Sins of the Father

by Cate Bishop

He knows one thing, she’s his to keep. No matter what it takes.Brioni

He might be the heir to his mafia family throne, but to me he's only ever been my best friend. We keep it that way because I never get involved in his other life, until one whiskey-soaked night, and dangerous deal changes everything.

Liam O’Sullivan has a proposition for I marry him. We stay together for one year, and as long as we don’t consummate anything we can get an annulment and go back to being just friends. He gets more time to find the right woman to help him run his empire, and I get his name to protect me from my stalker ex. It's the perfect plan, right?

Liam

I protect what’s mine. As my father’s successor that’s always been my role, and as part of that duty, I need to find a wife. I didn’t expect it to be her, but fate had other plans.

It was supposed to be all for show, to keep her safe and give me time to find my real wife. But now that I have her, I have no intention of giving her up. Luckily, I know just how to tempt her to stay, and a year is a long time for her to resist me …



🖤 Fake Dating

🖤 Friends-to-Lovers

🖤 Touch-her-and-die

🖤 He falls first, and harder

🖤 American Irish Catholic Mafia family

🖤 HEA guaranteed

Genres: Dark Romance

384 pages, Kindle Edition

Expected publication October 22, 2026

About the author

Cate Bishop lives in the Midwestern United States with her husband and their two villainous cats. In addition to all things bookish, she enjoys baking and decorating cakes, walking in the woods, and playing bar trivia. Guilty as Sin is her first series.

Reviews

[Beesbooks02]

Sins of the father By Cate Bishop
Release Date: 22nd October 2026
Spice level: 🌶🌶🌶

🅃🅁🄾🄿🄴🅂
💚 Friends X Lovers
✨️ Fake Dating
💚 He Falls First
✨️ Dual POV
💚 Mafia Romance

Cate Bishop has a way of writing fun and steamy books that you'll literally devour in a matter of hours!! Sins of the father is book 2 in a new mafia romance series and its as good as the first one. You've got two childhood best friends who come to an agreement that starts to turn into something more that then makes this book steamy!
Sins if the father has it all. Its got humour, amazing characters, spicy scenes and a plot that just keeps on giving to the point you might want more.

Thank you avon books UK for gifting me this e-arc in exchanged for an honest review

[Katie_thebookslayer]

💚 Fake Dating/Engagement
💚 Friends to Lovers
💚 He Falls First (and harder)
💚 Touch Her and Unalive
💚 Dual POV

This was a great read and I enjoyed it from the start. For book two, I was worried that I’d have missed some things and not quite understand, but with it being a relatively standalone book, I found it easy to get into.

The O’Sullivan family are both warm and frightening, but I would feel so safe under their protection, just as Brioni did. I could really appreciate the love these two had for each other as friends before they make a mutual agreement to get engaged for show.

I will be looking out for more books by this author too. There is so much to love about the characters and the story that I was a little sad to finish reading.

I was given an advanced readers copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Allyson]

Sins of the Father was a fun, steamy, and addictive addition to the Guilty as Sin series. This book has all the ingredients I look for in a dark romance: danger, tension, possessiveness, complicated family dynamics, plenty of chemistry, and a relationship that starts with one set of rules only to become something much more complicated.

I really enjoyed Brioni and Liam as a couple. The friends-to-lovers element worked particularly well for me because there was already a sense of trust and familiarity between them, which made the shift in their relationship feel more emotionally satisfying. Their fake marriage arrangement was also a great setup for the story, especially because we all know exactly what happens when two people make rules about keeping things strictly platonic in a romance!

Liam was definitely one of the highlights for me. His protective, possessive side fits perfectly with the mafia-romance setting, but I especially enjoyed watching his feelings for Brioni develop. The “he falls first and harder” trope is absolutely present, and those moments were some of my favorites. There is something particularly entertaining about watching a character who thinks he has everything under control slowly realize that the woman he is supposedly protecting has become the person he can’t imagine losing.

The chemistry between Brioni and Liam was strong, and the romance had plenty of spice. At the same time, the story wasn’t only about their physical relationship. The emotional tension, Brioni’s situation with her stalker ex, and Liam’s complicated family world gave the romance some additional stakes and kept the story moving.

