Bound by Duty

Born in Blood Mafia Chronicles, Book 2

By: Cora Reilly

Narrated by: Ava Lucas

Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's Summary

Dante Cavallaro’s wife died four years ago but her memory still haunts him. On the verge of becoming the youngest head in the history of the Chicago Outfit, Dante needs to remarry or risk appearing weak.

Valentina is chosen for the role.

She, too, lost her husband, but her first marriage has always been for show. Even after her husband’s death, Valentina carries the weight of his secrets with her - to protect the honor of a dead man and herself.

With her wedding to Dante, her castle of lies threatens to crash.

Valentina fears the wedding night might reveal her secret, but her worries prove unfounded when Dante ignores her. Soon, her fear turns to confusion and anger.

Valentina is tired of being ignored. She’s determined to get Dante’s attention and desire, even if she can’t get his heart that still belongs to his dead wife.

©2015 Cora Reilly (P)2020 Cora Reilly

A NON-STOP LISTEN THAT HAD ME HOOKED & HAPPY

For over a week I’ve been totally immersed in, and absolutely obsessed with, this warring Mafia world of dangerous alphas and their layered lives. With their family dynamics, with the various threats, with their protective natures, loyalties and customs, with their arranged marriages and with the brutal challenges when the Chicago Outfit, the New York Famiglia and the Las Vegas Cammora simmer, spill blood, torture and go to war. They are all layered dark love stories with emotional push n pulls, friction, fireworks, sexcapades and character growth as Capos and Made Men bend for the women they’ve each struggled and fought their attraction to. Their Blood Oath forever binds them to the Mafia brotherhood above all else.. but the right woman will get inside their walls, make them human, make them fall in love and they will become more cherished than even their Oaths.

And in this story Dante and Valentina from the Chicago Outfit are the next couple to enter into an arranged Mafia marriage.. but it’s a second marriage for both of them so there’s ghosts from his past marriage stopping Chicago’s Capo Dante from moving on and secrets from Valentina’s marriage that will eventually come out. Dante fights the attraction, Valentina pushes it with sexy reveals and the push n pull tense refrain relationship will emotionally and sexually strain.. and strain.. and strain. But that’s not all.. because Valentina thinks she knows everything about her deceased husband and his big secrets.. but she couldn’t be more wrong.. and the drama, danger, sexual tension and suspense is both thrilling and climactic.

Worth a credit? Each and every book (except book 1) is action-packed, riveting, well-written, suspense-filled, climactic and yes, IMO, very creditworthy. Some I loved more than others, some overlap their storylines, some move the years on and some hit hard. However, they all pack a punch, they all delivered more than I was looking for in a good Mafia love story, every POV has a great narrator (except book 1) who brings the characters, the never-ending friction and the feels to life.. and every - single - one entertained and frayed my senses in some way.

Good series so far

I almost skipped this book for Mateo’s story, which is after this book. I decided the author did it this way for a reason and I’m glad I didn’t skip it. Good story and I’m sure I will love the next one because I love the male narrator. I wish good authors would really consider their narrator or narrators very carefully. I know I spend a lot of money with audible and I hate to keep calling to return books because of the narrator. By the way some authors get good narrators and the story is not so great. Good thing we can return them😎

Amazing

Cora Reilly is an amazing author and I love this series. I’ve read this book before and decided I had to listen to it. It is amazing, epic. If you love dark mafia romance then I definitely recommend reading this author’s books

Great narrater

I really enjoyed the voice in this book. It made it very easy to become engaged quickly. The story line is awesome too.

Lazy Story

Not very interesting story. No details of the back story of the main characters. Even the dead 1st wife, which could have been an interesting back story was not discussed in any detail. Dante seemed just so boring for the Boss of the Chicago Mob. He didn't even read like an Alpha male. All the side characters could have been given more details in the book but not one character was developed fully. This made the story extremely boring and dry for a Mob storyline. Then it was totally ruined with Gianna. She ruined the first book in the series and now this one took a dive when she came into the story. Boring on all fronts. The Frank storyline, Bibianna/Thomas storyline, Raphael storyline all could have been developed into something but none gave anything interesting. Even the staff characters were boring. The reader never got to know why any characters acted the way they did or why any character was even in the story.

Dante!!!

Love Dante and Vals story!!!! Love that it was a slow burn kind of romance novel! The angst!!! My feelings were all over the place while reading this novel. I love the audio version too!!! I never get sick of listening to their story !

Narrator

After listening to 3 of Cora Reillys books, this one was a disappointment. The narrator should have listened to the first books in the series before attempting. She really killed the vibe I had going with mispronunciations as well as the fact that her voice doesn't fit in with the other books. Definitely should have skipped this one.

A better mafia romance

I loooooove this book. Especially because Valentina didn’t have any designs, wasn’t stupidly insecure…the annoying angst that I’ve come to hate wasn’t there, much… she seemed normal and level headed especially for someone born in the lifestyle and had no expectations… she came off smart and knew to navigate the world she was born into until chapter 18 🤬 After chapter 18 Valentina was just so so so so annoying!!! If she’s grown up in the Outfit lifestyle how is anything shocking? I thought she was in love with Antonio while with Dante the way she was acting… she didn’t know what she wanted ugh (she sort of redeemed herself) I could have done without that part…

I mean, Expecting someone to declare unfailing love after 2-3 months of an arranged marriage? 🙄 is she 17? She just became so annoying, reminding me of Aria (couldn’t listen to book 2- Aria’s story. She was annoying in Luca’s story and the narrator coupled with how I didn’t like her I skipped book 2) I powered through and finished… at the end it was alright…

I liked the story overall, I liked their relationship, Dante was amazing! Valentina was too until she wasn’t…I hope there will be his POV story…

Another phenomenal mafia series

I love how this author ties all the characters into each series it's so different from the others put there and is so beautiful yet hard to handle at times .

Duty

Bound by Duty by Cora Reilly pulled me in from the very beginning. Mafia romance is my favorite genre and the author has created a family of characters that are intense and compelling. Each book is a standalone listen and has character cameo appearances from other books. I love how they are interwined. Ava Lucas performs this book so well. She brings them to life.