Love Him Like Water

Lombardi Family #1

by Jessica Gadziala

In the heart of the city, alliances are forged in the shadows and sealed with vows.

Renzo Lombardi, the notoriously ruthless leader of an organized crime family, sees the chance to end the feud with his rivals, the Costa family, demanding a ceasefire in the form of a marriage contract.

Lore Costa, the shy, sweet princess of the Costa family, goes against her family’s wishes, and finds herself thrust into a new world when she agrees to marry Renzo, her secret infatuation.

It isn’t long before Lore discovers that the fairytale romance she’d dreamed of is anything but, as Renzo becomes consumed with the demands of his legacy, becoming a ghost haunting the shadows of Lore’s life, and leaving her adrift in a sea of loneliness.

By the time Renzo realizes his mistakes and tries to win back the heart of the woman he never knew he needed, whispers of greed and betrayal threaten to tear apart everything they have begun to hold dear, testing their fragile bonds amidst the treacherous currents of power and deception…


- This is a standalone story with steam, no cheating, and an hea -

Genres: Romance, Marriage Of Convenience, Mafia Romance, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Dark Romance, Enemies To Lovers

295 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 23, 2024

About the author

Jessica Gadziala is a USA Today bestselling author who lives in rural New Jersey with her parrots, dogs, and an ever-growing collection of houseplants. A lifelong dreamer, she’s been writing stories since childhood and published her first book in 2015. When not at her desk, she’s usually feeding backyard birds, rewatching crime dramas, period pieces, and 90s supernatural TV shows, or adding to her towering stacks of unread books.



You can find her on
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Newsletter: subscribepage.io/K4GPfj
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessicagadz...
Her Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/31454...
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/jessicagadz...


xx

Reviews

[➦Paulette & Her Sexy Alphas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly, I don’t know how long that I have been waiting for this book…… this one was definitely worth the wait…..

I had a feeling by the name of this book that this was going to be somewhat difficult to read……. This story gutted me… my heart went out to Lore



Lore Costa , Is the Youngest of 5…. Her 4 older brothers who always watched over and protected her in every sense of the way….. They were surprised that she Willingly volunteer to join the alliance between the families

Oh, sure she knew all that entailed of being a mafia princess but on the other hand she was so naïve

Lore was a hopeless romantic, she fell in love with her dream man when he saved her when she was 16 years old … With that said she went into this marriage with her family’s enemy with illusion and her heart



Renzo Lombardi. Grew up hard he had no loving parents no one to show him the right way to love a woman…. But he was willing to try, so that they could keep the Five Families together

This started off as a business arrangement to Renzo, Until he caught fillings for his own wife


Lord have mercy, these two made so many mistakes but the biggest mistake that was made was lack of communication I believe that fell more on Renzo than anyone else

Lord I just fell in love with few of these Secondary characters, like Cinna, Dav, Elian, and Rico…….. One of the things that I love the most about these characters was they did not have any qualms about telling Renzo the mistakes he was making with his young new bride


I truly hope that Jessica expands on this family tree

[❥ KAT ❥ Kitty Kats Crazy About Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

MY REVIEW AND OTHERS can also be found on my blog:
╰┈➤KITTY KATS CRAZY ABOUT BOOKS

'𝐋O𝐕E H𝐈M L𝐈K𝐄 𝐖A𝐓E𝐑' Is a full length stand alone arranged marriage mafia romance book by author Jessica Gadziala. Spoken in 'dual perspectives.'

Once the cover had been revealed, and a read over of the blurb, throw in the author and I hunted this down on Amazon as soon as it went live.

In this you'll meet Renzo Lombardi & Lore Costa on their wedding day, a day every girl dreams of, that day wasn't the dream Lore expected it to be because this marriage was a union of the two opposing families as they ceased fire in the form of a marriage contract.

📖 '𝐍o k𝐢s𝐬 𝐚t t𝐡e a𝐥t𝐞r N𝐨 𝐫e𝐜e𝐩t𝐢o𝐧. H𝐚r𝐝l𝐲 𝐞v𝐞n a g𝐥a𝐧c𝐞 𝐟r𝐨m m𝐲 𝐡u𝐬b𝐚n𝐝.'

Lore had briefly met Renzo when she was younger and she'd found herself in a scary situation which he'd rescued her from and from that point onwards she'd been secretly infatuated with him.



