TAINTED DESIRE (Ruthless Rogues Mafia 2) by Kat Bammer

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date May 3, 2024

I’m the king of bad decisions. One more won’t hurt.

I never asked to be kidnapped…again.
Never asked to be a third-wheel on my best friend’s honeymoon either.
But what I really don’t need is for Alessandro Falcone-bad boy mafia prince–to act as my self-assigned protector.
Malta is vibrant & welcoming.
My host–not so much.
As if barking orders and growling threats would have any effect on me.
Only when he holds me tight and tells me to breathe and keep my eyes on him, when I’m triggered–I see another side of him.
One that I do my darnest to dismiss.
We’re on a collision course to disaster.
Because I will never give up my freedom.
He’s the most dominant man I’ve ever met.
When Alex Falcone wants something, he usually gets it.
This time it’s me.
But I’m not to be had.

••••••

REVIEW: TAINTED DESIRE is the second instalment in Kat Bammer’s contemporary, adult RUTHLESS ROGUES MAFIA dark, erotic, Mafia romance series. This is Alessandro ‘Alex’ Falcone, and Irish Mafia princess Fiona ‘Fee’ Donnelly’s story line. TAINTED DESIRE can be read as a stand alone but I recommend reading book one SINFUL HONOR for back story and cohesion as many of the events in the current timeline are as of a direct result of the events in the previous book.

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

Told from dual first person perspectives (Alex and Fee) TAINTED DESIRE follows in the wake of the marriage of Fiona’s sister Sophie, to Mafia Don Gabriel Falcone but in an effort to protect and keep an eye on our story line heroine, Sophie and Gabriel all but kidnap Fiona, and take her on their honeymoon to Malta, where Fiona will come face to face with Alessandro Falcone, the bane of our heroine’s existence. Refusing to play their game, believing there is no longer a threat to her life, Fiona continues to act out until she finds herself reliving the past over and over again but there is a war brewing in the criminal underworld, and our heroine is about to get caught in the middle, a pawn to be sold to the highest bidder. What ensues is the building but acrimonious relationship between Fiona and Alex, and the potential fall-out as Alex must come to terms about his birthright, and Fiona discovers the reason for her parent’s hatred.

The world building focuses on dysfunctional families including the revelations about the who, how and why. Fiona has always felt like an outsider, and she will discover the why; and Alex is forced to assume a role he was born to play.

The relationship between Fee and Alex is tempestuous at best. Fiona wants nothing to do with Alessandro Falcone, and struggles with her new brother in law’s attempts to protect and guard. Alessandro is a man who feels betrayals at the darkest regions of his heart but it is the betrayal that is about to place him in the direct line of fire, inciting a war between the controlling families. The $ex scenes are provocative and seductive.

There is a large ensemble cast of colorful and powerful secondary and supporting characters in several members of the Russian Bratva, Irish Mob and Italian Mafia including the return of Alex’s brother Gabriel and Sophie; Alex’s right hand man Matteo and his brother Vincenzo Salvini; Fiona’s sisters Jemma and Cara as well as their Uncle Craig; Fiona’s friend Frank, and Ivan Zotov. The requisite evil has many faces.

TAINTED DESIRE is a story of betrayal and vengeance, secrets and lies, power and control, dysfunctional family values, acceptance and love. The premise is dramatic, dark,and intense; the romance is fated and passionate; the characters are desperate and dynamic. TAINTED DESIRE ends on a bit of a cliff hanger-you have been warned.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy