The Mafia and His Angel, Book 1

By: Lylah James

Narrated by: Tia Rider Sorensen

Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's Summary

Alessio....

Cold. Ruthless. Killer. I am respected and feared by all.

I wasn’t put on this earth to love or be loved. I was put here to wipe out every last member of the damn Abandonato mafia, to pay them back for my mother’s death.

When I find a strange girl hiding, beaten, under my bed, I don’t let her live out of compassion. She’s a trinket, my plaything.

Ayla....

I thought Alessio was only one more man who wanted to use me, hurt me, and throw me away. I don’t know what it is to trust anymore. I can’t find my heart under the pain.

Alessio found it. He touched it and brought it alive again. But if he discovers just how dangerous I am to him.... I’ll lose my life.

©2017 Limitless Publishing LLC (P)2017 Limitless Publishing LLC

Good Start To A Series

Lylah James brings us a very intriguing, enthralling, exciting, gripping story that centers around Alessio and Ayla. Each with their own part to play in the criminal underworld. From warring mafia families - He's the leader of the Russians, her father is the leader of the Italians. In her attempt to escape the Hell that had become her life, she inadvertently finds solace within Alessio's home. Her lies keep her alive, but they gnaw at her conscious the closer she gets with her "boss." Her past, her fear, her will to live all become tested when she begins to open herself up, and fall in love with the Brava lord. He's drawn to her, her vulnerability, and even her walls. He wants to crash them all down and get her into his bed. Lines start to blur when he realizes just how much he wants her to stay there.
This was a good book. It was well written, and had me on the edge of my seat. This being a dark romance, you expect some uncomfortable situations. And that's where I struggled with my rating on this book. Story-line, characters, everything - It could have been a 5 star listen.

What is with so many characters names starting with Alessio, Alberto, Alfredo, Ayla, Artur, Angel too much already. Also, I found myself disappointed. Her happiness is tainted a LOT by her past. I understand it, completely. I just felt myself longing for more. And it actually is the reason why I'm so eager to read book 2.

Tia Rider Sorensen was good with the delivery of the story

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

So so long

This is a good book that could have been done in half the time. It’s the book that just won’t end. 11 hours and no sex scenes omg. They could seriously fit the whole trilogy into this one book it was so so long. I think they’re a lot better books out there but it was not a complete waste of time

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

LOVED LOVED LOVED EVERY MINUTE

I didn’t like the narration in the begging but as I went on I adapted and she was pretty good. I thought it was slow on the beginning but it turned out to be awesome sausesome!!!. I fell in love with this mafia romance.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

All I can say is I need more please!

Good story and characters, it draws you in and leaves you wanting and waiting for the next in the series.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Seriously!?!?! Worse book I've EVER read.

In reading the reviews I thought perhaps this would be an interesting story. I listened to over 4 hours of it, muttering the entire time, "are you freakin serious?", "oh, come ON!", eye roll, another eye roll, "sigh", ... you get the picture. I can't even imagine how one could view this as anything but totally unbelievable. Horrible reading, corny story line. Nothing about the story comes across as remotely believable. Well, if you're in to borderline rape/abuse you may get a thrill.... Ugh

AN EPIC UNFORGETTABLE TALE..

A tale of tragedy, torture, triumph and true love. Wow this author certainly knows how to write a twisted Mafia romance that takes you on an emotional, and sometimes dark, rollercoaster along with the damaged hero and heroine. Two Mafia families.. the Russian Ivanshovs and the Italian Abandonatos.. sworn enemies and, at the head of these warring families, are two very different men.

Ayla was the neglected daughter of the head of the Italian Abandonato family who’d been given to her father’s second in command the night she turned sixteen. From then on Ayla existed only as his plaything.. a tortured abused prisoner with no rights.. no life and no hope. For seven years Ayla endured nightly horrors at the hands of her fiancé - then the unthinkable happened.. she escaped.. and oh what a sweet, tortuous, heartbreaking, dark, suspenseful, swoonworthy, angst ridden, delicious and beautiful story followed over the three books. And the journey starts as Ayla is being hunted and her captors are closing in.. so, in desperation, she hides in a stranger’s unlocked car.. a car that is driven by none other than Alessio Ivanshov - the Godfather of the Russians.

Alessio is a handsome cold-blooded ruthless killer.. he’s the Pekhan of the Ivanshov Bratva.. and he’s sworn to kill every single Abandonato in revenge and retaliation for the brutal murder of his beloved pregnant mother when he was a naive innocent boy. When he discovers a dirty shy stranger with mesmerizing green eyes he puts her to work in his mansion.. unaware who she is.. and unaware that the consequences of his actions will be profound, life changing, catastrophic, euphoric, heartbreaking.. and heartachingly tender too. Because his beautiful timid sweet little angel will tame his beast.. captivate him (and his staff).. their chemistry will be off the charts.. the angst and drama will be challenging.. the effect she’ll have on him (and his heart) will be breathtaking.. and the fallout will be war.

It’s a steady climb and a slow burn to greatness as you journey through the low simmer to the high anxiety angst, the blow your circuits drama and the soul-destroying heartbreak. Through outstanding character growth as meek damaged victimized Ayla eventually turns into a loving angel and the heartless Mafia King slowly turns into a revenging saviour. There’s hours and hours of blissful well-written dialogue and unending feels as two broken people find THE one.. the one that can heal them, unconditionally love them.. and ultimately save them. This is a well-honed heart-achingly tender and touching love story of goosebumps, butterflies and sigh-worthy scenes. And, out of a turbulent sea of desire, passion, possession, understanding, violence, bloodshed, torture, compassion, betrayal, revenge, pleasure, unspeakable pain, sadness, loss and rock solid devotion, life-long connections and unbreakable bonds are forged. There’s some laughter in there too.

Worth a credit? This unforgettable dual POV trilogy, and it’s wonderfully varied characters, stole my heart.. so IMO, ABSO~FREAKING~LUTELY yes it’s creditworthy. The narration by Tia Rider Sorensen was awesome and, from start to finish, I unapologetically binged on each riveting chapter until there were only a handful of chapters left. Then I slowly drip-fed myself the last remaining few so I could savor them, wallow in the happy feels.. and bask alongside Ayla and Alessio in their beautiful, and very hard won, HEA ending.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

Lots of heartache and angst

Had I know how much angst and heartache is involved in this novel, I would not have started it. It’s not that it’s not well written, it’s that when the novel has constant angst and negative emotions, it tends to just depress me. However, now that I have started this trilogy and become invested in the characters, I need to see it through in order to reach the , hopefully, the resolution. If I don’t, it will just stick with me in a negative way. So my advice is this, if you are a sensitive person that tends to get emotionally invested in a book, if you plan to have productive days and don’t want swollen eyes, you might want to skip this series. This is exactly why I stopped reading Danelle Steele’s books. I don’t mind emotional ups and downs but a long term down just ruins the escapism of the book, for me.
-V from Kansas

wow what a wonderful story I'm so hooked.

loved it so much. I couldn't put it down. excited to see what happens. breathtaking

Captivating

As started reading this book I wasn't sure but it didn't take long to grab my attention and kept me captivated all the way through. Not much sex which is ok because the story is just that good to me.

Torn

I’m very torn about this book. It is very wordy!! I was interested enough to want to find out what happened and even though every emotion was dragged out and inspected and talked about. For all of that talking very little actually happened in the book. I won’t be listening to the next in the series I don’t think I can invest that much for so little.

0 of 1 people found this review helpful