A little black kitten named Duke
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Tropes: Dark Age-Gap Holiday Mafia Romance, Touch her and die, Pregnancy
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Content Warnings: On page gun and knife violence, home invasion, body disposal, pregnancy, detailed open door sex scenes, adult language and situations
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Quote: “He looks down at me and says, "I love you" again like he’s making sure I heard him. “I didn’t expect it. I didn’t plan for it. But it’s happened. What started out as wanting to protect you has turned into so much more.”
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Synopsis: Amelia is a plus size baker living in San Francisco across the street from the mysterious Melor. The owner of a cyber-security company, Melor is former Bratva, having successfully gotten out to live his own life. He's had his eye on the lovely woman who lives across the street, and when her sexy boudoir photos are accidentally delivered to him, he can't help but look. When she comes looking for them, the white hot chemistry pops off.
When two strangers invade his home, she discovers his past had come calling, and now she's been drawn into the drama. Lockdown and protecting Amelia becomes his priority, and in the process the two fall in love. There's a surprise pregnancy and a cute cat adoption.
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Review: It's not high art, but I enjoyed it. It's lighter than your average dark mafia story, but it still works given the parameters. A lot of the plot points, including the mistaken boudoir photographs, have been done in other books, but somehow they feel fresh. I wish the author would have fleshed out the characters a bit more, but this narrative still works well.
Told in dual first person point of view, the story unfolds naturally and the characters have palpable chemistry. It's billed as part of a series, but it can also be read as a standalone. I recommend.
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Ratings: Movie NC17, Overall 5/5, Romance 4/5, Violence 3/5, Spice 4/5, cover 4/5
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357 pages. Note: There have been accusations that this author uses AI to write her books, but I haven't caught any evidence of Ai in this book.