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SPIDER'S WEB
My name is known far and wide in the seedy underworld of the illegal drug trade. I’m known to be calculating and ruthless. I’ll find your weakness, and I’ll slowly and methodically dismantle everything you are without ever shedding a drop of blood.
When a rival’s daughter enters my territory with an intriguing offer, I find myself striking the deal of a lifetime. She’s the key to taking down a man that I’ve spent half my life wanting to destroy. With her help, I can now take down his empire without the inevitable collateral damage or spilling of innocent blood.
The little vixen has claws though, and she’s not parting with all the information she holds until her demands are met. We both might want the same thing, but I don’t play well with others—especially when they’re impossible to control.
Lucky for her, I enjoy a good challenge.
Recommended for ages 18+.
When a rival’s daughter enters my territory with an intriguing offer, I find myself striking the deal of a lifetime. She’s the key to taking down a man that I’ve spent half my life wanting to destroy. With her help, I can now take down his empire without the inevitable collateral damage or spilling of innocent blood.
The little vixen has claws though, and she’s not parting with all the information she holds until her demands are met. We both might want the same thing, but I don’t play well with others—especially when they’re impossible to control.
Lucky for her, I enjoy a good challenge.
Recommended for ages 18+.
190 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 30, 2019
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
April 30, 2021
⎯» Rating: 3.25 Stars
⎯» Genre: Dark Contemporary Romance
⎯» POV: Dual—First Person
❥
❥
This is only the second book I’ve read by this author, and much like Caught in the Devil’s Snare, I found Dani Matthews’ writing style to be fluid and professional. That being said, I do rate books based on my personal enjoyment, which is heavily influenced by certain tropes or character archetypes; so take everything I say with a grain of salt.
The Heroine:
I’m very picky with my heroines when it comes to mafia/cartel romances; I prefer them to be badassess who thrive in the dangerous world they live in. In the first chapter, Catalina appeared to be exactly that, coming across as confident, calculating, and capable. But it’s soon revealed that she wasn’t aware that her father—and by extension she—was a part of the criminal underworld until he had her boyfriend murdered six months prior.
Wanting revenge on her father, Catalina collects every piece of vital information on his cartel that she can find, so that she can present it to a rival cartel for them to use to take him down. All of the information that she collects is stored in her head—thanks to her near photographic memory—which she uses to negotiate for protection until her father’s taken care of. It’s at this point that Catalina has nothing more to bring to the table, and turns into the type of heroine who overestimates her understanding of a situation and puts herself into danger. There was always a reason behind her actions, which made it near impossible to be annoyed with her and her poor choices.
If I take the heroine out of the story and judge her based on her character alone, I find her both admirable and likeable—I’d love her in a new-adult/college romance book. However, her character in the world of the cartel just doesn’t mesh well for me.
The Hero:
Nikolas is the type of anti-hero I enjoy in my mafia/cartel stories. He’s built up an empire from scratch that is based on loyalty and honor. Which, let me be honest, if I’m reading a book where a main character is going to lead a criminal empire, it can be as brutal and bloody as it wants, but I want said empire to have standards and integrity. He definitely falls under the category of controlling alpha with a secret soft and vulnerable side.
The Plot:
The main antagonist is Mario Herrera, Catalina’s father. Nikolas has spent years building his own cartel and rising in power all with the goal of dismantling Herrera’s operation before killing him as an act of revenge for killing someone important to him. The key to accomplishing this comes in the form of the heroine, Catalina, who Herrera had kept secret by sending her off to boarding school. The only reason she’s now on Nikolas’ radar is because Herrera planned to grow his empire by merging with another organization—headed by Francisco Navarez—through the marriage of Catalina and Navarez’s son.
This agreement couldn’t come to pass while Catalina was with someone else, thus the murder of her boyfriend Zac. With no close relationships with friends or family, Zac was the only constant in Catalina’s life. So his death sent her to a dark place where she came close to welcoming death. It was only the belief that her death would make Zac’s death pointless that kept her from ending it all. She then dedicated herself to avenging his death, which leads her to Nikolas.
Overall, this is an intriguing plot, but it contains a trope that I’m not a fan of: heroine who is driven by the death of the man she loved, meets the hero and falls in love with him after realizing that the love that she thought she felt for the other guy is nothing in comparison to the love she has for the hero.
Catalina’s love for Zac was the catalyst behind the entire plot, so for that love to be chalked up as convenient...ugh. Also, we only got one flashback to Catalina and Zac together, and it wasn’t anywhere near enough for me to form an emotional connection with the couple so I could better understand the loss that Catalina felt after his death. Which is kind of important because—once again—it’s the catalyst for the entire story.
Final Thoughts:
Given that my problems with this book have to do with personal taste rather than quality, I would 100% recommend it to anyone else who's considering reading it. The author writes with a skill that is hard to find, and she deserves more recognition.
❥
⎯» Labels:
•Stand Alone
•Enemies-to-Lovers
•Fake Relationship
•Business Deal
•Slow Burn
•Revenge
•Criminal World
•Hero:
—Anti-hero
—Boss (Head of Cartel)
—Alpha-male
—Powerful
—Protector
•Heroine
—Daughter of Antagonist
—Maiden/Damsel
—Photographic Memory
—Mourning o.m.
⎯» Triggers:
•Death
•Depression
•Drugs
•Self Harm
•Suicide Attempt
•Violence
⎯» Genre: Dark Contemporary Romance
⎯» POV: Dual—First Person
❥
“He’s the spider running every sticky, symmetrical strand in his web that is Los Angeles. He’s a predator, and if you get caught in his web through betrayal, you’ll wish to God you hadn’t.”
❥
This is only the second book I’ve read by this author, and much like Caught in the Devil’s Snare, I found Dani Matthews’ writing style to be fluid and professional. That being said, I do rate books based on my personal enjoyment, which is heavily influenced by certain tropes or character archetypes; so take everything I say with a grain of salt.
The Heroine:
I’m very picky with my heroines when it comes to mafia/cartel romances; I prefer them to be badassess who thrive in the dangerous world they live in. In the first chapter, Catalina appeared to be exactly that, coming across as confident, calculating, and capable. But it’s soon revealed that she wasn’t aware that her father—and by extension she—was a part of the criminal underworld until he had her boyfriend murdered six months prior.
Wanting revenge on her father, Catalina collects every piece of vital information on his cartel that she can find, so that she can present it to a rival cartel for them to use to take him down. All of the information that she collects is stored in her head—thanks to her near photographic memory—which she uses to negotiate for protection until her father’s taken care of. It’s at this point that Catalina has nothing more to bring to the table, and turns into the type of heroine who overestimates her understanding of a situation and puts herself into danger. There was always a reason behind her actions, which made it near impossible to be annoyed with her and her poor choices.
If I take the heroine out of the story and judge her based on her character alone, I find her both admirable and likeable—I’d love her in a new-adult/college romance book. However, her character in the world of the cartel just doesn’t mesh well for me.
The Hero:
Nikolas is the type of anti-hero I enjoy in my mafia/cartel stories. He’s built up an empire from scratch that is based on loyalty and honor. Which, let me be honest, if I’m reading a book where a main character is going to lead a criminal empire, it can be as brutal and bloody as it wants, but I want said empire to have standards and integrity. He definitely falls under the category of controlling alpha with a secret soft and vulnerable side.
The Plot:
The main antagonist is Mario Herrera, Catalina’s father. Nikolas has spent years building his own cartel and rising in power all with the goal of dismantling Herrera’s operation before killing him as an act of revenge for killing someone important to him. The key to accomplishing this comes in the form of the heroine, Catalina, who Herrera had kept secret by sending her off to boarding school. The only reason she’s now on Nikolas’ radar is because Herrera planned to grow his empire by merging with another organization—headed by Francisco Navarez—through the marriage of Catalina and Navarez’s son.
This agreement couldn’t come to pass while Catalina was with someone else, thus the murder of her boyfriend Zac. With no close relationships with friends or family, Zac was the only constant in Catalina’s life. So his death sent her to a dark place where she came close to welcoming death. It was only the belief that her death would make Zac’s death pointless that kept her from ending it all. She then dedicated herself to avenging his death, which leads her to Nikolas.
Overall, this is an intriguing plot, but it contains a trope that I’m not a fan of: heroine who is driven by the death of the man she loved, meets the hero and falls in love with him after realizing that the love that she thought she felt for the other guy is nothing in comparison to the love she has for the hero.
“And now, here I stand, aching for another man in ways that I never ached for Zac. Everything was so…easy with him. I always knew what he was feeling, and that he’d be there for me. I felt safe with him, content even. Nikolas makes me feel so much more.”
Catalina’s love for Zac was the catalyst behind the entire plot, so for that love to be chalked up as convenient...ugh. Also, we only got one flashback to Catalina and Zac together, and it wasn’t anywhere near enough for me to form an emotional connection with the couple so I could better understand the loss that Catalina felt after his death. Which is kind of important because—once again—it’s the catalyst for the entire story.
Final Thoughts:
Given that my problems with this book have to do with personal taste rather than quality, I would 100% recommend it to anyone else who's considering reading it. The author writes with a skill that is hard to find, and she deserves more recognition.
❥
⎯» Labels:
•Stand Alone
•Enemies-to-Lovers
•Fake Relationship
•Business Deal
•Slow Burn
•Revenge
•Criminal World
•Hero:
—Anti-hero
—Boss (Head of Cartel)
—Alpha-male
—Powerful
—Protector
•Heroine
—Daughter of Antagonist
—Maiden/Damsel
—Photographic Memory
—Mourning o.m.
⎯» Triggers:
•Death
•Depression
•Drugs
•Self Harm
•Suicide Attempt
•Violence
Displaying 1 of 1 review