona’s transformation instead of true romance. Even as Cassio and Giuilia’s romance bloomed in slow burn fashion, the chemistry simmered before it scattered and the shock factors that were unveiled were, quite frankly, not shocking but anticipated.

I read this book via my ku subscription and am leaving my review voluntarily.

Triggers: murder, assault

**spoilers**
This is the story of Cassio and Guilia.
Cassio’s first wife was a piece of work. After she died, he was left with 2 small children.
Guilia was Luca’s young cousin and a arrangement was made to marry her off to Cassio as soon as she turned 18.
She was open and giving, he was closed off. Eventually things worked out between them.
HEA

This story is part of the Born in Blood Mafia Chronicles and Camorra Chronicles series. While this story can be read as a standalone, it’s so much better if you read all the books as characters appear in each book.

Loved, loved, loved it! One of my favorite mafia stories of the year.

@corareillyauthor
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Like every other book written by @corareillyauthor it was wonderful.
was perfect in every word.
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I remember the first time I stumbled upon a Cora Reilly book; I had just finished a book and was looking for a new one to read. Don’t know about you, but finding my next read, I swear is harder than finding love to me. Anyways, I saw , I was attracted by the book cover to be honest, and then read the name of the author; Cora Reilly I was like hemm, I don’t know her but let’s give it a try. It was one of the best decisions of my life. I fell instantly in love with and , and in that moment I knew I would read every book this author has, is, will write. I just knew.
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was a sweet temptation. I wish was a Capo that would’ve been amazing. But regardless, he was EVERYTHING I love in a male character. Dark, sexy, jealous, strong and did I say sexy. And is definitely one of my favorite heroines now. The way she gave unconditional love to two babies who were not even her own makes me want to cry. .
is definitely one of my best reads this month.

This is actually a sweet mafia romance. The mafia guy quite endearing, the girl loving and not a doormat, and the plot is really just the two of them over time. I liked it because there wasn’t really any outside world. People would come and go, and they would visit family, but that was it. It really didn’t go hard with the mafia stuff. Recommended.

Boy Cora never ceases to amaze me!!Sweet Temptation was filled with warmth and love! Secrets never to be revealed! Fantastic book!!

Yes, Sweet Temptation has the arranged marriage trope. But no, this isn’t like any other book Cora has written before. Don’t get me wrong, this is still as captivating and addicting as her other books, but the way she built the characters and the plot was somehow different and more enchanting than usual.

Giulia and Cassio’s relationship surprised me in a good way because they really had to learn how to deal with their differences in order to be a happy couple. The scenes were Giulia was trying to convince Cassio of something were endearing and funny as hell. He was frustrated with her most of the time, but you could see it was just a front because he was actually smitten with her. Their banter was simply amazing and I love that their relationship was light and carefree. Well, as light and carefree as a relationship in the mafia can be lol

Individually, Giulia captured my heart ever since the beginning and now she’s my favorite female character in the BIBMC/Camorra world. She’s just like I imagined she would be: quirky, unique, sweet, funny and so strong. Even though Cassio’s reputation scared her, she stood up to him every step of the way. Giulia knew what kind of relationship she wanted and she never settled for anything less. In a world where women aren’t allowed to stand up for themselves, Giulia’s non-nonsense attitude was truly a breath of fresh air.

My favorite thing about Giulia is that she never changed who she was to fit the “trophy wife” mold. Regardless of what other people thought, she was always sure of herself. Also, I loved that her transition from a teenager without any responsibilities to a young wife and mom happened naturally and effortlessly. Nothing about it felt forced. On the contrary, it felt like she was part of Cassio’s little family all along. Seeing her fighting like a lioness to protect Cassio, Daniele and Simone was everything. She handled every adversity with such grace and patience that it was impossible to not fall in love with her.

I have to say I was worried Cassio would be a 2.0 version of Dante, but thankfully, that didn’t happen. He was ruthless, broody and liked to control every single thing in his life, but you could clearly see that he wasn’t a bad person. He always treated Giulia and his children with the respect they deserved and even when they got on his nerves, he never took his frustrations out on them. The best thing is that he respects them because he loves them with all of his heart and not just because it’s his duty. Furthermore, the way he finally let go of the past and embraced his present and future was incredible. His growth as a husband and father is honestly one of my favorite things about this book.

I also loved that Daniele and Simona weren’t just there to fill the space. They weren’t forgotten at all and actually had more scenes than I thought they would have. That made me really happy because it’s rare to find books where the kids are treated like human beings that deserve love and attention. A nice plus is that their scenes made the book even cuter and emotional. Sweet Temptation wouldn’t be the same without them, that’s for sure.

Overall, I feel like this is Cora’s most consistent book. She found the perfect balance between developing Giulia and Cassio’s characters and their relationship as a couple and as parents. Even though the action scenes only happened towards the end of the book, I wasn’t bothered by it because this is a book focused on their family and how they started to trust and love each other. So yeah, if you like the opposites attract, grumpy/sunshine, age-gap and single parent tropes, check out Sweet Temptation.