Fallen Prince

Rapture & Ruin #1

by Julia Sykes

He’ll do anything to make my father pay. Including kidnapping me to exact his revenge.

Max Ferrara is a ruthless Mafia prince, a monster out of my worst nightmares, but it’s not his scarred face that makes him a beast. My father, the mayor, sent most of his family to prison. I’m the key to his revenge.

But my innocence sparks his obsession. The chemistry we share is undeniable, and I can’t help being drawn to the damaged criminal who watches me from the shadows. His pain calls to something deep inside me, and I’m quickly becoming addicted to his dangerous presence in my life. When other bad men threaten me, my possessive stalker proves to be my dark protector.

With every stolen kiss, I fall harder for the man who should be my most fearsome enemy. If our families discover our relationship, we’ll both suffer painful consequences.

Our love could be our ruin.

Note: This story was previously released under the title Rapture & Ruin.

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

322 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 23, 2022

About the author

Julia Sykes is a USA Today bestselling author of edgy, emotional romance. When she's not writing, she's usually reading.

Other than reading, her obsessions include iced coffee, unicorns, charcuterie, aged Manchego cheese (or any cheese, really), and fancy dresses.

An American expat, Julia now lives in her adopted, beloved home of York, England. Most days, you can find her wandering the cobbled streets and daydreaming about her next novel.

Reviews

[TMR · Rating 5 out of 5]

Note: I received an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Note 2: This is a duet. First is Rapture and Ruin. The final and second book is temptation and torment, coming soon. Please read in order.

Trigger warnings: violence, emotional abuse, sexual assault, assault, stalkers, bullying, homophobia (mention of it) death, murder

Wowza, this novel took dark to an extraordinary level.

Max and Alexandra come from two different worlds. One is aware of the disturbing occurances surrounding his family, she doesn’t.

They meet under strange circumstances and you know panic ensues.

But time passes and things grow for the better?

But the plot twists. 🔥 good times and scheming families like this is a Romeo and Juliet retelling happen.

And the rest is a cliffhanger.

I absolutely adored reading this novel by my first time of reading a Julia Sykes novel. And I enjoyed it and wished for more than the 22 dark sweetner chapter book I received.

It had everything - darkness, steam, antiheroes, confident women, best friendships, mafia like surroundings and of course the will they won’t they element and plenty of enemies and battles the MCs have to deal through to survive.

Overall a wonderful read. And I cannot wait for Temptation and Torment - the final book in the duet- coming January 24/25 2022.

Oh I miss them already.

Until the next read,

-TMR

[Zey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Smart? Smart who? The chick is as dumb as a doorknob for someone who’s supposed to be smart….

Hero: growly, scarred faced, scary mafia heir.

Heroine: smart (not), nowhere near enough confident, copper haired, pale skinned, freckled daughter of the mayor of NY.

Loads of intrigue. Betrayal. Revenge. Send all tropes my way, yes sirree!

Imagine a smart woman making decisions about things, and making deductions about things… Now, what you imagined isn’t our heroine. At 60% mark, I genuinely wanted to dnf it. But I didn’t. I persevered. And I wish I could’ve said it didn’t disappoint.

But I cannot say that.


EDIT: (Approximately 3 hours after I finished reading the book…)

I have been trying to justify the second star in my rating, but it is proving to be rather hard.

A gay bf ? Check.

Shallow friends? Check.

Push and pull? Check.


Seriously though, the friends behaviour and the way they kept on talking was…. Honestly… I don’t know what to say.

-I don’t want to do that thing right now.
-Noooo gurlll!!!! U r doin it cuz I told ya! I know u better thn u know urselfff!!! Xoxo

That is basically the gist of the ‘really amazing friendship’ that is going on in the book.

So no. I still cannot justify the second star.

[Emma (emjbookshelf) · Rating 4 out of 5]

He was a monster that did a dispicable thing to her. She saw him for who he really is, not judging him like the rest of society. Two people from opposite worlds start to fall in love with each other even though they shouldn't. Families get involved, he pushes her away to protect her and in doing so breaks both their hearts. Will they find their way back to each other, who knows as it ended on a cliffy so I'll just be sitting here waiting for the next book of theirs to come. Great read, definitely recommend.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, I know I've said I hate cliffhangers when it comes to romances, and I still do, but I actually really liked this freaking book!!! This was my first mafia romance, so maybe that's why I enjoyed it so much? I don't know, but I now have a whole new trope to dive into.

I want to start off by saying I was really surprised that I liked both characters so much. I feel like I thought I'd either love the women main character and hate the male main character, vice versa. But I it wasn't like that! I think Sykes did a great job of developing the characters throughout the whole story. I felt a connection with both of them. I do feel like the women main character is a bit naive, but that is the author's point lol But sometimes it can get annoying.

I really liked Max's character and he's the reason I actually want to keep reading this trilogy. I felt like his character is relatable, other than the fact that he murders people and is in a mafia family lol I felt like it was the same with Allie too. Super relatable when it came to their thoughts and how they feel about things.

Overall I liked this book, I'm not giving it five stars because of the cliffhanger. I know it's the point when it comes to a trilogy, but I still feel strongly about wanting that HEA. Please check your triggers before you read this. There is spice, I'd say three out of five.

*As of 10/12/22 this book is free on Amazon.*

[Averie · Rating 4 out of 5]

*3.5 stars

This is the romance between Max and Allie. It starts with Max kidnapping Allie to hopefully get information about her father's (the mayor's) involvement with the Russian mafia. However, he soon realizes that she knows absolutely nothing about that part of her father's life. He lets her go with the threat of if she tells anyone what happened then he will come after her father. But then Max finds himself drawn to Allie and starts stalking her.

I was super hooked at the beginning of this! I've never read a kidnapping romance where the captor lets his captive go, so I found this to be very interesting. But I, unfortunately, got a little bored and just wanted some more action. All we had was the heroine being stalked by the hero and them falling for each other. Like I love a scarred and damaged hero but Max did get on my nerves sometimes with how he kept pushing Allie away. Please let me know if book 2 is better! :)

This also ends on a cliffhanger so please be aware!!

TW: attempted SA, bullying, kidnapping, mafia, murder

TROPES: captor-captive, damaged hero, forbidden romance, kidnapping, mafia, rivaling families, scarred characters

[Coco.V]

🎁 FREE on Amazon today (12/23/2021)! 🎁

[Obsessive Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Max Ferrara kidnaps Alexandra Fitzgerald, the daughter of the mayor, intent on finding information to bring the mayor down. But Max soon learns that Allie doesn't know anything, and lets her go. She starts her own investigation into the past, which puts her in more danger. Max can't help but protect her, which brings them closer together. But what happens when their families find out? A cliffie is what happens.

Rapture & Ruin is a slow burn mafia romance with forbidden love. Can Max and Allie overcome their family histories? Or will their relationship crash before it burns? We have to wait for book 2 to find out.

I received an ARC of Rapture & Ruin from the author and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

[Collette · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF 35%

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book didn’t need to be as long as it was. The author did it to leave a cliffhanger instead of making this book a HEA part one of a new series or a standalone. In any case, in order to fill pages, the story is mostly filled with the heroines internal thoughts and some side character fluff with her friends, whom I can only assume some will have their own future stories.
There was no real love action until well after the usual 50% mark and it was PG at best. Very hard to find the romantic connection with the H/h because of this and all the constant chatter in their heads of how they made each other hot, but nothing to back it up for way too long. Totally didn’t feel the slow burn, friends to lovers in this story. More like, when the heck are these two going to finally connect?
Hopefully the next book(s) (let’s hope not more than one more book to wrap this boring couples storyline up) is a vast improvement.

[Nicki Thoirs · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars.

I have not felt so infuriated by two main characters in a long time!

Max, he started out strong, with a tonne of potential, but as the story progressed, his confidence dwindled, and his indecision just gave me whiplash.

Allie started off smart and driven and, with the right mmc, had the potential of becoming a bad a** queen.

I understand the direction that was taken, a touch of Stockholm syndrome and imposter syndrome sprinkled in, but it just made me mad!

