If you EVER talk to my wife like that again, I’ll empty that clip in your chest.”
Hello friends! Welcome to another book review post! It’s great to have you here. Today, I’m back with the first book of a new series I’ve recently started! If you’ve been on my blog, you’ve most likely seen my love for Sophie Lark’s duology, “Sinners.” I really loved those books and enjoyed reading them very much. I was expecting something equally dark, disturbing, steamy, and fancy from the first book of the Brutal Birthright series. However, it has been a “meh” for me. Perhaps I had too many expectations when I started the series, or perhaps it will get better with each book, but the first book didn’t seem like Sophie Lark’s work at all.
The book has most of my favourite tropes: enemies to lovers, arranged marriage, and a fiery female character. I was 100% sure I would love it equally. However, although this book is supposed to be a “dark” mafia romance, it just feels like a regular adult romance book with men who have power and some shady business here and there. Let me start with our main characters and their families. Our female main character is Aida, the only daughter of Italians in the “mafia” region of Chicago if you can call it that. She has very scary brothers (who were described very deliciously throughout the book, by the way), and she is the princess of the family. With no expectations and no goals, Aida does what she wants and is very open about her desires and tastes throughout the book. At first, I truly enjoyed her character, but then this fiery little minx turned into trouble very quickly. She started doing things to the point where her actions began hurting those she loved. This is one of the things I hate in characters; I cannot stand when they start acting too carelessly, too obscurely, and too annoyingly. She had great potential, but the dialogue and her behaviour were a turn-off for me.
Then we have our grown-ass teenager (this is what I will be calling him): Callum. I do not know where to start with this character. The author tried to make him equally tempered, but the way he thinks and behaves belongs to a 15-year-old teenager, not a grown adult if you ask me. He keeps complaining about things, from the small fire to the point where they get “married.” His behaviour doesn’t change until the end of the book, and only then does his character start making some sense. I was very much annoyed with him for almost the entirety of the book. Although the spice, the dirty talk, and the steam were great, as expected from Sophie Lark, after reading her duology, I was expecting something dark and equally twisted.
The overall plot of the book is actually quite intriguing. Aida has a past, or a person from her past, I should say, that refuses to let her go. As they get to know each other and their relationship develops, this person from the past keeps haunting her. I don’t want to spoil this part too much, but I can say that the overall plot of Callum’s goals and how much he starts to recognize Aida as someone worth more than what he initially thought, and also the second part of the plot where she tries to get rid of her past (and she is a brave girl, I will give her that), was, I believe, the best part of the book. Yes, I enjoyed the drama and how everything ended up, but overall, the beginning and the character development of the book were incredibly weak to my liking. I ended up reading this without thinking too much about it, but as I mentioned at the beginning, I think I had too many expectations because I enjoyed her other two books. Overall, this was just like a basic romance book in my opinion, and the dark themes weren’t there. Obviously, you don’t expect much when you are reading dark mafia romance books, but after reading a lot of them over the course of 10 years, it is quite rare that I get shocked by a plot. This was just underwhelming.
What I am curious about are her brothers, as the rest of the series focuses on separate characters of her brothers. So I’m curious about Dante specifically, but I cannot wait to read the rest of the series just to see what kind of characters they turn out to be. It may be a complete disappointment, but I think I should give it a try since I didn’t really hate this book. I didn’t even dislike it, to be honest with you. I just think that it was underwhelming and I didn’t get what I expected.
Overall, I ended up rating this book 3⭐s, if you are in the mood for a man-child-like man but a good spice in a book, do give this one a try! Until I see you in my next post friends, take care! 💕
Luster of Books 