Summary/review for the duet. MF mob billionaire
I personally liked the 2nd book better, minus the part where Matvey has the inability to see beyond his own self and his ability to hold on to grudges without simply understanding the circumstances surrounding the situation. I think a lot of people may feel uncomfortable with the MFC April Flowers because most would think of her as weak, too forgiving, and a pushover. But I saw something realistic. I am also a survivor of an abusive past and how she thought, coped, and responded is exactly how I am. I also had postpartum depression with my first and I had a similar experience and it really resonated with me and I cried so hard it was cathartic for me… but also triggering. Despite everything she chose to give people second chances. She struggled loving herself and finding self worth because she was always second choice if not a choice at all and had her own family not want her. I had a harder time getting on board with how Matvey expressed himself and treated April. I also understand why. He was also coping with his own past… his dad betrayed him and his mom and it was personal so he had trust issues and would not extend his trust out beyond his half bother. Therefore all others were treated like crap including how he treated April. He was not a forgiving person like April. But he eventually gets it through his thick skull and has a major character arc but it’s a long road and you have to trust it will happen but you will rage at him for his antics. I think the villain in this story lacks background and therefore was hard to get on board with the believability at the end. My favorite part of all is the character redemption for Matvey, Petra, and Yuri and how April brought that out in all of them, she taught them there are second chances, forgiveness and room for growth. I was extremely happy the other woman drama with Petra didn’t follow the formula of her just being the cruel mean girl Regina George act. I loved how much of a bad ass Petra was and how April recognized it and showed her love and friendship even if Petra kept trying to push her away and made some missteps in the process. I love with a woman straightens another woman’s crown… it shows grace and that woman don’t have to put the territorial bitch act on by being passive aggressive. There was a bonus epilogue and I loved how they build a family around “found family” that was their legacy. The only thing I didn’t feel closure for was poor Charlie, April’s younger half brother that still lived with his abusive father. I also think April’s reaction to Matvey beating the shit out of her stepfather who just beat Charlie and was about to sexually assault her and would have if Matvey didn’t show up. Her reaction was not warranted. She got mad at Matvey and kicked him out and made him pay the dudes hospital bill… I’m sorry his action was an equal response to what the step dad did. Sorry- not sorry. However, I understand that she didn’t want Charlie to lose a father since he felt that was important for himself and that she didn’t grow up with a father.
Summary:
April Flowers is a seamstress that works for a tailor, Elias, that she considers as a father figure. Her mother Elenor hated her and blamed her for all her troubles since having her. Her Dad left and married Nora and had 3 girls. Nora and the 3 daughters were the epitome of evil step bitches but she kept holding out hope that she could build a relationship with her sisters like she had with her half brother Charlie. Her dad didn’t want her and neither did her mom and they often fought for the opposite reason parents have custody battles over, who had the “burden” to take her in. Elenor remarried as well to Ted who was an unemployed lazy, gambling, abusive person and would often beat his wife and children but poor April got it the most. She felt unloved and unwanted by those who are supposed to love you. When she was about 7, when neither parents wanted her, her grandmother, who wasn’t blood, she was her dad’s stepmom, took April in and showed her true love. Then she passed away when she was 17 and the will had all her money go to April but her Dad swooped in and took it from her disregarding the will. April was left to try to survive on her own. Elias, her tailor boss, was in love with her grandmother but life just didn’t work out for their love story. So Elias happily took her in. He mentored and nurtured her passion for fashion design and told her stories about her grandmother. April may have had a hard life but she had a found family with her lifetime best friend, June, Corey and Rob and a father figure in Elias. She shared a small run down apartment with June and she had a job doing what she loved. Not to mention her one-eye grumpy pirate cat. April sent Elias home and said she’d close the shop when she wrapped things up. She was alone in the shop on the phone with a customer when Matvey strolled in. He was a terribly impatient customer and expressed it in words and body language. Then things got heated between them very quickly and he tied her hands with a tie and they had very aggressive and passionate sex. He took her hair tie for keep sake as a memory of this moment. He couldn’t keep his mind off her but he didn’t have time for relationships nor the trust to expend to one. He left and they didn’t see each other again. 