Sunshine: Millie's RH Standalone

by Ashley Amy

Reading about dark romance made my overthinking mind spiral into what the false reality would be like. All the written men had this possessive, ‘touch her and die’ vibe, but I hadn’t experienced an earth-shattering love like those or felt that special in any of my relationships, to be honest. My mind crippled with the realization the mundane didn’t border such an intoxicating fantasy.
Learning to live within the pages of my revivifying books, I meandered through my lackluster days until my father requested help with his inmate program, supporting prisoners adapting to a better life. Finding myself in the same room with the darkest mafia prince of them all didn’t scare me in the sensible way it should’ve. Instead, I found his company stimulated my mind with a true, intellectual depth during our conversations.
Little did I know he took a keen interest in me. Maybe if I had picked up on this significant data, I would’ve understood why a random man began bumping into me when I least expected it. Maybe I would’ve seen the chloroform cloth before it covered my mouth when their enforcer kidnapped me. But hey, at least they remembered my cat.

This is a reverse harem romance. MM is in this. Chapter 30 is skippable for viewers who don't enjoy it but want to read the story. Chapter 63 has the beginning between the men that can be skipped, but start at the page break for the rest of the story in the same chapter.

THIS IS A MAFIA ROMANCE with stalking, kidnapping, drugs, violence, gore, sexual assault, and rape that's not described on page, language, death, loved ones who were lost to suicide, animal loss (not by cruelty), and obsession induced somnophilia. Please understand these triggers when reading 18+ content.

Genres: Why Choose, M M Romance

584 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 10, 2024

Reviews

[Dia · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Be the baby’s breath until you’re ready to be the rose.."

This book is one of Ashley's best. It is such a well crafted world. The characters each have their own story, their own background. They breathe life to this story and tie together so well. Millie (Sunshine) is just your happy go lucky FMC. She does have depth and pain that makes her choice in seeing the silver lining that much sweeter. Her men are all morally gray in the best way. She is their sun. don't want to be too detailed, but this book is worth the read. The length has a purpose. I picked one of my favorite quotes as the title of this review just to prove how amazingly every bit of this story is crafted and thoughtful. I can't wait for the next installment in this universe!

[Annah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wish the writer gave more accurate warnings. She claims that g🍇 appears off page which is mostly true but Tony on page 🍇s her. /“so when she fell asleep, I couldn't control myself." "You 🍇ed her?" Draven's eyes panicked. "No, not in the penetration sense.”/ in the first chapter of this book Draven murders the man who 🍇ed his sister so the fact he’s in a relationship with this dude deeply disturbs me. We see multiple people who aided in the hard of his sister suffer Draven’s consequences and yet his lover is allowed to assault her? There are multiple scenes with dudes outside of the mmc’s who SA Millie on page & in a scene closer to the end of the book not only is her sa detailed on page it’s revealed that Millie was 🍇ed right before this sa takes place & out side of a brief moment, it never comes back up. Which is fine but kind of surprised me considering we see a lot of Sofia suffering after her assault. The author does not disclose the 🍇S on Millie & I don’t feel properly informed readers that we see Millie get drugged & assaulted while she’s drugged. I wish that in the warnings the author acknowledged that we do see on page 🍇 because “obsession induced s*mn*philia” is not a proper description of what tony does.

Honestly I loved watching Millie grow confident & I’m honestly really invested in Sofia & Kasey’s stories. I think overall the book was too long & I wish that if you really wanted to keep the length that we got more chapters with Millie & Costas in a relationship. The book ends at basically the start of their relationship when the first 400 pages are all about her building a relationship with Draven & Tony.

For a book that’s 500+ pages we sure don’t get much explanation on a lot. I don’t understand how Millie’s dad has the power he does. Sofia kind of just gets written out of the book which I assume is for her story (if she gets one) but Costas has a teenage brother who basically gets abandoned & I’d rather even a lazy explanation instead of “my men are keeping watch” he’s a teenager bro how Lucia felt comfortable just leaving her kid behind and ALONE after his dad passes when she flees the country beats me because wow. I felt the ending kind of ruined the book.. we watch Millie learn to love her new home & actually start to miss it only for her to never return because they’re moving to America (which doesn’t make sense at all considering these dudes are very high ranking leaders) I think saying it’s a vacation home would be better than them moving without any input from Millie.

[Brittney Eldridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 rating….. spoilers ahead

This was a very long standalone, which I feel some things could’ve been shortened or added.

Mainly where did Costas’ brother go? The one his mother had with her recently passed husband? Why mention a teen boy breifly only for him not to be mentioned again when he reunited with his mother, or better yet when he took her into protection when it got bad? There was no scene of them making sure they got him to safety, etc.

There’s also no group scene, which is disappointing, as I was looking forward to it. There was one chapter where Tony, Draven, and Sunshine all had a threesome all together with mm and another one that briefly had dvp which I thought would lead to more scenes with it but nope.

Costas doesn’t get with Sunshine until about 70 something percent into the book. I do appreciate that Tony and Draven discussed sharing with him tho, at least they covered bases, but still unfortunate that the romance with Costas felt like an add in for most of the book.

Overall the book isn’t super spicy, it’s mostly dark and cutesy. If you’re looking for straight smut this isn’t it, however if you’re looking for more in depth story building this is a good book.

[Cheyenne Galovits · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book it's definitely different from what I typically read in the aspect of it wasn't downright filthy smut. The only thing that lost a star for me was it felt like Costas was added to the relationship as an after thought with how long it took them to actually be anything more than friendly with inner longing for each other. Draven and Antonio didn't even consider sharing with him until much later in the book. I also wasn't a huge fan of how things ended up for Kasey I appreciated the realism as far as sometimes life sucks and it continues to suck even after already suffering so much. I really had hope for her and Rocco though and it gutted me that she ended up pregnant. I was happy for her because I'm someone who went through my pregnancy and goes through motherhood alone while cherishing that my daughter is part of me but at the same time I hurt for her because I know how much it kills you at the same time and I cant imagine how much more it had to hurt having that person die vs them just walking out like I had. I really wanted more for her after hearing what she went through growing up I related a lot. I guess I saw a lot of myself in her so her getting a happy ish ending would've felt like I got one (Any reviews I leave are for myself so I know what books I did and didn't like)

[Orianna Blesi · Rating 2 out of 5]

needs an editor

Only made it 5% into this book. There are way too many typos and obviously wrong words to make reading this an enjoyable experience. Also, the writing style was not my cup of tea. Very dramatic without really saying anything at all. Two stars because the story line itself seems intriguing and I’m sure other people will love this. Just not for me.

[Heather Gilbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

Decent for the most part, pay attention to the trigger warnings. I had to skip some parts simply because in squeamish. I liked the guys, though Costa is the best / and Kasey is pure steel.

It dragged in places and jumped forward in others. Also, the way acceptance at the end didn’t feel genuine.

[Kari · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐️ I started losing interest at member

I got through about 40% of this book and it was ok. I absolutely loved Kinknapped by this author because it was ridiculous and funny. This book was just the fmc living a sad life. Who of course LOVES dark romance. But what gives me the ick is descriptions like manhood and member. That's a no for me.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun read! Nice and long for a great escape.

[Lee Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super sweet one where the guys trip over themselves for the girl in their dark world. It had enough dark and light to keep my attention and to keep me swooning.

[Lemon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was good UNTIL the end. I really think we plateaued at the ending. It’s a toss up between Costas and Draven who was my favorite.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

love love love!

So many emotions and feelings between the characters. They get so real and my heart wanted them to be. The steam was fiery too.