Matteo

Hateful Starts #5

by Ginger Talbot

My name is Bailey Millhouse, and I’m so very, very lucky. I’m the daughter of a senator. I have a loving family and a bright future all planned out for me.
But every last word of that is a lie. My whole gilded life is a lie. My real name is Natasha Dubrova, and my mother hid me as a baby to save me from an arranged marriage with the son of a mafia boss. She didn’t hide me well enough – because now my real family has come calling.
And now they’ve taken me “home” – to my fiancé, Matteo Rossi, a beautiful sadist whose punishments batter my flesh and bruise my soul. He says he’s going to break me and make me his. I’ll never give in. I’ll never accept that this is my life. I’ll submit and pretend in order to survive - but I vow I’ll escape this house of beauty, pain and secrets, and find my way home.
The longer I stay, though, the harder it is to leave. Underneath Matteo’s cruelty is a strange and mysterious tenderness – and a big, big secret. What can’t he tell me? Who’s the real master of this family? And why is everyone here so afraid I won’t survive until my wedding day?

Genres: Dark, Romance, Mafia Romance, Abuse, Anti Hero, BDSM, Contemporary

213 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 20, 2018

Reviews

[KatieV]

I can't rate this. I don't know how. I saw it on my feed and I have a free trial of KU and some of my friends liked it so "what the heck?"

First of all, I have no interest in mafia stories. Just not my thing, so there's a strike against it that I knew about going in. There is something about this story that is page turning, however. It was just completely batshit and I had to keep going to see wth was going to happen next.

Warnings, warnings everywhere. This is more torture than kinky sex, there are actually only a couple of sex scenes. Most of it is simply torture meant to bring the heroine in-line as a Stepford Mafia Wife within 28 days (it's a crazy story as to why - involving the Italian and Russian mob, ancient feuds, and a medievalish bride lottery). How bad does it get? electric shock, canings, asphyxiation (not of the erotic kind), threatened drowning

The hero is completely nuts. His other hobbies include torturing suspected traitors to death and smuggling guns to Mexico. The Italian branch of the mafia family is most likely descended from the psycho from The Silver Devil

Something about it was so over-the-top that I wasn't truly disturbed and,like I said I had to keep going. The heroine was very likeable and not crazy, although there was definitely some Stockholm Syndrome taking place. She was ready to put him in jail until she realized she literally had no other options than to trust Matteo wasn't quite as evil as he appeared.

My favorite character was the cranky old Italian aunt.

[Deniz · Rating 4 out of 5]

You will hate and I mean HATE Matteo. He is sadist! I wanted to DNF but I absolutely could not stop reading it!! Grabs you and keeps you till you finish the last page !

[Snow · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmmm...I m sorry to say, that this book is a typical example of how 'tiny' that flat line in entering dark themes and conduct based on pain easily transfers to simple moronic abuse...therefore, missing that link of redemption or even sort of empathic compassion...

This story unfortunately, was lacking in that department, there were no sentiments, that I could have picked up from these two characters, she was annoyingly 'too much' in her resillience and that felt just 'off'.

He, Matteo, despite the final resolvement we find out about him in the end, which also seemed a bit of like a lousy joke, never actually worked for me, he felt simply 'out of it' like an abusive primitive asshole or whatever, so, yeah..it's a thin line, my friend

..and that thoroughly diminished any effect meant to be developed til the end of the book that should have probably made me 'see' them both in new light but instead, it's better with the lights off.

So, well...😕

[Melanie (mells_view) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dark mafia.

This was a pretty good read. Mafia/Bratva... the hero is a sadist. The heroine is living a normal life and is plucked from it and thrown into the world of organized crime. She abused over and over, and treated like a slave, but still falls for the hero. I mean of course there are bigger things going on, but who knows what they really are until the characters reve them.

All in all a good read. The punishments just aren’t my cup of tea, but I liked the story other than that.

[Darkreads · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am always excited when I get my hands on a new book by Ginger Talbot. She is the queen of dark romance and this book didn't disappoint. This is a standalone story of Matteo and Natasha. This book made me go though ALL the feelings. I didn't know whether to hate or love Matteo. I certainly loved to hate him at certain points of the book and hated to love him in others. Ginger Talbot is great at striking just the right balance with her anti-heroes. I loved Natasha's humor throughout the book. "House cleaning sex robot" is going to stay with me for a while. In addition to an unconventional love story, this book is full of twisty mafia darkness that will keep you on the edge of your seat. This is a definite must read from this awesome author!