I also enjoyed the darker mafia atmosphere. The O’Sullivan family brings plenty of danger and drama, and I liked seeing Brioni pulled further into Liam’s world. There are definitely moments where the characters’ choices made me want to shake them, but that is part of what made the story so entertaining. This is very much a romance where you have to embrace the heightened, dramatic nature of the genre rather than overthink every decision the characters make.

That said, there were a few places where I wanted a little more development. Some of the plot and character moments felt like they moved faster than I would have preferred, particularly when it came to the darker elements and the larger mafia storyline. I would have happily spent more time exploring some of the emotional consequences and family dynamics. A few things also felt somewhat predictable, although that didn’t stop me from enjoying the journey.

Overall, Sins of the Father was an entertaining, spicy, and dramatic mafia romance with a couple I enjoyed rooting for. I’m interested in seeing where the Guilty as Sin series goes next.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for an honest review!!!

[Kendall]

Thank you to Avon Books and Cate Bishop for this ARC!

Before I get into my review, I feel inclined to mention “errors” with the formatting of this book. I had absolutely no issue when reading this through the NetGalley reader. I typically send these ARCs to my Kindle so I can track quotes and highlight specific parts that I want to remember for my review. This is the only place errors occur. At times, if a word contains “fl” or “fi”, that combo of letters will be replaced with a symbol (!, $, @, etc). A quick Google search informed me that this is caused by a ligature bug. So no, neither the author nor the publisher randomly decided to throw in random symbols into words in place of certain letter combinations. I would also like to mention these errors are only in the ARCs. It happened with the first book of the series but once the book was released, no errors were present on Kindle.

As for my review, this book made me laugh, cry, giggle, throw my Kindle across the couch, and then pick it up just to do it again in the best way possible.

I love the friends to lovers trope and I think Cate did a fantastic job writing it! There weren’t too many flashbacks and each flashback had a purpose. They were also well placed.

I do wish there was a bit more conflict. I don’t want to spoil anything but I wish more was done with Brioni’s ex’s storyline. It was wrapped up well but I wish there was more conflict there.

I loved Brioni’s character arc! So proud of her. I love her relationship with Cora. They are in many ways very different but they still have a beautiful friendship…even though it can get them into trouble at times. And I thought her relationship with Orla was written well. Really, I loved how each O’Sullivan’s relationship with Brioni was written. You didn’t need a whole lot of flashbacks to see how much they love her and why.

And then there’s Liam. Sweet, angry Liam. Brady might have my heart but Liam made me question. I, personally, didn’t feel like Liam had as big of an arc as Brioni but I loved how his character got it together in the end.

Really my only true complaint is how they still haven’t figured out the leak and really it’s not a big deal because it makes me even more excited for Finn’s story but I’m impatient and nosy and I just want to know who it is. I have my thoughts and theories and I wanna know if I’m right. However, Cate is continuing to hold out on me.

While Cora and Brady have my heart, Brioni and Liam made themselves a nice little spot in there too. 100% should be on your TBR!

[Jade George]

✨ Thankyou to Cate Bishop and the publishers for early access to this book in return for an honest review ✨

I enjoyed the continued family dynamics from the first book and I liked that all of the same characters continued to pop up. I do like all of the individual characters and their personalities in both books and do think they make up a super interesting family unit in the ongoing story.

However, I can't lie, I was hoping for slightly more here 😭 I quite enjoyed the first book with Brady and Cora and was looking forward to the next installment but it hasn't quite come to fruition in the way I hoped it would.

It feels like there were a lot of elements here that were the makings of a really good story but they never fully got developed enough for it to feel complete. The stalker ex was set up to be a great conflict area but never really got past being a name and tingly feeling. I also feel like we never had chance to really get a look at Liam and Brioni's actual friendship. I understand that they're supposed to have been in love with each other since forever but their relationship felt more like a new, awkward couple than best friends of 30 years.

I really struggled with Brioni's naivety. I appreciate that she was supposed to have been sheltered somewhat from the mafia life by Liam's family, but I find it hard to believe that she could be as completely innocent and naive about what the life entails...she may not have been included in it, but she was surrounded by it for almost her entire life. She also seems to have had enough past trauma between her mother leaving and the (assumed) abuse by her ex that I struggle to believe a woman would remain as 'innocent' as she appeared to be.

