Un prince cruel

Brutal Birthright #1

by Sophie Lark, Mylène Régnier (Translator)

He’s No Prince Charming…

Callum Griffin is the heir to the Irish Mafia. He’s ruthless, arrogant, and he wants to kill me.

We got off on the wrong foot when I set a (very small) fire in his house.

Our families believe a marriage pact is the only thing that will prevent all-out warfare.

I think I might need to murder him while he sleeps.

This would all be a lot easier if Callum wasn’t so damned good-looking.

But I’ve got a lockbox around my heart. Because even if I’m forced to marry him…

I could never love a brutal prince.

“Brutal Prince” is the explosive first act in the epic “Brutal Birthright” series. It’s a stand-alone Dark Mafia Romance, complete with HEA and no cliffhangers. It contains blazing hot bedroom scenes for mature readers only!!!

Genres: Romance, Dark Romance, Enemies To Lovers, Mafia Romance, Dark, Marriage Of Convenience, Contemporary

384 pages, Paperback

First published July 15, 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

[♥ℳelody · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF @ 33%

WTF is this? When I say Mafia romance I mean Mafia not Saved by the Bell amateur hour. This was my first attempt with Sophie Lark and I've heard a lot about this series in particular. But I don't know, going off of this her writing and characters are just not for me. The first red flag was that this is written in 1st person POV but in present tense which is really hard to get used to and you have to be a strong writer to pull it off. Unfortunately Lark is not a strong writer and her characters do not make you forget this annoying writing style. Or maybe this was just a case of a bad book for me. This felt more new adult than adult. I'm probably being harsher than necessary since I'm in a bad mood but this pissed me off.

I tried to hang in there to see where the story would go but the final straw for me was the wedding scene with the strawberry incident. The heroine Aida Galo decides it would be funny payback to poison her husband-to-be hero Callum Griffin who is allergic to strawberries by coating her mouth with the fruit when they kiss after saying their vows. He ends up in the emergency room. And she just shrugs it off saying he deserved it. I'm sorry but HOW IS THIS FUNNY? Hilarious? I'm not laughing. Using food allergies as a weapon or a prank is not cute but psycho behavior. Aida is childish but the writing makes it seem like she's a sassy "spitfire" girl who is just defending herself when really there is no defending to be had. It almost felt like Sophie Lark wants you to find the heroine's reckless messy ways endearing and capable but it falls so flat. You wanna throw the biggest tantrum over wearing a dress or getting your bikini waxed fine, but it's not gonna make me pat you on the back and say "you go girl". Neither is poisoning someone as retribution for something you started. Give me a break. Since the author wanted to go there with all the "men can't control me" bragging, then at least have your heroine have sense and not whine like a spoiled child about the messes she creates. Just saying.

Which leads me to my other big issue that left a bad taste in my mouth. This whole arranged marriage between the 2 rival families is set off over a stupid stunt the heroine pulls when her and her brothers crash the Griffin's swanky party and Aida decides to explore the house and she nearly gets caught snooping in the library by Callum. She decides the only way to get out of the room "unnoticed" is by setting the curtains on fire as a diversion and she pockets a family heirloom watch in the process. Why she takes the watch I have zero idea, it's never explained why. The hero tracks her and her brother down and he demands it back. But what does the little twat do? Refuses to give it back and watches her brother get pummeled for it instead by Callum's enforcer and gets his knee crushed in the process. Her brother who is her best friend who is a pro basketball athlete on a college scholarship who is completely innocent in this mess, so yes it's a very serious thing. All she does is just stand there cussing them out like a banshee refusing to give the fucking watch back and chucks the thing into the river instead.

Cause yeah...wow she's a smart one. Her brother lost his whole pro-ball career because of her and a stupid watch but I'm supposed to feel sorry for her cause she ends up in a MOC because of a reckless stunt of her own doing? No I don't think so. She pouts for a bit saying she's sorry and of course her brother doesn't blame her. I just......I can deal with spoiled. I can deal with rebellious. But selfish and stupid on top of it? No ma'am.


