It's April, guys and here I am.

I'll try publishing at least two of these reviews per month, hopefully it'll work out for me.

So...

I read mafia smut... y'all owe me some bank... Like a lot of bank... Give me my money. 

Y'all here thinking I read one mafia smut romance heh? Well... actually, I read four, all by the same author.

And y'all remember when I said Paper Princess by Erin Watt was good? Yeah, me neither. Well, y'all might want to remember me saying that Bound By Duty, Bound by Honor , Bound By Vengeance and Bound By Hatred by Cora Reilly were absolute trash.

A bit of background before I come for this woman's whole "career".

These three books are part of a series of standalones called the Born in Blood series... The series of book literally revolves around arranged marriages within the New York Familia, The Chicago Outfit and the Vegas Famiglia...

Basically, I read book one, two and six... because why not. And I'll be dissecting each and everyone of these books individually, but in the one chapter, because I don't want to actually write three parts worth of mafia romance, so sit down, because this is going to be a long ass ride.

BOUND BY HONOR (BOOK #1 OF THE BORN IN BLOOD SERIES)

Before we jump in, I wanna thank my friendly neighbourhood cat, who read this book after I did because she enjoys torturing herself as much as I do.

Okay, so Bound by Honor revolves around Aria, engaged at age fifteen to an eighteen year old... but fine, we can look over the apparent pedo tendencies... Basically, she gets engaged to the gruesome, vicious, Luca Vitiello, who is... older than her, and actually accepted to get engaged to a minor... because... why not?

And now, while we're at it... let's talk about the plot...

Plot

So, Luca Vitiello and Aria get engaged... then they get married... then the Russians are planning something... the end.

Y'all think I'm kidding? That's basically it. There's nothing to work with, and to actually make a plot out of this is literally nothing else but pulling at nonexistent straws. But, I think we've all agreed that I love pulling at those.

So let's put this plot together...

Aria whatever her last name is, at age fifteen is promised to marry the ruthless Luca Vitiello, head of the New York Familia, or soon to be head anyway.

That happens and Aria isn't happy about it, but she still lowkey hopes that Luca could hopefully fall in love with her... which, spoiler alert, he obviously does, even if Aria is lowkey an unlikable human. But like fine.

So, on the night of the presentation or before, I'm not sure anymore, one of Aria's cousin makes a crude remark about her, which leads to him getting his finger cut off by Luca Vitiello. And because the author takes us for some grade A idiots, said cousin stitched his finger back... HIMSELF. BECAUSE HOSPITALS ARE FOR PUSSIES. Now, I'm aware that if you chop off your finger, it can be stitched back on. But what are the odds that you'll stitch it back on yourself???

After all of that, seeing your fiancé cut off your cousin's finger, she still doesn't run the fuck away, because that's the life she was born in. And the only way she would leave was if she died... Thus... Born in blood.

The night before their wedding we get the beautiful and unprecedented birth control scene. Where Luca actually brings her birth control pills he found somewhere that are supposed to start taking effect in 48hours. I don't know how birth control works... but like... doesn't she need a prescription for that? Shouldn't Aria have seen a gynecologist? Or did they prescribe birth control for Luca and he thought he could share?

On the day of the wedding she gets popping advice to let herself get raped by Luca, because, why the fuck not. 

I actually wanted to throw up in my mouth when I read this, and I'm pretty sure this was about around the time I should've decided to dnf this, but I soldiered on.

And then at the wedding reception, we get this gem:

Because why not?

Then it moves on to a bunch of disturbing traditions, like removing her garter belt with teeth and throwing it into a crowd of bachelors, because throwing flowers who? And the bloody sheet showing thing which was disgusting at best.

Though, I'll have to say that they didn't have sex on their wedding night, which was the most amount of decency that I got in this book.

To cut the rest short, they move to New York, Luca cheats, Aria cares but not really, she gives a stellar blowjob, the Russians plan something, they have sex —unprotected, life continues, a few people die. The end.

WRITING

This book is written the way I used to write.... when I was five. I probably wrote better than this when I was five.

It has horrible ass dialogue. I don't think I should remind you of: "He will fuck you bloody." Traumatising stuff... okay? And that's one amongst many other instances where I just wanted the people to stop talking in this book.

Bloody hell, the narration is just as terrible. It gives us so much telling, and little to no showing that I can't actually give any concrete proof about how dangerous Luca is... because there is no evidence. You just have to take her word for it.

The sex scenes. We need to talk about how genuinely cringeworthy those were. Mostly because she tries so hard to make Aria sound shocks. Like: "Le gasp. A peepee. And it's big. A big peepee." It fails absolutely horribly, because it is so easy to see that it's forced.

But enough of that... Let's talk about characters.

CHARACTERS

LUCA VITIELLO:

So, Luca we're lead to believe is supposed to be a pretty bad guy, with little to no morals at all. Mostly, since this is told in Aria's point of view, we don't get to see much of Luca, just he's very territorial and stuff.

He's painted ultimately to be a good guy who would do anything for Aria, even change his ways. Let's not forget that he cheated on Aria with "He'll fuck you bloody" Grace. Then blamed it on Grace because Aria found them in the act. Yes. A highly responsible and lovable love interest we have right there.

Funnily enough, a lot of people actually like Luca VITIELLO as a love interest, which honestly, beats me. I don't see how we're supposed to be rooting for him and Aria to become a thing, after him proving that he has blatant disregard for her feelings over and over again in the book.

But... I'll hand him this. He might actually be the second best love interest in all the books in the series... The first being his bodyguard with Lilliana, Aria's little sister. I haven't read that book, but from what I read in the beginning, the guy's more decent than most. 

I just hated the fact that we didn't see how scary and cold and brutal and ruthless Luca was supposed to be. It was very disappointing... but that also applies to the whole four books, so that's that.

I mean, we saw that he chopped Aria's cousin's finger off, and then just left him like that, with no medical attention, but that barely lives up to what we've been told about him. And then there's the crushing someone's throat with his bear hands at like sixteen/eighteen, which is like not scary but just very concerning. 

I'm concerned about his well-being and emotional health, if he has any emotions at all. I'm generally not concerned about characters, and I understand that he's Capo of the New York Outfit or Famiglia, I don't know which one it is, but like at a certain point, we're not going to make an eleven year old commit murder, or a sixteen year old crush someone's throat because "this is romance and we need trauma."

Now, to go back on the whole Luca is a shitty love interest, as in, the fact that he committed murder at a young age is already a BIG OL' RED FLAG, but apart from that, there's the possessiveness. 

Do people actually think having a possessive asf boyfriend/husband person is cute? Because it is the fuck not. Do I need to remind anyone of how cringey Christian Grey actually was? Borderline creepy and very very very stalkerish. Which Luca lowkey is. 

The possessiveness is one thing. The cheating is another. Now, Aria was warned about this, like fine. Luca still cheated on her with "He will fuck you bloody" Grace because Aria didn't want to have sex with him... and do I blame her? No, I absolutely fucking do not blame Aria for not wanting to give it up to Luca McDoucheydouche with his italian abs.

ARIA VITIELLO:

This girl is the embodiment of absolutely stupid. There isn't an actual bigger idiot than her, and her idiocy is painted as naivete due to the fact that she's younger. But she's a genuine idiot.

Now, getting married to Luca, I couldn't fault her for that. Falling in love with him, for some x reason, taking a bullet for him for some x reason, I absolutely fault her with. If anything, Luca deserved to be shot, run over by a truck and shot again. But in the name of love. Valentine's day who?

This girl is really gullible. She believes anything and everything to the point of engaging in unprotected sex with Luca "I fuck whores while being married" Vitiello, who cheated on her with "He will fuck you bloody" Grace. First of all, Luca probably has all the STDs we know of and the ones we don't know of, but she trusts him enough not to use a condom????? Why does she trust Luca?

This one, has absolutely no character development or growth. At least with Luca, even though his character wasn't actually developed to its full potential, he had some growth where he's much less of a shitty person at the end of the book. She, on the other hand, after surviving the Russians, who we still don't know what they're planning, doesn't actually have any growth whatsoever. Flat. She's a flat character.

Her narration is bland, and we could've done without it. We could've actually done without the whole book in general.

So, Aria in general is a very forgettable character, pretty boring too. The only thing of significance I can say is that she's very pretty, and her bush in the shape of a triangle, because that detail is oh so generously given to us. We can also say that she's very gullible.

Aria is an idiot. And I can't count the number of times I've called female leads idiots, but I can't think of another perfect adjective to give them. We have a character who isn't proactive, and the only time she is, it's in someone else's story... so that says a lot. Also, I like to think she's an idiot because the first time she sleeps with Luca, she suddenly becomes sex crazed and can only think about that, because the sex shook the mountains outside and made the snow fall... because fantasy land is real. I guess?

I don't have much to say about her, nor do I wish I had more to say, so let's move on to a few specific scenes that made my gut wrench.

SCENES THAT MADE ME EW

1) The Dress Scene

So, this scene is hella demeaning and disgusting. So, Aria got engaged, and at this point, at the very beginning of the book, she's fifteen, and Luca is twenty... so first of all, can someone say pedo real quick? (Though I'm pretty sure that relationship is legal is France or something... but like the French are trippin')

On the night of the engagement party, she's dressing in something very modest that cover everything that should be covered on a fifteen year old's body. And then her dad, Scuderi or whatever, walks the fuck in... and hands her a blue dress with like six inch heels. 

And like the dress is something a fifteen year old, in my opinion shouldn't be wearing. At least around sex crazed old men and a very sex crazed Luca too. So, like it's strapless and ends like right under her butt, which ew, she's fifteen. But that aside.

HER FATHER TOLD HER TO WEAR THIS!!!! That's what got to me and got me rolling my eyes and ewwing the shit out of this book. Like what? She's fifteen, she doesn't need "sex appeal" but like fine. Go off, Scuderi. Go off.

2) The Birth Control Scene

Fast forward, it's the day before their wedding, and Luca gets Aria birth control pills. Without prescription mind you.

Now there are a few things wrong with this scene:

a) Luca is so full of himself he thinks Aria would gladly just sleep with him, and I mean, he wasn't wrong, but still... but still.

b) How did he manage to get birth control without a prescription? I'm sure, and I'm not on birth control or something, that you need to see a gynecologist for this, so they can give you something suitable for you. So the birth control don't give you side effects, like a rash down there, because that is less than appealing. 

Do you get rashes from birth control tho? Because like a rash is a pretty obvious symptom, right?

c) This scene just shows how Luca is controlling... Correct me if I'm wrong, but if my boyfriend (the one I don't have) gets me birth control, I'd be pissed, one because it's insulting, and two because why? It's supposed to be Aria's choice if she wants birth control or not, but Luca is like "I don't want kids but condoms make my balls itch, so here, birth control, sweetie." Which, it's not what happened, but eitherway, it should raise a few eyebrows.

3) The wedding tradition scenes

a) Luca had to remove her garter belt and throw it to all the eligible bachelors out there. Which is that even an Italian tradition? Tell me if it is, in the comments. I need to know, because I find it appalling, and like the feminist in me is hurling her nonexistent dinner out. I'm actually very hungry.

b) Luca had to lead her to the marriage bed while everyone escorted them, made very crude remarks, and just told Luca to tap that... which he didn't but still.

c) The presentation of the sheets. Again, is this some Italian from Sicily tradition that I don't know about? Because, even if it was Luca's blood on the sheets, it was still disgusting that that scene needed to be included. Plus, Aria's brother, poor, innocent Fabi was present which made me more disgusted, but fine I guess. Anything and everything is acceptable because it's Cora Reilly and the world is fucked.

4) Every sex scene

Let's talk about something more serious, which is the serious skewed power dynamics in this book:

First, I am fully aware that Luca is a capo, which whatever, but we won't deny that there's a power dynamic when it comes to Aria and Luca's relationship. Aria just does whatever the fuck Luca wants her to do, because she's her husband and she loves him, for absolutely no fucking reason. 

I want to point this out, because Aria acceepts this so willingly, not being kept in the loop that I feel like it's pushing the narrative that this is somewhat okay, which it isn't. And it's recurrent in her books, or at least this series, and I've read four out of six and soon to be seven, so, I know what I'm talking about.

I'll touch up on this again when I conclude, but I just felt the need to say it here.

IGNORE what i said about one long review with everything, because it ain't happening. So tune in for a review of Bound by Duty... because, I have thoughts. A lot of them.