Shattered Veil

Astoria Royals Standalone, Book 2

By: Deborah Garland

Narrated by: Desiree Ketchum, JF Harding

It started with a little white lie and ended with me being owned by a black-hearted mafia boss. And now... my baby daddy. Of all people to tease to live out a fantasy. I fell into bed with a hacker for the Irish mob: Balor O'Rourke. Who also happens to be my new lethally gorgeous boss with nerdy dark glasses, penetrating green eyes, and a body made for sin. He doesn't do relationships and I'm getting over an abusive ex. With that understanding, we shatter the rules, unleashing his unbridled desires and my carnal urges. But the enemy Balor is chasing turns out to be my father, and I have to choose sides. When my baby news wakes up a passion for marriage and fatherhood Balor didn't know he could feel, a brutal possessiveness takes hold. I may not have a choice now. He says I'm his. Forever.

Shattered Veil is a standalone Mafia Romance with mature themes, a possessive hacker, and a DV survivor. The story includes explicit content. It is recommended for mature listeners only. No cheating. HEA guaranteed.

©2023 Deborah Garland (P)2025 Deborah Garland

Deliciously Dirty Irish Mafia

Shattered Veil had me cracking up at the beginning at Ella's thoughts and then BAM, we get a dirty talking Balor like right off the bat and that mouth... Their initial chemistry was crazy hot and I was all in on their story. A few hiccups along the way, but whey they see each other again, their chemistry continues to be explosive. The mouth on that man was sexy AF, but I also really loved Ella who was just as sassy and dirty mouthed. Outside of their crazy hot passion though, a beautiful story and a very sweet romance evolved.

This book definitely had a lot of the mafia vibes you would expect which brought a bit of danger and intrigue to the story and kept me entertained and engaged throughout trying to figure out what was going to happen next. I loved how protective Balor was of Ella and how he vowed to make sure her abusive ex was dealt with. There were several things I never saw coming, but that ended up making this story so much better than expected.

The voice narration with JF Harding and Desiree Ketchum was excellent. Both narrators did a stellar job and I loved the Irish accent that really brought to life the Irish Mafia angle of the story. Their voice inflections were perfect and really added to the listening experience.

Action and spice

This is book 2 of the Astoria Royals, a steamy mafia story that features Ella and Balor.
They both meet on a plane from Sydney to New York with a 5 hour stop over in LA.
Their chemistry is off the charts and Ella decides to play a part making Balor think she is something she is not.
This leads them to spending the most amazing 5 hours together in a hotel, with him then disappearing.
For Ella, trying to get over being in a very toxic relationship, their time together is a fantasy come true.
Fate has them meeting again but under much different circumstances, where Ella is pulled into the Mafia world with her father’s shady dealings.
Can Balor and Ella have a future together?
Or will danger come calling?
This is a very spicy story with much danger, action and betrayal.
I enjoyed the storyline and all of the characters and look forward to continuing on with this series.
I listened to the audiobook that was narrated in Duet by JF Harding and Desiree Ketchum really enjoying both of their performances.
Receiving an ALC in exchange for my honest review.
Thanks to Deborah Garland and Booksprout for the gifted copy and the opportunity to listen to this audiobook - all opinions are my own.

Hot Nerdy Hacker

I always enjoy a mafia story and this one was a good one to listen to. J F. Heading and Desiree are two of my favorite.

The master hacker & the one who defrosts his ♥️

BALOR O'ROURKE , irish mafia hacker extraordinaire ... he doesnt like women to touch him ...
ELLA REYES , the beautiful woman who he shared 1st class seats with on the flight back from Australia .

tropes
-------
irish mafia
DV survivor
ONS
hacker / teacher

" no one will judge, they know what it took for you to be here "

" luck , patience , trust and shattering the veil to Balor's heart "

This is the audiobook you've been waiting for!

UPDATED FOR AUDIO: This is the audiobook you’ve been waiting for. Trust me, I’m right about this. Just close your eyes and imagine it: J. F. Harding with that voice, those subtle changes, those pauses, saying BABY . . . and with a perfect, sexy, Irish accent! He is Balor. All the initial sarcasm and then hunger and then fear and then the anger. What could be better? Nothing. So open your eyes and go buy this audiobook. Search the internet for BABY and you’ll find all my reviews for J. F. Harding, because he says BABY better than anyone, whatever the book or character it just makes me shiver every time. And Desiree Ketchum as Ella is right there with him. Every word, every syllable, every breath, every emotion. Her immediate attraction to Balor, first just physically but then the man himself, her courage and determination after all the abuse but with terror waiting just under the surface. Perfect pairing of narrators for an already perfect book.

Okay, I admit it. I am completely obsessed with and addicted to Deborah Garland’s Mafia romance books. They are just so entertaining: funny, sexy, scary, and most of all so romantic. Yes, these big, tough, handsome guys are the Irish Mafia, killers, criminals, hit men, an enforcer, an underboss, a king. But after a while Mafia-criminals-underboss just goes through your head like yada-yada-yada. These guys are sweet and so eager to please their women (even if they are bossy as heck) and babble when confused just like guys who work at the hardware store instead of guys who run a city.

And yes, they are kind of over the top. Maybe in our boring everyday lives we don’t want quite so much possessiveness or violence, but these stories are meant to draw you in, take you away from your everyday life and give you laughs and tears and shivers. And that is exactly what they do. And let’s get it out of the way right now that we love the O’Rourkes. Stunningly handsome, loyal, strong, and even their names are sexy: Kieran, Riordan, Lachlan, Cormac, Darragh, Eoghan, Balor, and they are the good guys.

In Shattered Veil all the brothers, sister Shea-Lynn, cousins, bodyguards and a lot of the actual bad guys from the Astoria Royals series and standalones are back, but this is Balor and Ella’s story. Balor is the youngest brother, the nerdy tech genius of the family, who witnessed as a child his father’s brutality towards his mother and vowed that “regular” women would never be for him. Too much risk, too much emotion involved. He’s watched his brothers become smitten (or a better word would be obsessed) one-by-one and has smugly smirked to himself with certainty that this will never, ever, ever happen to him. Famous last words, even for a billionaire mob boss.

Ella is a teacher, the daughter of a computer hacking genius and recently just escaped from an abusive partner. She yearns to be a “regular” woman again. Not looking for love but desperately needs to be able to find intimacy again without fear and loathing.

From their first encounter on a plane, which is sweet, sexy, and emotional because little things flicker under the surface to their surprise re-meeting a few weeks later to a job and relationship – strange as it is – through some truly unsettling events and peeks into the mob world, every minute spent with them is compelling. They are so attracted to each other but so unwilling to go further to risk something like their hearts. I loved Shattered Veil, can’t wait to see what’s next, and hope author Garland never runs out of brothers or cousins or someone because these books are a joy to read. I voluntarily leave this review; all opinions are my own.