A Beauty So Cruel: A Dark Hostage Mafia Romance

Beauty & the Beast, Book 1

De: Beena Khan

Narrado por: Matt Weight

I was a beauty, a stray orphan until the beast took me as his hostage.

Once upon a time...

A don by the name of Vlad Vitalli ruled New York.

He's a mafia man. The leader of one of the five ruling families, La Cosa Nostra. He's a monster. A trained killer and a cold-blooded murderer. Tall, mysterious, with icy gray eyes, and he rarely smiles. He's ruthless, cold, dangerous, and wants to kill me.

I was the wrong person at the wrong time.

Just an innocent at the masquerade ball. The mafia has rules: no witnesses left behind. To save my life, I made a deal with the beast. I handed myself to the cruelest man in the kingdom.

For him, It was supposed to be an easy kill. I'm an orphan raised in poverty. Just as Don Vlad was about to order the hit, I threw off my masquerade mask, revealing my face and offered myself to him. One look, and I was doomed. He took me as his hostage. His captive. He didn't know by taking me, Dahlia Hadid, he sealed his own fate.

Welcome to New York's Underworld.

A Valentine's Day special. A Gothic romance! A Beauty So Cruel is the first book of the series Beauty & The Beast. Loosely based on the fairy tale. Recommended for fans of enemies-to-lovers, age gap, alpha males, strong heroines, fairy tales, Cora Reilly, Sophie Lark, and Nicole Fox.

©2021 Beena Khan (P)2021 Beena Khan

The ending saved it

3.5 Stars

Audio ARC provided by Author upon my request.

I wanted so bad for this to be a 5 star read for me. But I listened to the audio book and I need to consider that in my rating and experience.

The story follows Delilah who witnesses a murder and is kidnaped by the Mafia Don, Vlad, who also has Bratva ties hence his name. I'm not really sure what the plot is after that. There are some scenes with the two MCs, there are flash backs for both of them. There are some parts that weren't needed because they didn't help further the plot I was still too unsure about.

The story is written in Dual POV which I love but it's confusing because Delilah's was written in 1st person and Vlad's was written in 3rd person. I don't think I've ever read a book like that before.

The audiobook needed some editing due to repeating lines. Also, it needed a male and female narrator. Having a male narrator only really took from the experience in my opinion.

But wait, I am not just going to tell you what I didn't enjoy or what didn't do it for me.

Let me tell you what Beena Khan did to me. She finished off this book with a big old fat BAM!!!!! The ending saved it for me. Oh my goodness!! Yes it's a cliffy, but if you want someone to be hype and buy your next book, your ending has to do that for them. And that is what Beena did, she guaranteed that I would continue the series because I need to know what happens next. I just NEED to!!!

So thank you for providing me with the audio and thank you for showing me a totally different writing style than I am used to and last but no least, thank you for now making me sit here twiddling my thumbs waiting for the next one to drop.

*The book isn't Dark, not in how I would define it b/c I read some pretty dark books, but it does have events that could be triggering to some.

what the what!

omg I loved this book was not expecting it to end on a cliffhanger like that omfg I need the next book now

GOOD.. BUT IT NEEDS A FEMALE NARRATOR

I’m a newbie when it comes to this author and narrator but one sniff of a potentially good Mafia story and I’m all in. Dahlia was in the wrong place at the worst time and because of that (and what she’d seen) she was taken by Vlad.. the Mafia Don and his crew of dangerous men. Dahlia: kidnapped from a masked Ball, a strong captive held hostage in the Beast’s mansion, isolated frightened and hungry for freedom and determined to survive. Vlad: a feared Don without a heart, a ruthless underworld leader, a sexy dark anti-hero and a man trying to stay away from the beauty in the bedroom. Both have been damaged by their childhoods.

It’s thrilling.. and sometimes chilling as the angst, suspense and moves play out in a slow give and take, in a lowering of walls, tentative touches and heated exchanges until Vlad had given his heart. And, along the journey, was danger, a betrayal or two, an auction block where millions were exchanged by a rival Don, gunfire, death and sex.

Worth a credit? Yes I really really liked this story, and I’ve got book 2 locked and loaded ready to play. However, (IMO) the dual POV storyline would’ve been even better with a female narrator too. Mark Wright did a good enough job, but I personally like a dual POV to have a female narrator.. even if the male POV is told in third person. Anyhoo, it’s exciting, climactic, tense, suspenseful and heartwarming as the Beast looses his growl for his beauty.. until the Cliffy WTF mike-drop bomb shock ending. PS.. I personally didn’t find the scenes between Vlad and Dahlia particularly ‘dark’.. but rival Don Salvi nearly crossed the line.

A WARNING ADDITION TO MY REVIEW - I’ve just submitted a review for Book 2 which I HATED.

Beautifully damaged souls!

This is my first story by Beena Khan and I enjoyed this retelling of Beauty and the Beast! Vlad and Dahlia are two damaged souls ravaged by the circumstances of their lives. Although their situations are completely different, both struggle to do what is right and moral without losing compassion, understanding and humanity! Hard lessons are learned, sacrifices made and forgiveness won! Matt Weight is also a new narrator to me and did a great job narrating. However, I think the story would benefit from a female narrator as well! Overall this was a good experience!

Sexy Captive romance

Well written and narrated ! Both author and narrator are new to me and i thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Matt has a strong deep voice that is very expressive. Beauty and the Beast retelling /captive romance theme. Good balance between romance and steam and i always love a good mob story. Was exciting from the first chapter to the end. Will definitely listen to future Beena Khan books