Rating: 4.5🌈

I had no idea that K. M. Neuhold’s dark crime romance series, Mafia Bound, would climb to the top of my list of favorites from this author.  But it certainly has just based on the two fantastic books Neuhold has released in this addictive series.

Violent, dangerously sexual, full of men ready for kinky sex and dark unmistakable attraction amidst Mafia family drama and power struggles within the criminal territories of their city.  Yes, please!

Mafia Bound has its center in the powerful crime family, the Morettis, run by big brother, Lorenzo Moretti.  The first story, which I loved, featured his enforcer, the Ice Man, Xaviaro Saviano, and his romance with Sparrow, an assassin with an agenda. They are seen again here in all their loving psychotic glory. Perfection.

The hints of this relationship we saw in that novel come out swinging here, literally as Elio’s obsession with MMA/ underground boxing champion  Orion is on full display during a courtside match.  It’s a match where anything goes, and the fury, the sheer intensity and physicality just powers off the page.

Neuhold sets the tone and themes here for the characters, the settings, and their dynamic, all right there at the beginning.  It’s violent, bloody, powerful, intense, gripping, and magnetic.  Each character is so well executed and beautifully defined that we understand them even though they have more layers to be revealed as the story progresses.  

Each man is set both within their own family and history, and then within their developing world where their universe will eventually overlap.  It’s fascinating to watch/read about because we feel a part of this couple’s journey. That Orion makes a credible reversal in his view of the Moretti family is due to how Neuhold handled this aspect of his journey in the storyline.  Well done. 

This is how the reader makes such an intimate connection with them , the understanding we reach with each of them, one that’s potentially very dark as well given the violent nature of the situations. 

This is a BDSM D/s relationship, with someone who craves certain elements within their sexual play. Read the notes.  This will go for the series as well, per the characters. 

The plot lines, the characters and their interactions were so great.  I loved the elements with Jack. That’s Orion’s brother whose disability plays a huge part of the story.  And as the two novels have hinted at, Dante,the intriguing dancer,  has a relationship of his own with Sal coming. 

I can’t wait for this one. 

So, more please.  I’m so hooked.  The Moretti family has me in their clutches.  I’m highly recommending Beautifully Savage Butterfly but start with Deadly Little Sparrow, then head here. 

Great covers.

Mafia Bound:

• Deadly Little Sparrow #1
• Beautifully Savage Butterfly #2

Buy link 

        Beautifully Savage Butterfly (Mafia Bound Book 2)

    

Blurb

Being savage in the ring is one thing. The way Elio Moretti craves my violence outside the ring is another.

I feel like I’ve been fighting my whole life, and tapping out has never been an option.

I can live with owing money to the Morettis. I can even live with the constant guilt that my brother is the one paralyzed in a hospital bed while I live his dream. What I can’t live with is Elio Moretti, second in command to the infamous crime family, showing up to all my fights, sitting in the front row, watching me like he can’t look away, and barging into the locker room to patch up my wounds and invade my space.

The Morettis are monsters. Vicious, brutal sociopaths. So, why is Elio so eager to get on his knees for me?

He’s as desperate to give up control as I am to take it, but is giving in to these primal urges enough of a reason to sell my soul?

He claims there are worse people in this city than his family, and the deeper I get dragged into his world, the more true that’s starting to seem. Can I really fall in love with a Mafia underboss? Is it even possible to walk away?

• Publication date: September 6, 2024
• Language: English
• Print length: 280 pages