Series Name: Made & Broken, # 1
It wasn’t until she was right in front of me that I realized she was looking down at the floor behind her veil, and how badly her hands were shaking as she clutched her bouquet.
A nudge to my side from Liam made me step forward to greet her, and it was then that she finally looked up and I saw her face,
My heart gave a violent spasm before it dropped all the way to the bottom of my Italian leather shoes.
I knew her.
And her name was Aigneis Clergy. It was Holler. Mira Holler. My Fucking shrink.
Dangerous is a fabulous gateway mafia dark romance for any bookworm looking to dive into this sub-genre.
Killer. Heartbreaker. Husband…?
Blaine
I hurt, break and kill for a living. The Family point, I deliver.
But this time, they ask too much. This time, they want me to marry the one woman who knows my secret. She has reason to hate me, I know, but I’ll take her, I’ll break her, and I’ll make her mine.
That’s the only way I can keep my secret.
Mira
When I ran away eight years ago, I thought I’d escaped the underworld I’d always known.
I made a life for myself. I thought I was free. Then my past came knocking at my door.
Now I’m marrying the son of London’s biggest crime family. A man who hates me as much as I hate him. He’s ruthless, brutal, and dangerous—everything I’ve always feared.
He’s taken away the life I built, he’s taken my freedom. And now, I fear he’s taken my sanity, too.
How else could I have ended up pregnant with his baby?
I am a bit of an odd romance bookworm. I say this because I adore such a wide range of romance books. On the one hand, I love charming Hallmark closed-door romances, but if the mood strikes me, I will swing to the other end and devour a good, darkish, spicy romance. For those new to dark romances and mafia romances, this is a great gateway book for dipping your toes into these sub-genres. This book, and the next books in this series, are darkish. The story flirts with that dark romance line and might cross over to the dark side a few times, but it’s not an overwhelming dark romance story. The same goes for the mafia elements in this story. There is definitely this alpha male mafia vibe to this book, and we dive into that mafia world, especially as the series progresses. However, the majority of the violence happens off-page, so it’s not a particularly gory story. But if you are new to the mafia world, be warned that the men in these books hold all the power. They are violent and feared and used to getting what they want. Our male heroes will sometimes use that power over the female MC, but they never hurt or abuse women in this series.
This is a quick and dirty read. I devoured this whole series (three books in total) in one day. I picked this book out at my Kobo store because of its synopsis. I was hoping that there would be a great hook at the beginning of the book that would suck me in and I’m happy to say there was. Mira has fled her family and her previous life, creating a new life for herself as a psychiatrist. The beginning of this book opens with Mira in a session with a man who oozes danger, sex, and that alpha male attitude. She knows that she shouldn’t be attracted to this man, but the heart, or should I say the lady parts, want what they want. After a disastrous session, Mira thinks she will never see this man again, but alas, her past comes back to haunt her, and she finds herself forced to marry the son of London’s top mafia family. Enter Blaine Steel; he is the eldest sibling and enforcer in his family’s mafia organization. In a moment of weakness, he decided to go to a psychiatrist to talk about some family issues, but he thinks he will never see Mira again. He is shocked to discover that Mira is the woman he is to marry, and he knows that he has to make sure she doesn’t say anything about their therapy session. Maria and Blaine are forced to marry because of mafia romance reasons. There is this historical world vibe to their marriage situation. Any bookworm who has read a medieval or Viking romance knows that usually, any marriage that happens at the beginning of the book is done for the betterment of both families. And that tends to be the case in a lot of mafia romances. In this case, Maria and Blaine are marrying so that both families can expand their power in Ireland.
The pacing of this story is quite quick. There is a lot going on in this book. First, you have this forced relationship that Mira and Blaine find themselves in. Next is Mira’s family, who is awful; finally, there is turmoil in Blaine’s family. Blaine and his brothers begin to realize that their father has used his power to hurt one of their brothers. The Steel siblings believe that you protect family above anything else and are having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that their father would betray them as he has. This book is super entertaining. I was never bored while reading it. There is always something happening, and Nora gives her readers just a little bit of information or alludes to something much bigger that just made me want to turn the page. I loved the fact that this book is set in London, and I adored all that London slang that was sprinkled throughout the dialogue.
Blaine is a great MC. He operates in that morally gray area. He’s technically a criminal, but he is considered a good guy in this book. He only kills and tortures men who are a threat to his family. Blaine is the eldest of the Steel brothers, and you can see that he feels a lot of responsibility for ensuring that his family’s empire runs smoothly. He’s used to being feared and used to having those around him obey his orders. When Mira becomes his wife, he goes into protector mode and has vowed to keep her safe at any cost.
The romance is spicy, but there isn’t an excessive amount of banging going on, which surprised me. Things get pretty hot and heavy at the beginning of the book, but then we have to wait quite a bit for Mira and Blaine to get back together physically. I really enjoyed Mira and Blaine. Their relationship is full of hurdles that they have to overcome. There is plenty of miscommunication, anger, and distrust between these two. But surprisingly, there are also a fair amount of sweet, quieter moments. The sparks and emotions that fly between these two are electric. Some pretty high emotions are happening, leading to some pretty spectacular fights. I just drank up all the drama. It was great. If you are a fan of forced marriage, alpha male, one bed, install-lust, touch her and die, secret baby, and miscommunication tropes, then you will enjoy this story.
Dangerous is a spicy, quick, and dirty mafia romance, perfect for those looking to try out this sub-genre.