9 months later, April is getting a pregnancy check up for a child she conceived as a result of that rump in the dressing room. She looked him up and realized he was bad news, connected to the Russian mafia. So she had no intentions of ever seeking him out not wanting that life for herself or her child. Confusingly (for me) she had a paternity test done (she forged his signature using a hair from the suit jacket he tried on in the shop) even though she had no other sexual relationships and knew for a fact that the baby was his. It felt unauthentic to just to force the storyline for a unknown bad person (unknown until book 2) who apparently was tracking lab results from the DNA lab for hits connected to Matvey. when she goes to leave after this appointment she is kidnapped. She uses her wits to escape but she knew they mentioned Matvey by name she had no choice but to go to him for protection from whatever group is after her because she was pregnant with his heir. She looks him up and finds out that he’s getting married coincidently at the same moment. She has a cab take her to the wedding service and somehow she’s able to crash a mob wedding as if not everyone there doesn’t have guns at the ready. She magically gets there right as the priest says, “if no one has objections to this union” She shouts, “I’m pregnant and the baby is yours.” Matvey ushers her to his penthouse in the hotel he owns through the out of control reactions to her surprise announcement. He’s surprised and won’t admit he’s happy to see her and even excited about having a baby and not from the old mob mentality of wanting an heir. he has this huge obsession with “blood” relations. He however trust no others outside of his brother, Yuri. Yuri is a brother from another mother who he found later in age and saved his brother when both their mothers just died and it were on their own. He didn’t even trust his own men especially his second in command, who showed nothing but loyalty since the beginning when Matvey built the legacy back out from the ashes. His many flaw, He didn’t trust and refused to trust anyone but his “blood” which is weird since his dad was “blood” but betrayed him. It’s a huge hang up for him and it causes discord between him and his vor who helps him run the businesses. The other is he is impatient, holds a grudge, seeks revenge, doesn’t listen to others, and is easily angered into a rage. He made a deal with Petra for an arranged marriage so that he would get her father, Vlad, solders to supplement his men to help enact revenge on his father. She agreed because she was a professional assassin and is really good at what she does and wants to be vor but in her father’s world women are meant for the following… to please men and/or be a brood mare for an heir and that’s it. He agrees to make her vor after they marry so it’s a marriage of convenience and neither of them want love just their goals.Matvey challenges April by saying she’s lying and of course she has the paternity paperwork in her pocket. He still doesn’t believe her and has Yuri do another test to make sure. It is also a tactic to keep Petra’s old fashioned ass off his back until the test comes back. The marriage is on hold until then. Meanwhile, Matvey has April move into the penthouse (he stays somewhere else). He tells her she’s cannot leave or let anyone else in. She eventually gets him to agree to monitored visits with vetted people like her friend June. The thing I don’t get across both books. they had security and she had personal guards at her door and yet somehow on multiple occasions people that are a threat to her gets past the guards with no hesitation, ranging from: her deadbeat mom, Stepdad, Petra (at the beginning) armed men who had a hit out on April. He tells her that they will have family dinners everyday. During the rest of the book Matvey and Aprils relationship becomes heated and they cannot resist each other and it’s a good pace without too much spice that takes away from the plot. Petra makes a passive aggressive threat to April about getting in the way of her dreams but April confused her with kindness. April starts to consider her a friend especially when Petra saves her while she was guarding her. There was a hot out on April at her penthouse and Petra kicked ass and April was in awe of it. Slowly April was inching her way into Petra’s heart. Tensions were rising with Vlad wanting to know the results of the paternity test and getting their partnership sealed with the marriage, the Vor getting restless because Matvey’s attentions was divided, the plan to overtake a building in Dc was bought out from under them. When Petra inquired about the marriage, Matvey showed his cards about his doubts of moving forward. In desperation, Petra panics and kidnaps April. Petra wants to be Vor and they usually have to audition by “stealing” something major or completing an assignment. She figures if she can steal a tiara at a fashion show she’d prove her worth once and for all. April has fashion experience and knows the building layout and how many guards and where they are and how to access the area that she needs to get the tiara. April helps her, one for the safety of her child and 2 to save Petra from herself… despite this she’s still her friend. She sets it up for her to take the tiara and even fakes going into labor which leads to her thinking she is going into real labor. Matvey gets there as she’s about to be taken by ambulance. Tells Petra off. Petra has the decency to show concern for April especially after April told her she was her friend, shocking Petra who has never had a friend before. It turns out to be Braxton contractions. That night Matvey tells her he loves her and only wants her. She’s living on the high of having her dreams come true that he loves her as she does him.The next day Matvey goes to his other place where he finds Petra and she tells him she’s pregnant. It’s not his baby it’s his brother’s baby and no one can find out because her dad is so old fashioned that he’d kill her and his brother. So in order to protect them both he has to marry Petra. Yuri begs Matvey to not tell anyone so he doesn’t even bother to push to ask to tell April. No dumbass that he is, instead makes her believe that Petra is pregnant with his baby and they are getting married because he chooses Petra. It’s heart breaking. She shuts down but doesn’t get the female rage I would have had to just leave it all behind… she stays. Vlad forced Matvey for a wedding date so they decide on that week Sunday. Well surprise surprise so is the schedule induction date for her pregnancy. April doesn’t tell him but he finds out and tells her he will be there after the wedding. When he leaves her water breaks. No one is able to get ahold of Matvey because he turns his phone off in irritation thinking it’s nothing. She gives birth to a baby girl. While at the hospital she calls Yuri for his help to run. She was upset that Matvey wasn’t there for a second time for a major event when he promised he would. Most importantly she was always second choice and she didn’t want her daughter to experience the same thing. So she runs 10 mins after giving birth