The story itself was good, aside from the characters being so moody and needy!
The smut ... I'm still looking for it 👀

[Charity (TAKING A BREAK) · Rating 3 out of 5]

After sitting on it for a few days I've decided to rate this 3 stars. Like its okay but I didn't find a lot of chemistry between the characters and the romance felt too pushed. Not enough drama or emotion for me tbh. (It's still a good read! Good enough that I feel like the next book will be better based on the sample I've read. )

[Marissa Chavez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Allie and Max had me at the edge of my seat! These two were everything! Max knows they really can’t be together but he won’t stop from protecting her. Allie can’t stop thinking about Max even though she should. I loved every little thing about Max and Allie! I couldn’t get enough of them! Can’t wait to continue their story! 🖤❤️

[Karin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved how this story started and it didn’t disappoint the entire time. Max has a plan and that plan is to kidnap Allie and use her as bait for revenge but her innocence and very very naive nature took him back a bit so he lets her go with a massive warning but Max is now under her skin in a way that she’s entirely comfortable with.

[SDDonley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Max is the heir to his father's mafia empire. He is also the family disappointment. In attempt to regain his family's confidence, he kidnaps the mayor's daughter to gain damning information to blackmail her father.

Allie is convinced her father is an honest politician who scoffs in the face of corruption. Seriously, despite mounting evidence (though all circumstantial) she is rock-solid and ready to die on that hill of oblivion.

Early into the book I wanted to shake the dumb out of Allie. Familial loyalty and denial is one thing. But at some point you'd have to admit that if it looks like a dog and barks like one, it just might be a corrupt politician.

She goes to stupidly great lengths to try and convince Max that the barking dog is really a giraffe.

Ah, Max. One minute he has blood on his hands and the next he's a helpless puddle of goo as he falls for Allie. Those to sides are like oil and water and don't belong in the same character. At least how Max was written. It did not come across as a man with no morals until the right woman came along and melted his frozen heart. Personally, I side with his family. He is not worthy to be the heir.

This did end on a cliff hanger. The only reason I would read the conclusion is to see Allie's world crumble when she inevitably discovers the truth about her father. I really don't care to see how Allie and Max's relationship turns out.

[Claudia |✨Cushin Violeta's Bookish Realm✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Addicting and seductive.. Max and Allie 😍😍😍

Ahhh... WHY... WHY... did this book end already. As I was nearing the end, I was so freaking immersed and then I saw I was at 97% and I was like NOOOO..I'm not ready for this book to end. 😢😢👻😍😍.
I loveddddddd Allie and Max. Especially Max.

Right from the beginning I really liked Allie. How independent and sweet and humble she is. Being the daughter of the mayor yet she has this grounding nature about her, wanting to earn her way through life on her own merits and not because her father put in a call for her, I really admired her for that.

But suddenly Allie's simple life of working and hanging out with her friends turns upside down when she is abducted by a stranger. Especially when that stranger starts throwing accusations at her father and wanting to know information about the same. Allie has no idea who this stranger is and how to get out of this nightmare.

Max has lived a difficult couple of years recently, struggling with finding his own place and acceptance from his family and he thinks retribution is only fair on the man who destroyed his entire life.

What he didn't expect was to find his plans for retribution instead turn into unexpected redemption for himself.

Allie never expected to survive her kidnap but what she certainly didn't expect was to slowly start feeling things for her captor slash stalker.

I totally freaking get why Allie would feel so attracted to this mysterious, shy yet strong brute of a man. One look at his scarred face and you know and feel that Max's wounds are not only surface but deeply imbedded on his pysche too.

But yet he strives to protect Allie in his own  twisted way by continuously being her shadow and making sure no one comes close to do any harm to her.

Allie and Max, truly fascinated me not only in the way these two meet but also how these two people coming from enemy families and having opposite personalities find their way to each other and can't keep away from each other.

And I truly feel honored and lucky to have witnessed their journey of coming closer.

But now to the part where I didn't want this book to end....THAT ENDING..... NOOOOO😢😢😢😢. It's not brutal but it just affected me so deeply for how much I was immersed and invested in Max and Allie. It's not a bad kinda ending just will leave you wanting for more kinda ending.

But.....I FREAKING CAN'T WAIT FOR BOOK 2. READ READ THIS ONE. I promise you, you'd fall head over heels in love with this book and Max and Allie. Loved loved freaking loved this one. 💟💟💟💋💋💋💖💖💖💖💖

[Dariteone86 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well this book went in the direction I wasn’t expecting. There was so much repetition of “I’m a monster” and “you’re naïve” that I started skimming some of the parts. Max wants to avenge his family and also protect them yet hesitates before he even starts his secret mission. Allie is told about her father being corrupt and thinks that she would be able to find proof at the place she’s interning. *Hand to forehead* Max kept mentioning other monsters but we were only introduced to his family so I’m curious about who these other monsters are. In the synopsis Max seems like he’s not all with it and Allie is the more competent one but idk with how they act. I will say at one point I can understand with Max because I can see that he hasn’t been embraced in a long time. And for someone to not turn away from him in fear, then yes I can see why to keep them close. The ending is some what of a cliffhanger. Not one that makes you want to pull your hair out kind. I don’t know what the next book has in store for us..

[Jasmine Holmes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of Rapture and Ruin. This book is the beginning of Max and Allie's unorthodox relationship. So Max has come up with a revenge plan to get back at Allie's father who is the Mayor. He believes that he is the reason his family is in ruins and his father is locked up. The plan doesn't go the way he thought it would and he let's Allie go. Now we go through trying to find out if Allie will believe/found out if what she has learned about her father is true. All while Max and Allie's slow burning attraction may burst into an explosive relationship. Book ends with cliffhanger. So worth the read and a different pace from the types of books I usually expect from Ms. Skyes. Can't wait to see what happens next!

[Ashley Ann Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy intense ending!! I can’t wait for the next book! I’ve been a fan of Ms Sykes for quite a few years now. And I’ve read as she’s grown into this amazing author!

For this story, she’s taken a hiatus from the kinky love she usually writes. But what it was lacking there, was made up for tenfold for the emotion and angst!

I won’t spoil it for you but I did NOT see that twist coming! Definitely left me hungry for more of Max and Allie’s story!

Pick this one up! You won’t be disappointed!

Note: I received an ARC from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

[Shae Coon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little less filler please

Max is a a scarred anti-hero and Allie couldn't make up her mind what the hell she was? Tough or weak? While the plot was 4 stars and Max was a wonderful character, Allie was irritating and there was waaaay too much filler between relevant scenes.

[Ilene G> · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not finish. I stopped at 35 percent. The heroine does something stupid at this point. Really stupid. If she's this stupid now, how much more stupid is she going to be? She did something stupid earlier, but this is more stupid.

[Coco.V]

🎁 FREE on Amazon & on Apple iBooks today (6/27/2022)! 🎁

[Debra Johnson]

Purch Amz Dec 24, 2021

[Nickie Sale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark romance, mystery and imminent danger surround Allie (or Freckles, or Bambi, or Angel) the daughter of the local Mayor. Max, the son and heir to the local mafia family wants to uncover the Mayors involvement with the Russian mafia that enabled him to send most of his family to prison. Max meeting Allie is no coincidence, Max thinks Allie has information about her father and the Russian mafia that he can use. Right from the start you know that Max thinks bringing down the Mayor is his path, back to the top within his family. Max finds out that Allie knows nothing about the Russians involvement with his family's downfall. But he is attracted to her, the pull, the chemistry he feels with Allie not only puts a roadblock on that path he is trying to travel for his family, but leads to him to stalking her and protecting her from anyone who as much as touches her. Allie by contrast has been raised protected from the mafia, unaware of danger that both these mafia familys pose, never dated men, always aware of her fathers position (and hence not upsetting those who sponsor him) and reliant on her 3 close friends for any social interactions. Little does she know that when Max's attentions to her, lead her to investigate the past and in particular the events that lead to many of his family being sent to prison, it will not only bring her to the attention of many others, but also reveal an intreging web of events and people that will put her in a dangerous place. Allie has no idea of the feathers she has ruffled, she knows she has this insane need for Max, but zero understanding of the consequences of any relationship with him. Add in the handsome son of the head of the Russian mafia, along with the son of another key sponsor, who bullied her at school and has continued to bully her now they both work for the district attorney and you get the perfect recipe for an inferno waiting to happen. I'm definately heading for the next book in this series and intrigued to find out where Max and Allie's lead them.

[thehotmesslibrary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rapture and Ruin is the first book in Rapture and Ruin series by Julia Sykes. The book focuses on Max and Allie. Allie is an innocent, trying to get on with her political internship, whilst dodging a former high school bully who likes nothing more to torment her and just living life in general. One night she is kidnapped by Italian mafia member Max Ferrara who accuses her of knowing about the dodgy dealings her father has had with the Russian bratva. Only Allie is an innocent and what starts off as a simple kidnapping turns into a slow burn relationship as they both try and find out the truth and try not to get killed.