I'd kind of stepped away from this genre, mafia was my jam in the past, where authors could throw all their wrath into what I presume living in that world would entail, this one shied away from that but delved deeper into the characters themselves which wrung so many feels out of me, my heart kind of broke for how 'Little Mouse' was treated by an ignorant man who knew no better, so many mixed emotions when it came to him, a few slaps around the head and he stepped up to the plate and I couldn't have loved this story more.

📖 '𝐎n𝐜e u𝐩o𝐧 𝐚 𝐭i𝐦e, 𝐲o𝐮 𝐬a𝐯e𝐝 𝐚 𝐬w𝐞e𝐭 𝐥i𝐭t𝐥e t𝐞e𝐧a𝐠e𝐝 𝐠i𝐫l w𝐡o j𝐮s𝐭 𝐰a𝐧t𝐞d t𝐨 𝐠o b𝐨o𝐤 𝐬h𝐨p𝐩i𝐧g o𝐧 𝐡e𝐫 𝐨w𝐧, f𝐫o𝐦 𝐭h𝐫e𝐞 𝐠r𝐨w𝐧-𝐚s𝐬 𝐦e𝐧 𝐰h𝐨 𝐰e𝐫e h𝐚r𝐚s𝐬i𝐧g h𝐞r.
𝐀n𝐝 𝐬h𝐞 𝐚p𝐩a𝐫e𝐧t𝐥y h𝐚d a c𝐫u𝐬h o𝐧 𝐲o𝐮 𝐞v𝐞r s𝐢n𝐜e.
𝐀n𝐝 𝐭h𝐞n s𝐡e m𝐚r𝐫i𝐞d y𝐨u,
𝐚l𝐥 𝐬t𝐚r𝐬 𝐢n h𝐞r e𝐲e𝐬 𝐛e𝐜a𝐮s𝐞 𝐬h𝐞 𝐰a𝐬 𝐬e𝐞i𝐧g h𝐞r l𝐢t𝐭l𝐞 𝐠i𝐫l𝐡o𝐨d f𝐚n𝐭a𝐬y c𝐨m𝐞 𝐭o l𝐢f𝐞 '

She was soft and timid
He was hard and gruff

When it came to marriage Lore didn't expect to be let down as much as she was, she'd blamed it on all the books she'd read where she'd have a husband infatuated with her, who loved everything about her, one who would spend time with her, love her, cherish her, what she got was a cold lonely life where she didn't fit in, where she was unbearably lonely. She'd come from a loving family, brothers who adored her and a father who loved her, so to step into Renzo's world took a lot of tears and a strength she didn't realise she possessed.

A slow burn which got its hooks into me from that very first page, I read this in one sitting, many coffees, a numb ass and I fell under this authors spell from the get go.

* Teaser used is off the authors facebook page *

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[Carla · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is very good with actions and all. What I don’t like is the fmc , pathetic!
This book would be much better if the fmc was stronger.
My thoughts.

[Jessica Gadziala]

NOW AVAILABLE!!! FREE WITH KINDLE UNLIMITED.

+ mafia
+ arranged marriage
+ angsty
+ alpha hole
+ steamy
+ praise
+ no cheating
+ touch her and d13
+ hea
+ KU

[Lani · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh. The majority of this book is spent with him being a dick to her except when he wants sex. And Lore is such a pushover with major BBS that she keeps letting him treat her like nothing more than a woman he sleeps with then leaves immediately. He even leaves money on the dresser for her at one point like she's a sex worker. Cool marriage. You don't meet any of her family who allegedly love her so much yet don't even go check on her when they don't hear from her? You're telling me her very loving family is fine leaving her all alone with the big bad mafia guy. Sure.

Don't even get me started on the big grovel that never came. She has one brief shutdown and runs to her brother. I thought Nico would protect her, but no, Renzo says sorry and crooks his stupid finger and she goes right back to him. Would it kill authors to write a book with some real groveling and an FMC with a backbone?

[Giorgia Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

It was a sweet book (eventually)and I liked reading about the innocent and hopeful outlook that Lore had when it came to love and marriage.

It’s not foolish to dream and hope that people live up to expectations. It’s not immature to want to build a great relationship and a loving marriage.

I felt a bit jaded when I initially found myself cringing at her emotional vulnerability and how much she craved the hero’s attention and built her life around just sitting around and waiting for him. I mean, yes, part of it was l a bit frustrating for me to read but I was being too harsh on her. She was young and thrown into (although willingly) a situation that she didn’t have the confidence to navigate BUT here’s the kicker - she shouldn’t have had to find her footing by herself.

She was supposed to have a partner, she was supposed to be consulted, to be communicating with her husband. He was the one with all the cards. It was his house, his friends, his colleagues, he had a duty and he failed at it. So I’m not gonna blame a young girl for the fact that a grown man wasn’t able to function properly and do his duties. She shouldn’t be the one to teach him. Yes, she should have said something and spoken up for herself but no one is perfect.

So anyway, although I didn’t love the dynamic those two had it was eventually a cute story with a touch of angst. Everyone needs different things in a partner and I figure those two were what the other needed.
Lore with her fragile confidence but sweet and kind disposition provided the kind of refuge Renzo needed from his responsibilities and the often violent and unpredictable life he led. And he gave her the kind of security and protection she most likely craved.

[Mairi Swan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was so good. I loved the characters and the angst

[Anna Downing · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was not my favorite book. The MFC was a huge push over. I think it was meant to be shown as she was a more sheltered character than the others wives we have read before but she was just a push over. He treated her like shit the whole time and whenever she would say she was standing up for herself, she would fall right back into sex with him. I wanted to like them so bad. But I couldn’t. I was more interested in the other characters than them. He wasn’t that great either. He would fuck get then leave her for days. He didn’t ask if she was only birth control before sex and didn’t wear a condom. Just dropped off birth control after they had sex for the first time and that’s was it. The whole taking her virginity scene felt horrible too. I was so let down by this book.

[abi · Rating 4 out of 5]

*4.5

Fantastic angst, and grumpy/sunshine excellence!!

[Bozena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gosh! I love this book.
I love this flawed and not at all perfect but real characters.

In the beginning, I hated both main characters.
At first glance, he appeared to be quite self-centered, arrogant, and completely absorbed in his own thoughts and world.
Also, at first glance, she is a little girl who actually lives more in her own fantasy world, or in her books, than in the real world. She doesn't even notice what is happening around her. Since she grew up in a mafia family, she should know how this world works, so it's all just a little girl's dreams.
Yeah, at first glance...

I was angry with him, I was angry with her.
I was most angry with her for not opening her mouth and simply making things clear.
He was completely helpless, had no idea what was going on with her and his family didn't help at all because they were all waiting for no idea what, that he comes up with the reality by himself because he's the mafia boss? 🤦🏻‍♀️

So, in the beginning, it was complete chaos and two mentally and emotionally helpless people who were thrown together and forced to live with each other.
Yeah, at the beginning...

But then I learned about their past, got to know their demons and tried to put myself in their shoes, and, of course, fell in love with them.

I love this raw, real, and gripping story.
A mafia romance with all the brutal truths about the mafia world and life.
Jessica Gadziala is one of my all-time favorite authors, and this book is one of my favorite book of hers 😉

When you like mafia romances, this book is a must-read for you.

[Ainhoa · Rating 4 out of 5]

But can we talk about weak heroines?

And please, please, please mouse as an endearment had me in tears, hard pass on that one.

Having said that, I really liked the different dynamic from other mafia romances, it wasn’t all rainbows and flowers and she had a hard time settling in and making him see her 🤓

[Melluvsbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. Great angst. The hero remained a little too clueless a little too long, and I didn’t feel like we got a good resolution to all of that…. But overall this was a solid read. It’s been a while since I’ve finished a mafia book.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love reading about timid and shy women. I relate to them. so I started off really loving this book. however, the fmc kept claiming how she loved the mmc despite never having a real conversation with him. it got boring because nothing was developed until the very end. and it made her look stupid instead of simply shy.

[Em (semi-hiatus) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Surface-level romance built around tropes and smut, with the hero treating the heroine as little more than a bed warmer, but damn, this author knows how to nail an epilogue and actually wrap up the whole mess with style.

[Athena Que Será, Será · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tags: age-gaaap, hero-hurts-heroine, mafia-cartel-romance, marriage-arranged, older-hero-younger-heroine, read, shy-heroine, virgin-heroine

[Soph · Rating 5 out of 5]

★★★★★. This is one of the best marriage of convenience “arranged marriage” books I’ve ever read? The angst. The writing. The plot. The characters. The side characters? All 5/5. Nothing about this book made me question a rating or anything. renzolore are in my clutches forever. That’s my family.