Some points in the plot felt quite rushed and others felt as though they didn't serve much purpose other than to try and show us something about a character instead of telling us through the story itself, which at times made it feel a bit disjointed. This applies to the ending as well to be honest, it felt very abrupt and like a quick rush to the final finish rather than everything being nicely wrapped up.

All this to say, I didn't hate it at all...I still devoured it in 2 days, but I definitely preferred the first book 😭

[Second Chapter Books]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I finished Sins of the Father and my overall reaction was basically... it was good. I enjoyed it. But if you read a LOT of mafia romance, there probably isn't much here you haven't seen before.

Brioni has a stalker ex. Liam needs a wife to satisfy his mafia family's expectations. Conveniently, a fake marriage solves both of their problems. Add in childhood best friends, years of buried feelings, friends-to-lovers, touch-her-and-die energy, he falls first, and plenty of spice, and you pretty much know where this is headed.

The friends-to-lovers aspect was easily my favorite part. I loved that Liam and Brioni had a real history together and that their relationship existed long before the romance did. Their chemistry worked, there were some genuinely sweet moments between them, and I really enjoyed watching Brioni become stronger as the story progressed.

Where this lost me a little was the danger. I wanted MORE. Brioni's stalker ex had the potential to create some serious tension, and I kept waiting for that storyline to really explode. The mafia side also didn't feel quite as dangerous or intense as I expected. For a dark mafia romance, everything felt a little too safe and predictable at times.

This is book two in the Guilty as Sin series, and I did NOT read book one first. I had absolutely no problem following Brioni and Liam's story, so this can definitely be read as a standalone. There are characters and pieces of the larger storyline that clearly carry over, so I'm sure reading them in order would give you more context, but I never felt lost.

Overall, this was an enjoyable, quick mafia romance with tropes I love and a couple I will apparently never get tired of. Was it groundbreaking? No. Did I still have a good time reading it? Absolutely.

3.75 stars rounded up to 4.

Thank you to NetGalley, Cate Bishop, and Avon Books UK for providing an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

[L]

Favorite couple alert!! Liam and Brioni’s story… oh, my heart. The friends-to-lovers + marriage-of-convenience combination swings and hits a home run in this book. I could not put it down.

Liam is caught between the pressure he puts on himself and the responsibilities that come with being the future head of his family. Then there’s Brioni, his best friend, and someone he’s always known, cared for, and quietly looked out for. His feelings for her are hardly new, and I loved how much that came through in the way he knows her. Liam pays attention to the little things. He knows her habits, what she likes, what she needs, and the things that make her feel safe. There’s something about a man who has been quietly paying attention all along that really hits.

For Brioni, Liam has always been her safe place, but there has always been a line between her life and the world Liam and his family live in, and they’ve been just as intentional about keeping that line in place. When her stalker ex forces her into a marriage with Liam, that line disappears. Suddenly, she has the chance to experience this part of Liam’s life up close and figure out whether she actually has a place in the world she’s spent so much time outside of.

The marriage doesn’t give them a connection. It gives them a chance to explore the one they already have. They’re best friends who know each other deeply, and watching them figure out what happens when that friendship becomes something more was SO beautiful. And honestly, I think these two cuties knew exactly what they were doing when they agreed to this deal. The chemistry between these two is EVERYTHING. And I don’t just mean the physical chemistry, although that is definitely there. It’s their banter, their interactions, their genuine conversations, and the way they just get each other.

Not to mention, I also loved spending more time with my favorite Irish family and seeing what everyone was up to. I’m always here for more of them.

Basically, Liam and Brioni have my whole heart. I loved these two. Well done!

[Ali]

While I don’t think this was anything groundbreaking in the world of mafia romance, I can’t recall having ever read one where it was a friends to lovers. Our main characters here have known each other since they were 8 years old.

This is fast paced as most books of this genre are, sort of an insta love situation but Brioni and Liam have already been in love for years and just never expressed it. They finally just got an excuse (which honestly i don’t get why they didn’t earlier, due to their age and 30 years of knowing each other, didn’t seem too believable on why they avoided it for so long). Some of the dialogue/inner thoughts were a bit cringe/over the top but that’s normal in this genre sadly lol.