I've read spoiled heroines and I've read hellions who act first and think later. The problem here is Aida had zero depth outside of that loud crass mouth of hers. She's loud, rude, obnoxious, childish and self-absorbed. Everyone is a "punk ass bitch" to her and an attitude fitted for a teenager to go with it. She's the spoiled baby sister of the Galos who is supposed to come off like rough and tumble I guess tomboy girl but it doesn't really translate that way. She came off more lazy and spoiled who doesn't like to be told what to do. I love tomboy heroines who give as good as they get but this was not it. I wanted to strangle this little demon. This is clearly a hate to love romance but all Aida and Callum do is snipe and threaten each other which is no surprise and I'm sure there is more to come including "hot angry sex" but I don't care. They are both insufferable assholes. I want to read about characters who I want to root for, not immature childish idiots who think poisoning people as revenge is funny or stealing stuff on a whim cause they are bored. The hero Callum for his part was weak. He's a 30 year old man who lives at home running for the Aldermen position for his District but the way he acts and his dialogue didn't really ring impressive or manly to me. He's supposed to be 10 years older than Aida but it really didn't come off that way. No 30 year old guy says he wears suits to "look mature". 🙄 Just saying. Like I said, this felt more NA cause everyone talks like they are still in college.

I'm probably gonna regret this and I will have only myself to blame for it but I'm going to try Book 2 since Sebastian and Nessa seemed intriguing and only likable characters out of the bunch. And I believe in giving authors second chances. (ETA: And I just realized Nessa's hero is not Sebastian like I thought.)

[carmine · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've read Wattpad stories that were written better than this

[Larissa Cambusano · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️ YALLLL I ATE THIS UPPPP!!!! are you kidding? the dynamic, the aesthetic, the plot, the spice.. im obsessed w this series already. Every single one of the Gallos have me in a chokehold (I will say i’m specially interested in Dante 😏) I also adored the Griffins! AND THE WAY IT WAS A REAL ENEMIES TO LOVERS???!?! like my girly & my guy tried to unalive each other MULTIPLE TIMES!! Callum had no business being so hot, demanding & powerful but let me honest.. AIDA WAS THE STAR OF THE MF SHOW FOR MEEE, she fcking carried. Overall I loved every second, I could not put it down & it was so easy & fun to read. Sometimes mafia books get a lil confusing but this one was NOT LIKE THAT, everything was explained perfectly. & THE POWER SCENES IT HAD??? I have no words. I love me a good mafia romance & this one did not disappoint!

Aida Gallo, hand in mf marriage pls <3

“The great Callum Griffin. He’s their JFK, and I’m supposed to be their Jackie Kennedy. I’d rather be Lee Harvey Oswald.“🍓

[mina reads™️]

dnf @ 15% there’s no way this is the mafia book the girlies are creaming their jeans over…

[Paulina · Rating 1 out of 5]

i wish i was illiterate

[Val ⚓️ Shameless Handmaiden ⚓️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 Smut Scale Stars, Rounded Up

If you are trash for mafia romance like I am, this will totally feed your craving decently enough. It's definitely mafia-lite in terms of violence and grit...and the relationship between the H and h felt a little looser than I'd prefer...but overall I really enjoyed it and plan on reading the second one as soon as it comes out.

Thanks to my friend Leigh for leading me to yet another solid read.

[Warda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Am I getting anywhere with this mafia romance journey that I am on? Not really.

Will I continue? Yes. For now.

[vee! · Rating 4 out of 5]

— 4.75 stars ✰

"trust is rarer than love.
it's putting your fate, your happiness, your life
in someone's hands. hoping they keep it safe"

I DIDNT KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT
BUT IT CERTAINLY WASNT THIS

for some stupid idiotic dense brainless foolish mindless reason, i kept putting it off. so dumb, so incredibly dumb.

I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS BOOK, the tension, the banter, the bickering, everything. what satisfied me the most was the pacing of this book. most of the time when i read an enemies to lovers book they aren’t even really enemies because one of them liked the other secretly beforehand.. but not with this book, nope. they were enemies through and through and the way their relationship developed was at the perfect pacing

aida has to be one of the funniest fmc out there because i was reading this book in the middle of the night and started giggling. actually giggling. she’s a genius with a top tier humor & i want to be her. their pull and push was just so good and entertaining

honestly i'm so sad the book is over but i can’t wait to continue the series, especially nero's book 😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨

callum griffin 💕💗💘💓💖

"let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night,
and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt"

[L · Rating 3 out of 5]

they fucked twice and suddenly they’re in love 😧😧 not very enemies to lovers of them 🤨

