Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Nightshades #1

Devil's Lily

Rate this book
How do you go from blind date to shotgun wedding in a single afternoon?
You catch the eye of a man like Maximo Leonotti, that’s how.


It’s not like he had to force me. I was hooked on the stormy-eyed stranger from the moment we met… right up until I felt the pinch in my arm.

The next thing I know, I’m waking up on his private jet, halfway to Las Vegas. Apparently, for an impromptu wedding. Our wedding.

That’s when the panic sets in. This can’t be happening. I’m Elira Përmeti, daughter of Afrim, leader of the Albanian mafia. If I go missing, all hell will break loose.

But when I tell Maximo, he just smiles. Turns out, he already knows all of my secrets, and now it’s time I hear one of

My father owes him a debt, and I’m the payment.


Devil’s Lily is a standalone, dual pov dark mafia romance featuring a possessive, ‘touch her & I’ll unalive you’ type anti-hero and a feisty, smart heroine. No OW drama, no cliffhanger, and a hard-won HEA.

342 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 28, 2025

3160 people are currently reading
8240 people want to read

About the author

Roselyn Ash

8 books101 followers

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
1,669 (28%)
4 stars
1,832 (31%)
3 stars
1,515 (26%)
2 stars
513 (8%)
1 star
276 (4%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 409 reviews
Profile Image for Hibaslaoui49.
190 reviews4 followers
January 29, 2025
-1000⭐️
Dnf 28%

I HATE this book from the BOTTOM OF MY HEART !!

I really tried to read it, even when he FORCED HER TO FUCKING MARRY HIM CAUSE OTHERWISE HE'D KILL HER FATHER AND BROTHER !!! But HIM FORCING HER TO HAVE SEX ( WHICH IS R*PE) is a FUUUUUUUUUCK NOO !!!

No this isn't dark romance, this is STRAIGHT UP R*PE !! And i'm a mafia romance girlie so i would know.

I truly don't understand why i keep giving shitty books a chance and just end up mad because i wasted my time on them.
Profile Image for Taz.
60 reviews3 followers
January 31, 2025
Uhmm so that was rape
Profile Image for Allie MacDonald.
171 reviews55 followers
July 11, 2025
Devil’s Lily is exactly the kind of chaotic, high-stakes mafia romance I love getting lost in. The setup is wild (blind date ➡️ drugged ➡️ surprise Vegas wedding? Yes please), and Maximo is the kind of obsessive, stormy-eyed MMC that dark romance dreams are made of. Elira’s background in the Albanian mafia adds a fun twist, and the tension throughout kept me flipping pages like crazy. Knocked off a star for the spelling errors, but honestly? Maximo could probably kidnap that star too.
31 reviews
January 30, 2025
DNF
He forces her into marriage and then rapes her.
Profile Image for Tamara Gracey.
82 reviews1 follower
January 30, 2025
Why did they even love each other?
There was no emotional connection what so ever everything was purely physical!
I’m pretty sure neither of them could tell you what they loved about each other that isn’t something about the others body
I also really hate the whole I hate him but my body loves him trope it’s boring tbh
3 reviews1 follower
January 30, 2025
Had potential but basically raping his wife wasn’t it!! Fmc had zero back bone and it was basically insta love
Profile Image for Mar-Mar bookaholic.
1,177 reviews28 followers
May 24, 2025
Reading all the one star reviews screaming he raped her. I guess every sexual encounter for those people are rape. I think you might need some psychological help. Those people sound like every man they ever meet are narcissists.

Anyways, I love non/con and dub/con books and unfortunately those one star reviews were deceiving and it was very consensual sex.

Him forcing her to marry him or he will kill her father and brother is a normal Tuesday in mafia trope world, so again I am confused what amateurs are reviewing here?

Let’s put that all aside now and go for the book. I feel author kind of went soft here. I wanted him as he is in mafia and presumably is hardened mafioso, I wanted him to be stricter and conniving. I felt he was like an amateur stumbling around, rather than creating alliances, planting spies and using the marriage immediately to create some demands, not keeping it under the wraps.

But, that is my own personal thoughts and wishes. I love how feisty h was, she was really great and likeable.