Max is a scarred young man, who has dealt with a lot in his life. He also has to deal with family members who are horrible to him and would like nothing more than seeing him dead. His relationship with his sister is extremely toxic as his relationship with his mafia boss father. There are snippets that we see throughout the book of what life is like for Max and his saving grace does seem to be Allie who he literally becomes obsessed with. (The feeling is definitely mutual for both of them though.)

The book deals with a lot of topics from stalking, bullying to obsession and violence. It is certainly a page turner and ends with a huge cliff-hanger. I do like that Allie grows a spine throughout the book, but she still has a vulnerability to her which was refreshing. She also has some great people in her corner which help her grow. It will be interesting to see what happens next and what other truths are going to come to light about both Allie and Max’s family as there were a lot of twist and turns in this story and some seriously dodgy bad guys!

A really interesting, entertaining and slow burn read!

ARC received for a fair, honest and sometimes long review. All opinions are my own. 😊

More of my reviews can be found on my blog: http://thehotmesslibrary.blogspot.com

[Nikole · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first I thought it would be a re-imagined beauty and the beast. It does feel like that throughout.
The FMC is just naive. I really hate her. First off, her bully. She's been dealing with his shit since high school. They are now in college and interning together. Why is she still putting up with his shit? I know she doesn't want to cause a scandal, but really... if she won't report him she needs a backbone. You would think she would've grown one by now. I hate how she protects him. He has been caught treating her like shit and she protects him. UGH!!!!

Why doesn't she just flat out ask her father what is going on? He would probably lie but I mean come on. Then he allows the Russians to just go after his daughter, no wonder she has no backbone, he doesn't either. I get she was protected for so long, but there is no reason she shouldn't ask her father. Maybe not flat out "are you working with the Bratva" lmao. But more like 'did mom really die in the fire or did you start the fire to cover her death' or something.

I am enjoying the story. The way the MMC craves her is amazing. He says he's a monster but he protects her. Yeah, he's stalking her, but she likes it.
I really want to know why his family hates him so much. He was 13 did they really expect him to do anything? I am hoping we get more of the story.

Also, the way she feels towards Nikolai is kinda weird. Like she's attracted to him but she can't stand him idk. I thought it was going to be a why choose honestly. I thought for sure she would end up with both Nikolai and Max. But it doesn't seem to be going that way. Neither of the men are in charge, they are still being controlled by their fathers. I really hope both of them grow some balls and commit patricide.

Spice 1/5
Humor 0/5
Emotional .5/5
World Building 4/5
Overall 4/5

[Kay Daniels (Kay Daniels Romance) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I  loved how this book began. Max, was looking for justice by kidnapping the mayor's daughter, Allie, but when that ran south he actually let her go. Max believed the mayor was behind sending his family to jail. While he believes his family is guilty of the crimes, he also believes the mayor isn't the saint he portrays to the world either. I wasn't quite sure what Max wanted, but I still liked the concept that he wanted to take some form of justice out on Allie, but one thing leads to another and soon these two become more entangled and feelings get involved.

Allie wants to prove that her father is innocent so when she tracks down Max she only seems to dive deeper into his world and as these two spend more time together she sees the man behind his beastly mask. His gentleness with her is so different to what he wants to portray, it draws her in, but how could it ever work between them?

If there was one thing that bothered me, it was Allie, Max pointed it out plain as day to her over and over again that she is horribly naive. I understand that her father sheltered her, but in this day and age she lives in a world with social media and she clearly has a phone and her best friend is an influencer, so coming off as clueless as she does is a hard pill to swallow, at least as often as she does.

Aside from that, there is a lot of chemistry between Max and Allie, which helps move the book right along. Also, perhaps it's in Allie's naivety that helps keep blinders on to Max and the mafia world he comes from which keeps that chemistry brewing.  Although it doesn't help their budding romance for the big cliffhanger and now we all wait...what's going to happen?? Will Allie find the truth or will Max become the monster he claims to be?

[Meredith (SweetReadsandTreats) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am always a fan of dark romance and when a friend recommended I read Julia Sykes, I thought to myself, “Say less.” I grabbed Fallen Prince since the third in the series comes out later this month and was not disappointed. While her other titles have a slightly different theme, this is the story about a broken man from a dangerous and broken family. Seeking answers, he stumbles onto a woman – though innocent, young, and quite naive – is also not weak. Their chemistry is hot and their story is full of tantalizing plot threads.

Max Ferrara kidnaps Allie looking for answers. As the daughter of the mayor, he’s hoping she might have the answers he needs. Her father sent most of his family to prison a decade ago and now Max is the black sheep of the family. They start out as enemies, but with each encounter, they find it harder and harder to stay away. Kisses become more until the reality of their situation sets in and things take a dangerous turn. The past starts to reveal itself and changes everything.

I really enjoyed this story, though it was a little New Adult for my usual tastes. It’s a yummy dark and dangerous read, but most of the story is spent setting the stage for the rest of the story. I loved how Allie could see beyond Max’s fierce and scarred appearance. It will be interesting to see how Allie changes in the next two books as she learns more about the past and their families. This book left me with more questions than answers and is book 1 of 3 in a trilogy. I can’t wait to see where this dark romance takes Max and Allie.

[Jamie Waring · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sorry, but I'm calling it quits at 60% on this one. It started off well enough---Max kidnaps Allie in order to gain information about her father, but he feels bad about "terrorizing" her (which, can we just pause to discuss for a moment? Yes, he drugged her and took her from her home, but he was about the nicest, gentlest kidnapper I've read about. He used soft ropes so she wasn't uncomfortable, didn't threaten her, didn't hurt her, and barely even intimidated her), gathers no information because she knows nothing, and lets her go....then basically stalks her to look after her. Not to mention, Max was too wishy-washy. I felt like he was trying too hard to be a bad guy, but didn't know how. He beat people up just fine with his cousins, but then he felt all guilty for gently kidnapping Allie and never laying a finger on her or even threatening her. Ugh. Grow a pair!

Things were just too slow-paced for me. There was too much "fluff" about Allie's thoughts, a lot of which were repetitive and obvious, and I found myself skimming full pages of that to get back to the "action". While it's not a bad story, between the drawn-out fluff, and the repetitive use of certain words (can someone please do a word-count and see how many times "monster" is used?? Also, "mercurial" seems to be a favorite of Ms. Sykes), I felt impatient more than interested most of the time.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

For me Fallen Prince was loosely based on Beauty and the Beast where in this case the beast is Max, the scarred son of a mafia boss who meets Beauty in the shape of Alexandra aka the mayor’s daughter when he kidnaps her in an attempt to discover what she knows about her father’s alleged nefarious dealings with the Bratva. Max and Ally weren’t supposed to be attracted to one another but something about Ally keeps drawing Max to her which is a good thing as she seems to be a magnet for trouble. Some would call his behaviour stalking but personally here I’d call it foreplay! Despite this mutual attraction they can’t be together. Their families are mortal enemies and the last thing Max wants is his brutal family anywhere near Ally so to protect her he must break her heart.

This was a remarkably quick read, full of suspense building the tension throughout before reaching a dramatic cliffhanger ending. Right now the heroine Ally is a bit of a mouse who has trouble standing up for herself but I’m hoping she soon finds some inner strength - I’ve a feeling she’s going to need it. The hero Max is a bit of a mystery man and is driven by duty towards his family – there certainly isn’t any love there and while some of the other characters are a bit stereotypical, there are a few who I thing might just surprise me with their actions. I’m looking forward to seeing if I’m right.

[Melinda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have to say this was a great read by Julia Sykes and what a great to start reading about her work. As a first time reader of her work I was amazed by how quickly she pulled me in with these two. Yes in many ways it may seem cliche the beauty and the beast theme but actually was so much more between these. We have Max Ferrara, who was a man who used to have it all and all it takes is one ruthless father to change everything. Then we have a young beauty, Alexandra, who really never had a life where people actually see how beautiful she is. In many ways these two actually have a lot in common that they don't realize it until towards the end. We have Max who doesn't see pass his scars to what he is really inside and Allie showing him he is much more than a monster like he really thinks. The friendship she has for him is something he has never felt before and boy when love comes in it totally throws him of his plans. This is the first part of the series and Julia Sykes leaves us with a cliffhanger that makes you wonder which path will Max choose, love of a woman who brings light into his life or family who brings pain and darkness. Loved it.

"I received an eBook copy from the publisher for the purpose of an honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own."