By Virtue I Fall

Sins of the Fathers, Book 3

By: Cora Reilly

Narrated by: Sebastian York, Kit Swann, Ava Lucas, Connor Crais

Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

A Standalone Mafia Bodyguard Romance!

Love is an inconvenience Anna Cavallaro doesn’t have time for.

She only has one goal: to become a fashion designer. Chicago’s elite already copies her style religiously, not least because she’s the daughter of the city’s notorious mafia boss.

When she’s accepted at a world-famous fashion institute in Paris, her father’s condition is to take her bodyguard along.

Anna definitely wouldn’t mind a few weeks of no-strings-attached fun with her brooding protector.

Santino Bianchi became the Outfit’s enforcer because he liked the thrill of the hunt and kill.

Babysitting his capo’s daughter is an honorable assignment he can’t refuse. His thoughts about Anna? Not so honorable.

Santino’s ignored Anna’s persistent flirting for years. Now, far away from home boundaries begin to blur. But Santino doesn’t have any intention to be the reason for a failed engagement and the ensuing scandal.

A summer fling in Paris.

Only two things stand in Anna’s way.

Santino’s iron will.

And…her fiancé.

©2022 Cora Reilly (P)2022 Cora Reilly

Forbidden Love

Definitely one of the most provocative of Cora's Mafia books. Once the spice starts, it never ends lol. And it quickly became one of my favorites, I finished it in a day! It's safe to say Anna is one of my favorite female character in Cora's books. She always found a way to make me laugh whenever she showed up. But Santino and Anna together is a force to be reckon with. From the beginning of the book I liked them together. I loved how this book took place in France for the most part. It was nice to have a change scenery, plus I think France was very befitting for this couple. I wished that Anna would have pushed more to allow her parent to let her a chance at marrying for love. Their love grew over time and they actually "dated", which wasn't something we saw in other books. I think this book was lighter than the others. Like Gossip Girl meets the Mob, however not in a bad way. When Santino admits he had feelings for Anna and enjoyed her games early on in the book, I knew we were in for a ride. When they kissed for the first time, then their first time together, shoot all their sex scenes literally had me throwing my kindle and fangirl screaming 🥵. The time skips did make it seem like we missed things, and I would have liked to see more of Anna's college life, since it was the reason for going to Paris. Poor Dante stays on the struggle bus though, the women in his life keep him stressed 😅.

Val encouraging and supporting Anna to have fun but be safe was a breath of fresh air. Overall this was a fun book. However Anna did take things too far sometimes, or just didn't know when to give up, which did get a few eye rolls from me. But similar to her mother she never took no for an answer when it came to what she wanted. And if it was anyone another than Anna it would have been a turn off.

***Spoilers***
The best thing about this book is Val did not allow Anna to go through with the wedding to Clifford. Once Anna hinted that she was in love with Santino, Val jumped into action. I only wished he didn't have to get left at the alter. I actually felt sorry for Clifford, I felt like he came to terms with marrying Anna and even in the end maybe wanted to marry her. Especially when he told her in the hospital she was the only one to ask if he was okay, and at the wedding when he told her she was another person that seemingly didn't want him. Also similar to Luca when it came to Romero, I think Santino got off easy. I can't imagine Dante wouldn't punish him a little bit. Especially for lying and saying he wasn't interested in Anna. Though I suppose Santino 's affair with Mrs. Clark paid off in the end.

YOU NEED THIS BOOK

Love this book!!! The performance and story line is my fav. Loved the booooooook. Love Santino and how cold he was and how he changed for Anna. Finally a character who isn’t just dumb and goes for what she wants.

LOVE

Omg!!! My heart! I loved this book so much!! Definitely one of my favorites by Cora Reilly!

Yay!

I love the book / series. All the way back to Luca! I just have opened to find this on kindle not even audible!! I love the family

Cute love story

It started slow but definitely got better...wish the age gap wasn't just a focus at the beginning. Overall it was a beautiful love story that I wished it had more to of their time together now that it was accepted.

Can’t get enough.

Loved the story and the narration. I’m a huge Cora fan so I wasn’t surprised that I enjoyed this

5 star couple

Anna and Santino’s chemistry is off the roof. I can’t wait for next books in the series…

Ugh

The story was ok. Anna the main character is ANNOYING!! Her behavior is careless. Knowing who her father is and what he’s capable of. She spoilt, privileged, and so damn naive. I know her character is young but I really can’t stand her. Santino is ok but is also annoying because he knows better. I listened to the whole book but it was hard. I listened to the whole book but it was hard.