[Aou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ordinary but steamy.

[★ Belle The Bibliophile ★]

I know this is fiction but... you wake up with a strange man having a knife on your throat and your first response was to get aroused....? What. We get it he’s hot but what the fuck? I have to laugh.

[Alaina · Rating 2 out of 5]

uhhhh….. yeah.

Matteo started off great. I was intrigued and sucked in.. but then I met the characters a bit more and I was bored out of my mind. I got the whole mob part but the way these guys treated their woman and kids was mind blowing. I was completely frustrated and wanted to kill them all. Luckily at one point.. they were started to be killed off. I leapt for joy because these people sucked dick.

In it, you will meet Matteo and Natasha. HOWEVER, in the beginning they go by Bailey and Steven. They are from two different mob families and shit. Then shit gets weirder because of the whole deal with kids and marriages. I don't really know how to explain it without getting mad so I just wont do that.

Matteo and Natasha were meh. You could see the spark and chemistry between them.. but the bdsm or just beating her in general were just a turn off. I didn't want to read that and I honestly wanted to put this book down and walk away.

This book had some cute moments and some smut.. but eh, I was done with this whole thing. Overall, I guess I'm okay that I dove into this. I'm mostly glad that it was free on my KU.

[Serialbookstarter:Marla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mateo and Natasha

This is another Of the authors abusive H’s who is hard to redeem. He kidnaps and tortures the H by ballgagging her and holding her nose,shocking her, drowning her etc, He does this in the name of training her to be the sacrificial bride in an arranged marriage. Mateo is redeemable though only because we find out he was forced to be so harsh to keep the other mafia family
From murdering her. It’s angsty and there is a lot of ow drama.

[Jennifer McGurk Finn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Matteo Rossi has been waiting a long time for Natasha Dubrova, she is to be his wife even though they’ve never met one another. He’ll do whatever it takes to make her into what he needs her to be. His methods will hurt her at first, frighten her, and frustrate her but she’ll grow used to them. She will love only him, live for only him, he will accept no other outcome. This is her destiny and he will help her fulfill it. Bailey Millhouse is the daughter of a senator and her mother runs a very successful accounting firm. She would love to go to film school but to please her parents she’s going to business school and she’ll work for her mother when she’s done. She has a younger sister named Lauren who she doesn’t get along with at all. She’s always felt like an outcast in her own family and their attitude towards her has only strengthened the feeling. She’s sleeping at her friend’s house when a handsome stranger appears in the bedroom and puts a knife to her throat. He checks her to sees if she’s “pure” and when he finds that she is he tells her she better stay that way. She is confused and afraid so she listens to his demand to keep quiet about his visit. Bailey was right to feel like she didn’t belong in her family because she soon finds out her real name is Natasha Dubrova and her birth mother hid her so she wouldn’t be forced into an arranged marriage. This was a semi-dark read which was actually quite tame but I enjoyed it and I liked Matteo.

[hugsandcookies · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars for the hate and darkness of Matteo

I'm so glad I took a chance on this story even though the author is new to me but the things about dark mafia reads are the dark angst intense of them.

Matteo and Bailey/Natasha are betrothed to but how they end up will have you flipping the pages, and the surprise of the twist will have you guessing. But the book title definitely suits its name Dark Mafia Hate Story. I

[★¸. • * ° * ༺*Blanka*༺*°°*•.¸. ♥★ · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are looking for romance, or dark romance - this book isn't it. This books is more of a Stockholm syndrome book, where the heroine is completely brain washed.
There is nothing worse than reading a book with a weak ass heroine. The hero? A sad sadist who just plainly exists.
Nothing about this book was enticing, nada.

[Dawn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Be warned this isn’t just dark

This story is more than dark, I like dark, but this is morbid. The h is pretty much suffering from Stolkhom Syndrome at the end, because the male lead has done nothing to earn or deserve her love. He is a sadist in the truest form, which wasn’t really necessary to the story. If it wasn’t for that (or what he does because of it) I could almost have decided he was redeemable after the “twist” was revealed. Rough sex is one thing but he doesn’t offer her a “safe-word” and keeps going after she begs him to stop. Even after they are “happily” married. In no way, shape, or form is that love...