I will 100% continue with this series. Love the way how author writes, storyline is really good and I love that in the background it kind of continues with other characters. This kind of interconnected series are my cryptonites, especially when writing is really good.

🔸 virgin h
🔸 not a manwhore H
🔸 no ow/om drama
🔸 H kidnaps h
🔸 forced marriage
🔸 no cheating
🔸 no separation
🔸 h is feisty readhead and her brother has taught her some skills. She’s well balanced character, not a doormat
🔸 h goes on birth control / no condoms used
🔸 kidnapping, shooting, mention of children human trafficking ( nothing to do with h), torture
🔸 HEA
🔸 can be read as a standalone but it ends so good, you wanna read next one 😅
Profile Image for sweetness_v.
366 reviews3 followers
April 11, 2025
No third act breakup or too much ugly drama. It was the book to snuggle and binge read if you’re just craving something a little dark with romance.


Is it just me or the time they consumated their marriage was a disaster?
Yes she was attracted to him but threatening her family so she’ll agree to fuck you is insane.


“I’m not cuddling with you, Elira. You keep your kisses to yourself, and I’ll keep my cuddles.”

He literally lured her out, kidnapped her, threatened her family so she’ll marry him and still has the audacity to question her choices? The audacity

Although i can’t say i hated the book either. The MFC was cute and i liked her. No matter how insufferable i found MMC to be, he was still caring and loving towards her.
Profile Image for Dela.
157 reviews9 followers
February 26, 2025
*2.5 stars *

This wasn't my favorite. It was entertaining enough to get through, but that's about it. There was no connection made between the characters and me. I felt nothing while reading this.

Funny enough, I read this book based on the scene that was posted to Tiktok, where the leading lady has bodyguards eating treats and playing games with her. That scene didn't make me feel giggly or anything.

The thing that bothered me the most was it felt like the author didn't know how they wanted Elira to be. In one scene, she is aware of her surroundings and emotionally intelligent, but then a few scenes later, she had a lobotomy and is like a bumbling school girl.

Also, the plot was not plotting. There was an attempt, but it fell flat and left loose strands. It felt like just random things kept happening to make the story interesting, but it was just apparent that all of these things were just to push these two together... which read as unnecessary because these two were smitten from the start. Even the cliffhanger wasn't enough to make me want to learn about the unimaginative and predictable side characters - Max's 'brothers'.

I personally don't recommend it if you're looking to swept into a thrilling romance, but I do if you want something simple and not complicated to pass time.
Profile Image for Ash Lee.
70 reviews2 followers
February 27, 2025
I read for the vibes & the vibes were ✨not good✨

0% in- I found this from a tiktok about her sitting with his bodyguards and it was veryy cute

25% in - so much potential, but sigh its just another book. Another MMC who could have been amazing, but had to use the wrong type of coercion to get the FMC to do anything, but it has potential

32% in - its more dub-con, than r**p3 but its leaning heavily towards that & he is very obviously emotionally stunted if he believes she is going to kiss him with the way he coerced her into this marriage 😂

42%- so tired of the “omg im getting spanked without consent *fake outrage*. Turns out coincidentally I like it even when I never experienced it & I still disdain you but oh my treacherous body” trope that is written

DNF at 54% :

Yeah I cant im sorry lol. I gave it the good ole college try, but I can not. In between Elira being sheltered and having the discernment of a goldfish(which i dont think is because of her sheltering, i think she is naturally that way) and the MMC being just insufferable the whole time, not in a “dark but brooding” way. He is actually rude but she becomes dickmatized after he essentially forces her to have s*x the first time.



The book is written well(grammatically), but the content is terrible. Not terrible like I can turn off my brain and read it, im sitting here asking myself, why do they even like each other?
49 reviews
February 6, 2025
DNF at 30% (some skimming of the last few chapters) Automatic 1 star rating due to missing trigger warning regarding rape scene. Author threw in some body betrayal as well which I guess is supposed to make it alright. If you want to write about rape, then at least be honest and upfront. Authors have a responsibility towards their readers to make sure they don’t trigger any trauma and this one obviously doesn’t care about their readers.

FMC is also too stupid to live and acts like a child instead of an adult.

On top of grammar and spelling mistakes, blurb and book content also differ a bit. I mean, that’s the most basic thing. Getting your blurb right is not hard.
Profile Image for Elisa.
399 reviews
February 16, 2025
When I heard that the FMC was Albanian I was so excited to read this book as there a rarely any Albanian characters in books. However, this book was so trash I wish she'd never included Albanian's in the book to begin with. The MMC literally r***es the FMC and threatens to kill her family if she doesn't do it...

Additionally, the FMC was so naive and childish despite being 21 and it just pmo so bad. This silly stereotype of Albanian women being dumb and naive in books needs to end. Everything about this book but pmo too much.

Also, the FMC being a natural redhead made no flipping sense to me, never in my life have I ever met a natural red-headed Albanian. How are you as an author going to write about an Albanian FMC and use physical characteristics and traits we do not have. It just showed a lack of research and ignorance on the authors behalf.
Profile Image for Jaqui .
8 reviews1 follower
February 28, 2025
DNF

This book was absolutely terrible, I am a dark romance reader and have read books much darker than this although those books always have trigger warnings unlike this author who had ZERO trigger warnings for the r@pe that happened in this book. This book actually made me angry with how spineless this author made the FMC, they wrote her as if she had no other care than her libido, not even the threat of her family being unalived was more important than her apparent need for s€x. Not often do I even leave written reviews but the carelessness this author shows with having no TW needs to be seen and they need to be held accountable.
Profile Image for Keza Campbell.
785 reviews13 followers
January 23, 2025
Gosh, my first book from Sasha in so longgggg and it was absolutely amazing.

Elira Përmeti has been locked up in her tower for years, never being set free. So on her birthday she is afforded some freedom.
Which brings her to the devils doorstep.

Once Maximo Leonotti sets his eyes on Elira, there is no going back. She is the daughter of his enemy, and now she is his. Like it or not!

Gah, I loved this book so hard! Elira may have been innocent, but she was feisty, sissy and knew her own mind. Maximo was a hunky protective Alpha male.
The story gripped me from the beginning until the end. I can't wait for more.

I definitely recommend 👌
Profile Image for Ruchita .
133 reviews13 followers
March 4, 2025
Everything was going fine until he forced her.
Profile Image for Yudum.
48 reviews
Read
March 9, 2025
Straight up rape and Stockholm syndrome.
Profile Image for Miranda Orton.
59 reviews
April 29, 2025
I didn’t really like the start of this book, especially how they met and got together….it was very unrealistic and strange..but I got pretty into this book halfway through! The plot got really good and the spice was there
Profile Image for Hailey.
251 reviews
January 28, 2025
⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️ (5/5)
🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 (4/5)
❤️ Pet Name: Dolcezza (Italian for “Sweetness”) ❤️

OBSESSED!

That's it—just simply, I have an obsession with strong, possessive mafia morally grey men and Maximo absolutely delivers! All I can say is, yes, please, Maximo—you can drug me and "force" me to marry you anytime!

Elira is the perfect combination of vulnerability, innocence, and feistiness—bringing sunshine vibes while knowing the mafia world is far from a fairytale. The authors nailed the balance, making her relatable, strong, and lovable. I loved how she kept you surprised, like her brother teaching her skills that she would need to survive!

“You undo me. You’re a dangerous witch.”

The enemies-to-lovers tension between Elira and Maximo is fire (the no kissing and cuddling)! Their instant attraction clashed with fiery banter and a tug-of-war of wills that had me hooked. Watching them navigate their forced proximity while battling their emotions – I couldn’t stop reading.

“You’ve led me on a merry-go-round of want these past few weeks. If I want to torture you for a few seconds, you’ll take it quietly like the good girl I know you are.”

This story had everything: humor (I’m still laughing over the birthday song moment), suspense and mystery, heartfelt interactions, and the raw brutality of the mafia world, complete with insta-lust and all its delicious spicy intensity. Maximo, the cold, ruthless Italian Don of Queens, didn’t stand a chance when Elira stumbled into his world. She didn’t just change his life—she made his house a home, bringing warmth, laughter, and love to his dark world.

“You’re my life now, Elira. My everything. I would k!ll anyone who dares stand between us.”

GAH! They’re officially my new favorite mafia couple 🖤 Can’t wait to read the next in the series.

For fans of:
🖤 Matteo by T. Priceton
🖤 Bound by Honor by Cora Reilly
🖤 Tempted by the Devil by Michelle Heard

—————————————————————
* I received an advanced copy of Devil’s Lily and am sharing my honest review voluntarily. A big thank you to the authors and Give Me Books PR for providing it!

Book Releases: 1.28.2025
Profile Image for ✎• нuѕηαн .
318 reviews8 followers
April 3, 2025
So, yeah NO!!!

Do authors really think this kind of book, this kind of dark romance is supposed to get us in the feels???

This was fucking terrible. ANOTHER BOOKTOK FAIL 💀

Maximo kidnapped her, forced her to marry him with her father and brother’s lives on the line and drew up a contract where he can forced her to have sex with him whenever he wants, straight up 🍇

“No, Maximo. That kiss happened before you threatened to kill my family. I’ll have sex with you to save them, but nowhere in your precious contract does it demand my kisses.”
“You’ll have sex with me because your body begs for it.”
“My body’s an idiot.”



Profile Image for Lilz ⋆˚.
6 reviews15 followers
March 13, 2025
Absolutely horrendous. So bad, I wouldn’t even donate it to a thrift store, because even the bookshelves there deserve better. It’s the literary equivalent of a bad hangover—ugly, regretful, and you wish you could forget it ever existed.
Profile Image for Lori Kays.
478 reviews30 followers
Read
May 7, 2025
DNFed at 40%. So confused by these reviews yammering about rape. If this was. court trial, yes I suppose that's rape, but for a Mafia novel that promised non-cøn? it was dub-cøn at best and that was only a fingering.... dub-cøn fingering, those crazy bastards! 😂 By the time they got to the sex part, there was no dubiousness about it, she was literally moaning and begging 🙄🤦🏼‍♀️So frustrated, this is such a "Mafia Lite" book, the heroine is bratty and annoying and soooooooooo cringingly naive. Not my cup of tea.
Profile Image for Ashley  Durden.
83 reviews1 follower
July 19, 2025
She is more than just a Mafia princess

Maximo and Elira's chemistry is perfect...I love the banter and the fire Elira has in her, being a Mafia princess and locked away in her father's compound to gain a little bit of freedom on her 21st birthday to fall into the hands and bed of her father's enemy. But even after Maximo blackmails her into marrying him she never lets him walk all over her. She takes no crap and becomes the queen of his empire...and did I mention she's bad a$$!!!!
708 reviews
October 25, 2025
Full of lust, danger and family

Rafael & Emily, oh dear, she is so naive, she manages to sneak out of her house (father is extremely protective) and ends up at what she thought was a restaurant! It wasn’t! She meets Rafael, they both feel in instant attraction. He sneaks a phone into her pocket and calls her that night. No more spoilers. Suffice to say this book is a true roller coaster of emotion, lust, hidden feelings, friends, family and danger!
It’s long, it’s complicated and I was engaged throughout. No cheating and a happy ending
Profile Image for SheaOlayy.
96 reviews
March 5, 2025
Bro… when I first saw the reel about one of the scenes where the FMC looks to be having a slumber party playing video games w his men I thought this was gonna be I hate everyone but you and am gentle w you… I know it’s called dark romance but that was black. Morally grey? No. Morally black. I liked it but not as much as I thought I was gonna, the last 30% saved it for me ngl so 3.5-4⭐️ for me. But I might now be invested and have to read the 2nd in the series…
Profile Image for Xandra.
97 reviews2 followers
March 4, 2025
Holy this book took my panties from me! It was so spicy and sexy. It was engaging and it kept me from putting it down. Very descriptive and engaging. I absolutely loved Elira for her fierce strength and Maximo damn that man 🥵. I cannot wait for April when the next book comes out! Great read. You want spice this book has got it. Whew 🥵🥵
Displaying 1 - 30 of 409 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.