Collided / Fighter by Anna Ray-reviews

COLLIDED
Mafia Sinners 3
by Anna Ray
Release Date: February 17, 2021
Genre: adult, contemporary, Mafia,romance

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They say keep your enemies close. But what if you fell in love with your worst enemy?

Chiara Fiore
My father selling my hand in marriage had pissed me off. It was his fault that he’d drained the entirety of the family money gambling. I was paying the price. But then, I finally met Luca. I was really annoyed with how good-looking he was. I wanted to hate him but his strong jaw, and an attitude that screamed “take charge” made me lose my mind.

Luca Mendacius
Chiara was such a breath of fresh air. She isn’t a woman that takes things lying down. She’s sharp-witted and smart-mouthed. It’s a pity that she’s just a pawn in my game. I’d waited seventeen years to get my revenge on the Fiores, and I wasn’t going to waste my chance now.

Chiara and Luca will have to navigate a rough road to become closer, and even if their differences don’t tear them apart, their enemies might.

Read on to see how the sparks fly when these two heated personalities collide!

Collided is the third book in the Mafia Sinners Series and can be read as a standalone an Arranged Marriage Mafia Romance.

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REVIEW:   COLLIDED is the third instalment in Anna Ray’s contemporary, adult ARRANGED MARRIAGE MAFIA ROMANCE erotic, romance series of stand alone story lines. This is Luca Mendacius, and Chiara Fiore’s story line.

Told from dual first person perspectives (Luca and Chiara) COLLIDED follows the building romance and relationship between twenty-nine year old Luca Mendacius and nineteen year old Chiara Fiore. Approximately seventeen years earlier Chiara Fiore lost her mother to a tragic drowning, and in the ensuing years her family but more specifically her father, the head of the Chicago underworld, vowed revenge against the family he held responsible. Upon the death of his parents Luca Mendacious was sent to Sicily to be raised by his family, he too, vowing revenge for the murder of the parents he loved. With the Fiore family struggling financially, Chiara Fiore is offered up to the highest bidder in exchange for money and power. Enter Luca Mendacius, the man with whom Chiara will fall in love. What ensues is the building romance and relationship between Chiara and Luca, a relationship predicated upon secrets and lies.

Luca Mendacius is vowing revenge for the murder of his parents, and his first step is to take control of what’s left of the Fiore empire starting with their only daughter, nineteen year old Chiara, but Luca never expected their instant palpable sexual attraction, a attraction that makes our hero reconsider his plans for the future. Chiara Fiore suspects there is more to Luca’s intentions than a powerful Mafia marriage but as her brother continues to dig deeper into the Mendacius family, Chiara will quickly discover nothing and no one is at it seems.

The relationship between Chiara and Luca is an arranged marriage in an effort to stabilize the collapse of the Fiore family. Chiara considers herself nothing more than a pawn, a wh*re to be used to help the family but Luca has other plans for our story line heroine, plans her reconsiders when his heart falls for his intended victim. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

We are introduced to Chiara’s brothers: Manny, Vinny, Pete and Joey, and their father Vito Fiore, as well as several uncles; Luca’s uncle Sal; driver Freddy.

COLLIDED is story of family, vengeance, betrayal, power and control. The premise is entertaining, the angst level is low; the romance is sweet and tender; the characters are animated and wounded. For followers of the series, COLLIDED is similar in tone and premise to book two TRAPPED but the author’s style of writing has matured and greatly improved since book one.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

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FIGHTER
Bad Boy College Romance
By Anna Ray
Release Date: March 24, 2021
Genre: adult, contemporary, romance

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date March 24, 2021

True love sounds great until it shows up on your doorstep wrapped in a warning label.

When Tristan walks back into my life, he’s not the childhood friend I remember. He’s harder, dangerous, angry. But he’s gentle with me. And he wants to know why I gave up my dreams of being an artist.

An underground fighter with a track record of leaving is the worst person I could fall for. But he keeps showing up at my door, telling me that my paintings are amazing and I’m even better. My head says, “No,” but my heart says, “Yes.”

He thrives on violence. I’m desperate for security.
He’s angry and lost. I know exactly what I want, if only I dared reach for it. He’s on a dark, self-destructive spiral. I’ve already lost one person. I refuse to do it again.

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REVIEW:FIGHTER by Anna Ray is a contemporary, new adult, Bad Boy College romance. This is eighteen year olds, underground MMA fighter Tristan Walker, and art student Kaia Brooks’ story line.

NOTE: FIGHTER contains scenes of graphic violence that may not be suitable for more sensitive readers.

Told from dual first person perspectives (Kaia and Tristan) FIGHTER follows in the aftermath of an illegal fight that almost took the life of our story line hero. Two and half years earlier, Tristan Walker came upon a secret that sent him spiralling out of control, and into the illegal underground world of the MMA. A fight almost cost him his life and in the ensuing time Tristan continued to struggle with what was and what will never be but a woman’s screams found Tristan rescuing his best friend from childhood, a young woman who stirred something deep within our story line hero. Enter eighteen year old, art student Kaia Brooks. What ensues is the rekindling friendship, and romance between Kaia and Tristan, and the potential fall-out as Kaia struggles with Tristan’s choices, and Tristan struggles with his life at home.

Tristan Walker was an angry young man, who needed an outlet for his aggression and pain, and the underground world of illegal MMA was the perfect vehicle to work on his anger but a vehicle that was both ugly and dangerous for everyone concerned. Reconnecting with Kaia Brooks meant something beautiful in a life of ugliness and pain but Tristan battled between head and heart knowing his life would only get uglier, reflecting upon the woman with whom he was falling in love.

The relationship between Kaia and Tristan is a childhood friends to lovers romance that struggles in the face of perceived betrayal, and Tristan’s need to fight alone. Kaia has only ever wanted to be an artist but the life of a starving artist was never what she had in mind. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

We are introduced to Tristan’s parents Caleb and Alice Walker; his friends and roommates Brody and Alex : Kaia’s grandmother Ruth, her best friend Pilar; mean girl Becca; and fight promoter Jake Miller.

FIGHTER is a story of secrets and lies; family and relationships; second chances and love. The premise is dark and gritty; the romance is realistic and edgy; the characters are broken, flawed and tragic.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy