Story: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Trope: instalust
Angst: 😱
Smexy: 🔥🔥🔥
Nearly ten years ago Cassio and his brother rescued Áine Evans from his brother who is a human trafficker. Áine's amazing strength spoke to Cassio and helped reset the course of his life. When he bumps into her 8 years later, Cassio feels and overwhelming connection to Áine, who seemingly can't remember him, but feels an incredible pull to the devastatingly handsome man. When Cassio is denied by her father, he spends the next two years putting things in place to finally make his butterfly his own.
What an intense, emotional ride! For those familiar with Ms. Winner's writing, you'll find this installment of Belles and Mobsters to be a lot more gritty and graphic in nature than her regular writing, delving into descriptions of sexual assault, human trafficking, and torture. Cassio is well written and super fast paced gripping you right from the prologue and never letting up. Áine, because of her history, is not all soft edges. She swears like a sailor, can kick ass, and rescues trafficked victims in her spare time. Cassio is the hero we like to see. Possessive, protective, and supportive of his woman. I love that there really wasn't a huge amount of relationship drama, most of the conflict coming from outside their relationship. Definitely a nice break from the super angsty reads I've been reading recently, lol. I'm just enjoying this whole series so much! I know Alexei's story is next - which I'm super excited for, but there were enough breadcrumbs for me to be REALLY excited for Luca's story as well.
Cassio is the third book in the Belles and Mobster's series by Eva Winners. I *could* be read as a standalone, as Ms. Winners does a fantastic job of include any pertinent information needed from previous books, but it would definitely be best enjoyed read in series order. The story is told in first person, from dual perspective.