Descent Into Madness (When Titans Fall 1) by Fiona Murphy-review tour

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date August 25, 2023

I’m told the man I’m to marry is a psychopath. He doesn’t feel. They say it’s a good thing, no feeling means no anger for me to fear. Except they don’t see the flip side. If he can’t feel, he can never love.

He saved me by ending my boyfriend who refused to take no for an answer. Only Manuel Rodriguez is no savior. He’s the lethal enforcer of the all-powerful Rodriguez cartel. His father and brother handle their drugs and money. Manuel handles their death and destruction.

I wasn’t supposed to be there. I’m a good girl. I was raised to be a perfect mafia princess, destined to be the wife of a powerful mafia capo.

My rebellion against my destiny culminated in me thanking him on my knees. And ended the moment I was back on my feet.

For Manuel, my way of thanking him wasn’t enough. He needs a mother for his children. I need to protect my mother and myself from my father’s misdeeds.

Now one question remains: Can a marriage without love and made of lies survive?

Because I lied when I told myself I married him to protect my mother. I lied by omission when I didn’t tell him the secrets he asked for. I have a secret. A secret that could destroy everything, including a marriage I’ll do anything to keep.

While this is the first book in a series it is a standalone and does not end in a cliffhanger.

This a romance with dark elements including rough scenes. There is also discussion of multiple miscarriages causing mental distress including hospitalization by the mother of Nicolette. If such things offend you please do not buy.

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REVIEW:DESCENT INTO MADNESS is the first instalment in Fiona Murphy’s contemporary, adult WHEN TITANS FALL dark, erotic, Mafia romance series set in the author’s SABATINI FAMILY world. This is thirty-seven year old Manuel Rodriguez, and twenty-two year old Nicolette Angelo’s story line.

NOTE: Due to the nature of the story line premise, there may be triggers for more sensitive readers.

Told from dual first person perspective (Nicolette and Manuel) DESCENT INTO MADNESS follows the forced marriage and building relationship between Manuel Rodriguez and Nicolette Angelo. Nicolette’s father Richie Angelo is in trouble, and his daughter will be the prize to the highest bidder. Manuel is determined to claim Nicolette as his own but not before vowing to destroy the man willing to sell the woman who would become his wife. As the story line progresses, our heroine is falling for the man who could break her heart, a man unable to feel or express his emotions but a man who needs someone to look after his children in the wake of their mother’s death. Struggling to comprehend his lack of empathy, Nicolette, already with issues of low self-esteem, is about to discover that her husband’s needs come before everything else including the needs of his children. What ensues is the building relationship between Nicolette and Manuel, and the potential fall-out as our heroine finds herself at the mercy of someone else for sins of the past.

The world building focuses on the Rodriguez family including his father Joe, and his brother Felix. We learn about the numerous affairs, the infidelity, the losses and death, and Manuel’s inability to express emotions. Manuel believes he is a psychopath but it is more than likely Manuel suffers with ‘alexithymia’-the inability to express, identify, or experience emotions. Interconnected with the Sabatini Family series, several characters cross over for cohesion and familiarity including Dominic Sabatini, and the mention of The Outfit.

The relationship between Nicolette and Manuel begins as an arrangement. Nicolette’s father is desperate for money and uses his daughter as collateral. Having been promised to someone else, Nicolette wants to escape the brutality at home but is unsure if she is jumping from one abuser to another. With Manuel’s inability to express how he feels, Nicolette must come to terms with the possibility of never knowing love and the happiness within. The $ex scenes are intimate, provocative and intense.

DESCENT INTO MADNESS is a story of power and control, betrayal and retribution, madness and murder, acceptance and love. The premise is complex, dark, gritty and heart breaking; the romance is seductive and passionate; the characters are broken but determined and desperate.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

Due to commitment issues I have lived in many different cities and my favorite is Chicago but I have managed to settle into Austin and perhaps my commitment issues are behind me.

I have enjoyed reading from a very young age and it wasn’t long before the children books bored me and I read the books my mother enjoyed Stephen King and Dean Koontz and I didn’t sleep without the light on until I was about ten.

I came across my first Harlequin by accident and it was love at first read, no one died and happy endings? It was a whole new world and I loved it.

I wrote my first story at eight and everyone died, of course. Since then I would like to think I’ve gotten better and now I’m writing the happily ever afters I first fell in love with, with some hot sex thrown in along the way.

As a plus size woman myself, I have started writing the stories I always wanted to see myself in but never did. And now I’m ecstatic to give BBWs the happily ever afters with hot Alphas I want to read.

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