SHATTERED KING (Marino Crime Family 2) by BB Hamel-review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date July 20, 2025

He saved my life… but now I want my freedom. Too bad my new husband keeps what he catches.

All I’ve ever needed is a quiet garage, oil stains on my hands, and my favorite music on the radio. Then a bunch of guys try to kill me, and only a terrifying mafia monster keeps me breathing.

Luca Marino is six plus feet of bristling muscle with a possessive attitude and murder in his heart. He’s sinfully gorgeous. It’s not even fair.

Maybe I’m grateful to be alive, or maybe it’s the toe curling way he stares at me like I’m his downfall and he can’t wait to burn for it. I throw away all caution and make one incredible mistake with him.

Afterward, my dying Don father informs me that to save my family, I’m going to marry that monster. Which is how I end up walking down the aisle with Luca Marino… while carrying his baby.

To make this nightmare even more fun, a civil war is coming, and I’m the main target. Our enemies have to break my father’s alliance with Luca’s organization… and that means killing me.

I used to dream about escaping the Serrano Famiglia. Now I just want to survive tomorrow… while staying out of my psycho husband’s bed.

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REVIEW: SHATTERED KING is the second instalment in BB Hamel’s contemporary, adult MARINO  CRIME FAMILY dark, erotic, Mafia romance series, set in the author’s Rossi Crime Family world. This is Capo Luca Marino, and twenty-five year old, Mafia princess / mechanic Fiorella Serrano’s story line. SHATTERED KING can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story line is revealed where necessary.

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

Told from dual first person perspectives (Luca and Fiorella) SHATTERED KING follows in the wake of the abduction and rescue of our story line heroine. Fiorella Serrano has a target on her back, and unaware of the situation finds herself a virtual prisoner of Capo Luca Marino, who was warned about an imminent attack on our story line heroine. Struggling with the rescue, and her inability to trust anyone, Fiorella battles between head and heart when she discovers her father has arranged a marriage with the man who saved her life but a marriage meant to shore up power and control. While Fiorella struggles with her new direction in life, Luca becomes guardian and protector of the woman with whom he is falling in love. The Serrano family is imploding from the inside, and the Marino Crime Family is about to pick up the pieces.

The world building follows several pathways including a deep seated betrayal in the Serrano family. Don Thomas Serrano is on his death bed, and someone else is trying to usurp the power from Don Thomas’ heir. A war has been declared, and our heroine is about to become collateral damage but not before Luca Marino takes sides in a war not of his making.

The relationship between Luca and Fiorella begins as a rescue but Fiorella wants nothing to do with our story line hero. A one-night stand that turns into an arrange marriage, our heroine struggles with a loss of control, and her place in a family that considers woman bargaining tools and fodder for control. Luca wants Fiorella as his wife but our heroine struggles with issues of trust, and with a target on her back, she is a little TSTL where is concerns her safety. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

There is a large ensemble cast of powerful and energetic secondary and supporting characters. We are introduced to Fiorella’s brother Raf Serrano, and their sister Elisa; their father Don Thomas Serrano, and Thomas’ brother Corrado; Don Adriano Marino and his wife Lucy (Cruel Tyrant 1); Luca’s men Enzo, Stefano and Leo. The requisite evil has many faces.

SHATTERED KING is a story of power and control, betrayal and vengeance, greed and hunger, family and relationships, acceptance and love. The character driven premise is dark, dramatic and edgy; the romance is provocative and enticing; the characters are charismatic, determined and lively.

Click HERE for Sandy’s review of VICIOUS HEIR

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy