Heritage of Blood Series: Blood Ties & Legacies #1 on November 28, 2023
Genres: Romance, Mafia Romance
Pages: 404
Format: Kindle
Source: Kindle Unlimited
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Two people from different worlds entwined by fate.
Kate
All I want is to save enough money to chase my father’s dream and help my mom. Fate had other plans. A chance incident entangles my life with the dangerous Luka Morozov. I’m drawn to him—despite the dangers of his world. But what happens when he won’t let me go?Luka
I always knew I would lead the Bratva one day—it’s in my blood. But when a deadly chance encounter leaves me dreaming of the haven of blue eyes, I can’t stay away. I’ve been conditioned all my life, growing up, that personal relationships are a weakness that can be exploited.“The thought of not having Kate would be my true weakness—I would never be the same.”
Heritage of Blood is a slow-burn, closed-door mafia romance, with a guaranteed HEA. This is book one in the Blood Ties and Legacies Duet. Some mafia elements carry over to the second book.
This is the slow burn mafia romance you need.
Mafia romances tend to be difficult to write due to the crazy lead male mafioso character whose actions become more toxic than romantic. However, that’s not Luka.
Other male mafia romance leads mistreat the female lead to the point where the MMC loses all possibility of being sexy or even having a redemptive arc. Thankfully, that isn’t the case with Luka. Like any Bratva boss, he makes some missteps out of paranoia and good ol’ fashioned low emotional IQ. (Let’s face it. all mafia men are terrible with emotions, and the ones we root for are the ones willing to deal with those pesky feelings they’ve been trained to ignore).
You will enjoy watching Kate and Luka fall in love.
Kate has a fully fleshed-out backstory with flaws and vices, some of which are difficult to swallow, but I still loved the story and Kate because her flaws were balanced. She was a woman who had to deal with a lot of trauma in her past and is currently struggling. Kate was a mix of the best and worst of the human condition, but you wanted to root for her. The girl just wanted to go to vet school and afford her rent at the end of the day. Is that so bad? No, not at all, and thankfully, Luka intervened.
How did these two cross paths? She saved him after he was shot.
Now Luka. He was a will-written lead for Bratva Pakhan. Where others seem to be skirting the line of sociopathy under the lens of sexy mafia romance, not Luka. He’s initially paranoid as he grapples with his feelings about Kate, but you get to understand his psyche over time. You know what motivates him, what he fears, and the high stakes involved for him.
For a closed door mafia romance the tension and steamy kisses made you want more along the way. I appreciated it wasn’t an instant lust or love story as both characters reached the point where they could admit they wanted each other. And the mafia elements? The intrigue and political elements were top notch to me. Haven gives the reader a perfect glimpse of the world, without being so graphic that you need to see a therapist at the end of the book.
This was the perfect mafia book, and I can’t wait to read the sequel.
