Married With Malice by Cora Brent
What if the only way to save the people you love…
Is to marry your worst enemy?
The wedding was supposed to be my sister’s fate.
An alliance between two legendary mafia families just like in the old days.
But when my sweet, beautiful older sister fell for a civilian and eloped in spite of our father’s edict, mafia mayhem ensued.
Now, to save my sister and her clueless new husband from a date with a Cosa Nostra executioner, I’m taking her place.
No doubt the alternative bride would have been preferred by everyone. Especially the groom.
Luca Connelly. Master manipulator. Crown prince of his uncle’s blood-splattered empire.
And my nemesis since high school.
Luca, with his charm and muscle and sinful looks, believes the world is his for the taking.
He might be right.
Luca is good at fooling everyone else. However, he’ll never fool me.
He’s still the same callous, arrogant villain who used to delight in my torment.
Not that I’m innocent. The scorching hostility between us is completely mutual.
Too bad there are a few things I didn’t count on.
Like the way I can’t get enough of his touch.
Or how I keep coming back for more no matter how volatile we are together.
I know this is no recipe for a happy marriage.
But the closer I get to Luca, the more the lines get blurred.
My mistake was to assume that I was in full control.
I was so sure my heart was immune to falling for my husband.
Only now that it’s too late am I learning how very wrong I was…
- File Name:married-with-malice-by-cora-brent.epub
- Original Title:Married With Malice: An Arranged Marriage Romance
- Creator:Cora Brent
- Language:en
- Identifier:MOBI-ASIN:B0DPDYXF8G
- Date:2024-12-05T00:00:00+00:00
- File Size:1.957 MB
Table of Content
- 1. Title Page
- 2. Copyright
- 3. MARRIED WITH MALICE
- 4. Let’s Keep In Touch!
- 5. Also by Cora Brent
- 6. Contents
- 7. Prologue
- 8. TWO MONTHS BEFORE THE STORM…
- 9. 1. Annalisa
- 10. 2. Luca
- 11. 3. Luca
- 12. 4. Annalisa
- 13. 5. Luca
- 14. 6. Annalisa
- 15. 7. Luca
- 16. 8. Annalisa
- 17. 9. Luca
- 18. 10. Luca
- 19. 11. Annalisa
- 20. 12. Luca
- 21. 13. Annalisa
- 22. 14. Luca
- 23. 15. Annalisa
- 24. 16. Luca
- 25. 17. Annalisa
- 26. 18. Luca
- 27. 19. Annalisa
- 28. 20. Annalisa
- 29. 21. Luca
- 30. 22. Annalisa
- 31. 23. Annalisa
- 32. 24. Luca
- 33. 25. Annalisa
- 34. 26. Luca
- 35. 27. Annalisa
- 36. 28. Luca
- 37. 29. Annalisa
- 38. 30. Luca
- 39. 31. Annalisa
- 40. 32. Luca
- 41. 33. Annalisa
- 42. Epilogue
- 43. THANK YOU FOR READING!
- 44. KEEP IN TOUCH!
Cora Brent
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Married With Malice was about 26-year-old Luca Connelly, his Uncle Richie Amato's second-in-command of the Cosa Nostra, and 26-year-old Annalisa "Anni" Barone, a former figure skating protege, and the second daughter of Albie "The Baron of Brooklyn" Barone, "the head of one of the surviving old time mafia families". (Annalisa said she was 15 months older than her sister, Sabrina. She also stated she and Luca were the same age. Later in the book, Luca stated that Sabrina was "nearly 25", suggesting both Luca and Anni were 26 or 27. Finally, in Chapter 15, another mention of age allowed the reader to pinpoint the exact age of the two main characters.)
Just an FYI: Although this is touted as a stand-alone novel, it really should be read AFTER Married With Lies because that story was about Luca's brother, Cale, who got married BEFORE Luca did...and the other book was written/published first.
The book's prologue began with the missing Annalisa, then Chapter 1 went back two months into the past and told the story of how the marriage between her and Luca happened. Unfortunately, the author decided that the first 2-3 chapters needed a major info dump to bring the reader up to speed. It made these chapters super-long and a touch boring. The only thing good about the information was that it filled in a few gaps about how the animosity between the two main characters got started, and why.
Luca had been thrust into second-in-command of the Cosa Nostra when his older brother, Cale Connelly chose to become a farmer in Colorado rather than taking over for his uncle. Not long after he took over that role, Annalisa's father announced Luca's engagement to her older sister Daisy. When Daisy chose to elope with Bowie Roland, a former minor league baseball player, Annalisa saw no other recourse but to offer herself as a replacement bride or the Cosa Nostra would end the lives of both her sister and her sister's new husband, thus crushing all the dreams she'd ever had of an eventual love match. Unfortunately, Annalisa and Luca shared a bad history. Six weeks later, brought the story to the day of their wedding.
While the honeymoon took a sensual turn for the newlyweds, it wasn't long after they returned to life as they knew it that reality hit Anni in the face. After overhearing one of Luca's one-sided phone calls, her thoughts of possibly working toward a more congenial...and possibly even a love match...relationship with Luca fell flat on its face and she withdrew from him.
It took 20 chapters to get from the prologue...back TO the events of the prologue. All of the info dumps in those chapters were an act of playing "catch up" so that the reader was aware of the past 2-5 months of history. Unfortunately, there was more character REgression than PROgression in the FMC and the MMC. It seemed as though they reverted not just to their teenage pranks, but also into a darkness it didn't look like they'd survive.
This was one of the better mafia romance books I've read. There was plenty of both angst and drama to satisfy the biggest critics, and still room for all the romance that still others crave. The plot twists were an added bonus and kept the reader on pins and needles...in a good way.
Both of the main characters were well-developed and mature, and they both showed some major growth by the end of the story. I loved how they interacted without a third-act breakup. Their snarkiness towards each other revealed just how much they wanted each other.
I gave this a four-star rating because even though it was so good, it still needed some tweaking in the grammatical areas, and it also needed to be scaled back just a bit on the overabundance of info dumping. Other than that, I really liked it.