Santo and Fiorella

Body #1

by GroveltoHEA

My husband came home on our six-month anniversary...and brought his pregnant mistress to live with us.

Genres: Second Chance, Contemporary Romance, Novella, Romance, Forced Proximity, M F Romance, Mafia Romance

ebook

Published February 1, 2023

About the author

Wattpad author

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

***CONTENT WARNING: Detailed threat of sexual violence against the heroine and her family. On-page moment where the heroine is knocked-out and then slapped awake by the antagonist. Brief but detailed, graphic description of the antagonist being tortured and butchered in revenge for his treatment of the heroine (it's great and he deserves it). ***


11/28/23-
This was a surprisingly good, angsty read that was quick and to-the-point, which I didn't think I'd enjoy. I also REALLY appreciated the trigger warnings put in at the beginning of specific chapters.

-----SPOILERS BELOW-----







I'm so glad that the Hero didn't actually cheat. I was prepared for it as an angst-fest type of read until I read a review that there was no cheating, and that made me enjoy this story more. I personally love reading spoilers for safety and so that I can see the end result from the beginning and watch how all the pieces fall into place.

[Mairi Swan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn't see that coming. I thought that the ow lied somehow. It would be a great book if it was extended and more in depth.

[Melluvsbooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This is my first G2HEA story and I was pleasantly surprised. The first half of the book was easily 4 stars for me. I loved the drama and angst. Loved the h shutting down. Loved the evil OW. It was good stuff! I liked that the heros perspective was used strategically, and didn’t relieve the tension too soon. I kind of wish that it had gone on longer and there had been more depth and drama and the hero had been more fierce with the heroine. But overall, I really liked it.

The second half was kinda boring. The reveal felt anticlimactic. The heroine continued to ice the hero out even knowing the truth. I wasn’t really sure why. It also took on a jarring romcom tone. I was expecting some groveling by the H, at least some big gestures and lots of intimate loving time together. He did what was best in a terrible circumstance but that didn’t change the damage to the h. I got bored with the mafia turn egalitarian do-gooders story line. Thats not really what I’m looking for in a mafia book. I’m reading mafia BECAUSE that life is so different than normal modern sensibilities. Not saying I wasn’t happy the h and the other woman had new choices but it felt a little heavy handed and trite… and pretty unrealistic. A mafia type organization works because of brute force and unwavering control over those on the inside. So to turn it into a feminist social club seemed pretty silly.

Also, I found the sex to be mechanical and the role playing at the end goofy. I’d rather see the H really be in control and dominant rather than him playing a silly acting role. I know it was meant to demonstrate that the h was no longer submissive, and had all the control, but since I wasn’t really signed on for that part of the story, I just found it eyerolly. She can still be a fully free woman and also enjoy giving control to her husband in the bedroom without some elaborate corny charade. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Overall, I enjoyed this way more than I expected and will be trying more!

[Paige · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I liked the beginning of this one. All the angst from the FMC thinking her husband brought home his pregnant mistress was great actually. But then when she finds out the truth it was kind just blah from there. Although he didn’t do anything, it wasn’t his mistress or his baby, I still needed this man to grovel because he let his wife suffer for months!! And at times he was an ass about it. I get that he was just trying to protect her but I really needed something more from him that we didn’t get in this story. I ended up skimming most of the end parts.

NO CHEATING
OW DRAMA
NO OM DRAMA
MURDER
TALK OF SA TOWARDS FMC

[Preeti ♥︎ Her Bookshelves · Rating 3 out of 5]

This poor couple!
The h is hurt so bad and the H is doing all he can to protect her!
A young wife who has to contend with a pregnant mistress living in her house, she can't run/rage because it's the 'family', duh!
The H orders her to play nice to the ow, the MIL is fake-sweetly coerces her to toe the line and be the good mafia wife because this is what's expected of one. The ow is as b*tchy as can be expected.
So, no wonder the poor h goes into a decline. Here, she was thinking she had a good marriage, a loving husband but gets so badly blind-sided.
Ofc, there's a villain waiting to crank up the crazy and gets taken down.

[Danny Lea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Instantly raised my blood pressure and I was saying f*** no in my head. Hubby part of a crime organization brings home pregnant mistress as it's the norm for these men. Insert a devestated wife who whittles away before our eyes only to find out all is not what it seems. I would have actually liked if this book was longer and went into more detail about the workings of The Body and their relationship.

[Miki’s⚠️ Safety Reviews & Rants⚠️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yeah this beginning was hard I feel for the h.

Perceived cheating
OW is pregnant
Mafia setting
h Life in danger
‼️No cheating
All in not whatnot seems but you def will be mad at the H! But he is backed into a corner. And it’s explained well.
He only has eyes for her
Grovel is good but diff cause of the world and setting but he def worked to fix things

[Fleur · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it. Short. To the point. Actually maybe a little too short, but still written decently

Here’s my ranking so far:

1. Burr & Daisy (freakin fantastic!)
2. The Warrior & Calissande
3. Santo & Fiorella
4. Case & Gemma
5. Leo & Ivy
6. Tenn & Lark
7. Merrick & Kinley
8. Night & Neera

[Izzie d · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story is posted on Wattpad and can be read free there.
Please be aware in all these books the Hero messes up in varying degrees from saying something very disloyal to full out cheating, each story is different.

https://www.wattpad.com/user/GroveltoHEA

Note from the author.

Here's what you'll get with my stories:
A strong h.
An H who messes up (never the h!) with either cheating (and I consider kissing OW cheating) or some other betrayal.
An H who gets his a$$ handed to him for said mess up.
An H doing the grovel to HEA! (Always, always, always have to have an HEA between the H and h, but the H has to really work for it.)
And, in cases of nasty OW...karma will be stopping by to say hello.

What you'll never get:
An h moving on to another man in a serious way.
The h having revenge s3x (it's just not going to happen).
The h and OW becoming friends (that is also never going to happen).

In this story the Hero and heroine are already married. They belong to an organisation called 'The Body' which is very similar to the mafia.
We have the first 4 chapters from the heroine's POV so the reader feels the sense of betrayal and lack of power to be able to escape the situation.
Chapter 5, I think it is, we have the Hero's POV.
The mistress and baby aren't his but he's very much in love with his wife and he and his buddy want to change the Body.
He is being forced to make everyone believe its his mistress and baby by his boss who has cheated on his wife, the daughter of a ruthless, powerful neighbouring family.
It doesn't help the other woman tries to rub the heroine's face in her pretend relationship with the Hero.
So you get all the angst of cheating with an innocent Hero.

HEA.

[Soph · Rating 3 out of 5]

★★★. Wanted a little more groveling and I wish she ran away and made him look for her.

[Rhea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't think I loved this one, in all honesty. The situation was not Santos fault and he couldn't do anything about it but my heart really felt for Fiorella.

[Kerry Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This snack of a novella was a gem. Hot all the high notes. Laughs, grovels, both a MFC & MMC characters you could route for. Yes he gets out of the dog house and they live HEA.

Highly recommend.
I only wish the blurp pointed readers to the online platform where to find it. It took me a google search. I probably would have missed out of if I didn’t trust one of the reviewers I follow so explicitly to smoothing.

[Misha · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 star DNF at Chapter 15 of 18

Was a good premise and definitely disgusting with the moving in of the rude and entitled pregnant mistress. However when all was revealed - completely lost interest. A bit too OTT for me.

[Melissa Mozitis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started off strong then went a little idk unrealistic lol but a quick read

[Feriel B · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[honeybee · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVE THEM!
My dude Santo is on the same category as Butcher, Case and Atlas.
One of the characters worth redemption.
The FMC, Fiorella also super strong and fight in her own way.
The body's is one of the good series that groveltohea ever made, the FMCs are super strong and JANIE MY GURLLLLL I LOVE YOUUU.

[Penny · Rating 1 out of 5]

Misleading- in the blurb it says it is a cheating book, but it’s not!!!

[Susan (susayq ~) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoughts after my 2nd reading - Loved the longer length of this one. The Body is a world I am loving, and watching these strong men learn to let go and love is so good. My heart really hurt for both Santo and Fiorella here.

[Megmund · Rating 4 out of 5]

Been craving heartbreak/grovel reads and consistently saw this author recommended and it sure does it the spot. This is a Wattpad fic, but some of my favourite books started out on Wattpad, and I swear the author laces these with crack.

This one in particular made my heart hurt, loved it.

[Sowmya · Rating 4 out of 5]

𝟒.𝟓 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 ⭐
Yes, this book is my new favourite and especially Santo is my new favourite bookboyfriend/ book husband, I adored him and the story too.

I can't believe that this was just a Wattpad book and not from any renowned author, cuz it was simply better than most of the paid books I have came across so far.
The writing was interesting, engaging, funny, angsty and with strong lovable characters a reader would except from a story and this author delivered all those good things like a champ. Usually in every book the actual conversations were the most entertaining part and the inner monologue the most boring. However here Fiorella's inner monologue was something I thoroughly enjoyed very much and there were times where I laughed so hard.

The story's about Fiorella and Santo who were born in the Body(Mafia) family were bred into their respective roles, where the daughters of the members were raised to be submissive, meek and accepting wives, they were denied independence, higher education (college) etc.,
Whereas men were raised to be the brute dominant force and has given the opportunity to do anything they pleased. So our MCs were joined together by their arranged marriage system and the story starts from their six-month anniversary.

▪️Fiorella was like a caged bird who has suppressed emotions and desires, but just like she had been taught since she was young, she grew to be a perfect wife for her husband and fell in love with him until he dropped a bomb on their six-month anniversary celebration dinner. Her growth from there was something as a reader I very much enjoyed. Her angst and pain will make you feel everything alongside her, her sarcastic inner comments make you applause her and fiorella growing into her own self will finally make you proud of her.

▪️Santo, the second in command to their Head was a person I thought to be heartless from his first appearance as he brought the mistress home and dropped her on his wife so callously, I literally wanted to strangle him. But as the book moved forward I found myself not just liking him, but cherishing him wholly. And man did I loved him in the end?😘🥰 I even started wishing for a husband like him. Cuz he was everything a girl could possibly hope for...a man who cares and wants his wife's happiness over his own, respects and understands her feelings, support her independence, help her grow to her best self, loving her with his entire being...so what else one could ask for. Love Santo😘

Overall it was an amazing read and I liked how it was not just a typical Mafia romance book with an asshole hero and doormat heroine, also given more importance to the revolutionary change within the system and growth for women and the next generation. I'd definitely recommend this book.
Also, I'm looking forward to Lucio and Janie's book.

[Ꭿຖᥲ·♡ ྀི · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5✯

-dual POV
-h(18)/H(23)
-arranged marriage
-virgin heroine/non virgin H
-he met her when she was 16, he only saw her 4 times a year until they got married when she turned 18 - not sure if he was celibate after meeting her (honestly I don't think he was) but he was faithful after getting married
-no cheating - Santo never touched the OW, he had to lie to his wife in order to protect her, he was forced to claim the OW's baby as his otherwise the real father (THE mafia boss) was going to rape and kill Fiorella, he really had no choice
-OW - the OW lived with them for a while and made Fiorella's life miserable, the bitch was a waste of oxigen, unfortunately for her Janie found her and made her regret her existence 🤭 (I love Janie, I hate the premise of her book but I think I'm gonna have to read it, I love her that much 😍)
-I loved the first half of the story I couldn't stop reading, the angst was top notch, the second half was a bit boring after the truth came out
-no separation
-the epilogue could've been better: around a year later -they have a baby

**How do you make a woman understand why you acted the way you did? Knowing all the explanations in the world weren't going to erase the hurt and betrayal she'd felt for so many months. Months that she'd felt abandoned by me, certain I was telling her to behave simply because I wanted her to be a good little wife. But although her life had depended on it, that knowledge still wouldn't magically make her forget the pain she'd suffered.**

**"How do you feel about the baby?" he asked. A question I never would have been asked before. A baby was the highest form of happiness for a Body wife. "You stole the happiness from me, Santo. And even though I understand why you did it, the pain I had to live with every day, facing the woman who I thought was having your firstborn, having to keep the news of our baby to myself...it drained me. So all I feel now is numb." "I'm going to bring the feeling back to you, Fiorella. I promise you that." The way I felt, it sounded like an impossible promise to keep.**

**Guilt was something I'd never dealt with in my life until Tanya followed me into the house and Fiorella's eyes had gotten huge at my announcement. And, not knowing me to be a liar, she'd believed me when I'd told her the baby was mine. Her life had depended on believing it. But she'd suffered for my lie, and I'd suffered right along with her, watching her struggle, watching her pain, watching her try to be a good wife so her family would be safe. And I wasn't able to do a damn thing about it.**

**"What you want matters, too, Santo." "What you want matters more, sweetheart."**

[Jen ♥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay, but I didn't like it as much as the first book I read from this author.
 
