Twisted Emotions by Cora Reilly

And we are back with Cora Reilly, the amazing Mafia writer who has stolen my hearts through her characters. This was not my first novel by Cora Reilly and its been a while since I read a good arranged marriage mafia story: she does here what she does best and I for one as expected enjoyed myself immensely. This author is just so on the ball with this type of fiction and I always know she's going to deliver me a belter of a story. Twisted Emotions is the second story in this series but in my opinion, can still be read as a standalone I myself did and had no issues following along at all.

Anyways, here is the synopsis and the review:

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Nino Falcone is genius and monster. As the right hand man and brother of the Capo of the Camorra, his lack of feelings is a blessing, not a curse – until his brother asks him to marry for the sake of the Camorra. 

Kiara Vitiello, cousin of the Capo of the New York Famiglia, is chosen to marry Nino Falcone to prevent war with the Camorra, but what she hears about Las Vegas makes her veins pulse with terror. After her father betrayed his Capo and paid with his life, her family thinks marriage is her only chance to bring honor to her name; but only Kiara knows she’s a faulty prize given in return for peace.

A man incapable of emotions and a woman scarred by the past – an arranged marriage with the potential to unite, or destroy…

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It started strong and very promising, but then sadly fizzled out. I expected more action or at least a hiccup in the end before they get their HEA, which is typical in these kind of books. It's what I have come to expect from Cora Reilly's mafia books. But this one sadly disappointed in that aspect. It was really was fighting hard to be a slow-burn but it just didn't fall for it for me.

“Everyone has scars. Some are skin deep, others reach beyond that.” “Soul deep,” she whispered.

As for the characters, I really liked Nino as a hero and found it quite surprising how honorable and decent he was when it came to Kiara's past. I would have liked it if there would have been some subplot that would have challenged him on a professional level as well. But the whole book seemed more like a 'how to make this no-emotion guy feel emotion in the last 10 percent of the book'. He is portrayed as a very interesting character and but not my favorite of all Reilly's male characters. One of the reasons I didn't really feel as much for him like I did with the others because, just like Luca, Nina cheated on Kiara during their marriage. Even though Kiara gave Nino permission to sleep with other women, it still is cheating to me. Call me sensitive but I see it that way.

(SPOILER)

"Then why are you furious if it's not because someone stole what you wanted for yourself?"Because someone stole what you weren't willing to give," he murmured."

And Kiara. I loved watching her grow and heal from her past. I even had some tearful moments reading her story. Especially, learning about why she is the way she is, or in better words what became of her in order to survive. It’s so dang good. The relationship between Kiara and Nino was steady. It wasn't off the tracks hot or cute, but steady. Nino knew what kind of person Kiara was after her tragedy. But with Kiara, I loved her chemistry with Remo. It was adorable seeing him warm up to his sister-in-law as she gained more confidence. 

“I cleared my throat. “Are there any parts off limits for me?” Nino raised his dark eyebrows. “Like the Dark Arts area?” I froze, speechless, frozen, and utterly shocked. I swallowed. “Did you … did you just make a Harry Potter reference?” He must have noticed me touching the books. “I did,” he said dryly, and I had to stifle laughter.” 

I did love how Reilly wrote the build-up for the next part in this series which will be Remo's story, and I am excited. Basically I am Shane Dawson repeating 'Oh my god'. Remo has been someone

"You will never understand because you've never loved someone."Remo smiled wryly. "Loving someone who doesn't love you back is the biggest kind of stupidity I can imagine." 

 me patiently waiting.
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Overall, I did enjoy this book, but it's not my favorite of Reilly's. Towards the end I felt that the story was a bit rushed and that there was still room for growth between the couple, especially when something happened with Nino. It happened just a bit too late into the story, so it wasn't fully explored and explained. Nino's individual character development would've been stronger if this happened midway through the story. So that was the only things I found lacking in this story, it just didn't feel complete in my opinion. However, we'll definitely see more of them in the next book, which will focus on Remo. I can't wait for this crazy guy to find someone who can handle him.

"She fought the demons of her past and made me realize that I, too, was shackled by memories, controlled by something I thought I had put past me."

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