[m · Rating 1 out of 5]

1 brutal star for one very not brutal prince

[ß · Rating 1 out of 5]

what business does a 30 yr old man have with a 19 yr old

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

UM HELLO WOW WAS NOT EXPECTING THAT AMAZING STORY. I know people have been loving Sophie Lark, which made me nervous because that meant I had super high expectations going into this book. But when the book started, I LOOOOVED Aida's character and how she's not the typical mafia romance heroine. She gets along well with her brothers, can hold her own in a fight, and has a curvy figure. She does something at a party that her and her brothers crashed that was hosted by one of their rival families, which causes so much tension that Aida is forced to marry Callum, one of the sons of that family. Callum is running for office and despises Aida, but there's no denying he's intrigued by their chemistry. Aida despises Callum too, but they marry to appease tension between their families.

This book was just everything I wanted in an enemies to lovers romance. They hate each other so much and literally almost kill each other at one point. They push each other's buttons, but they cannot avoid how attracted to each other they are. I loved the development of their relationship and completely believed how they fell for each other. Their relationships with their families were fun and this plot was non-stop action, which I loved. I was never bored and was DYING for them to admit they had feelings for each other. I definitely recommend you pick this up!!

[Giorgia Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars

What I liked most in this book was the humour and the lines exchanged between Aida and pretty much anyone else but particularly Callum. They honestly gave this story an extra star.

Overall, I’d say this was a decent mafia book. Not much angst, not much of a love story either, some action but nothing extraordinary, all in all it was average, but the good kind of average, because I finished it in record time and it was a quick, easy read.

[Karla Martínez · Rating 4 out of 5]

2023: 4 estrellas
no sé que mierda leyó la karla del 2022, pero disfruté demasiado este libro esta segunda vez

lo leí para mi vlog leyendo romance mafia: https://youtu.be/KZpjgza4nVU

2022: 1 estrella
no soy yo
eres tú

[lulu ☆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

જ⁀➴ 4.5 stars -`🍓´-

“You’re mine Aida,” “I’ll kill anyone who tries to touch you.”

~ Callum Griffin 😮‍💨😮‍💨
this book was definitely my cup of tea alright.

~ thank you sm ems for reading this with me! i had an amazing time 💌

[mai ༉‧⋆˚. · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5 ★

“𝙄𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙀𝙑𝙀𝙍 𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙠 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙮 𝙬𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣, 𝙄’𝙡𝙡 𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙘𝙡𝙞𝙥 𝙞𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙩.”

I was so excited to read this bc enemies to lovers?? Fake marriage?? Yes please 🤭🤭 and the book started so well with such good pacing and all plus the badass- AND JEALOUSY- scenes were just🤌, but the rest was not that good

Now I wanna start with saying this is not a bad book or anything, it just didn’t have the things in it that are, for me, necessary in a romance book.

“𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙮 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣.”

The plot was…. I don’t know what the plot was 🧍‍♀️I just finished this book a couple hours ago and I can not for the life of me remember what the big plot twist was. There was none.
I also hoped this would be slow burn but no they did it 35% in and after that they weren’t enemies anymore- not friends, no, but not enemies either and you would expect them to hate each other until the end bc he literally destroyed her brothers dream and she threw his most special possession away but no

Basically: Relationship development wasn’t done well in my opinion nor the character development. It should have been slower, bc a couple procent after the 35% mark things just started going way too fast and it was boring. The scenes in it were great to keep your attention, but the developments weren’t.

Owh And it wasn’t cute and romantic enough

“𝙄’𝙫𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙬𝙤 𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙨, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧.”

The relationship with the brothers made me very emotional- I literally cried 💀 bc of personal reasons I always become a mess reading about such relationships whether it is with brothers or whatever. I loved and hated those scenes at the same time but anyways we stan Sebastian bc he got two knees but only one sister jumping off a cliff right now.

I wish we got more Sebastian tho like the boy just dipped after that and made a small appearance in the end what was weird bc I would expect Aida to talk about him and visit him more but no

𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘶𝘮

“𝘽𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙠 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙮 𝙬𝙞𝙛𝙚,”

Listen, I don’t mind dark romance guys like one of my fave series is a dark romance serie, but I have a limit 😭 him doing that spa thing made me very uncomfortable and him finding it SEXY how she was drowning??? I’m sorry but no. Plus a couple of the things he said didn’t sit well with me. Once again, I know they are enemies and obviously they are going to be shitty to each other but there is a limit to what I can take and he just sprinted over the line while giving me the finger during some scenes- besides that I could not for the life of me imagine him as an attractive guy like all I saw was a blurry white face with stark blue eyes and hair thats hard bc of the amount of gel that’s in it

If we forget all of that, he was okay. I loved the jealousy scenes a lot, but yea he was kinda plain idk.

Here are 2 of the beautiful things he said🥰

▸ “I’m supposed to consummate the marriage, and I’m not f*cking some messy little ragamuffin in flip flops and jean shorts. I expect her to be properly groomed, from head to toe. I love the idea of her being primped and cleaned and waxed to my specifications. Like a little doll, built just the way I like it.”
She did not give consent to that spa thing happening, just so you know

▸ “If you think I’m gonna be some little p*rn star for you—”
“That’s just bare minimum standards—”

𝘈𝘪𝘥𝘢

She’s kinda annoying like what do you mean “I’m ThE oNe ThAT cArRiEd HiM aWAy” you are the dumb btch that made sure his knee and dreams got destroyed so maybe you gotta shut that big mouth of yours.

Either way, I don’t think she’s a bad person, just plainly stupid at times.

For the rest of the book, she was okay. I never really loved her throughout the book but I didn’t hate her either

“Aida who is heartily regretting annoying the Griffins, if only because I’m going to be trapped here until the end of time while Fergus and Papa talk and talk and talk forever . . .”
Aida should regret burning down the Griffins house bc it destroyed her brothers dreams and life

“𝙇𝙚𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙨 𝙗𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙖𝙨 𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙚, 𝙛𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙩𝙝𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙗𝙤𝙡𝙩.”

You know that scene where he put his hand on her thigh and she slapped his hand away? And he continued and then she slapped him on the face and he still had the audacity to kiss her and another smut scene to come?? I know this is part of dark romance, but consent means so much to me 😭 I have read dark romance books where consent was always there and in this book, with that scene, it wasn’t really there. In the end she may have liked it but still

“𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙥𝙪𝙨𝙝 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙪𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚. 𝙊𝙧 𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙚.”

So yea this story was okay, but I don’t really recommend it.
Great concept, but not done well.

𝘘𝘶𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘴

▸ “𝙄 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙤𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪,” 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙮𝙨.
𝙒𝙚’𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙪𝙨. 𝙒𝙚’𝙧𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧, 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧’𝙨 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨, 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙬𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧.
“𝙉𝙚𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙄,” 𝙄 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙧.
“𝙄’𝙡𝙡 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪, 𝘼𝙞𝙙𝙖.”

▸ “𝙏𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙧𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚”

▸ “𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙄 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙣𝙤𝙬, 𝙞𝙛 𝙄 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝘼𝙞𝙙𝙖, 𝙄’𝙢 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙮 𝙚𝙡𝙨𝙚. 𝙄’𝙢 𝙜𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙤 𝙞𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙢𝙮 𝙬𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠.”

▸ “𝙄 𝙠𝙞𝙨𝙨 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙄’𝙡𝙡 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙜𝙤.
𝘽𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙄 𝙬𝙤𝙣’𝙩. 𝙉𝙤𝙩 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧.”

▸ “𝙄 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪,” 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙮𝙨.
“𝘿𝙞𝙙 𝙄 𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙚𝙩?”
“𝙉𝙤,” 𝙄 𝙜𝙧𝙞𝙣. “𝙏𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣.”

Smut:
Yes like 5 scenes

[ApoorvaReads · Rating 2 out of 5]

did I dislike this? Yes. Will I read the other books in the series even though I hated the first one? hell yes. Will I regret it? we’ll see..🤡

[what.lanareads · Rating 1 out of 5]

0,75⭐️
Can somebody please explain how they gave this book 5 or 4 stars?

This book is one of the 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊𝐒 I’ve ever read.
I know it’s a enemies to lovers book, but this dude literally loathes her.

He is so fucking evil, he 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐝 the way 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 looks

(I quote him “I'm used to girls who keep their bodies torturously slim by any means. Aida obviously doesn't bother with any of that. From what I've seen, she eats and drinks whatever she likes,and she probably hasn't seen a running shoe in years.” BOY WHAT?)

he insulted her clothes,
he insulted the way she behaves( I quote him: “In fact, I doubt she'll even agree to go to dinner with me.
Which is fine by me. She probably eats with her hands. She'd only embarrass me if I took her someplace nice.”)

just everything that she is, he hates🤡

𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗮𝘇𝗶𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗔 𝗪𝗢𝗠𝗔𝗡 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗔𝗡𝗧𝗜 𝗙𝗘𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗜𝗦𝗧 𝗱𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥.


E͟X͟A͟M͟P͟L͟E͟ ͟:
The book is arranged marriage book, so before the wedding, he surprise her with a spa day.
So she goes to the spa day and she’s getting massaged and then falls asleep.
But then all of a sudden she wakes up because her downstairs area is getting waxed 🐱.

She’s like: “Huh, why are you waxing me…..” and the woman that waxed her literally explains, that her husband said that she should get waxed because he wants her to be bare or else he wouldn’t want her????!
(his words “It’s the bare minimum for a women to do.”)

And then all of a sudden he loves her and would kill everyone for her🤨.
It didn’t really made sense to me, also the whole plot of the book was just really predictable and weird.

AND OH BOY LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THE FEMALE MC…
This Women was so fcking childish and disrespectful, I literally couldn’t take it.

He is literally showering and she just steps NAKED in the shower with him and pushes him aside, like wtf.

He’s telling her that she should get dressed, cuz they have a meeting, and she’s like:
„nooo, I will go naked🤪“
Wtf… this man is literally begging her to get dressed.🫠

I am normally not a person that would say that about a woman that I don’t know personally, but ngl this girl has ZERO SELF RESPECT.

Ugh, and she’s just so ungrateful and unpolite I nearly threw the book against the wall.

I would ⚠️ NOT RECOMMEND.⚠️

[Lacey (laceybooklovers) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had some high expectations for this book because so many of my friends love it and Sophie Lark in general. Brutal Prince is book 1 in the Brutal Birthright series, which is centered around this group of siblings in an Italian mafia family. It’s an enemies to lovers, marriage of convenience mafia romance between two rival mafia families, which should've been PERFECT for me. But sadly I struggled a bit with this, mainly because of the hero.

Callum’s mafia family is Irish and Aida’s is Italian and... they hate each other. One day, Aida and her siblings decide to crash Callum’s family’s party and chaos ensues when Aida sets part of their library on fire so she can escape. Callum retaliates by breaking Aida’s brother’s legs, and this all leads to the parents forcing these two into a marriage of convenience to unite the families and stop all the fighting.

Aida and Callum absolutely loathe each other and every time they see each other they try to kill one another. I honestly wasn’t the biggest fan of this because of how bratty Callum acted. I was fine with Aida acting immature because she literally 18 or 19 but Callum is an actual 30 year old man who kept acting like a child. He read SO young and not at all like a hero 10 years older, one who's supposed to be the prince/heir of a powerful mafia family. He felt childish to me, which wasn't fun to read.

I can see why people enjoyed the fighting and the whole strawberry at the wedding scene was good, but as a whole, it just didn’t work as well as I'd hoped. It’s not a completely bad start to this series though because I did like Aida’s brothers and will eventually read their books. I guess I just had too high expectations that weren't met. I do still want to read more from Sophie Lark, especially her Kingmakers series!


*****


3-3.5 stars 😬 I expected a lot more from this but the beginning was ROUGH. I can see why people loved it but I couldn’t deal with a 30 year old man acting like a brat.

Full review to come!

[em · Rating 1 out of 5]

[review] - DNF @40%
i’m so sorry lays, i really wanted to like this but i could not get rid of the ick this book gave me. i genuinely want to throw my kindle out the window from how disgusted i was in some parts + how much the artwork bothered me 😭


ⓘ ⋆ ˚｡[preread]⋆˚ "she's in her buddy reads era"
── 2nd of september, 2024

~ take 2 of mads, lays, and ems buddy read <3

[saffiyah✧ఌ · Rating 1 out of 5]

with a new year comes new goals. one of those goals was to dnf more books. this is the book.

see i thought she became a one-time arsonist for hmm i don't know maybe retribution? vengeance? giving someone a taste of their own medicine? literally anything but because she thought it was a good idea to get away unnoticed. ah yes, what an AH-MAZING idea, setting a fucking fire in a LIBRARY is an amazing idea WHEN THE GUY IS RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU, WATCHING YOU SET FIRE TO HIS HOUSE. even i have more brain cells than this girl, and that's saying something.

this book also contains the trauma dump to end all trauma dumps:

"i'm at the foot of the table, where my mother would sit if she were still alive" the nineteenth sentence. she's talking about table settin- MY MOTHER IS DEAD, FEEL BAD FOR ME, LOVE ME. CHOOSE ME, PICK MEEE

and she, just like any normal sibling, spends three sentences talking about her brother eating food.

quotes that will make you question my mental state when i chose to read this book

- “in the car he’s as smooth as a baby’s ass - calm and careful” she's talking about her brother again i-
- “demi lovato x3”
- “lily white bottoms” (referring to the irish mafia's asses)
- “cause he’s not gonna drink froofy champagne”



this was all up to page 20. ask me again why i dnf-ed. go on. i dare you.

[Madison Kait · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25🤍🕯️🎀

[riri · Rating 1 out of 5]

no seriously what the fuck

[myo ⋆｡˚ ❀ * · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was actually really good it’s not like any mafia book i’ve read so far where it’s super dark or anything like that, it’s fine if they’re dark but sometimes mafia books tend to read the same so i like that this one is different. i really like the main character in this one. she genuinely was funny.

[Erika Braga · Rating 3 out of 5]

I reallyyyy like this book.
I don’t know what took me this long to actually start this series. I already know I like Sophie Lark style. I can never doubt her ability to give us exactly what we want in a steamy romance with a badass girl and a possessive man. I love how her FMC are not doormats at all.
In this book Aida is THE ABSOLUTE BEST ! I love how unapologetic herself she is and how she owns her mistakes. She is great.
Cal is also a great MMC, he is super protective and possessive, he proved that he is not only a pretty face behind a desk. He can hold his own.
This book made me super curious of who the other couples will be but I can already tell that I would love reading about Dante, Nero, Nessa, Sebastian and Riona. , forgot her name. My favorite family is tje Gallo’s and without getting anything to be able to tell I already have a favorite Gallo man and it’s Dante. Let’s see in the end of the series.
Here I go to the next one
My

[Becca & The Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weirdly, considering this is a romance, the relationship was one of the things I was least invested in. Sophie Lark's writing was so compelling that I just couldn't put this book down and pretty much devoured it in 2 sittings.
Definitely hyped to read more from the Brutal Birthright series and Sophie Lark.

[Syndi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I almost like this book. ALMOST. I have been looking forward to read Brutal Prince by Miss Lark. I know this is NA romance. And like my previous experience with NA romance, I end up liking this book OK.

The story is mild and the plot is hurried. Everytime the plot twisted, it resolved very quickly. The chemistry is standard. A lot kf insta lust with no real/ vulnerable connection. Minimum character development.

The beginning of the book is promising then fall flat.

Overall an OK read.

3 stars

[Arushi♡ [exam- ia] · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.75💫

“In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.”

I'll keep this review short because I don't have much to say about this. This was an okay kind of book. I read it. I enjoyed it a tiny bit. I won't remember it.



Aida was a brat. Always falling in trouble. Doing exactly what you tell her not to. I liked her character for the most part because honestly who doesn't love a rebellious FMC who's always sharp on her tongue. Until this.....

I have to admit, for a second Oliver’s offer didn’t sound that bad. He’s arrogant, and immature, and kind of an idiot, but at least he worshipped my body.

I'm sorry but no. Cheating is a big no for me. Even having a single thought about it is a no. Especially when you're making progress with your partner. And I still liked her for the most part after this too, when she wasn't like this but once is enough to remember right?



Callum was okay ig. I mean he was a decent guy (at least according to the mafia standards) but then he also made a remark which was so dumb.

In fact, I doubt she’ll even agree to go to dinner with me. Which is fine by me. She probably eats with her hands. She’d only embarrass me if I took her someplace nice.

I mean😑 so what? And there are foods that you're supposed to eat with your hands you idiota. Does he use a knife and fork to eat his pizza and popsicle?? (Bhyii mai toh apna paratha haath se hi khati hu. Nhi leke jayega mujhe bhi date pr, mt leja🤷‍♀️)



Overall they did piss me off but this was easy to read. They had chemistry and were also cute at moments but I can't look past the red flags and rate this highly because they are the main characters!!! This was also not very dark... Beginner friendly I'd say.


Out of context but the reason for the strawberries on the cover actually cracked me up. He's allergic to them😭.


🆃🆁🅾🅿🅴🆂.・。.・゜✭・
●Mafia romance
●Marriage of convenience
●Age gap
●Enemies to lovers (nahhh not really)

“Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.”

｡⁠:ﾟ﹏﹏﹏﹏⁠﹏﹏﹏﹏⁠﹏﹏﹏﹏⁠﹏﹏﹏﹏⁠﹏⁠﹏﹏﹏﹏⁠﹏⁠ﾟ⁠:⁠｡


↝Pre-read°｡⁠.ﾟ.⁠｡♡
It is the strawberries on the cover that are speaking to me.

[levi · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is a disgrace to enemies to lovers trope


Aight so I’m gonna do a rant review
First of all and everything the characters were so childish like what the hell yall are grown ups . The guy and the girl were like “uh oh i hate him but I’ll marry him whatever” and “ugh I’m marrying her” and secretly liking eachother



The banter was not on point . This book was so dumb tbh and IVE NEVER READ A BOOK THAT HAS A PICK ME MALE MAIN CHARACTER……LIKE SOMEONE PICK CAL THE HELL UP …



The book was so sunshinyyy that i had to close the book several times while the plot was basic it had nothing special so
WOULD I RECOMMEND IT? Maybe
DID I READ IT IN A FEW HOURS CUZ IT WAS ADDICTING? Yes

[Aurora · Rating 1 out of 5]

The premise seemed promising. But the execution failed. After reading the synopsis I was hoping for more of a ‘Romeo and Juliet’ modern mafia romance, instead I got wattpad.

I didn’t like or care for any of the characters.

Aida- our FMC was ‘I’m not not like other girls’ kind of character. I get it, she is quirky. She quickly became the ‘tough girl’ archetype that doesn’t wear dresses but knows how to fight because she had a lot of brothers. And for some reason she is always ending up in the trunk of cars.

Callum- for someone who is thirty, he read like a frat boy. I get it, he has a lot of experience with woman and sex. He gets wounded by a gunshot and his first thing he does is have sex.

Considering that almost all the characters are over twenty, even spoke like they were high school. At times, the dialogue just felt immature and unbelievable. The arguing between characters felt so juvenile.

For characters that were supposed to ve ‘Mafia gangsters’ so many of them were just so…. stupid.

Like there was a scene in which Aida was getting kidnapped and she left a shoe behind in the parking lot, leaving a sign that she left in a struggle. One of the brothers says something along the lines of: Aida didn’t go with Ollie, she’s done with him.

Yeah that’s why she left her shoe behind… she didn’t go willingly.
I think I knew this book was going downhill when Aida big idea of escaping the library was to set the curtain on fire.

The writing was so fast paced. The prose was just so choppy and straightforward. I really wish it was more flushed out and developed, it would have made such a stronger story. There was one part that essentially read like:

“𝘏𝘦𝘺, 𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘺 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭” 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘷𝘰����𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘦𝘢𝘳
…
“𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘳.”
“𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵.”
“𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘬.”
𝘍𝘶𝘤𝘬.

I’m sorry, but trying to come as an intense scene when really it came off as comical. Ollie, the obsessive ex, who can’t move on and apparently likes to watch Aida pee. I guess he was the ‘big bad’ in book. But really, he came off as a jealous frat boy.

Don’t ask me what Zajac purpose was in the book, he just came and left. To be honest, I wish he was the central antagonist. He seemed more intimidating.

I don’t feel any chemistry between Aida and Callum. There was an intense hatred and rivalry between in the beginning. Then they had sex and suddenly it was such a quick switch up. The feelings really changed so quickly without any development.

The epilogue- it felt like too much was going at once. There was this build up for it just to be like: “oh by the way, it didn’t work out, here’s a brief explanation why.” To “oh btw I’m pregnant.”

I will say, on a positive note, I did like the illustrations throughout the novel. That was an unexpected surprise.

Overall, disappointed in this book. I don’t recommend this one. If you are looking for a good mafia book, it’s not this one.