Hello friends! ⭐ Welcome to another book review, welcome to another dark romance series’ first book! Today we will dive deep into Painted Scars by Neva Alyaj and oh gods do I not have so many things to say about this book. I love dark romance in every shape and form and while this book definitely wasn’t a disappointment, it had so much potential which was left untouched. But anyway, what am I talking about?
Painted Scars is a book with a fake marriage trope, our email main character, Nina, ends up getting married to the head of the Russian mafia, Roman, because of the mess her father created. She is a grungy girl with piercings, boots and fancy hair, and from the first page, we see that her relationship with her family is slightly complicated. However, I was fairly uneasy about how fast she approved this marriage when her father mentioned it to her. Our male lead, Roman, was recently in an “accident” and now he is in a wheelchair, which is conducted very poorly throughout the book. I understand that he is the strongest figure in the Russian mafia and he needs to make sure that he is not questioned or threatened about his position but the fact that he was using a wheelchair and either had to marry someone or… like, it didn’t make any sense to my little brain you know?
I liked both characters a lot but the main issue about the book was the fact that every plot, from the characters’ background to things that were happening in the main plot, everything was too… underwhelming. There could be so much but it was rushed, we didn’t really feel the action, the tension between the characters, the spice or anything else truly.
I understand Roman very well, I can only guess how hard it is probably for him, however, I do not find anything wrong in his behaviour, they both benefit from this in the end, and Nina never hated the way she was with him. Yes, she was feisty and whatever, but we did not see any hatred throughout the book. It was refreshing and gave me enough time to get to know the characters, although it remained… underwhelming. I am not sure how the series will evolve from now on, I will surely read it but the first book was just 3⭐s in general. No means it was bad, it just could be a lot better!
Until I see you in my next review… take care!
Luster of Books 