CORRUPT CROWN (Saints and Sovereigns 1) by Pamela O’Rourke-review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date March 28, 2024

Confident. Cultured. Charismatic.

I never wanted to lead.
But when my father, Don of the Caruso crime family, is murdered three months after my older brother’s death, what I want doesn’t matter.
Family comes first.
Especially when the same man who killed my father has taken my younger sister captive.
All hope of her return is lost until his golden-haired American lover lands in my lap.
Elodie Rivers.
The same woman I’ve obsessed over since our ill-fated meeting two years ago.
She’s guilty by association, so I have no misgivings in using her for my own gain.
Until I come face to face with her again.
And even though she seems to have no memory of me, I can’t deny the intoxicating pull between us.
The longer I’m near her, the greater my addiction grows until I’m sure of only one fact.
This woman belongs at my side.
Per sempre.
But how can I keep her safe when we’re under fire from all sides?
And just how far am I willing to go in order to keep what’s mine?

•••••

REVIEW: CORRUPT CROWN is the first instalment in Pamela O’Rourke’s contemporary, adult SAINTS AND SOVEREIGNS dark, erotic, Mafia romance series. This is twenty-five year old, Elodie Rivers, and thirty-one year old Don Rafael Caruso’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 perspectives (Rafe and Elodie) following two timelines CORRUPT CROWN focuses on the building romance and relationship between our story line couple. Four years earlier, Elodie Rivers was given to the Conti Organized Crime Syndicate in New York a part of a debt owed by her father. Fast forward to present day, Elodie finds herself a virtual prisoner of Don Rafael Caruso, as he hopes to procure the release of his younger sister, another prisoner of the Conti Crime Syndicate. Believing Elodie is with Conti of her own free will, Rafael will quickly discover the truth is much more dangerous and darker than he could have ever imagined. Having taken the helm of the Caruso Crime Family following the death of his father and older brother, Rafael is desperate to free his younger sister, using Elodie as a pawn in his war with Domenico Conti. What ensues is the building relationship between Elodie and Rafael, and the potential fall-out when the truth reveals a number of betrayals from all sides.

The world building focuses on Rafael’s struggle to move on from the death of his beloved family members but as the head of the Caruso Family, Don Rafael knows that to retain power, power must be forced when needed and necessary but Rafael never expected to fall for his feisty prisoner, a woman who is a storm unto herself.

The relationship between Rafael and Elodie begins as an abduction that doesn’t quite go according to plan. Elodie has escaped one prison for a gilded cage but she is determined to prove she is much more than a woman trapped in an abusive relationship. As Rafael rapidly falls for our story line heroine, there are those hoping to tear down the building love between our story line couple. The $ex scenes are provocative and passionate.

We are introduced to several secondary and supporting characters: Rafael’s siblings Aurelia, and Sebastiano Caruso; their uncle Antonio, and step mother Sofia, as well as Elodie’s parents Warren and Cressida Rivers, their daughter Skye, and several members of other organized crime families-many of whom will not survive.

CORRUPT CROWN is a story of secrets and lies, betrayal and vengeance, power and control, murder and mayhem, family and relationships, acceptance and love. The premise is dramatic, gritty and intense; the romance is seductive and fated; the characters are determined, dynamic and strong-willed.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy