Bound by Honor (Born in Blood Mafia Chronicles) Paperback – October 24, 2018

I'm glad I finally got to start this series.Aria is promised to marry Luca years before her eighteenth birthday. She has no choice in the matter. And her mother does nothing to slow down the process or to ease her fears. Not to mention all the unhelpful advice she's given at her bridal party.Certain traditions are expected for the newlyweds but Luca a solution to their problem.Luca wants his wife. But he's also aware that she fears him and he notices every flinch. He'll wait for her but for how long?Aria wants him but she wants to take things slow.

Aria Scuderi (18) is the daughter of Consigliere of the Chicago Italian outfit mafia…. She is the eldest sister of Gianna, Liliana and Fabiano…. She is a true daughter to a proud mafia, Italian family…. She is a true Italian mafia princess and has been bred to be so…. Bread to be graceful and elegant…. Bread to be beautiful…. Bread to obey no matter what she wants or feels…. She has been promised to the New York Italian mafia Prince to unite the families her father made sure her innocence and purity was intact….. She was not allowed to go to coed school….. She was not allowed to talk to boys let alone be in the same room by her self with a boy…. BUT she’s expected to know how to be an obedient and loyal and loving wife…. Especially when they had a MISCOMMUNICATION on how she is trying to process this MARRIAGE and HER love for husband….. 🤭😏🤭Luca Vitiello (23) is the next Capo dei Capi (boss) of the New York Famiglias (Sicilian) mafia family…. He is the eldest brother to Mateo….He is young, devilishly handsome and ruthless…. He has lived most of his life like a bachelor man… he has always been allowed to do whatever he wants…. go wherever he wants….. be with whoever he wants…. He has been GIFTED a TRUE Mafia BRIBE…. A BRIDE that is INNOCENT through and through…. A BRIDE that is having trouble COMMUNICATING to him on this MARRIAGE and HER love for him…. Can he OVERCOME there MISCOMMUNICATION….Can HE communicate with his yung bride on how much he loves his wife….🤭😏🤭Aria and Luca’s relationship is like a traditional arrange marriage that gives off hot and cold LOVE vibesTheir love is like ….. I love you…. I hate you…. I am obsessed about you…. I want to get to know you….Bound by Honor is the first book born in blood series that will take you on a roller coaster of traditions, honor, loyalty, and love…. The 🌶️ lvl for me being 2/5 because of the vanilla spice & graphic content & is a 4 ⭐️ read for me 🥰The book 📕 = ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️The spice lvl = 🌶️🌶️😘

This will contain some spoilers.Wow. I loved this book SO much. I'm actually pathetically sad that it's over and wish I could read it all over again like it was new. In fact, I stayed up all night to finish it and then went to work exhausted but it was totally worth it.So let's start from the beginning. Aria is a 15 year old girl who is basically being sold off to marriage for tactical mafia purposes to a 20 year old future boss, named Luca "the vice" Vitiello. She is terrified of him at first and of course the story is about how this will or won't pan out.The things I liked and loved: for starters... one word. LUCA.I am officially in love with a new book boyfriend. His oozing masculinity personality and edge that only seems to get the slightest kink in terms of Aria, was perfect. I loved that when they finally came together and admitted their feelings, neither one had to change who they were. They each fell in love with the other for exactly who that person is.There is something alluring about bad boys. The only stipulation for most women, is that he love them. It's a common theory that the bad boy fantasy is because a woman wants to be the one to change him. This is true, but it's not always about making him good. All it really takes it for him to be good to her. There is a part of some women that genuinely love and get a thrill from a badass. This story is exactly that. She accepts him and he loves her above everything. That is the bad boy fantasy in a nutshell. The hero is only sanitized so far as it pertains to the heroine. Not in any other way.Things I didn't care for as much:The writing was awesome. I just wish that we would've gotten his pov. Without it, we are guessing constantly and stuck inside aria's head which is a bit immature at times. I was already feeling swoony over Luca, but it could've been even more off the charts had I gotten a peek inside his mind. The author has mentioned a book from his pov and also a novella, which I hope we get because I'm in love with them and I really feel slightly cheated that the other books in the series gave the men a voice. Plus, I love the mob business parts of the book and with his pov, we would've gotten a lot more of that and seen how he interacts with others.Something else that bothered me a little was the issue of the ever evasive virginity. I was glad he was patient with her, but she was such a baby about it sometimes that it was cringeworthy to see. I get that it got better over time, but by that point the book was over and we don't get to see it. Also.. slight spoiler.. her sisters didn't have near the same issues as she did.There is also a certain thing that happened around 50% that everyone probably knows and I have an unpopular opinion about that. It happened like 3 days after their wedding. Which by the way, they only knew each other for days before that. Basically, they had known each other for about a week total when the cheating happened. There was no love in the marriage at that point, she hated him. And he was a mobster with a bad reputation. The only reason he got better at all, was for his love of Aria. So what shocks anyone about him not keeping his vows out of pure obligation, after knowing Aria for a week, not getting any from her and her hating him?I also think he really did believe that she wouldn't care. He didn't do it to hurt her. I didn't want it to happen, I was upset when I read it, I wanted her to be mad and rebel. She did. I wanted a genuine apology to show he cared and was affected. We got that. But I can't make myself hate him or ruin the love story over something that happened pretty predictably before a love story even really got started. In fact, ironically this was what kicked it off because it showed him that she really did care and he immediately ceased all ass-holery. This was the start of them coming together. I would've been more bothered had he done this after they either slept together or had begun falling in love. Neither was the case at this point. So, in conclusion on this topic, give the guy a break.When all was said and done, I think this deserved 5 stars. I am a sucker for mafia movies/books and love stories. This was the perfect combination. If you are like me in that way or even if you aren't, give it a try, it's not a waste of time. I will definitely be following this author from now on.

Are all her heroines this insufferable?Hwroines sister really dialed it up to 10 in the TSTL category for me, though.This book kinda ended in a light cliffhanger as far as some terf war plot points.I also felt the OW situation wasn't handled or resolved. Ok read, might check out the next book.

Woah what a book. I don’t normally go for “cheating” if you call it that but I promise it gets better. Really enjoyed this type of book where she is innocent and not some strong FMC. Love this book