[Cécile · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW....Ginger,you did it again! You pulled me into the dark along with Bailey,or should i say Natasha? and kept me there....my eyes glued to the pages,holding my breath,my heart racing like crazy,until the very last page! Thank you só much for giving me this dark beauty as an ARC! I’m still in recovery from all the evil things that happened.....

What would you do when your whole life turns out to be one big fat lie? When you are someone else entirely? When you’re supposed to marry a total stranger in a month? One that likes to hurt you,a lot!, and keeps you locked up? And when people want to sabotage all that by....trying to rape you,or even worse,try to kill you? What if you find out that you start to....like this stranger? And what if you find out the truth behind his actions? What would you do? Well....you can find out what Natasha did. I know what she did,and i loved it!

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not romance, there is no romance here
The hero Matteo is obsessed with the heroine and is plain and simple a sadist with no consideration for her loved one
The book is not dark per se. Is more of a torture, physical and mental torture.
The heroine is mentally weak but she learns to tolerate and even enjoy pain. But I don’t know how because he just torture her with no building or preparation.

If you are looking for a dark romance this is not it. This is more a kidnapp and Stockholm syndrome book.

The book had a nice twist toward the end that I liked very much

[Kelsey · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is... Dark for sure. Not for the faint of heart, not for someone who wants a mob boss turned soft or something. Matteo is very dark and doesn't really change.

[Serpil · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bailey kadin kahramanimiz(!)
Babasi senator annesi ise is kadini acikcasi ne is yaptigina cok dikkat etmedim 🤓 iki kardesler birde universiteye giden ablasi var kendisi de universiteye gitmeye hazirlaniyor, babasi isi geregi cok hesapci bir adam annesi ve ablasi ise kizimizi hic sevmiyor cunku istedigi kadar yemek yiyor ve asla kilo almiyor bu yuzden ondan nefret ediyorlar 😆😆😆

Ablasi bir kaza geciriyor hastaneye yatiyor ailesi asla hastaneye gelmesini istemiyor baileycik yine de gidiyor ve hastanede kendisine cok benzeyen bir aile ile karsilasiyor adam diyor ki ben senin gercek babanim bailey aaa oyle mi peki o zaman tamam sizinle kahve icelim de bu durumu konusalim diyor ve elbette paketlenip kaciriliyor. Just like that!

Daha sonrasinda bir suru sacma sapan olaylar gerceklesiyor ve aslinda İtalyan ve Rus mafyasinin isin icinde oldugunu ogreniyoruz iki ailenin akla hayale gelmeyen bir gelenekleri varmis her 5 yilda bir ailede dogan kiz cocuklari annesinden kopariliyor baska bir aileye veriliyor ve bunu her iki ailede yapiyor sebep gelin hazirlama 🧐 bizim baileycik bu durumdan tamamen bagimsiz buyudugu icin Matteo 30 gun boyunca kendi gelinini hazirliyor hersey ama hersey icin cezalandiriliyor.

Bu arada ailesi bir gun aaa bizim bir kızımız kardeşimiz vardı demiyor asla aramiyorlar sebep Matteo uydurma bie mail atıyor ve buna inaniyorlar :S Bailey o kadar dayagin icinde adama asik oluyor. Stockholm sendromu otesince bir olay sadece dayak yok ac birakiliyor psikolojik ve fiziksel siddet had safhada uygulaniyor. Buraya kadar aslinda okumadigim seyler degildi benim kizdigim nokta 200 sayfalik kitapta en az 3 kere bekaret testi yapilmasi oldu, o kadar onemli ki surekli kadin bakire mi diye kontrol ediliyor ve bu olay cidden ilgimi beğenimi sıfıra çekti! insanlık dışı bir uygulama üstelik bu romanı bir kadının yazdığını bilmek daha da kötü bir hale getiriyor mevcut durumu.


Sonuc olarak kurgu kotuydu olaylarin baglanmasi zayifti karakterler arasinda gerceklesen diyaloglar yetersizdi kesinlikle asklarini hissedemedim.

[Anne Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Family Loyalty and Their Greatest Sacrifices

The ultimate writer of the very best dark romance for me will only ever be the superb Ms Ginger Talbot! Her books are the greatest escape for readers of this genre! This great read blew me away with its gripping, intriguing, thrilling storyline with such an epic twist at the end that will keep readers enthralled to its very last page. There are shattered illusions, torture and pain, the greatest family sacrifices and loyalty to the Italian and Russian mob, the likes you have never heard of! Will Natasha survive her 30 days of training with Matteo or will her rage and independence be her downfall as her resolve of Escape is so strong? Who is the mole in the Italian and Russian organisations? Where is the real Bailey Millhouse? As the Peredyshka daughter why does her father hate her so much? Will Natasha’s plan to escape from this monster arrive in time to save her melting surrender? I highly recommend this amazingly superb read to all dark romance readers.
I voluntarily reviewed this book after receiving a free copy

[Books and Soap Book Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tina's Book Review - 3.5 stars for Matteo by Ginger Talbot

A darkish mafia story of an Italian mob leader who claims his promised bride and trains her to be his perfect wife. With a sadist's thirst and a Russian mob boss always interfering, he's determined to have her accept the pleasure with the pain and become his wife in thirty days.

While the story is classified as a dark read, it had dark aspects, but for me, it wasn't really a dark read. The book starts out slow and hard me questioning what in the world was going on with this storyline. It's a dual-pov that flows nicely and the characters are nicely developed. I enjoyed being in the characters heads, especially Natasha's internal struggle with accepting what her body had accepted long before her brain really did.

[Ola Adamska · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was not something I had expected AT ALL!
Bailey was taken as something like "trophy" wife to a man that was bad to his core. There will be punishments and a lot of dubious content that was so, so DARK! And for sure will put you thru your darkest part of the mind.
I devoured that book in almost one sit!
Warning: LOTS OF TRIGGERS!

[Stefanie S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not for the lighthearted. I almost put it down twice, but I had to know the truth behind the crazy. Very dark read. I want to give it a four star because the writing was real terrific!

[Yoneidis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bailey es la hija de un senador,tiene todos los privilegios que puede desear aunque la relación con su familia no es siempre buena,en especial con su hermana Lauren.
Un día es secuestrada por un hombre que le dice que tiene 30 días para convertirla en la esposa que él siempre había soñado:una mujer que cocine todos los días para él,que limpie la mansión todos los días,que lleve bien que el marido tenga varias amantes(ella tuvo que convivir con una de las amantes de su prometido),que hable fluidamente italiano y que acepte con gracia todos los castigos que su marido tenga a bien darle con tal de educarla para ser una buena esposa de la mafia.Pero esto no acaba aquí:porque si tienen una hija,y esa niña es seleccionada,será arrancada de los brazos de su madre y será entregada a la familia de su futuro marido para que la críen y la eduquen en cómo agradar a su marido en todo momento.
Además,Bailey se entera de que en realidad es adoptada.Su verdadera madre huyó con ella y la escondió para que no tuviera que llevar la vida que ella llevó.
Vamos,que no acabara en una institución mental al final del libro es sorprendente.

[Monique · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3.0 Stars

This was just OK. I was eager to read this book after reading the author's 30 Days series, which I absolutely loved. However, this one just did not have the same feels for me. It was so much past history and tradition that was told, the story was on the edge of boring. In fact, I stopped reading about 78%, read another book and decided to just power through and finish. There was not enough chemistry between Matteo and Natasha for me to believe in them. I think it was just too rushed and I never had the chance to get to know the characters. They were together via kidnapping and then in love.

[Mona williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow talk about dark and messed up! he is a mafia boss and wants her bad cause of who she really is. she doesnt even know shes not living with her real family.he is a sadist too. it some parts in here that are done right cruel. you must read this book!

[Izzy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uhh, some scenes were just cringy 😣

Not my kind of read I suppose.

[A · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always enjoy a good, dark Mafia read and so I was more than enthusiastic about delving into Matteo. Matteo delivered on dominance but it seemed like building the connection with Natasha was off. I get the reasons why it was necessary in the novel, but creating such an uncompromising world where in order for a woman to survive she has to be a complete subservient fembot didn’t appeal to me. It took up the majority of the storyline and despite the reasons why, that’s how as a reader I had to experience the two main characters. The dominance of Matteo wasn’t so much the problem or even his extreme punishments, although some were just plain torture. Although infuriating to read, some were done for other reasons but he is truly a sadist so it was not completely out of character. Creating a situation where a woman has to be a complete puppet didn’t appeal to me and I felt more annoyed rather than enjoying the alpha, a-hole authoritativeness of Matteo. There has to be some balance for me to be able to vibe with a hefty dose of dominance and I feel like that balance was lost in this plot. Also, there were not enough tender moments to build up the relationship where I could see Natasha falling for Matteo. I just felt like the connection with Matteo and Natasha wasn’t cultivated enough. I wanted them to become an epic, obsessive love story but it was more of him being excessively strict and her following orders out of fear and sheer exhaustion before the explanation was revealed and somehow Natasha had fallen for him.

