CHARMING VILLAIN (The Terlizzis 3) by Cora Kent-review

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk / Amazon.au /
Don’t own a Kindle? Download the FREE Amazon Kindle App for your mobile device or pc
ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date May 20, 2025
I don’t want a wife. But in the mafia, marriage isn’t about love—it’s about power.
When the Family demands I marry Giovanni Lucatello’s sheltered daughter, I drown my frustration in whiskey and meet a woman who’s everything I shouldn’t want- bold, sharp-tongued, and tempting as sin. One night with her is unforgettable. But by the next morning, she’s gone. Or so I thought.
When I walk into my engagement meeting, I see her sitting there, looking like innocence itself. Gianna Lucatello. The woman I’m bound to marry.
I’ll make her regret what her father did to me. I’ll make her pay for the Lucatello crest burned into my chest. I’ll punish her in ways that leave her breathless and begging for more.
Because the more I make her suffer, the more I crave her—and the more I realize that beneath her defiance is a woman I’ll burn the world down to protect.
Gianna isn’t just going to be my wife. She’s my obsession. And I’ll stop at nothing to keep her.
•••••
REVIEW: CHARMING VILLAIN is the third instalment in Cora Kent’s contemporary, adult THE TERLIZZIS dark, erotic, Mafia romance series. This is Mafia princess Gianna Lucatello, and Luciano Terlizzi’s story line. CHARMING VILLAIN can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary.
NOTE: Due to the nature of the story line premise, there WILL BE triggers for more sensitive readers.
Told from dual first person perspectives (Gianna and Luciano) CHARMING VILLAIN focuses on the arranged marriage and tempestuous relationship between our story line couple. Luciano Terlizzi is expected to marry the daughter of the man who tortured him years before but a one-night stand before facing his doom ends when he wakes up alone, without knowing the who, how or why. Meeting his intended for the first time, Luciano will discover his ‘fiancee’ is his one-night stand, a woman he believes is a liar, and has betrayed his family by their secret rendezvous. Determined to break our story line heroine, Luciano does his best to humiliate and destroy the woman he is supposed to marry, a woman who has already been broken by the man in charge. Frightened for the future, Gianna makes plans for her escape, only to come face to face with the past, a past that is determined to destroy them all.
The world building follows Gianna as she struggles to come to terms with a future out of her control-from the frying pan into the proverbial fire, Gianna finds herself submitting to the emotional abuse she has suffered for so very long. Luciano Terlilzzi is struggling to accept his fate, betrayed by the father of his intended bride but our ‘hero’ refuses to bow down, and sets into motion a plan to fracture the heart and mind of the woman he will purposefully reject.
The relationship between Gianna and Luciano begins as a one-night stand that quickly turns turbulent and acrimonious. Luciano wants nothing to do with our story line heroine, a young woman who has been victimized and broken by her own father. As the days turn into weeks, Luciano’s back and forth, up and down, threaten to crush what’s left of Gianna’s heart, a heart that is willing to run to escape a life of hate and pain. The $ex scenes are passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.
The secondary and supporting characters are aggressive and dynamic. We are introduced to Gianna’s controlling and abusive father Giovanni Lucatello, as well as the return of Dante and Adaline Terlizzi, and Saverio Castiglione and Lucia Terlizzi.
CHARMING VILLAIN is a story of betrayal and vengeance, secrets and lies, power and control, family and relationships, forgiveness and love. The character driven premise is dark, dramatic and edgy; the romance is heart breaking and traumatic; the characters are broken but struggling to heal.
Reading Order and previous reviews
.5 Simple Pleasures
Corrupt Saint
Ruthless Sinner
Copy supplied for review
Reviewed by Sandy





