Bound by Honor (Born in Blood Mafia Chronicles)

I love a good mafia story. Hot, arrogant, alpha male with intelligence and a dollop of bad boy thrown in. This was one of the best I've read and I look forward to the rest in the series. Aria is a sheltered 15 year old girl whose mafia affiliated father tells her that she has been promised to the future head of the New York family to create peace between them. She's under no illusions of the type of men in the family and knows that her marriage will be full of heartache, pain and fear. Luca is 5 years her senior and a ruthless killer, womaniser and shows no emotion. After her 18th birthday they are married and Aria is moved away from her family to a place filled with loneliness and a gilded cage. At first everything seems hopeless and Aria seems destined to be miserable and isolated but slowly she begins to see pieces of the real Luca and the woman she becomes when she's with him. Their romance is a slow burn with all of the insecurities and misunderstanding of new relationships. The sex scenes grow in intensity and are well written (I kept thinking that Luca should write a textbook on his knowledge of seducing a virgin!). I hope we get to read more about Aria and Luca in the next book as I liked them both so much. Definitely worth reading, especially as it's free at the moment, but I would happily have paid for it and will be getting the rest of the series.

What I liked… The tension, I loved that Aria and Luca were thrown into this situation and how they handled it, of course it can’t be a romance without a few bumps and these bumps really helped with keeping me hooked into the story. Luca, I do like an alpha bad boy and the suited and booted type even more so, so he ticked all the boxes. The way he slowly starts to show his feelings for Aria made me swoon. The relationship that Aria has with her siblings, which I wished we got to see a bit more of but it was nice that in their fractured home situation that they stood by each other. What I didn’t like… I didn’t completely dislike Aria, I liked her honesty and how she chooses to get on with her situation even though she is terrified but I felt like I saw a glimmer of defiance that would turn into something more and it didn’t. She spent a lot of time flinching and being scared and not standing up for herself. I did like her but I feel she could have been more. I mean I know I’m reading a book about the Mafia and they have their own set of rules to live by and whilst in the end I loved it, my brain was at points also screaming at me that the whole wedding, looking at the sheets, girls being married off young was creepy. Summary… This was totally what I was looking for in a Mafia romance, a bit uncomfortable at times but mostly just an entertaining read that will get you a bit hot under the collar with a handsome alpha male.

My God this is the first of Cora`s books that I have read and oh my God it certainly won't be the last. So there's 15 year old Aria who's born into one of the mafia familia strict rules, dominating men (not in the nice kinky way) until she meets her future husband who ultimately turns her world around and shows her a great side to dominating alphas. This story has twists turns and really good ahhhhh moments but what really made it for me was the emotions that come through the book is so inspiring you feel as if your there right beside them and feel everything they feel not easy for all authors to grip you like this and oh God a big shout out to her sister proper little ball of anger fantastically written and comes across in the book you find yourself with a fist so many times it just radiates out the book. Although the books are around the £2.99 each Mark normally out of my book spending range for a series I will be making these luxury purchases you don't feel robbed at all as the book took me most of the weekend to read (not finished in 2 hours wondering if you can find a good free read to fill in the extra time) If you want a really good escape read full of emotion with some great passionate scenes I highly recommend these books.

Book was fine. Not as exciting as other mafia books I’ve read. I don’t believe Luca loves aria. I don’t believe in their relationship, it doesn’t have or give any feels. Yes he was patient with her but he immediately went to cheat with his firmer flame. There was no repercussion for his cousin or grace for them showing aria he cheats. Plot is weak too, the main don is killed and a traitor is in the midsts but nothing further gets said. Loved Gianna and her feistiness she is best character. I hope she doesn’t loose this when she marries Mateo. Look forward to their book

Very seductive can't put it down.

Amoooo, el libro es una joya✨. Ame como Luca ama tan apasionadamente a Aria. Es tan frío pero lo demuestra con tan pequeños actos 🥰. También amo demasiado su posesividad, es tan Luca que me encanta. Hay tantas emociones incluidas en el libro que te llevan por un viaje. Me gustó la parte que él espera hasta que ella está lista para su primera vez y que la misma no sea como un cuento de hadas 😌.