I absolutely loved this plot of them being in a marriage of convenience, yet renzo thought this was an arrangement. I loved the angst surrounding this more. Renzo was a class A idiot. He fully thought that Lore didn’t want this marriage and that leaving her alone was for the best. That him giving her that freedom was what she wanted. He truly did not know better. His father was abusive and he grew up in this mafia world. He didn’t know how to have a relationship like that. He also thought that orgasms were another thing he could only give her. HIS CARE THOUGH? Everything. Whenever he was there, he was THERE. Without realizing it, he noticed little things about her. Him being so attentive when she was on her period. Him making them the dinner when he messed up. HIM BEING A MAN AND APOLOGIZING RIGHT AWAY AND MAKING IT RIGHT. Him being loyal!

Lore, my lore. I absolutely loved this fmc. I understood her so well. Her always allowing him to have sex and fix their issues that way; was a way for her to find that intimacy and love/care she was looking for. Especially when he praised her constantly doing it. She was young and sheltered when marrying Renzo. She had this ideology that her marriage would be like her books because he saved her one time and she developed this love for him. He was soft with her and only her yet he neglected her. The aftermaths of their sex though KILLED ME.

“The only time he came to me, spoke to me, even looked at me, was when he wanted to touch me, wanted to be inside of me. And I, so freaking desperate for his interest, for maybe even just a tiny chunk of his heart, let him do it.” I mean this whole quote had me crying.

Her finally being happy to have it ripped away when being attacked. Her being happy again thinking about Thanksgiving to have it ripped away again by Renzo being an IDIOT. Her being happy AGAIN to have her kidnapped. My girl could not be happy for more than one minute. I loved how she finally spoke up. Her becoming friends with Cinna and Elian was my favorite. It showed her growing. Her relationship with her brothers was everything. Hope there are books on them.

Curious about the other couples.

For my safety people; safe. Renzo isn’t a virgin, obviously. He has experience. Lore is. Very happy to read no ow drama. Renzo is very loyal to Lore. There is a jealousy moment with Renzo, it gets cleared up.

“My kids will never know what that’s like,” he said, his words a solemn vow.
“So, you do want kids,” I said, heart leaping.
“Yeah. Like ‘em to have your eyes,” he said. “You want ‘em, right?”
“Yes.” With him? God, yes.”

[Yesmina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although this is a mafia romance, it deals authentically with the real struggles of marriages of convenience .

A lot of readers maybe won't like how "meek" the FMC is or how "spaced -out" the MMC is. But really, that's what happens in real life when you marry someone you don't know anything about. Not his allergies, not his favorite food, not his sleep schedule. You basically have one thing to bond over at first and it's sex. Then the rest you'll discover it a bit by bit.

So the FMC married MMC for a mafia alliance and since she chose to be a stay-at-home wife, she wanted to make the marriage succeed. But, she was shy and needed invitation every time she thought about doing something, she didn't even buy groceries afraid that was not her husband normal (since he always ate out)

The MMC was older and busier. He thought he wouldn't force her to do anything and give her a wide breath just to get used to her new home. He thought he was doing good by giving her space (save for the passionate nights), FMC saw that as not caring for her sign and solving all their problems through sex. To the MMC there were no problems to begin with!

This was a very good book to satisfy the "marriage of convenience" trope challenged by my Friend Lori!

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this in one sitting and completely enjoyed it.  Lore made me cry with how deeply she feels and how crushed she felt. Renzo being completely clueless but so willing to learn because he realizes you don't know what you don't know gave me hope. . This is such a good story. I loved the other characters as well and would love to learn more about Cinna.

[Serial Romance Librarian]

DNF 49%. I dunno, too many aspects of the plot are implausible. Mouse has massive BBS and her weakness had me rolling my eyes and not caring. She’s always a victim, always reacting, only taking halfhearted initiatives. Just not my cuppa. May finish at a later time?

[RedAlchemist · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF @74%

This has got to be the whiniest, clingiest, ditzy female character ever. I can't read one more line of this atrocity labeled as romance.

[Soma · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a decent read. It would be much better if the h was stronger, she was too weak and uninteresting.

