Pawn of Vengeance

by Michaela Jackson

I did the unthinkable.
I shot my best friend, a mafia enforcer, and kidnapped his children. A desperate act, born out of survival.

Two years later, he finds me working a mundane job, and I know that my past has finally caught up with me. He craves answers and vengeance, and I'm the only one who can give him both.

As it turns out, his boss killed his wife and would have killed the children too. I can help him get the revenge he seeks in exchange for my own life. But what I didn't plan on was becoming his.

He's ruthless, commanding, and will stop at nothing to get what he wants. And whether I want to or not, he'll force me to know it.

I want to resist, but I feel myself succumbing to his dangerous charms.

Will I be consumed by the power struggle between us? Or will I find a way to save myself and the innocent children caught in the crossfire?

This is the first book of a duet and cannot be read alone. Friends to Enemies, Enemies to Lovers, Dark romance, Mafia, Single Father, Former Mentor-student, Forced proximity, Captive.

Formerly published as "A Tale of Vengeance Part 1". This is a revised and re-edited edition.

Genres: Enemies To Lovers, Dark Romance, Crime, Dark, Forced Proximity, Romance, Mafia Romance

583 pages, Paperback

Published July 3, 2023

Reviews

[Lauren · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don’t think I’ve ever hated a book as much as I hated this one. It was nothing like it was advertised as on TikTok, and there were so many grammatical errors and typos, I didn’t know if I was more frustrated with the writing or the characters. Even Colombia (the country) was spelt like Columbia every time it was mentioned, yet was meant to be the start of a major plot point.

I had so many issues with the MMC, I have no idea how/if anyone is meant to root for him. Some icks are below but I’m sure I’ve missed some.

- He strangled his heavily pregnant wife to the point he believed he’d killed her and his unborn children from the injuries
- He’s killed children (though not his own, woo)
- He had a crush on the FMC when she was 16 and he was 22
- The first time they have sex, she says no multiple times and he ignores it and carries on, even though she’d been raped before
- He cheated on her in front of her

Furthermore, the FMC and MMC apparently adored his wife when he was married to her, yet it comes out the FMC begged the MMC to sleep with her when he was married to her best friend. They had feelings for each other even though he was ‘in love’ with his wife, and even though they didn’t do anything when he was married, he still had the feelings and they were naked in front of each other and flirted many times. The wife even thought they were having an affair yet was best friends with the FMC, make it make sense.

I read a lot of dark romance but punching each other in the face and fighting like they did while having sex was just too much. The whole book was just too much. And don’t get me started on that ending.

[Violeta · Rating 2 out of 5]

unnecessarily long and drawn out. also i keep finding this work under varying titles. there’s a second book but i think i’ll just read the reviews with spoilers cause i can’t do this again. once again, i’ve trusted tiktok recommendations too easily. i would’ve saved a lot of time by simply researching this title.

[Emily]

this was too silly goofy for me

[Tess Fleur · Rating 5 out of 5]

an underappreciated book. like every story and book it has its positive and negative sides. we can say that the writing style needs improvement. and if you look with a little kindness you can see an improvement towards the end of the book. I don't find the criticisms about the length of the book correct. I think that unfortunately we have become accustomed to having everything right away. in general in society, but also in books. it is difficult to appreciate a long book unless it is fantasy or something epic that already becomes a must in literature. we are now also used to having the usual plot of the Mafia/mob/bratva genre in which in 200 pages the MC goes from an asshole to an acceptable Prince Charming or GrayHot Man.
In this first book it is true that it was long but it gave explanations and background on people and events that in other books are resolved with a sentence and end there. Could you have imagined the ending even if it was a cliffhanger? yes, perhaps it was predictable but the building story behind it is not obvious. so I thank the author for introducing me to this book. and I have already started the second one. I think it's worth reading. and then it's nice to vary from the usual cliché books that are out there.

[Diane Laura Spiteri · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like the plot is very well conceptualised, but it definitely could have been a few pages shorter and slightly less detailed. But overall I enjoyed the read and will definitely go for the second book.

The plot itself got a bit confusing at times, losing track of who hates who and who’s killing who, but it wasn’t so bad that I lost interest. However, it takes some time to get into it, especially since the initial betrayal seemed rushed and then we instantly went into an extremely slow and detailed plotline. Moreover, the time jumps were a bit confusing because you never get an idea of how much has passed, you’re left to guess the jump and where they stand.

Overall, I enjoyed the read, but it definitely wasn’t my favourite.

[Anna]

Oh my god. If this isn’t Star Wars prequel fan fiction I will eat my kindle. Twins named lady and Leon = Luke and Leia . Dark semi evil main character chokes his pregnant wife and she dies in childbirth. He is named Adrian but his evil name is viper, okay Anakin to Vader pipeline. His wife’s name is a P name that sounds a bit out there like Padme. Female main is just Ashoka, grows up trained by the organization. He had given her twin guns, like Ashoka’s twin lightsabers. He has a cute nickname for her that he gave her when she was teen. Sketchy evil guy brings down the organization of good guys by turning the MMC against them. Ahhhhhhh.

[Lyvia · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was decent for a beach read but other than that not one I would recommend. I think the only reason I "enjoyed" the book as much as I did was because it was essentially a Star Wars retelling but in this its Anakin and Ashoka that end up together. You will even come to find that the first letters of the names are the same. To go through a few

Adrian/ Viper - Anakin/ Vader
Adele - Ashoka
Leon - Luke
Lady - Leia
Phaedra - Padme
Pray - Palpatine

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started off as a 2/5 and was very close to dnf because of certain triggers and I just thought H was too unlikeable. But I pushed through and started to really enjoy it. I’ll pass on the smut, but I’m interested in the plot. The cliffhanger at the end disappointed me because I felt like it’s being dragged on unnecessarily. 1200 epub pages is enough to wrap it up.

[MooDolphin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really tried to get through it. K really did but i got bored. I loved the part that i did reda but it was just so longggggg. This is the kind of book that could be made into a 25 episode series cause there was actually such a plot here. Like wow. it was proper juicy, but i just couldn’t.

[Daniella]

TikTok got me again.
DNFed!!!
This book had great potential... But it was trash.
Badly written and crappy characters. A plot that was all over the place. Not to mention the toxic nature of it all.
I like my Dark romances but I really hated this.

[Amanda]

dnr

[Jneferr]

Dnf

[B]

Dnf @9%

Not for me

[Siera Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

well written, I just couldn't get into it

[Hannah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dnf at 6%. Awful.

[raniya🫶🏾 · Rating 3 out of 5]

hella dark😭😭

[A Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

🌶🌶🌶

[Mariam K]

After reading reviews I decided to skip this book even tho I really wanted to read it because of the tiktok video