Mafia Kingdom

By: CD Reiss

Narrated by: Elena Wolfe, Marcio Catalano

Length: 7 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

A queen in waiting....

After 50 years of peace, Carmine Montefiore's decree rains down on the families of this city.

Your daughters will line up, and he will choose his bride.

When families have failed to release their girls to the line, the Montefiores have left a bloodbath behind. It is my birthright to be sacrificed.

My only hope for a new life comes at the hands of Massimo Colonia, a man stained with sin...and absolutely forbidden.

A king in exile....

All I want to do is return home and take back my kingdom, but the moment I see her in that dark alley, my world shifts.

She is mine.

And if the families think I’m handing her over to keep their peace, they’ll find out how wrong they are.

They’ve forgotten who they are dealing with. I am the last capo of the Colonia, and for her, I will rain hell on all of them.

©2023 Flip City Media (P)2023 Flip City Media

Interesting

Not going to lie, I was very confused this whole story. I felt like I was between series and was missing a major plot point. I was interested because I wanted everything to finally snap together but it never really does…until the Authors Note at the end. Then everything made more sense. The story was intriguing with parts that were going to make up a whole eventually. This is kind of like a big prologue and once you hear the authors note it makes even more sense. Reading Mafia Bride first I think would help tie a lot of this together so if this story intrigues you start there. The narration by Marcio and Elena was good. Both give a lot of emotion to their characters and there are a lot of different characters for them to bring to life.

Confused.

I’m a little unsure of how to proceed with reviewing this one, since I’m not sure how I feel about it. The story is unique, with its blends of genres, and it is well-written and very interesting with its mystery and suspense. I’m assuming that, based on the author’s note, there will be a continuation of sorts to be released in a few years. I do hope it is a continuation of this, and not a standalone that just includes these characters as the other stories do, because I’m left trying to figure out what just happened. There are so many loose ends remaining when the story comes to an abrupt halt. Not really a cliffhanger, but not a resolution, either. It’s a complex story, difficult to follow because of the complexities that are just hinted at, or implied, but never really confirmed. It’s not as steamy as some of her other stories, but still has some spice and lots of passion. I did enjoy the feel of an older writing style superimposed over a modern setting, but it did cause me a little dissonance. The feeling was similar to that of Dracula, and other Gothic Romance stories. One thing I never cared for with gothic classics is the tendency to lack a satisfying denouement. That’s one element this book retained, albeit, loosely and with a promise of a potential resolution to come—however vague and mysterious. While I really enjoyed this story, and thoroughly appreciated its unique blending of genre styles, I need a bit more clarity and explanation. Not necessarily a thorough and complete explanation—just a bit…more. It leaves much to be desired. This one is unique for sure. I don’t regret it. But it just feels like a cliffhanger without being a cliffhanger. I am from the “old school” when cliffhangers between books/movies/sitcoms/etc. were perfectly acceptable, so unlike many who rate harshly because of them, I am ok with them (as long as an author isn’t chopping up shoddy content into 3-4 poorly written books in order to capitalize on it as a series that should have been a single book). So, I feel like—hope that this HEA was just a classification for the whiners who can’t handle a cliffhanger, and that a real resolution is coming in a few years. The quality of this story is superb, and I can’t imagine what its potential could become if the Reiss continues the story and brings all the loose threads together. In the meantime, I am going to to check out some of her other books. I’ve listened to/read most of hers, but haven’t checked out the vampire ones—so, let’s see if I can get a clearer picture while I wait for her next release.

Good book

Interesting start to new series. Good narration and interesting twist. Vampires in the future sounds interesting.

Fantastic Romeo/Juliet esque story

CD Reiss writes books like no other author I’ve read before. She has this amazing way of captivating the reader, really pulling them into the story. I loved how exhilarating this story was, really giving a Romeo and Juliet vibe with a mafia twist. I also now appreciate calling someone a “cabbage” as an insult.

Elena Wolfe and Marcio Catalano did such a spectacular job with their performance of this story.

Elena picked the perfect tone and inflection for Delfina, whose characteristics are very demure, and doll-like on the outside, but she has a feisty side that no one else ever sees, especially the men around her. Elena's voice is just very soothing and easy to listen to. She had the right amount of gravel to her tone when narrating the male characters, it blended very nicely.

Marcio is the king of accents. Each character that he narrated had a completely different accent and tone that you really believe there were multiple people narrating this, no character sounded the same. I loved the tone he used for Massimo, not too gravely and growly, but the right amount of “firmness” that matched that character’s possessive attitude. My favorite was when he was narrating for a drunk Aris, that had me straight cackling.

My only ever so slight critique would be that while Marcio provided an accent for all his character where need be, such as an Italian accent for Delfina’s character, Elena did not. It took away from the flow of the story ever so slightly and felt it would’ve really elevated the narration. BUT I still loved this oh so much and I highly, highly recommend it.

WOW

I am stunned!
this book had me scared, angry happy and sad. Anxious for Massimo and Delfina hoping that they will not lose each other, hoping that Massimo will win! Yes I know it's a book but I am totally committed and vested in ALL of Chrissies books. anyway Elena Wolf is excellent as always and Mario Catalan is running with Sabistan and Shane and believe me that's the best compliment he can get! excellence job narrators! I am not into vampires but ..its CD Reiss soooo I am waiting to read.. happy reading..