The characters definitely did not read as being in their mid to late thirties. You’d have thought grown adults would have talks about their feelings and Brioni still wouldn’t be so naive. While the story was easy to read / entertaining enough, I wasn’t super invested in relationship. I mainly finished this to see what would happen with Brioni’s stalker ex and the usual drama of mafia books.

Brioni, girl, you are a grown woman in our mid to late 30’s, why are we using the term “girly things” for our menstrual products and bras/underwear 😩 you could have told me Brioni was college aged and I would have believed you, not 38!! And honestly she was a little grating, the good old catholic guilt lining the pages of her character were off putting to me. But perhaps others reading this can relate.

The conflict at the end was sort of weak, not my favorite kind of third act breakup.

*ARC courtesy of Netgalley*

US publishing date: October 22nd, 2026

[Stacey]

At the start of reading this book I realized the author would replace any "fi" combo in words with quotation marks and it drove me a little crazy. After awhile I did get used to it. This book was sweet and spicy, a friend's to lovers story. Liam and Brioni have known each other since they were little and now in their 30s the feelings toward each other have never gone away. Brioni, having a stalker ex, and Liam needing a wife to fulfill his duty as leader of his mafia family decide to get fake engaged. However, everything that follows is hardly fake and lines are crossed and feelings are absolutely known. However, when Brioni learns Liam lied to her can she fulfill the true duties of being a mafia wife when she is so innocent?

I enjoyed this story and the back and forth temptation with the two characters. Their back stories were interesting and I do enjoy the friends to lovers trope. I wish we would have learn more about her ex before the end of the story so that could have had a wrap up but otherwise it was sweet, with alot of spice and I would recommend it!

Thanks to NetGalley, Cate Bishop and Avon Books UK for allowing me to review this ARC!

[Amy lavendersreading]

3.5
ARC review - with thanks to Avon Books UK

Sins Of The Father is part of a series but I read this without reading book 1 & had no issues not understanding any prior plot points or connections.

Friends to lovers isn’t a trope I gravitate towards but I absolutely loved the start of this book! The opening interactions between Liam, Brioni & the family were enjoyable. I thought the start with neither of our MCs wanting to cross a line was sweet. It was slightly dissatisfying that the first spicy moment happened as quickly as it did, there could’ve been more build up around this.

The spice did become repetitive and felt like a gap filler for showing how authoritative Liam could be. Having the stalker ex was a convenient plot anchor that never fully developed, his name was just thrown around with no real confirmation that he had been involved. When we did get to see Brioni’s relationship with Cora & Liam completing jobs or pushing the recruits, I couldn’t put this book down.

Overall, I’d recommend this read for new dark romance readers but it left me wanting more.

[Lauren]

Liam and Brioni’s shared history made the friends-to-lovers romance in this book work so well. Their relationship existed long before the romantic feelings took over, which gave their chemistry a genuine foundation. There were some truly sweet moments between them, and watching Brioni step into her own strength as the story progressed was easily my favourite part of the book.

That said, I found myself constantly wishing the overall plot gave us more. For a dark mafia romance, the danger felt surprisingly muted and predictable. Brioni’s stalker ex had the setup to create high-stakes tension, but that plotline never exploded the way I kept waiting for it to. It felt like a convenience purely to justify the marriage trope before fizzling out.

Because of that, the pacing felt a bit clunky, with high-potential scenes deflating too quickly and conflicts resolving without much of a fight. This is still a quick, enjoyable mafia read with tropes I love, but it left me craving for just a bit more.

[Myrna]

Thank you NetGalley for yet another wonderful ARC, and thank you to the publisher as well!

Now, let’s get down to it. Brioni and Liam are, undoubtedly, a strong unit built on a foundation of friendship. Watching that friendship grow into more is what I came for, what I’m sure we all came for, and it was well worth it.

I genuinely wish we’d gotten more interaction with Harrison, maybe some more obvious stalking, more of seeing Liam knowing he’s in the area. I am pleasantly surprised that Harrison didn’t get a chance to kidnap Brioni because I thought that’s where it was going, so hats off for the unpredictability. Still, I REALLY want to know how Liam knew, how much he knew, and when he found out. And, addicted and drawn to the violence as much as Brioni, I wanted to have the scene where he confronted Harrison.