[Pinky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trigger Warnings: Dub-con (FMC was a virgin, cried during first time, MMC wasn’t aware), forced arranged marriage, sexism and misogyny for some mafia wives, self-harm (bathing in hot water as punishment), physical assault from robbery, violence, parental death recounted, child abuse recounted, kidnapping, torture, shooting, attempted sexual assault, threats of gang rape

This wasn’t terrible… But it wasn’t what I was looking for. I thought that this would be a story about an ice-cold mafia boss who is forced into an arranged marriage. I thought he would ignore and neglect his wife, and eventually, grovel. IMO, this wasn’t that. This was a sweet mafia boss, who was an idiot. The MMC focuses on work and doesn’t realize that the FMC wants attention. But the FMC fails to communicate what she wants from the MMC. I was surprised at how sweet the romance was. There’s cuddling, but it was mainly sex. The other books in this series focus on characters from this book, don’t know if I’m intrigued enough to continue though. I loved how the characters looked out for each other. I wasn’t a fan of the FMC, she mainly cried. I couldn’t feel sorry for her since she never spoke up. While the MMC did kinda grovel, I don’t count it as satisfying since I didn’t feel like he HAD to grovel most of the time. When he lashed out at the FMC, he made up for it very easily. Despite the FMC being raised in a mafia household, she was naive. I would like more emotional moments and more of the characters getting to know each other. I do like vanilla this was, but it lacked depth.

“Thanks for giving me another chance, mouse.”
“You owe me and Elian frozen mocha coffees,” she said, snuggling in even closer.
“I’ll buy you the fucking coffee shop if you want it.”
“That’s not necessary,” she said, but a playful smile was tugging at her lips. “A bookstore, though…”

Lore is from the Costas mafia family and marries Renzo, from the Lombardi mafia family. In order to make alliances with other mafia families, there is usually a marriage alliance. Renzo thinks the marriage is just a business arrangement. When he neglects Lore, he has no idea she is hurt by it.

Now for spoilers


We start off at the wedding, everything was planned by Renzo. We don’t know how old he is, but Lore is 21. Renzo is shocked she is young, so he’s probably old. Against her family’s wishes, Lore accepted to marry Renzo for a mafia family alliance. There are 5 New York crime families who all had marriage-based alliances. Renzo wanted to do this so the Castos wouldn't go to war with the Lombardis. Renzo got a bouquet of flowers that Lore was allergic to. She was sad since Renzo wasn’t marrying her for love. He had no idea who he was marrying, he just requested to marry a Castos woman to have a marriage alliance. Renzo didn’t know that at 16, Lore was in Brooklyn, his area, at a bookstore, when she was attacked by a group of guys, and Renzo told them to back off. Ever since, Lore would visit Brooklyn to catch glimpses of Renzo. They never spoke, and he never knew of her existence. Renzo always looked out for women in his area. When they say their marriage vows, he doesn’t kiss Lore, and they leave for his apartment. Once Lore is in Renzo’s apartment, Renzo starts drinking without talking to Lore. He only told her to get out of the car, and calls her “Mouse”. I’m sorry but outta all the nicknames, why Mouse? Renzo’s right-hand man, Elian, makes Lore comfortable. Once Lore is in Renzo’s room, Renzo invites his friends over. Lore stays in his room, but Lore doesn’t deal with any hostility. I thought Renzo would be pissed she was in his room, but nope. Cinna, a woman capo boss, opposed the wedding since she hates women being married off to solve conflict. When Renzo sees Lore in his room in a robe, he undresses and touches her. Lore is happy, since she’s always dreamed of him. She doesn’t tell him that she is a virgin. When he doesn’t do the best prep before sex, she cries. Renzo stops and feels sick, he cleans her and is gentle. He focuses on work for the next three days. He only comes home to sleep, and leaves before Lore wakes up, so they barely see each other. Lore cries herself to sleep since she expected more from the marriage. She takes boiling baths as a punishment, I viewed it as self-harm. On her first day home, Elian is cleaning up after the wedding party. When she offers to help, Elian says no. He says that she doesn’t work and can do whatever she wants. When he offers to buy her food, she says no. So Elian gets her food anyway. Renzo wasn’t concerned about what Lore was doing. But he wasn’t cruel IMO, it just felt like he was giving her space. After a couple of days, he thought that he could show Lore that sex can be good. He says he can be good to her, and they have sex, he is soft and tender. But you know what sucked? They never kiss until way past halfway through this book. And he doesn’t think to kiss her until she asks.


Once they’re done, he cleans her up and goes to work. Then, he has people over again. Elian ordered Lore food, but Lore didn’t come down to eat. Renzo realizes that Lore is showering. So he goes up, has sex with her, and drops a box of birth control pills onto the table before returning to the party. The birth control pills were picked up by Cinna. Another capo boss named Dav keeps flirting with Cinna. Even though Cinna isn’t immune to Dav’s charm, she doesn’t want to get with him. Rico is another capo boss friend. Cinna calls out Renzo for making her get birth control pills for Lore. She knows that Renzo is focused on work, but she tells him not to neglect his wife. Renzo feels guilty, but he doesn’t know Lore that well. What’s crazy is Lore and Renzo don’t even have each other’s numbers for the whole book. The next day, Lore asks Elian if she can leave, who says she isn’t a prisoner. Lore’s older brother Nico is protective of her. He texts her to check in, all Lore says is she loves Nico and silences her phone. She cries every night since Renzo isn’t around, but she doesn’t ask him to be around either. Lore took the birth control pills since she didn’t want to get pregnant.