Santo (23) and Fiorella (18) were arranged when she was just 16, and they got married when she turned 18. In the present time, they've already been married for six months and were about to celebrate their anniversary. But that night, Santo came with a pregnant woman, Tanya, and told Fiorella that she was his "mistress" and the baby was his.
 
And this info was a sucker punch to Fi, because although it's the norm for the people in their world, she didn't expect to have this setup so soon in their marriage. She actually thought that they would be different and hoped that Santo, in time, would grow to love her.
 
Little did Fi know that Tanya wasn't Santo's mistress, and the baby wasn't his either. She's the mistress of the current head of their organization. But this asshole of a head was afraid of his father-in-law and ordered Santo to take Tanya to his house and take her and the unborn kid as if they were his own. Because if he didn't do it, Fi and her family would suffer greatly. Seeing as he had no choice, Santo followed this order in order to protect his wife.
 
Eventually the truth comes out, but the hurt that he caused for months took a while to be healed. Santo did his best to make up for the pain Fi endured for months living with Tanya. 
 
Honestly, I don't think he needed to grovel that much because, for one, he never cheated on her; he made her believe that lie for her own safety. Two, he was so in love with his Fiorella, like down bad for her. So I guess the groveling didn't need to be that elaborate, but yeah, I still get why he needs to prove to her how much he's sorry for everything that went down in the last few months. He still delivered it, but like I said, I don't need that much effort from him.
 
Overall, this was okay; the setup was sure messed up, but Santo did everything to make things right.

[Nikki ღ Navareus · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story was such a rage read (in my favorite way!). I absolutely felt every bit of the outrage and devastation that Fiorella felt when her husband brought home his "mistress" to live with them.

Poor Fiorella was stuck in such a horrible situation, and she had to take the abusive treatment from this horrible mistress too. I didn't think I'd be able to come around to ever liking Santo, but by the ending, I absolutely loved him.
This story had so much packed into it.
Angsty devastation by the heroine as she's forced to watch her husband move his pregnant mistress into their home, and heroine was was expected to wait on this pregnant bitch.
An evil mistress, mistreating and hurtfully taunting this sweet heroine to the point of outrage.
A hero that I loved but I also wanted to kick him in his balls.
Truths revealed with a bit of twists and turns, leading to the evil asshole characters getting what they deserved.
Fantastic grovel by this Hero, making me love him completely.
A fantastic HEA and perfect epilogue!

Another perfect story by GTH.

[Nyla Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

5⭐️

I don’t think that I have anything but 5 star reviews for this author .. genuinely .. like babes you eat to the godssss!!!

But anyways, groveling .. I don’t feel like there was that much but BOYYYY does santo have a way with words! And he is honestly the only forgivable man that I’ve read! Like I don’t feel like he did anything wrong, especially since his intention was purely on his wife’s safety!

Also, fiorella, I love you bae! You ate, especially since I knew you were in crazy sticky situations that you were never prepared for! But I’m proud of you, with ya freaky self!

& FUCK TANYA .. I hope she feels every feeling of rot in that ditch Janie has her digging!

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

No cheating in this book, but the first couple of chapters broke me because it was perceived as cheating. As a reader, you only know from the FMC POV, which she was devasted because her husband brought home a pregnant woman on their 6 month anniversary and said the baby was his. My blood pressure had never been this high reading those first couple of chapters. LOL! Really amazing story telling here.

Idk how this author is writing multiple books at the same time and still churning out quality stories.

[Lara Bayfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this authors books and although some are a bit samey this one was very different. They are quite short reads but enjoyable. This one had lots of twists and turns, deceit and quite honestly stepford wives/ trad wife behaviour. Although my only criticism is “the body” is never really explained properly and this does cross over with other books. Enjoyable plot though.

[GigiReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe more like a 3.5 but rounding up as the concept was a really unique take on the world of organised crime making it feel more like a secret society/ cult type vibe than normal.

The first half of the book was great it lost its way a bit for me after the reveal, maybe as the emotions had been so raw before that but still really enjoyable.

[Fiona Davies · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75 🌟

[artsandgrace *ೃ༄ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally didn’t want to read this but then found a spoiler in #2 and decided to read this. Painful but good read

[Jackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh this one had me spitting fire.