All in all, definitely a book I’d recommend & would read again.

[Paige]

Thank you thank you thank you to Avon Books for allowing me to delve back into the Irish mafia books. I knew when reading Guilty as Sin that I would absolutely love the next books following the brothers, and there was no surprise when I loved Sins of the Father. I couldn't stop reading about Brioni and Liam. Reading about Brioni's strength to go through everything with her ex and her past, and yet she still found it in herself to see all of the dark things around her and move forward.

I loved the he falls first vibes in this book, and by god he definitely fell first.

I can't wait to read more by Cate!

[Deborah]

Liam and Brioni have been friends since early childhood and have been in love ever since. Liam feels Brioni is far too good for him, but he needs a bride to appease his family, and he chooses Brioni. After all she has gone through, Brioni is still having an issue with her Ex and Liam makes her feel safe, he is an O’Sullivan, and the family name carries a lot of weight in Chicago. These two have such good chemistry, Brioni is so much stronger than she realizes and Liam soon discovers that he’s never letting Brioni go, no matter what the original plan was. Thank you to NetGalley, Cate Bishop and Avon Books UK for the opportunity to read and review well written story.

[Desi]

To have the strength to get away from an abuse it a big deal so when Brioni did that she thought she was done with her ex, but not quite. She keeped getting her phone hacked and getting treating massages so when Liam was trying to get out of an arranged marriage situation he thought the solution for both of the, to get engaged. It was supposed to be pretending not real just to save them both some trouble, but then the real feelings started coming out the feeling for each other they they have been hiding since they were kids. And how do they end you have to read it to find out

[Meg]

I enjoyed Brioni and Liam's story. It is very character driven, with the focus on their relationship and all the tension that comes with turning a lifelong friendship into something more. It's definitely a little slower paced (I didn't binge it quite as quickly as book one), but I was invested in these two and it's plenty spicy 🔥
If you’re looking for a mafia romance with childhood best friends, marriage of convenience, and lots of chemistry, this one is definitely worth picking up. I'm already looking forward to the next book in the series 🖤

[IMBooked.Babe]

Just romantic enough, just spicy enough, just suspenseful enough. And plenty of yearning from him. 3.5/5 ⭐️

I tend to enjoy the mafia romance subgenre. And this one did not disappoint! I would consider this mafia-lite with likable, relatable FMC and MMC — despite the mafia elements. Some authors lean heavy into that and it becomes overly dark and gruesome. Not in this story! I enjoyed the supporting characters and I could picture the setting with clarity. Overall, a solid read.

[Carly Rushforth]

I adore Liam & Brioni, the friends to lovers trope was perfect for them as they had such a rich history together. The Mafia world is not what Brioni wants, she thinks she's not good enough for Liam but Liam thinks she's perfect in every way, just as she is.

This is the second book in a Dark Mafia Series that just keeps getting better and better

[Kheyra Santos]

I really enjoyed this one! The darker atmosphere, secrets, and suspense kept me interested, and I liked watching everything slowly come together. A few parts felt a little slow for me, but overall I had a good time with this story and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys darker, suspenseful reads.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Nai]

Avon UK really said, "Come and obsess over another book with us." 🤭 Huge thank you to Avon Books, Jessica and the girlies for inviting me to read this early, and for sending a widget my way! All opinions expressed are entirely my own.

I LITERALLY INHALED THIS omgg!!

I enjoyed Guilty as Sin, but Sins of the Father had me HOOKED! I was already intrigued by Liam and loved the glimpses of Brioni that we saw of them together, so was really looking forward to this.

The tension and chemistry between them was so palpable, I felt like I was intruding at times haha! Liam is in need of a bride, and who better than the one woman he’s sworn off, but can’t help but obsess over! That man did not hesitate to fake date Brioni, to keep her safe from her stalker ex. Soft only for her, I WAS SAT!

I thought Brioni was really refreshing and I loved watching her find herself and her confidence within herself. Although not quite familiar with the mafia ins and outs, and what Liam does, she really did fit in seamlessly into the O’Sullivan family. I do think that how things were handled with Brioni’s ex felt a little glossed over, though, but it didn’t really take me away from the story too much.

I’m really enjoying the O’Sullivan family, and I can’t wait for who may be next in store to get their book and happily ever after!!