Lore goes to a bookstore, and she has cash savings that she used to buy books. Elian says that there is another party and asks why Lore didn’t come down to the last one. He always calls her Mrs. Lombardi, and sees her like a younger sister, he has sisters of his own. Lore says she didn’t get an invitation, and Elian tells her that this is her home. So Lore goes to the store to get an outfit. At the party, she meets Rico, Cinna, and Dav. Cinna tells Lore that she knows that Renzo isn’t soft.

“I have a problem with girls being traded like fucking chattel. I have a problem with someone your age blindly marrying a man like Renzo. And I definitely have a problem knowing you were traded like chattel in what was supposed to be a sham of a marriage to a man like Renzo who made me go and get you birth control pills,” she said.

Renzo was watching Lore the whole time at the party without her knowing. Dav makes Lore some drinks, but once Lore is drunk, Renzo holds her in his lap. He gets jealous that Elian knows Lore more, but he doesn’t make an effort to get to know her. Once everyone leaves, Lore wants to have sex. Renzo says she is drunk, but once she insists, they fuck. In the morning, he is gone for work and Lore is upset that he is barely home.


When Lore goes shopping, she is almost out of money. She is attacked by a homeless guy, who grabs her money. The guy punched Lore, so she goes home crying. Elian calls Renzo, who runs home. Renzo is so soft with Lore. Lore says a guy stole all the money she has left. Renzo takes out stacks of money, saying it is hers, and she can get more anytime. He helps tend her wounds and holds her close while she sleeps. Everyone yells at Renzo for not telling people that Lore is his wife. Renzo tracks down the guy with Elian’s help. He is close to killing the guy, but Elian stops him. Renzo is paid by businesses to keep the area safe. Cinna visits Lore with Avery, who is Lore’s cousin Emilio’s wife. Avery was ordered to spy on Emilio, by Renzo, but she ended up falling for him. It was cuz of Cage, I think he’s Avery’s brother, he did some fucked up things, so Renzo had to clean it up by using Avery. Anyway, Lore says Cinna wants to be friends with her. She gets Cinna’s number and Cinna says that Renzo needs to treat her right. When Renzo gets home, Lore asks to have sex. But when he is gone, she feels like she was used. Girl you wanted to have sex though. Lore cooks for Renzo and asks Elian when Renzo is coming. Elian vaguely tells Renzo to come home early. Renzo is an idiot, he brings his friends over and comes home early. He didn’t know that Lore cooked him food and was waiting for him. The second Lore hears Renzo bring friends over, she throws all the food she cooked away. She used to cook with her mom, but she stopped after her mom died. Lore goes to a guest room, she was dressed up so she was upset.


I honestly couldn’t be mad at Renzo, since he had no idea Lore planned this. Elian wasn’t clear, and Lore didn’t ask him to come home early herself. I’m sure if she had, Renzo would do that. Anyway, Elian shows Renzo the garbage full of the food Lore cooked for him, I swear Lore wastes so much food. Renzo feels guilty after Elian calls him out, he had no idea Lore planned the evening for themselves. Renzo didn’t seem like a cruel guy, he’s just oblivious. When it comes to grovel, I want to be mad at the guy to need the grovel. This was basic communication, but Lore didn’t say anything.

“I want you to take care of the woman you stood in front of a priest with and promised before God to take care of. I want to stop seeing her eyes all swollen and red every goddamn morning when I bring her breakfast. I want to stop seeing her blooded cuticles every afternoon from fussing with them because she’s lonely and anxious and has no one to tell that to.”

Then, Renzo sends everyone home and finds Lore in the guestroom. He apologizes while cuddling her and takes her to the kitchen. He says he would’ve been there if he knew she cooked for him. He cooks her a meal and eats her out. Then they have sex, and Lore is annoyed he used sex after an argument. Like girl, he cooked you a meal and said he would try. I did notice they have sex quite a bit, but I swear, if Lore refused, Renzo would stop. But the girl begs for it, then she gets mad afterwards cuz he leaves. LIKE COMMUNICATE. How could you get mad at someone when they have no idea. Plus, they’re still strangers right now. He only knows that Lore is lonely thanks to Elian, he doesn’t know she cries often. Renzo does feel guilty in his POV, thinking he left Lore alone. That’s when he finds out that there is a traitor in his group. So he spends weeks trying to figure out who it is. When Lore gets her period, Renzo gets her a heating pad, chocolate, and cuddles her.


