Arranged marriage, secrets, and more.
Dates Read: 02/12/2022 to 05/12/2022
Star rating: ⭐⭐
Word to describe: Cringe-worthy
Genre: Romantic Fiction
This book had a lot of promise. The story concept is similar to those of great romance novels. Arranged marriage, reluctant bride, and dominating husband - but the way this story was developed and the general plot of this book were less fun and more embarrassing to read. It became clear from the first page that this was going to be a book that relied heavily on cliches and terribly written sex scenes to distract from the fact that the characters, the chemistry between them, and the plot had very little to give.
Stefan and Tori's relationship is hinted at in the blurb as being a fast-paced, burning romance that will sweep the reader off their feet. Described as a novel filled with raunchy scenes and the excitement that comes along with a rich boy/mafia-style romance and just a small amount of danger. Instead, the characters were lacklustre and other than explicitly stating that Tori was attracted to Stefan there was nothing in the book that made me believe that these characters had any physical chemistry at all. When the time eventually came for the characters to consummate their marriage I had already been heavily thrown off Stefan's character due to his domineering and sexist personality.
Stefan as a character had the potential to be written greatly and explored thoroughly if the author wasn't so focused on forcing sex scenes. The character was flat and had no development in this book. I would've preferred a much longer wait, for the character's physical acts of sex, in favour of a deeper connection being developed between them - or even a better understanding. Instead, the reader is given rushed, and potentially abusive, sex scenes where Stefan returns from work muted (his communication skills are on par with a squished tomato) and has his way with Tori calling her his innocent kitten and demanding she accepts that her body belongs to him. Any other romance character this would have been sexy to hear - coming from Stefan's stoic mouth with the personality of a soggy sponge it is cringe-inducing. Every time I read a sex scene between Tori and Stefan my skin would crawl like it was trying to escape. I cannot help but detest Stefan's character - what a waste of potential hotness.
The side characters in this book are no better. With such a large amount of characters encouraging Tori to give up her virginity to Stefan because that is what a good wife does, I feel like this book is bordering on rape and Stockholm syndrome. A good wife should please her husband with her body blAH. Good characters should be developed beyond sexist bullshit. It was offensive to read how these rich men viewed the women in this book. Take the character of Tori's father, he waits until her 18th birthday (or better yet the day she becomes LEGAL since this book is US based) and sells of her treasured virginity to the highest bidder - which of course happens to be Stefan and his sexist pig of a father. Knowing that this book is the start of a series based upon sexy mafia criminals and the marriage between Stefan and Tori, I'm genuinely concerned that this is considered a well-loved piece of literature.
The plot in this book is fairly simple and I feel that the author had played all of their cards in the first few chapters and was scrambling to make sense of how they could create a series out of this. Arranged marriage? Okay, that's acceptable a lot of erotic romance begins with the idea of a virgin taken away by a brooding Alpha male. An undercover sex slave business? Like I didn't see that coming as soon as a rich sexist man who constantly surrounded himself with barely legal international models came into the picture. A mystery woman that Stefan is searching for is mentioned once and never again. Come on! There is very little consistency in this plot for the reader to understand exactly where this series is headed. There are subplots left wide open and the main plot abruptly ends rather than having a summary. I feel like a lot of modern-day romance books do this the plot just stops instead of giving the reader a successful conclusion which will make them want to read more and not force them to since there is no true ending.
This whole book honestly rubbed me the wrong way. I didn't enjoy the blatant sexism (even if that is supposed to be the characters there wasn't a single part of retribution on Tori's part), and I hated the lack of character development and the rush into sexual interactions, I hated the emphasis on Tori's virginity and the obsession with her innocent body. The whole book screamed virgin obsession with a rape fantasy. Gross.
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