Casino King

Carfano Crime Family #1

by Rebecca Gannon

Tessa
Every week he sits at the same table, half in the shadows, watching me. Raw power rolls off of him in waves, and because of him, I dance better than I ever have before.

I only know him as A, the simple signature he uses on every note left for me at the end of each show. But I want to know more. I want to know if his eyes are as dark as they feel, and I want to know if his touch will burn as much as his gaze promises it will. He keeps his distance, though, until the night I need saving, and I’m swept away to his castle in the sky.

The moment I lock eyes with him, I feel my world tilt. He brings out a part of me I’ve kept hidden away, but so desperately need to be. I know I should run in the opposite direction when I find out who he is, but I take a step closer instead. And even when I try to run, he has other plans. Alec Carfano isn’t a man to let what’s his go easily, and there’s no question that I’m his.


Alec
Tessa Lyons is mine.
She became my obsession the moment I saw her.
There’s a darkness in her that matches my own, hiding just below her cover of innocence. It calls to me, begging me to coax it out of her so she can join me in the shadows where I live.

I stayed away as long as I could, not wanting the evils of my world to touch her. But when the evils of hers dares to, I use the opportunity to finally take her. And now that I have her, I refuse to let her go.

She doesn’t know who I am or what I’m capable of, but she’ll soon find out just how far I’ll go to keep her safe. No matter the cost, I’ll do anything to protect her. Nothing will stop me from keeping the one thing in my life that makes me feel anything good.

Genres: Romance, Mafia Romance, Dark Romance, Dark, Contemporary, Smut, Contemporary Romance

344 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 8, 2021

About the author

Rebecca is a dreamer through and through with permanent wanderlust. She's a lover of all things romance and writes what she loves to read, which is a little of everything!

When she's not writing, you can find her *attempting* to curb her online shopping problem while sipping an iced coffee and planning her next road trip!

🖤
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Reviews

[Val ⚓️ Shameless Handmaiden ⚓️]

3 Smut Scale Stars

This definitely wasn't the best thing I've read, by any means, and my rating is definitely inflated...the story was rough, there was a lot more telling than showing, it was light on the actual mafia element, and the sex scenes sometimes had a weird flow to them...

But this was exactly what I was in the mood for and I enjoyed it a lot.

Super mafia-lite.
Super OTT obsessed alpha male.
A little too insta-lovey.

But I don't care. It hit the spot.

[Brittany (Brit.tea.reads)]

🩰Tessa & Alec 🖤

𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝑻𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂. 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒐 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒆 𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒔.

Wow, I mean, talk about obsessed. This man is a goner for his beautiful little dancer. He watches her every chance he gets, and when she’s done, waiting for her backstage is a black roses, a black box with jewelry in it, and a handwritten note from her secret admirer, A.
This new man makes her feel things she's never felt, and she can't get enough of him.

𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰’𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒖𝒍.

Tessa has been on her own for years. Her parents died when she was young, and her brother James raised her, but 6 years ago he was murdered, and Alec vows to find the people responsible.

𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒎𝒆.

Alec is unhinged, controlling, and crazy jealous when it comes to his queen Tessa.
She makes Alec crazy; she consumes his every thought. It’s getting harder for him to focus; he is lashing out and making poor choices as a businessman/mafia boss. The last thing he needs is any distractions. Still, he’ll never give her up, even when she learns of the biggest betrayal; she wants nothing to do with him. Can he win her love and trust, or will he lose her forever?

🩰Obsessive & Possessive
🖤MINE
🩰Buys her gifts and roses
🖤Would do anything, even 💀 for her
🩰Calls her my beautiful rose “mia Bella Rosa”
🖤Unalives anyone who harms her or puts her in harm's way
🩰Innocent FMC
🖤Takes care of her
🩰 Only has eyes for her
🖤 Never lets her talk down about herself
🩰Dirty talker
🖤Would burn the world down for her
🩰Jealous and unhinged

𝑴𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒓. 𝑰𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒉𝒆’𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒉𝒆’𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕, 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒇 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔, 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒂 𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒆’𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒆.

I'm enjoying the Carfano Crime Family series, and with the little teaser we got at the end, I can't wait to read Leo’s book!

[Penny]

DNF @40%

Maybe it's me but this book didn't work for me. The beginning was OK but then I pushed myself to keep reading.

It was too insta-lust/love for me and I couldn't feel the chemistry between the MCs. Tessa was a doormat of a heroine, she did everything Alec told her to. Also, it was quite funny when Alec spoke to her in Italian and she had no idea what he told her but she didn't bother asking him. Having said that, it was also frustrating because the author didn't offer a translation and I had to look for it online.

I haven't read many mafia romance books so it's not like I'm an expert but this one wasn't well executed and the writing style wasn't for me.

[Natalia]

Dnf @60%

I was struggling with the book...
The insta Lust, the obsession, the way she knows she shouldn't do / accept those things but keeps letting him do whatever he wants with her.

Then the H shoots her bodyguard/friend in front of her and when she asks him for space to deal with it, he refuses and literally "assaults" her, saying he will f*ck the anger out of her not once but twice. (Before and after the news of the friend death)
There's a fine between being dominant and abusive.

[Maryse]

I read books like this because for a little while I feel like I could be living this exciting life where a dark and mysterious man sees me and goes out of his way to be with me. I know these stories aren't believable but it doesn't stop me from fantasising. It is the small, realistic details that help with this fantasy. Putting me in the FMC shoes and imagining this powerful and dangerous man sweeping me off my feet.

This book, unfortunately, lacked those details and it was noticeable. For example, every woman knows that when you apply fresh red lipstick and a man kisses you, there is no way you don't need to do a touch up and the way Alec kissed Tessa, he would definitely need to wipe his mouth. It is also quite unlikely that she would be the exact same clothes and shoe size as Alec's sister. This detail just felt lazy to me. It would have made more sense, and been within his possessive nature, to have bought Tessa those clothes for one day when she does stay over. It's these little things throughout the book that made me feel like the author was more concerned about the sex scenes and less concerned about making this story believable and relatable.

And when I talk about the sex scenes, I am talking about the abundance of sex scenes in this book. To the point where I started skimming over some of them because they stopped being sexy and starting becoming boring. Too much of a good thing...
However, some of these scenes were really not good, in particular where Alec is so forceful in his intentions that it is bordering on rape and where Tessa is so angry but then just looks at him without a shirt on and 'her insides melt' and she gives in. After that particular scene and a later one where she finds out some terrible news, I just skimmed the rest of the book. The fire that Tessa was supposed to have (and would have made the book more interesting if it was believable) was non-existent and Alec just started to piss me off with his incredibly domineering ways.

I might have been interested in reading Leo's book but the more I think about how let down I felt about this book, the less likely I am to continue with the series.

[Paperbeautiful]

First off, I love mafia stories and gritty, dark romances...this was not it. Alec had no good qualities about him. He was obsessive, demanding, and just plain evil. He "assaults" the main character to get the anger out of her from him shooting her bodyguard, IN FRONT OF HER! And Tessa is just plain weak. She would be ready to face Alec and tell him how she really feels, but then she would see him and couldn't handle their attraction and go with it. Grow up woman! Alec never changed throughout the book, Tessa did not change or fix him, if anything he just got worse the more Tessa was with him. Throughout the book, Tessa should have left after the things that he did to her, but she stayed because she didn't want to be alone. Yeah no...

[Meredith is a hot mess]

The first person present tense was difficult for me to read. I'm not against authors using this whatsoever, but struggled with the writing style here. I'm also a picky mafia reader and was disappointed in the insta-lust - insta-obsession as other readers have described. Not much else going on beyond this insta-attraction/obsession.

[Maria11]

Good till the end

Was a 5 star read until they decide to have sex in the same room as someone they cut up and killed. That kinda pushed my boundaries and really to me didn’t need to happen. I was really enjoying it till then

[Anso]

learn to say no, babe

[bookspaced]

Casino King is the first book in Rebecca Gannons new mafia series.

This story is about Alec and Tessa. Tessa lost everything. Her parents died when she was a teenager and her brother died a few years after. She‘s alone. She only has her passion of dancing keeping her happy. While at one of her jobs she meets the handsome Alec. He‘s enarmoured with her and he wants her.

Alec is the second oldest son in the Carfano family. He owns this town, he‘s dangerois and oh so handsome!

Rebecca‘s writing for this series was just as good as her other books. I loved reading her small town romances and was excited to read something new and different from her.

I enjoyed this story alot. The characters were interesting, the story was pretty fast paced but I didn‘t mind that at all.

4 ⭐️

[Beeg Panda]

Free 3 Sept 2021
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08...

[Djg]

I've been so lazy about writing reviews lately and I want to do better so here goes.

This was a entertaining read and it kept my interest all the way through. The love scenes are mega-hot and the chemistry between the MCs is intense. No cheating.

The h is on her own, no family and supports herself working three jobs. Waitress, ballet teacher and her third job is dancing in a show once a week at an elite Atlantic City casino. This is where she catches the eye of the H the mafia-connected owner of the casino.

The issues I had with the story were not enough conversation between the the two MCs. Presumably they did have them over the course of their relationship but there was nothing on page and it made it hard to feel that they were in love. Not that they acted uncaring about each other but whenever they had conflict it would morph into angry sex and then be forgotten.

There were two huge incidents that should have been dealt with but were just swept under the rug and glossed over. It was a little frustrating where I thought the h would really stand up for herself and stick to her convictions but the H looks at her and she starts panting and lusting for him and just forgetting what was important to her a second ago. It made their story feel less real for me.

That being said I enjoyed it, I probably wouldn't re-read it for those reasons but I think I may read the next in the series because I'm intrigued.

[Shoshana Y]

This was kind of just a ridiculous story.

Insta love doesn’t bother me if it’s written well with characters that actually have personality. This girl gets assaulted in a parking lot after work. Her bodyguard who she has no clue about rescues her. Her big mafia guy demands she come to his apartment and she’s like okay. You’ve never met him and don’t know what he looks like but you’re like okay 🤷🏽‍♀️

That was basically her reaction to everything and I couldn’t stand it.

This dude killed her brother and doesn’t even apologize lol she ends up forgiving him because she can’t deny the connection. Like really ? You don’t talk to him for a week and all is forgiven ??? Ma’am.

I considered dnf’ing but I had to see the crazy play out

[Tammy]

Alec is a member of the Carfano mafia family along with his brothers and he has fallen hard for Tessa and watches her dance but never reveals himself. When she is attacked, he brings her to his penthouse and will do everything to keep her safe. Sparks fly between them but what will happen when she discovers who he really is? Fast-paced mafia read with intense chemistry and loads of drama and steam. I liked it.

[Brandi-Lynn Weiser]

I started this series out of order by reading book 2 first, but I never felt lost while reading book 1. I really enjoyed book 2, but book 1 was still really good. The beginning kind of dragged out a little, but by midway it picked up and didn’t slow until the end.
While I loved both Tessa and Alec, I really wanted Tessa to be stronger and not cave to Alec so easily. There were moments I thought she was going to be strong and stand her ground, and I guess she tried, but she caved. I was so pissed at what he did to Enzo, and I thought for sure she’d be angry and upset because Enzo was such a nice guy and friend to her. So for her to just roll over and forget it, I was pissed at both her and him. Then when she learned the truth about her brother I thought, ok this is it. This is what will drive her to really get space from Alec and stand up to him and be strong. But again, nope. I wanted her to call Leo and get out of that apartment and make Alec crazy with worry about her. To make him realize what he did.
Now don’t get me wrong, there were a lot of times I found his OTT obsessiveness and possessiveness down right sexy! And the chemistry between them was intense and undeniably hot.

[Brneyz]

Casino King is the first book in the series and my first book by this author. The book pulled me in from the beginning seeing the push and pull from the mysterious “A” who obviously admired the dancing of Tessa. I enjoyed the story of these two who had a strong chemistry they couldn’t deny. However, I would have liked more background of both Tessa and Alec. There wasn’t much about the day to day lives and who these two characters are or details on what their struggles have been. However, there is plenty of heat and the story was enjoyable. I look forward to reading the next book in the series.
I received an ARC for my honest review.

[Marissa Chavez]

Oh my goodness!!!! Tessa and Alec were everything! They had this intense chemistry! You knew it was going to be amazing! I love how protective he was of her! I loved seeing them together! Can’t wait to continue this series! 🌹🖤 I’m excited to read about Leo next! ❤️

[Alexia]

4,5/5⭐️

[ziyuan ʚɞ Reads Dark Smut.]

Another annoying af H.

[Sophia Wintonick]

Love a good quick mafia romance

[Maria (Ri)]

4.2 stars

Great start to what I think will be a new series. This is my first time reading this author but I will look for more in the future. There were minor issues in the story that I wished had been fleshed out. Alex was a definite jealous/possessive man. Some of that was pretty hot.

[Karen Lovvorn]

she was his from first sight.

She won’t have a choice. She will be his and only his. She will dance only for him. He will win her heart, body and soul.

[Tina Thompson]

First half good. Second half descends into madness!!!

Why did I get my hopes up with this book! 😢 It was going so well then, then it was just awful!

Tessa is a dancer in the casino that Alec owns. Alec is part of the mafia. He’s a very dark person. Every Friday night, she does a solo dance, that he watches. He becomes obsessed with her, and sends her black roses and jewellery after her performance. But he never meets her, because of who he is. When she is attacked outside the casino, Alec gets her to stay with him and the relationship begins.

This is a really serious complaint about this book! IF A WOMAN IS A VIRGIN, DON’T WRITE ABOUT THE MAN POUNDING INTO HER!! HE COULD DO SERIOUS DAMAGE TO HER INTERNALLY IF SHE TENSES UP IN PAIN!!! I can’t believe how angry I was at that. That she’s so turned on that she orgasms twice! Nope!

So this book could have been so much more than sex, sex, sex and more sex! They don’t have conversations, he treats her like she’s a possession, an object. Even when he does something really awful in front of her, he has sex with her! She’s traumatised by what he did and he wants to pound his anger away!!!!!! 😡😡😡😡😡

There is a plot twist that you can spot a mile off, as it’s so obvious. But she still forgives him for that as well!!!

It’s like the author who wrote this book, thought that she had to make him as dark as possible, as he is in the mafia. So whenever we could have seen some gentleness in him, it’s like she thought he couldn’t be gentle! It’s quite sad as there parts of the book where it was quite good.

I can forgive a lot of mistakes, spelling etc. I can’t forgive him taking her sexually after she’s traumatised by what he has done. It’s too much!

[Lo]

1.5... the extra .5 is because I could see other people liking this book but couldn't be me. I don't know why I even finished it. I really had to push myself through. These characters were so dumb. Alec crossed over the hot possessive line into just plain annoying line. He wouldn't even give Tessa space when she asked for it, and he didn't listen to her ever. They were insta-lust, which I knew going into it because the blurb mentioned Alec watching her dance from afar. Everything he did was driven by the need to have sex with her. I love some good smut but it was exhausting reading these two. Nothing really happened until 70% in. I'm so mad at the last 20%. Alec did NO groveling, and Tessa was spineless. She went back to him without even processing that he sent out the hit order on her brother. She never processed her brother's death at all. She runs back into his arms and says that she forgives him. He literally did nothing! And he was going to continue to do nothing even if you weren't kidnapped! He would've forced you into paying attention to him. He would have never given it to her. He wasn't a hot psychopath. He was annoying, and I wanted to slap him half of the time. He didn't respect her. And she had no backbone either. Ugh. She would have thoughts about how she doesn't want him to treat her like an object anymore but she does nothing about it to stand up for herself. The sex next to the dead kidnapper would've been hotter if they were any other couple. Those are my parting words

[Ronel Olver]

The story line, plot and idea are well thought out and interesting with a few twists and turns but the character development and personalities just don't do it justice.

Tessa is weak most of the time without much of a personality or back bone while Alec is an arrogant, controlling, self absorbing a$$ with no redeeming qualities. I just did not connect with the characters and I found the relationship between them lacking and boring at times and that the chemistry, romance and relationship between them was not very believable and strong.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Olivia ❦]

Did not like it, don’t get me wrong I love smut but it was ever 5 pages :/ no plot, didn’t like the characters and the ending was confusing of what they done, some people may find it hot but i found it disgusting

[Wminbc]

Dancing for him and the gifts start arriving!

[Gwen]

4 fabulous stars!

[Coco.V]

🎁 FREE on Amazon today (9/3/2021)! 🎁

[Charlene Gaskins]

Considering passing on this one. This story could have been much better had there not been so much emphasis on sex and more content to the actual storyline. Sometimes two main characters should not end up together.

I have never seen a novel that had a decent storyline CRASH AND BURN in the last few chapters to the degree that this story did. OMG...the characters went from tolerable to WT? I have read enough crime family genre to have a basic expectation in these novels: there must be some kind of redeeming quality by books' end, with the "darkest of anti-hero's and the most innocent of MFC's.

Alex's character not only lit the match, but dropped a bomb in this story to ruin a perfectly decent read that should have been a 3.5 rating instead of a 1.

The author dumbed down Tessa's character reducing her importance as a character in this book to a puppet who is controlled by a puppet master with sex. With the death of her brother and Enzo's death you will never convince me, as a reader, that she is going to accept what Alex is and what he does for a living. There is no "get out of jail" free card in this life. What you sign up for is what you get until DEATH DUE YOU PART.

Alex's character is so OTT, I actually expected him to accidentally/or on purpose kill her during their last few sex-capades in this book because he was so upset with her. The fact that this woman was soooo enamored with the big O and dirty sex just made her character seem simple minded and submissively dumbed down to the point of embarrassment. I had hopes for her character which died an untimely death in the last few chapters of this book. She chose to stay in a world she had no part being in. Often times (when you have read enough stories in this genre) these types of female character's don't have a long life expectancy. They end up dying by their husbands' hand, cheat with another man, or die by their husbands' enemies or drink themselves to death; or take their own lives. They become ghost's of their younger selves as is seen when addressing mother's who mysteriously die while the children are young.

The psychopathic phenomime is definitely alive in many of these dark obsessive anti-hero's that have a very dark side that craves absolute control, bloodlust, mayhem and death; sometimes resulting in the death of the very person they are so obsessed about. Alex's character is unable to keep a tight rope on his OTT obsession of Tessa even by books' end. The ending could have been much different, but this author chose this route which for some may seem "erotic and romantic" but for those of us that wants some injection of reality even in a fictional book, staged and anti-climatic.

There is no happy ending for characters that somehow "never get it".