But Renzo overworks for weeks since he is trying to figure out who the traitor is. When he is upset, Lore offers him a blowjob. But then he has to leave for work. Lore feels like he used her for sex, but she was the one who offered😭. Lore says she is going to get coffee and will be back quick to Elian. Elian gives Lore one of Renzo’s jackets since it is cold, and she gets some coffee for both of them. Then, she saw Renzo on the way. The girl has no situational awareness. Renzo is going into a building with his group, his body language is stiff. Instead of reading the room, she runs up to Renzo, saying she has to tell him something. Renzo says not now, and Lore says it will only take a minute. She was super excited, but Renzo cuts her off and says not now after hearing a loud sound. Lore throws the coffee in the garbage, and takes the subway to her brother Nico’s house. Nico lets Lore cry on his chest. Lore says she wishes that Renzo loved her, and Nico says she shouldn’t have to wish for that. By this time, Cinna and Avery know that Lore had a crush on Renzo before marrying him. Renzo is busy interrogating a kid they found named Coal. Coal has been taking orders from the traitor. He wouldn’t say who it was, so they were beating him up. But then Elian calls Renzo to tell him that Lore isn’t home. They realize Lore went to Nico’s home, and Renzo goes after her. Cinna says that Lore had a crush on him for years. Renzo is shocked, saying he had no idea. At this point, they still haven’t kissed despite being sexually active. On the security footage, they see that Lore’s face is upset. Renzo feels bad since it was after he snapped at Lore.


Nico tucked Lore into bed and when Renzo comes over. Renzo says he is sorry, he had no idea Lore liked him from the start. He wants to make things better. Nico lets Renzo in, but he says that if Lore wants him out, to leave. When Renzo finds Lore, he holds her. He says he is sorry for neglecting her, saying he had no idea she had feelings for him. Lore says she uses him for sex, and he says he didn’t think of it that way. He asks how he can fix things, and Lore doesn’t tell him. Like girl, fucking communicate.

“Mouse, if we want to fix this, we gotta be able to talk about shit. Least, that’s what I think I heard on a therapy commercial or some shit,” I added, getting a little smile out of her. “How about this,” I started, changing course. “You tell me what you want from me moving forward. I’ll rearrange shit to make it happen. Anything,” I added when she didn’t immediately start listing shit.

So Renzo starts listing things and Lore opens up about what she wants. Renzo didn't want Lore to see his mafia side and wanted her away from any danger. He thought she wanted space. Lore says she wants to go out with him, and wants to cook for his family. She was trying to tell him that before he went into the building. She doesn’t want him using sex for every argument. Lore says that Renzo never kissed her. I don’t know why Renzo didn’t think to kiss Lore, he says he thought it was intimate. But he does right then, and they make out. Once they get home, Renzo says he has to come late tomorrow, but he will make an effort to come home early. They make out and have sex, eat and talk about his past. Renzo used to be abused by his dad, he isn’t close with his family. Lore has many brothers, and her mom died when she was young. She stopped cooking but started again for Renzo. Renzo feels even worse about the dinner she cooked for them. The next day, he has to focus on getting answers from Coal. Coal is 19, they beat him up, and he still hasn’t said shit since he has been through worse. So Renzo opens up to Coal about his abuse from his dad. Renzo says that if he tells them the name of the traitor, Coal can start working for them. He has been on the streets since he was 16. Coal says that the person is Renzo’s cousin Michael, who is going to go after Lore.