This will contain some spoilers. Wow. I loved this book SO much. I'm actually pathetically sad that it's over and wish I could read it all over again like it was new. In fact, I stayed up all night to finish it and then went to work exhausted but it was totally worth it. So let's start from the beginning. Aria is a 15 year old girl who is basically being sold off to marriage for tactical mafia purposes to a 20 year old future boss, named Luca "the vice" Vitiello. She is terrified of him at first and of course the story is about how this will or won't pan out. The things I liked and loved: for starters... one word. LUCA. I am officially in love with a new book boyfriend. His oozing masculinity personality and edge that only seems to get the slightest kink in terms of Aria, was perfect. I loved that when they finally came together and admitted their feelings, neither one had to change who they were. They each fell in love with the other for exactly who that person is. There is something alluring about bad boys. The only stipulation for most women, is that he love them. It's a common theory that the bad boy fantasy is because a woman wants to be the one to change him. This is true, but it's not always about making him good. All it really takes it for him to be good to her. There is a part of some women that genuinely love and get a thrill from a badass. This story is exactly that. She accepts him and he loves her above everything. That is the bad boy fantasy in a nutshell. The hero is only sanitized so far as it pertains to the heroine. Not in any other way. Things I didn't care for as much: The writing was awesome. I just wish that we would've gotten his pov. Without it, we are guessing constantly and stuck inside aria's head which is a bit immature at times. I was already feeling swoony over Luca, but it could've been even more off the charts had I gotten a peek inside his mind. The author has mentioned a book from his pov and also a novella, which I hope we get because I'm in love with them and I really feel slightly cheated that the other books in the series gave the men a voice. Plus, I love the mob business parts of the book and with his pov, we would've gotten a lot more of that and seen how he interacts with others. Something else that bothered me a little was the issue of the ever evasive virginity. I was glad he was patient with her, but she was such a baby about it sometimes that it was cringeworthy to see. I get that it got better over time, but by that point the book was over and we don't get to see it. Also.. slight spoiler.. her sisters didn't have near the same issues as she did. There is also a certain thing that happened around 50% that everyone probably knows and I have an unpopular opinion about that. It happened like 3 days after their wedding. Which by the way, they only knew each other for days before that. Basically, they had known each other for about a week total when the cheating happened. There was no love in the marriage at that point, she hated him. And he was a mobster with a bad reputation. The only reason he got better at all, was for his love of Aria. So what shocks anyone about him not keeping his vows out of pure obligation, after knowing Aria for a week, not getting any from her and her hating him? I also think he really did believe that she wouldn't care. He didn't do it to hurt her. I didn't want it to happen, I was upset when I read it, I wanted her to be mad and rebel. She did. I wanted a genuine apology to show he cared and was affected. We got that. But I can't make myself hate him or ruin the love story over something that happened pretty predictably before a love story even really got started. In fact, ironically this was what kicked it off because it showed him that she really did care and he immediately ceased all ass-holery. This was the start of them coming together. I would've been more bothered had he done this after they either slept together or had begun falling in love. Neither was the case at this point. So, in conclusion on this topic, give the guy a break. When all was said and done, I think this deserved 5 stars. I am a sucker for mafia movies/books and love stories. This was the perfect combination. If you are like me in that way or even if you aren't, give it a try, it's not a waste of time. I will definitely be following this author from now on.

Hot, possessive and calculating mafia boss meets his resilient yet endearing and emotional better half. Almost no story (but a good one though and to be continued in the next books - definitely on my tbr list ;)), a lot of sensual and graphic sex, a drizzle of humor, and some nice (and snarky ;D) side characters. It’s not something you have a book hangover over, but it’s really well written and Aria and Luca are sooo good for each other! I am glad I found a new author! :D

It was too good i never looked at which page i am on. And when it ended i was like Ohh it ended too soon. Too good book now going to read it in luca pov. 💫😁😊

Era da tempo che non leggevo un mafia romance così bello e travolgente. La storia è intensa e i personaggi aderenti alla realtà. Luca è carnefice e vittima del Sistema in cui è nato e cresciuto. Il suo destino è già scritto: diventare il Capo dei Capi, un uomo temuto, crudele e rispettato da tutti. E Luca non può fare altro che accettarlo. La Famiglia viene prima di tutto e tutti, non c'è spazio per le emozioni nella sua vita, mostrarle è un segno di debolezza dal quale il nemico potrebbe trarre vantaggio. Il matrimonio con Aria è un matrimonio di convenienza che serve a siglare un'alleanza tra famiglie malavitose. Apparentemente a farne le spese è Aria, data in sposa a uno sconosciuto, un mostro a detta di tutti. Ma, nonostante la poca esperienza e la giovane età, Aria sa il fatto suo e saprà farsi rispettare e amare da Luca. Luca è e resta l'antieroe, non diventa un principe azzurro, le sue mani sono macchiate di sangue, ma l'autrice nel rapporto con Aria ce lo fa vedere sotto una luce diversa, ci mostra sprazzi del ragazzo che era prima di diventare un uomo d'onore. Ho già comprato il secondo volume perché devo assolutamente conoscere gli altri personaggi. Lo consiglio.