The Desire in Deception

Fractured Ever Afters #0.5

by M.L. Philpitt

Lives are spent, sometimes wasted, chasing a dream—a happily-ever-after—only to end up living in reality. Caterina Bellini knows, for a woman, life in the mafia means having her future picked out for her, but even on her wedding day, she continues to dream of a happy ending. Until he arrives and snatches her away, locking her inside his own gilded tower, making her a prisoner.



Lorenzo “Enzo” Corsetti is more than a villain though. He’s a villain with a need to reclaim what was stolen from him. Driven by revenge and hate, Caterina’s a pawn in taking back his empire. In the end, happily-ever-after is a façade and the bad guys always win.


The Desire in Deception is a dark mafia romance with content some readers may find triggering. This is a prequel novella to the Fractured Ever After series that was originally published in the Heartless Heroes anthology.

Genres: Dark Romance, Retellings, Spicy, Novella, Romance, Dark

102 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 16, 2023

About the author

USA Today Bestselling author M.L. Philpitt writes both dark romance and paranormal romance. When she’s not writing made-up realities, she’s reading them. She lives in Canada with her four pets and survives life with coffee and an obsession with fictional characters, especially the morally grey kind. By day, she masks as a therapist, and is still waiting for her Hogwarts letter so she can be sorted into her Ravenclaw house.

Reviews

[Karina · Rating 5 out of 5]

So so happy to have had the opportunity to know more of Enzo and Catarina’s story!
Great short story! I really enjoyed it!

[Laura Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE DESIRE IN DECEPTION BY M.L. PHILPITT.
Fractured ever afters 0.5.
5 ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨s.
"For those who crave the villain instead of Prince Charming"
Oh you know it 😉
This is my very first book by this author and this is the prequel to the series and by god I can't wait to read the rest of the series.
🖤Enzo and Caterina🖤
LOVED IT

[Alaine McDaniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Desire in Deception- ML Philpitt

Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice 🌶️🌶️🌶️

As you read Nico and Aurora and Rafael’s stories about them finding their loves and coming up in mafia world, you get little snippets of how Mama and Papa Corsetti came to be. It’s not a fairytale, and there’s not really any Disney parallels, but in a way it is romantic. The reasons why Enzo Corsetti stole his bride away from the rival mafia family for himself. This short little prequel novella is essentially the Corsetti Origin story and it was everything. Dirty Daddy Corsetti and Badass Mama Caterina have come to tell their story about how they were both deceived and robbed of their HEA and Enzo stole it back for them.

[Hecate’s Library · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️3.25 🌶️3

💍Dark romance
💍Mafia romance
💍Novella
💍Forced marriage
💍CNC? But mostly NC
Nickname: kitty

This is a prequel novella, but in the kindle “box” set the author recommends reading after at least the first book. I read it after book 1 and loved the context behind Enzo and Caterina. Especially the full circle of the story behind the greenhouse and fountain that makes a big appearance in book 1.

I don’t think I would call this book romantic and was definitely darker than book 1. Enzo definitely makes some interesting choices that could be triggering so please read the TWs!

*this is a novella, so I do not rate it the same as a full length novel

[Chelsea Robichaud · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the story of the start of the Corsetti family and knowing more of Caterina and Enzo’s story that was sprinkled throughout the series. To see the greenhouse and what they eventually mean to each other and the hate that grew into love.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The hero is not a vampire. More's the pity.

The only thing good this book's got going for it is that the storyline is interesting.

I did not enjoy this book. There is atrocious grammar and word usage, and the H is the most cringeworthy one I've ever read. Licking blood spatter that came from a man he just killed, from the h's skin is just the nastiest eeww factor. Then he cuts her breast and sucks the blood. He's an evil character, and he's repeatedly mean to the h. This is not an enjoyable read.

It's in dire need of an editor, and a proofreader. Missing words, wrong words, and a peculiar sense of how to say something. An example: 'if we make it out alive, our murderers will pay for their attempt'. If they make it out alive, there will be no murderers. This is just one of many ill-conceived sentences.

This is so bad, I cannot recommend it, nor would I be willing to read any more of the series.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I voluntarily reviewed a copy of "THE DESIRE IN DECEPTION" I found this to be an interesting, intriguing Dark Mafia Roance dealing with danger, revenge, hate, steam, kidnapping.
Lorenzo "Enzo" Corsetti is looking for revenge after his Empire was taken from him on Caterina Bellini's wedding day he takes her to use as a pawn to get what was once his back.
Caterina went from an arranged marriage to being locked into Enzo's prison to use her to what was once his back.
Will Caterina get her HEA she was looking for with Enzo its a must read you don't want to miss to see how things turn out.

[Kirsten | Bookish.kir · Rating 4 out of 5]

- Mafia
- Forced Marriage
- Prequel Novella

After finishing all of the books in the Fractured Ever Afters series I just had to go back to the very beginning. I loved getting more to the story for Enzo and Caterina and how they came to be. I really enjoyed it and would have read an entire full length novel about them.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🔥🔥

[mellie_reads · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book would have been perfect if the shower scene went differently. I don’t care how much she “realized” she loved it in the end sa is sa! And that’s exactly what he did. His reasoning didn’t even make sense to me. 😕. It gets sweet as you read but the shower scene left a crappy taste in my mouth and I couldn’t enjoy the book as much as I hoped.

[Stasi Apple (The Reads of an Apple) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

This was a fun look back to the parents, Enzo and Caterina, getting together. I did think it was a little too quick, especially with Caterina's mindset. I think here it's just I'm so used to the emotional depth we get with the full length books in this series that this one felt particularly lacking in comparison.

[Lila Danisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
I went blind when I picked this book. For the novella, it was 100 pages amazing reading experience. With only 100 pages, the plot was plotting and make me want to read the rest of the books in this series.
I didn't like how Enzo "took" Caterina, but I understood why he done it and Caterina enjoyed it. So I guess it was fine.

[Elizabeth G · Rating 4 out of 5]

enjoyable

This is a quick read but with lovely characters Caterina and Enzo are a great couple. The storyline is good and keeps you interested

[Precious Oliver · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's ok but I'm just tired of all these mafia stories including rape like please stop it doesn't make the villain stronger to be a rapist

[Gems · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3.8

Short and sweet, but I didn’t feel like it was written as well as the rest of the series. Which I will miss dearly 🥲. Onto the next read!

[Sarin · Rating 1 out of 5]

So he stole her and r*aped her and then they lived happily ever after. Okay.