Lore is cooking when Michael visits, shoots Elian, and hits Lore’s head with his gun. Michael kidnaps Lore in a car with a driver. Renzo finds Elian bleeding, and sends him to the hospital. When Michael and the driver get out of the car, Lore locks the door by getting in the driver’s seat. When they kept pressing the fob, she started the engine. She reverses and the airbag hits her. The driver grabs her by the hair and drags her out of the car after hitting the windows with a crowbar. He pulls her pants off, but Michael stops him. He says they can take turns once Renzo is there to watch, it was so fucked. So the driver had Lore’s pants, and she is on the ground when Renzo finds them. Renzo uses Lore’s pants to choke the driver to death. Then, they kill Michael and he helps Lore dress up. Michael wanted to take over Renzo’s position, but Renzo had the backing of the other mafia families cuz of the marriage alliances. Lore says that the contacts of traitors are on Michael’s phone. Renzo is shocked at who the main traitor is in the chat, and Dav asks to take care of it. I think it might be Dav’s dad? Renzo tells Dav to take Cinna with him. They are the next book so it makes sense to have this type of ending. Renzo takes Lore home and Lore isn’t heavily injured. He gives Lore his number after she asks. She tells him the flowers she was allergic to, and Renzo apologizes since those were the flowers for her bouquet at the wedding. Elian is alive and comes to visit, and Renzo invites Lore’s family to look after her. 3 years later, Lore and Renzo are going to have a baby. 15 years later, they have a bunch of kids, their oldest is 11. Their son got into a fight and Renzo lectures him. But once Renzo realized their kid was looking out for a girl, he asked who the fight was with. It was with another kid who had no family, so Renzo invited them over. Then, Dav and Cinna return with the other kids, and they are exhausted. Renzo and Lore’s last baby is a baby girl, like Lore is in her family. The next book is Dav and Cinna, and while I like them, I’m not too eager to read their books. Then the next book is Elian, who I am curious about, and then Rico. Lore was pretty frustrating, which is why I didn’t care if Renzo grovelled. If Lore communicated to Renzo, and then he neglected her, I think grovel is warranted. It would’ve been angsty, and I would’ve been pissed at Renzo too. But she doesn’t communicate and then gets pissed like Renzo is a mind reader. Yes when he snapped at Lore, I could understand there being grovel there. But even there, she was being stupid. They’re going into a building while they are tense. There was even a crashing sound, so it was clearly dangerous. Like girl come on. It was cute, but Lore is annoying.

Stay safe folks!

[Dominique F · Rating 4 out of 5]

really enjoyed this

Loved it. Absolutely loved lore so much. She was so naive and sweet and I felt her pain.

Rue author did a great job on this one with emotion and truly feeling it.

[Louise · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lost a lot of respect for this woman when she audibly whimpered through period cramps.

[Kelly Brock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Renzo and Lore

I love this author and everything Mafia she does but this is hands down my least favorite read to date. Renzo wasn’t horrible to Lore but with that being said he wasn’t anything at her. They start their marriage of convenience for the sake of their families but he literally just continues to live his life as normal and ignores her unless he wants her body. His nickname for Lore is “mouse” and unfortunately that’s exactly what she is for the entirety of the book. She’s a scarred meek little mouse. I was also disappointed that she didn’t get her strength moment like a lot of leading female characters of this author do. There is always a moment in the end where the heroine finally finds strength within herself to fight. She finds her voice to stand up for herself and do anything to protect herself. That moment never came for Lore as she just waited for either her husband or brothers to save her. I thought if any woman needed this moment it was her. I still liked the side characters but Renzo wasn’t the mafia boss I’d hoped he be and Lore as a heroine just made me sad.

[MJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing Mafia Story

I love this author and must admit it’s been a while (I don’t know why) since I read one of her books but she just reminded me why she is such an amazing author. I have been in a book slump and I can tell you this book took me right out of it and reminded me why I love romance books. This book involved our H (Renzo) a tough mafia leader and his wife Lore a gentle but tough mafia princess. Their story is truly amazing and I absolutely loved how Renzo learned to be a gentle loving husband to his wife. I don’t want to the story away but read this book….you will not be disappointed.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think these Mafia men are about to slip on into the number one spot above the Henchmen series..

The Grassi's and the Costa's have been the main focus of the families to date. This book gives us a Lombardi story. It also introduces us to a woman Capo which I would love her story.

Renzo Lombardis wants peace between the other families. After Primo Esposito forced his way by marriage, Renzo wants the same - a ceasefire in the form of a marriage contract.

Lore Costa, the youngest sister in the Costa family, volunteers to marry Renzo much to all the Costa's being against it. No one knows her reasons for this but herself.

[Lulu H · Rating 1 out of 5]

pathetic

Please ave yourself from this train wreck. The author knows absolutely nothing about how the mafia works. A Disney story is closer to a mafia book than this piece of crap. Don’t waste your money.

[♡︎ Kesa Subban ♡︎ · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Love Him Stars
This book. The emotions.

[Megan Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I could give this book more than five stars, I would! I literally devour everything Jessica Gadziala writes, and I can honestly say this might be my favorite read from her to date. A definite must-read!