Fragile Longing

By: Cora Reilly

Narrated by: Teddy Hamilton, Desiree Ketchum

Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

A new stand-alone age-gap, arranged marriage romance from USA Today best-selling author Cora Reilly!

Sofia knows how it feels to be the consolation prize. Too young. Not blond.

And definitely not an ice princess.

Her sister is—was—all those things. Perfection. Until she wasn’t. Until she ran off to be with the enemy and left her fiancé behind.

Now Sofia is given to Danilo in her sister’s stead, knowing she’ll never be more than second best. Yet, she can’t stop longing for the love of the man she’s been crushing on even when he was still her sister’s.

Danilo is a man who’s used to getting what he wants.

Power.

Respect.

The sought-after ice princess.

Until another man steals his bride-to-be. Danilo knows that for a man in his position, losing his woman can lead to a loss of face.

Wounded pride.

Thirst for revenge.

A dangerous combination—one Danilo can’t leave behind, not even when a girl just as precious takes her sister’s place to placate him. Yet, she’s got one flaw: She’s not her sister.

Unable to forget what he’s lost, Danilo might lose what he’s been given.

©2020 Cora Reilly (P)2022 Cora Reilly

Don’t Listen

Do NOT start listening to this book unless you have time to finish! I was completely hooked from the first chapter and listened all the way through. The story, the narration, everything was amazing. This will definitely be a repeat listen.

Loved it

I’ve read this book and enjoyed listening to it. I love this author’s book. If you love dark mafia romance the I would recommend reading:listening to this author’s book

Slow burn

This was a SLOWWWW BURRN!!!! The book is good, a few times I lost focus cause the same thing kinda kept happening over and over and the main chick needed a spine but then the tide turned.

It was worth the time

Thoroughly enjoyed the listen. The characters were dynamic I wish that the description included trigger warnings.

Steamy

I enjoy all of Cora Reilly’s book. This book did not disappoint me and keeps you holding to each page Sanyo know what happens next

A must for your Cora Reilly library!

I have all the books starting from the very first story about Luca Vitiello and this is a part of the Born in Blood mafia family series because it deals with Seraphina Mancini’s little sister and her fiancée. It’s a must read/listen and I find it an enjoyable read.

Good branch off of the Outfit/Camorra Chronicles

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were great and it was great to hear what they were thinking at different times during other stories.

Love me some Teddy but dang this book was bad

Omg this was a dredge. Cora disappointed wit this one but I guess not all of her books need to be amazing. MAN this book was bad. Do not, save you the credit.

SORRY 👎.. TOO ‘TEEN’ FOR ME

This journey was a long one as twelve year old Sofia is promised to The Outfit’s twenty-two year old Underboss Danilo in an arranged marriage to join two families together. And to placate and stop the rage in Danilo because his now ex fiancé (Sofia’s sister) had been kidnapped by The Camorra and had fallen in love with the enemy. At first there’s childish giddy naivety and sweet daydreams for Sofia at the thought of marrying her handsome infatuation.. but for Danilo, his hurt, anger and rage doesn’t quit.. it grows. Slowly, over the years, Sofia’s cherished dreams get tarnished when she sees endless pictures of Danilo with beautiful blonds like her sister.. and Sofia feels less than with her plain brown hair, insecure and second best to the sister everyone loved and not Danilo’s type at all.

And what follows is a rinse and repeat of immature insecurities, flaws and comparisons to her sister’s beauty over the years until, and long after, her eighteenth birthday where the engagement will be announced. Two strangers locked in a marriage contract where misunderstandings, childish catastrophic impulses and shattered dreams and heartbreak lay ahead for Sofia and it will take long after their marriage before she will finally come out of the shadow of her sister’s perfection and realizes her own worth.

Worth a credit? As I’ve explained, and despite Danilo’s ten year age difference, this is very much a teen/YA/NA romance and sadly not for me.. so disappointing as I’ll be asking for my credit back. There’s a lot of emotional angst and growing up to do.. however the excellent dual pov narration by Teddy and Desire did make me actually hang on and finish the listen. And there were some sizzling sex scenes and a happy ending too when all the growing up was done. But please remember, this is just my opinion.. others may love it.

Danilo Danilo Danilo

The use of first names in this book is absolutely OUT. OF. CONTROL. The name Danilo is in every sentence. The name Sophia is in every other sentence. And the name Fina is in every third one. Sure that's an exaggeration, but OH MY GOD USE A PRONOUN.

Anyway, I am one of the few intrepid readers that believed the publisher's blurb when it said that this book was a standalone. I read it as a standalone. FYI, it's not. Yes, I was aware beforehand that Cora Reilly had created a multi-series mafia dynasty. And I was aware that Danilo and Sophia were a couple of side characters. But I'm not a big fan of mafia romance and don’t want 500 underworld characters hogging my bandwidth, so I chose to read only this book exclusively for the 'sister's ex' trope. And it sorta delivered. I mean, there's no denying that big sis (Serafina/Fina) absolutely wrecked the MCs relationship, only she does it in absentia. Her character is hardly in this book but she lives rent free in every single head. So this wasn't exactly the high stakes, OW drama I'd hoped for.

And this isn't a mafia drama either. This book is actually about the collateral damage caused by the ‘chattel slavery’ treatment of women inside these mob families. The mfc (Sophia) is betrothed at 12yo to her (stunning) sister's sloppy seconds and it completely ruins her psyche. It causes a sort of mental illness to fester in her. She can't deal with being promised to a grown man. She knows he's hers, she has an intense crush on him, yet cannot be near him for 6 years, not until she's legal. The mmc (Danilo) literally pledges to ignore her until she comes of age. So he lives normally, but she can’t. The IDEA of him hijacks all of her thoughts and her firsts. The news reports of Danilo and his blonde-Fina-lookalike women hijack her fragile self esteem. And the knowledge of his broken engagement to her PERFECT, ETHEREAL sister hijacks her sense of self worth and puts a wedge between her and her other family members. This book really is a dramma giocoso, because until the halfway point this child engages in a host of silly attention seeking antics that truly feel tragic.

I wish I could say that the second half of the book redeems the first, but it doesn't. The MCs do grow closer. And a romance of equals does begin. But the fallout from the YEARS of inequity and disregard makes Sophia and Danilo's marriage more of a healing journey than a romance. By the 8hr point still no sex. I’d hoped for an epic passion that eclipsed everything bad that had happened before. But it was more like therapy, all boring baby steps and trust falls.