[Sonia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book I've read by this author and a first in the dark hate genre, as I was reading i didnt know what to expect and I have to say I was shocked at the punishments matteo was giving natasha that I was in two minds on continuing reading considering she was starting to need to please him and was feeling conflicted after receiving them and the only reason I continued reading despite hating matteo was him referring numerous times to what he couldn't tell her until after their wedding during his inner dialogue and kept me intrigued.

The story itself is a bit unbelievable until about 65% of the way through and you find out why matteo was subjecting her to the punishments and i began to finally understand him a little bit more. I dont think this is much of a romance really as matteo already says he loves her even though he is trying to force her to love him through punishment and pleasure.

Overall the story and characters are well written but the ending felt rushed after their wedding and I found it hard to read at times, i prefer an emotional romance in my books and this book didn't do that for me even though I was on edge throughout the story hoping natasha would be OK and disliking matteo it didn't have the romantic and emotional connection that I like to read but instead I felt the dark hate throughout this story as obviously it was meant to be but it is not my cup of tea and I although I did sort of like this story it was the punishments that put me off.

[Amanda Marie ❤'s Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

A hard read

Wow- this was a hard one to finish. Part of the way through I was already composing my angry incredulous review in my head. I was tempted to quit, honestly. But I stuck it out until the end, and I'm glad I did. If for no other reason than to find out that not everything was as it seemed. I NEEDED to finish it because, quite frankly, this one was going to haunt me if there wasn't some kind of redemption.
I was so frustrated for Natasha, and how much she was being made to suffer. I was angry about the way her family treated her from the beginning. It seemed that she had never really known love, and through a cruel twist of fate she ended up with Matteo and would spend the rest of her life as a loveless slave. I was glad to see that didn't happen.
The mob lifestyle painted in this book is horrific, particularly for the women. To be fair, I've read some pretty horrific real-life stories about mob women, so it is probably not super far-fetched that wives are treated as described in the book.
This was my first read by this author, and I will definitely be back for more!
If you like a dark read along the lines of Aleatha Romig, Willow Winters, Sam Mariano, and Anna Zaires I suspect you would enjoy this book.

[Thea™ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was on a Ginger Talbot reading spree after reading the Blue-eyed Monsters series and the Chicago Crime Family (dark mafia hate stories) series! After being a little disappointed with the Chicago Crime Family books, I decided to not read Matteo. But then my friend told me she really liked it... and I gave it a chance.
And man... am I glad I read this book! It's in the same line as the Chicago Crime Family, also a dark mafia hate story... yet very different. And... I loved it! 💖😍💖
(BTW, no idea why Matteo is not part of that series!? Or is it part of the series and just not correctly added to GoodReads?)
Anyway: I'm definitely a Ginger Talbot-fan and will keep an eye out for her books!



❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🖤

[RoseyLovesBooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Senator’s daughter Bailey Millhouse is woken up by the brutally handsome Matteo who breaks into her friends' bedroom and threatens her. Bailey, whose real name is Natasha Dubrova, finds out she's adopted after her real father kidnaps her and tells her he has 30 days to make her ready for her husband. Bailey is rescued by her fiancé mob boss Matteo Rossi, who explains how they became engaged, then takes her to a manor to train her. With the many lessons Natasha's expected to take, cleaning the whole manor every day, then having her efforts sabotaged by Matteo's live-in mistress and getting punished for disobedience, she has no energy to plot her escape. Thoughts of escape dessert Natasha after she and Matteo connect, but with many enemies plotting Natasha's demise, she may not make it to her wedding day. Not only that, things aren't as they appear to be. Will Natasha and Matteo get their HEA together?

Ginger Talbot delivers a dark, intriguing and suspenseful story full of twists and turns for a book that's a page turner