Bound by Honor

An Arranged Marriage Mafia Romance (Born in Crime, Book 1)

By: Kelsey Dawson

Narrated by: Ashlynn Brooks, Jack Fetching

Length: 12 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

When danger starts to lurk, even the most bitter rivals can become allies....

Elisa: I just wanted an ordinary life, but I had to be born as a daughter of the Don of one of the most powerful families in New York. I went to school to become a nurse, but now my father is giving me away to my family’s greatest enemy in order to seal a truce. John Colombo may have my hand in marriage, so he might even be seen as owning my body, but he’ll never hold my heart.

John: I will do anything for my family, even if it means marrying the daughter of our enemy. Honor, pride, duty...these are words I understand, and love is not one of them. I have one rule - to never lose control - but there is something about this feisty mafia princess that’s making me go off the deep end.

In Bound by Honor, Kelsey Dawson is taking readers on a sexy, intense, and unforgettable journey filled with suspense, sexual tension and passion.

Brace yourself for a sensual and provocative mafia romance that will leave you breathless. Enjoy the ride as the sparks fly between Elisa and John, threatening to scorch both of their worlds.

©2021 Kelsey Dawson (P)2021 Kelsey Dawson

Quality Time Spent

really really really good. thank you for NOT wasting my time spent doing what I love doing. #1 reading
#2 listening

nice story

it was a nice story but not that wow, didn't like the male narrator, just was wondering why a mafia princess will go out with no guards and don't have protection !!!

pretty but....

This was pretty good story. I'm not much of a Mafia fan but this one felt light for a Mafia story. From reading about this author, this story was her first book which I thought was good for debut. My thought on the readers. Males voice fits his character and I enjoyed it. However, his reading style was inconsistent and not smooth. After a few hours, He grew on me. On with the female, she is new to me and she was okay reading her parts. That said, her swallowing while reading was kinda distracting and made me cringe. Hence, it's the reason I gave four stars for performance. Other than what I mentioned, I highly recommend if you are a romance reader.

BAD NARRATORS!!

Narration was awful.
The male voice didn’t match the character and the female narrator acted like her parts were a secret (whispered).
Totally ruined the book.
Read this one, skip the audiobook.
I hope the author gets this redone with different narrators.

AN EXCELLENT BEGINNING TO A CRIME FAMILY ACTION -

First let me say I can't wait for the next book AND for many more in the series too :)

I love crime/romance stories and this one is close to the top of my favorite listens. It's very apparent that the hostility runs high between the two crime families. In order to grow in strength it's required for them to join the families together by an arranged marriage. Thus Elisa from the Gambino family and John from the Colombo family are chosen. This arrangement however was all done behind their backs, so just imagine how surprised each of them were when the two families met for lunch at a neutral location to announce this union.

Their strong family loyalty demands they marry each other but they're not willing participants. Elisa that wants nothing to do with her family's chosen profession of crime and instead went to college to study to become a nurse. This is her passion, to help others.

It was an enjoyable read to see the relationship grow between Elisa and John. He's an alpha male but she sure isn't compliant when her fiery temper flares up and John seems to push those buttons throughout the book. Their love scenes are very passionate and boy what a lover John is, so considerate and selfless towards Elisa. As Elisa is re-acquainted with sex she wants to be a good lover back. Both are resilient lovers and soon become addicted to each other even through their hostile relationship in at least 50% of the first half of the book.

Elisa is kind and compassionate but not a push over to John's surprise and delight. She's beautiful with long blond hair, green eyes and perfect body and completely oblivious of her appearance to others. She's grounded and down to earth and loves her family immensely. In spite of losing her mother at an early age and only having her father - the head of her crime family, she stays consistently sweet and considerate. Although being the wife of (John) the up and coming leader in his crime family her one condition to the marriage was to work as a nurse. Of course both crime families said NO in that it would be embarrassing to them, having others think they couldn't afford to support her. But John quickly agrees with her chosen career saying that's how things are in the new age so reluctantly the leaders agree.

John has a strong bond and loyalty to his family and especially with his brother Dario. They background story could've been longer with more detail and it's sad to be orphaned so young. Their uncle pulls them into the fold and teaches them their ways yet through this entire time were never shown love. They only had each other and yet in spite of the lack of affection given by other family, John & Dario always had each other's back and remained loyal to one another.

As the book continues their relationship develops more each day with a few ups and downs until a serious situation occurs. Tragedy happens where they both realize the importance for peace and their relationships. They are a great couple and the 14 hour listen went quickly. Now I'm longing for more.

Ashlynn Brooks brought Elisa's character to life. She had all the expression and feels. What a great narrator. Jack Fetching has great tone and I loved his voice but the majority of the time it was monotone as if he was simply reading. But the book was so interesting that I was more invested in the book that most of the time I didn't notice.. I would've given 5 stars had the male voice been a little more expressive.  

My most favorite crime family series is "Ruthless People" by J.J. McAvoy and this series (should it continue) will equal J. J. McAvoy's.

A great read, don't miss out because it's well worth the credit AND NO I wasn't given anything free for this review. Thank you Kelsey Dawson on a great book and good luck with your next book(s)! I'll look forward to listening/reading more of them.

Elisa and John - Really Good Book!

This book was so good. The time just flew by, almost 13 hours, and I still wanted more. Elisa, daughter of a powerful Don in New York, had to marry John from a rival family. John turned out to be awesome because Elisa was so feisty. There is a betrayer in John's inner circle who ends up kidnapping Elisa. John moved Heaven and earth to get her back. This book has such a sweet ending. Ashlynn Brooks and Jack Fetching did a great job with the narration. At first I thought that Jack narrated too fast because I had to listen again and again to what he was saying, but I got used to his voice. I cannot wait until book 2 is on Audible.

Fast paced with Unexpected twists

This was a new to me author and narrators. I was hesitant at first but so glad I took the chance. The male narrator does speak a little fast, but nothing I couldnt handle. The story was fantastic. Its action packed with secrets, twists, and even love.

Female narrator awful!

Female narrator sounded like her mouth was dry and needed to drink water. Awful

DNF @ 35%..I just couldn't take anymore!

The h was immature, superficial and silly, while the H was weak, thought with his dick and acted like a teenager. Gawd! Just NO! There went a wasted credit! Do NOT fall for the smoking hot cover, this book is just awful.

Audiobook is really awful

And also - the name of a character changes in the epilogue? This story was all over the place - including the housekeeper going from Mary to Maria in the middle of the book.

The narrators were pretty bad - lots of mispronounced words and also, lots of editing was missed - there are at least 4 instances of a narrator making a mistake, pausing, and then continuing to read that made the final cut.

Wouldn’t recommend this one.