Devil You Hate

A Dark Mafia Romance (The Diavolo Crime Family Series, Book 1)

By: J. L. Beck, Cassandra Hallman

Narrated by: Devon Grace, Zachary Johnson

Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

They call me “The Devil.”

Deranged and violent. Gorgeous but frightening. I’m a businessman, so when one of my debtors offers me his fiancé in exchange for a debt settled, I figure why not? The woman will be a quick sell. Repayment comes in the form of a beautiful but haunted young woman. The light in her tempts the darkness inside of me. Teases it, tortures it. I want to hurt her. I want to break her. I want to keep her. Luckily for Celia, she fails to see that there is no goodness in me. And when she attempts to draw me in with her innocence and sweet, naïve heart, I thrive to show her the cruel monster I am.

This is a dark mafia romance that contains non-con/dub con, graphic violence, and sexual themes. It is not a standalone novel and ends on a cliffhanger.

©2020 Beck & Hallman LLC (P)2022 Blackstone Publishing

pros and cons

extreme well written.
if you're sensitive on rape topic. this book nos not for you.
yes, she develops a stockman syndrome during the book, but in the beginning is definitely not consensual.

Going back and forth with this one

I'm not sure how I feel about this one. Mostly because I couldn't get into the story completely. At points the MFC understands her predicament and then she doesn't. She displays strength and then in another she completely breaks. At points where she thinks she's in love with the MC just didn't make sense. It was to much back and forth and too fast to be believed. The MMC was the same way. He was using the FC for revenge but was somehow also possessive and in love with her. I felt confused trying to stay with the story.

The triggers didn't bother me as much as the story. Again, I am so unsure.

There is obviously a part 2 so maybe then it will make sense but I just don't know.

Good Listen

The only thing that I didn’t like was the female narrator. Her voice was rough and sounded like gravel. I skipped her parts, because I her voice just threw me off.

Loved! Can’t binge the 2nd fast enough.

I really don’t understand some of the less than stellar reviews on this book. First read the triggers, it’s definitely not for everyone. I loved the story, it somehow felt like a fresh take on a classic Mafia story line. The male MC will give you goosebumps in some of the spice later. A lot of people had issues with the female MC but U thought her narrator actually sounded so much like an actual internal monologue & I found her voice so perfect to listen to. Also I feel like her back and forth struggle was so understandable & realistic. Cliffhanger was KILLER! Can wait to binge the 2nd book.

Kept Me Interested

The female character was too soft for me. But I guess it was her age and the way she was brought up.

Okay story

The story is pretty good. The FMC is kind of annoying and the narrator has an odd voice. Like she needs to clear her throat or something. Kind of annoying.

Loved every moment

Oh my gosh this one! I loved this one. The end had me screaming: “Are you f-ing kidding me?” Damn

The crappy ending

The story itself was alright but the ending was trash. Made me regret listening to the whole thing.

Garish

A little too sadistic for me. Dark mafia is a good description of this story.

Very dark cliff hanger

There is a lot of explaining to do in the next book because some things don't yet add up. She has not realized why the pet name is familiar to her. I have a feeling her sister's suicide is pivotal info but we shall see. (Spoiler alert...) The book is very dark subject matter with kidnapping rape deprevity at the core yet you are still in rapture to find out what happens.
Narration is ok, the female voice has got to be the slowest drawn out narration ever because I am listening at 1.35 speed and still slow, so thank god the voices are not annoying as well. If this were a person I was co-workers with or something and they talked like this I would be so impatient for them to spit out what they had to say that it may make me psychotic. I have never listened to a book by either of these narrators so it may also just be for the disdain to come across for the "sake" of this book-not sure....but very punctuated elongated words and pauses.
Ready for conclusion book....