Ivan

Underworld #1

by Sophie Lark

A Dark Mafia Romance

She Tried To Kill Me...

She crept into my room with a syringe full of poison.

Now she’s my prisoner.

She refuses to tell me who sent her or why.

But I’ll get every last secret out of her. Through pleasure or through punishment.

I captured her and now she belongs to me…
“Emerald” is a dark and dominating mafia romance, Book 5 in the Colors of Crime series. It’s a stand-alone novel, full of intrigue, danger, and sexy bedroom scenes. Contains spanking, so if such material offends you, do not read.

Genres: Romance, Dark Romance, Mafia Romance, Enemies To Lovers, Dark, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance

304 pages, Paperback

First published February 12, 2020

About the author

Powerful Romance

Special Editions & Exclusive Stories:
https://sophielark.com/

Sophie lives in Southern California with her husband and three children. Her favorite authors are Emily Henry and Freida McFadden. She’s an Aquarius who loves fitness and looks forward to Halloween every year.

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

UMM HELLO I AM OBSESSED. HOW WAS THIS BOOK SO AMAZING. Gahhhhh. My only complaint is that I would have loved for this to be longer. Sloane is an assassin and she gets the job of a lifetime; kill a huge mafia leader. She knows it'll be dangerous, but she needs the money. She doesn't expect to be captured when she's moments away from killing her target. Ivan is intrigued by the woman who managed to come closer than anyone else to killing him. He keeps her locked in her basement and the two quickly realize they have an undeniable chemistry. I absolutely loved their dynamics and how they slowly just trusted each other even though they knew they shouldn't. There was a lot of action and danger in this book and the romance was just so good. I'm so obsessed with this book and can't wait to pick up Snow next!!

[Giorgia Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

I loved this book. If it had been slightly longer and perhaps had a more complicated storyline, it could have been an easy 5 stars.

The best part about it is that there weren’t any cliches. I loved how we got introduced to the main characters separately and they both were pretty great. Sloan was what I wish most heroines would be, truly a strong, intelligent and focused person. And Ivan, he was the boss but not in all aspects of his life, there was a good balance and no power plays beyond the stuff that happened when they met. It was such an equal and healthy relationship, that I’m actually surprised.

There was a scene at about the 35% mark (when he catches her trying to kill him and employs some very questionable methods of interrogation) where I thought everything was gonna go down the drain and the book was gonna be ruined for me. I don’t enjoy unnecessary ”domination and punishment” scenes. I genuinely think that 90% of the romance books with such scenes don’t need them, adding them in feels almost perfunctory at this point and in most cases it ruins the book for me no matter how good the rest of the story is. That being said, this wasn’t bad, it kinda worked in that scenario but only because Sloan was such a badass and I truly felt like no one and I mean no one can make her bend to their will or make her do anything she doesn’t want to do. It almost felt like she was playing the game because she enjoyed it. But like I said, this is a one in a million scenario for me. Usually these scenes do not fit in - and I would absolutely love it if authors didn’t feel like they need to put one in their story. I think if you write your male characters well enough - that dominant energy that many authors try to write, will be obvious in the personality, actions and words of the male MC and therefore there will be no need to cheap tricks.

Back to this book: I loved it and I can’t wait to read the next one.

[Warda · Rating 4 out of 5]

But why did this have to end???? I could’ve easily read several hundred pages more.

I loved the romance. The plot, it was well-paced, well-written, well developed. I wouldn’t change a thing. Except make it longer. Ivan and Sloane were a dream team!

[Milina’s library · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Edit, making this 4.5 after some thought LOL bc i love ivan and Sloan )
It has been an eternity since i was capable of reading a book in one sitting and this book just totally consumed me all night until I finished it, Sophie never fails to make me excited and enamored with her powerful couples and passionate love stories. This book is very quick, so they fall for each other quickly, but when Ivan and sloan meet it is obvious to both of them that they are each other’s equals. It is literally my dream to find a love like this, a love where you look at the other person and immediately know no one would understand and respect you as much as them. No miscommunication, because Sophie never does that, and just pure intelligent mafia scheming and passionate love. Yes.

[Crystal's Bookish Life · Rating 5 out of 5]

I freaking LOVED this. Our heroine is a gritty self made assassin who falls in love with the Mafia boss she's hired to hit? LOVED IT.

[Booknerdingout · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too insta-love for me.

She’s an assassin. ( I was hoping for a bad ass heroine.. meh) He’s head of the Petrov Bratva, a bad ass mother fcker ( only he’s not?)
The story started out pretty good and had me excited for what was to come. But 2.5 seconds after the pair meet he was making her cum. Shortly after that he was inviting her up to his room. It was all so rushed. I never felt their chemistry & just could not take their characters seriously.

[Jenn (The Book Refuge) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reread, just because.

Did I bump it up to 5 stars? Yes I did.

Would I die for Sloane and Ivan? Yes. Yes I would.

5 Stars
3.5 on the spice scale.

******************

This was a great start to the series for me. I didn't know what to expect after loving the Brutal Birthright series so much but this was an amazing beginning.

It went my too fast for me but Sloane and Ivan were so endearing. Their immediate recognition of a like soul and the connection they find in a strange situation... I was enthralled.

I can't wait to read more.

[Dani · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️

Who allowed a mafia romance to be this cute??!

I mean, I'd also like my assassination plan to fail and for me to get caught only to be treated like a hotel guest instead of a prisoner 💅🏻

[Susan's Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to BookSirens, the author and publisher for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
I normally don't read gangster/mafia/bratva based stories. Sorry, but criminals are not romantic to me AT ALL. However, the blurb for this one captured my interest. A paid assassin is caught by a leading Bratva member while she attempted to kill him. Hmmmmm, let me give this one a shot!

I knew I would have to skim over many violent scenes (and Yep, that happened - a lot!) but the chemistry between Ivan and Sloane was there almost from the very beginning. He had a begrudging respect for a woman who could breach his security system and make it this close to killing him. Ivan doesn't torture the truth out of Sloane in the conventional manner. I'll let you get there yourself. At the end of the story, Ivan still has to come to Sloane's rescue, but that last scene, where she collaborates with him over her rescue, was priceless - and shocking!

In summary, Sophie Lark writes intelligent action/thriller/romance novels. I highly recommend this one - I had to finish it in one sitting! I'm rating this one a 4.25 out of 5.

[Madison · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I don’t know what I enjoyed more: her pain or her pleasure."

One of my new favourite books! Ivan was my first ever Mafia romance novel, and I am never looking back. I would reread this novel, and that is not something I say lightly.

This is the story of an American hitwoman in Russia being paid to take out one of the most prominent Bratva Bosses, Ivan, and being captured by him instead.

Their sexy banter has me squealing, and the raw attraction they felt for one another was on a whole other steam level. I loved Sloane because she was a capable and kickass women who knew how to fight for herself. Even when Ivan started to show kindness towards her, she still took the first opportunity she had to escape-and I appreciated that. She is headstrong and confident, but isn't afraid to admit when she is wrong. I loved the way she teased Ivan and I fell in love with their romance. Ivan was amazing because he was a true Bratva boss, brutal and ruthless. I loved his POV because we got to see just how violent the mafia could get, and I didn't shy away from any of the violence-in fact, it was my favourite part. Too often we don't see enough action in mafia romances, but Sophie Lark pulled out all the stops in this book. It almost felt like watching an action movie at times!

I cannot wait to continue this series and I have placed Sophie Lark on my list of go-to authors.

[Milla · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was slightly goofy but gave big Jessica Gadziala vibes so I had a great time.

[Lover of Romance · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review was originally posted on Addicted To Romance

This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review.

Ivan is the first book in the Underworld series and is the next book that I felt I need to read to work my way to the BIG series by this author. For those of you that don’t know, this is an author where you have to read her books in order and some of her best books are her most current series she is finishing up. So Ivan is part of that journey and I had such high expectations of this one here. I am not going to lie, EVERYONE seems to rave about this book and so I was highly nervous to read it because I didn’t want to be so disappointed and I can definitely see why so many readers have a deep love for this book. This couple are a powerhouse together and they are sweet perfection and I wish that I could have five starred this book but unfortunately I am not able to, I did have some issues with this book that kept it was a full five star read for me. But I will say that it was an amazing book and that I really really enjoyed the hell out of it. The basics of this story is that our heroine is a professional assassin, and she is hired to do a hit on our hero Ivan, who is the head of the Mafia family he is the head of. But our heroine gets captured and they begin this sensual dance with each other and soon love enters the picture, and they become partners in bringing down their enemy and I absolutely adored this one. But my issue with this book is that it was too SHORT!! This book needed at least 300-400 pages of length in my opinion. It had so much potential and could have had so much more depth and I felt like the couple deserved more page time and they just didn’t get it. I just felt like the relationship went from hating each other, then allies and we like each other and now we love each other and it felt so fast in those transitions and there could have been more focus on building their relationship and it just felt like it needed more. I mean I read this 200 page book in less than an hour, it was a fast read but I just wished for more relationship development to add more intimacy and layers that I felt it needed. But overall a very solid read that I really enjoyed.

Trigger Warnings:
Violence, Death

[Mareeva · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars

As a Russian, it's basically impossible for me to find culturally accurate books about Russia (in the romance genre). Although I will admit some tiny details were actually impressive. They were small, like the mention of a real Russian pop singer Nyusha, and some animals that are actually quite known and used in Russia (the dogs guarding Ivan's compound and the mentioned fox). As well as the locations in St. Petersburg were accurate.

However, the fact that some dialogue felt off, leads to the assumption that the author researched on the internet more than actually spoke to a Russian person. Which is fine, not everyone has a Russian speaker on beck and call.

Anyways, the book in itself started out well but then it kind of sped off on rocket speed. I finished it in a couple of hours, not including the breaks. For a romance (at least for me) that was not enough time to actually connect with the characters or experience their feelings towards each other.

It was also a very "flowery" mafia book. I long gave up on mafia romance to be accurate to real life. Safe to say a real Bratva is nothing like it is portrayed in the book.

[mira · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.75⭐️

“You’re mine forever, my little love,” Ivan says. “My own grim reaper.”

even though this is a short read, its def my fav sophie lark book yet. i mean wow. i love love love sloane. i swear i didn't even care about the romance because of how obsessed i was with her. she's def one of my fav heroines. ahhh we need more girl characters like that. she needs no man. fuck men. jk we love ivan, he's hot af.

i love how quick this read was—yes i know its only like 250 pages but i swear i've read books shorter than felt like 700+ page books.

the only thing that put me off is that they've known each other for like 3 days and they said they love each other. mhmmmmm cute but???? i wanted this a bit longer. but still idgaf i love this book.

i am OBSESSED. actually so so obsessed i won't stop thinking about this book.

i can't stop thinking about sloane. she's just a bad b i love her. i want more of this book.

[Kristie (read_between.the_wines) · Rating 4 out of 5]

quick hot mafia read!

She comes to kill him, he takes her captive, they fall in love. What more could you ask for?! This is a little instalove with a dash of thrill! Really enjoyed it, would be a good mafia palate cleanser.

[rach⭑]

DNF @ 35%

wdym she becomes aroused when the man she just tried to kill, ties her to a chair to what she assumes is to kill her?

you’re telling me this cold, badass, hit woman gets horny when she gets caught?

make it make sense

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

What does it say about me that my favorite heroines are manipulative, cunning, resourceful?

Sloane was a force of nature. I found myself highlighting passages about her upbringing with an ex-CIA father who seemed to have developed mental issues and trained and tortured her.

My father's the one who taught me, trained me. At first, eh was trying to protect me, in case any of the skeletons in his closet came crawling out, looking for revenge. But after a certain point, he must have known he was creating a weapon. All those countless hours of study, of drills, of him repeating his endless lists of rules... what did he expect me to do with it all? Did he think I'd become a schoolteacher after all that?

Ivan and Sloane are a perfect match. There was a line I loved about how Ivan says he sees qualities of himself in Sloane and that's why he adores her - and then he wonders if that makes him narcissistic.

Just a super super enjoyable read, even though the first 25% gave me anxiety.

[Witchyromancereader · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s too “insta love” for me, it just shouldn’t be that easy, especially given the killing and prisoner scenario. Not too mention a Bratva boss should not be so soft.. let’s just say this book had potential but I was disappointed

[✧ FLINN ✧ (Semi-Hiatus)]

I don’t mind insta-lust/love when it’s well done but this one? Nope, too cringey for my taste. Not the biggest fan of the characters neither, especially Ivan that was a living, breathing cliche of how Russian/mafia men are supposedly.

[Ta || bookishbluehead · Rating 4 out of 5]

After finishing the Brutal Birthright series, I wanted to jump right into the follow-up series Kingmakers. What I learned though, was that you should have read at least the first four books in the Underworld series. At least if you follow advice from TikTok.

I adore Sophie Larks books; it’s no secret and I enjoyed this book. Sloane was an interesting character; it was fun to watch her weasel her way around Russia as a hitman (or hitwoman in her case). But we only graze the surface when it comes to the characters, we don’t get to really know them, it lacked character development.

Also, the romance was insta-romance. Ivan and Sloane meet, if you can call it that and barely a few days later they are falling in love. Here, too, more substance to the story and everything around it, would have been nice.

Overall, a short and sweet ride, which I still enjoyed. I’m looking forward to the next one.

[Renegade ♥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

[Tori - Novel Life · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars

Let me just say that Sloane is such a badass and I want to be her when I grow up!! She is literally so awesome. I really liked Ivan too. The moment he saw Sloane, he just knew she would be someone special to him.

[RachelReadsandSings · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was *chef’s kiss*. Sloane and Ivan are truly GOALS 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

PS Do yourself a favor and read the bonus scene 🥵

[TheBookPlatypus · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt like this was your average run-of-the-mill mafia romance. It was a complete and total Insta love story. I would not consider this one dark at all. A quick light and fluffy mafia book.


We have 31 year old Sloane who’s hired to kill someone and fails..

“She’s a hitman! A hitwoman. I don’t know what the fuck you even call it, when it’s a girl so goddamned gorgeous that you can hardly look at her without throwing her down on the floor and fucking her.”

Of course he’s instantly attracted to her. Ivan attempts to be a hardass but he’s one of the most softest Russian mafia men I’ve ever read about.

The story was not bad. The writing was not bad. I enjoyed the book. It just wasn’t anything special.
It was a nice introduction to author Sophie Lark.

These two instantly get together and find they have a common enemy. So there’s killing and then a nice HEA.
I’d say this is a sweet romance!

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

***AVAILABLE NOW****

3.5 STARS

Thus begins my underworld binge…

What I loved:

1. Sloane and Ivan are freaking fantastic together, partners, equals.
2. I really loved that Ivan wanted an equal to rule with and the Sloane was this female assassin who could do this on her own.
3. Good action and steam as always with a Sophie book.
4 Loves the premise of the plot

What I needed more of:

1. More story. This read very much like a novella to me even though it is a novel. So many good pieces to this story that really could have been developed.
2. This is very insta-love, which doesn’t really bother me.
3. As a mafia book, I expect some level of dark but Ivan was a bit of a softie. I wish he would have had a bit more grit to him.

Now onto Snow.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I know you’re a wild thing, malen’kaya lisa,” he says. My little fox. “But what you’ll come to understand is that I’m going to tame you.”

Ivan is the newest Bratva boss in St.Petersberg, but in his ascent to power he upset some people. Enter Sloane, who has been hired to kill him. She has never missed her mark - until Ivan.

This was such an amazing mafia romance. Sloane was such a badass main character. She is the only one who can match Ivan in skill and ruthlessness, and the two are a matched pair. Their romance was super spicy, and I was on the edge of my seat the entire time.

[nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

At this point I'm convinced that I would sell my soul to read Sophie's grocery list ajskskskks. Hands down one of my top 3 authors currently🥰❤

[Sheena ☆ Book Sheenanigans · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Jennifer Hinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m not going to write a full review but I had to at the very least state how amazing Ivan & Sloane are. Snow showing up in The Bully (Kingmakers) and the connection I know they will have with The Spy, I had to dive right into the Underworld Series and I’m glad I did!

Ivan & Sloane are fire, I devoured this book in a single sitting and found myself wanting even more by the end of it. I love me some Aida but Sloane might just be the baddest bitch in Lark Land. And Ivan? My God that man…..I will say it again, I don’t know if Sophie’s capable of creating a bad antihero bc all of her men so far have been delicious.

Overall this book is a definite add to your TBR if you haven’t read it already. It’s perfectly paced, action packed, and filthy hot.

[kara · Rating 3 out of 5]

She’s an assassin, that’s hot.
She tried to kill him, that’s hot.