Giulia has always known she’ll marry the man her father chose for her, but she never expects to be given to someone so much older. Suddenly she’s supposed to be a mother to two small children when she hasn’t even held a baby before. After losing his wife, Cassio is left to take care of two small children while trying to establish his rule over Philadelphia. this dude belongs in the 50s/60s era because he made his wife, the h, do EVERYTHING at home. he just really annoyed me in the beginning because he just kept saying "Giulia is a teenager", "teenager is Giulia", blah blah blah. he also tried to force the h to dress up the way HE wanted to and he was mean to his pet dog! no one is gonna be mean to a dog. nuh uh. BUT i did like his development tho. he was actually pretty sweet and affectionate to his wife from the beginning which i found surprising since he's supposed to be the most ruthless Underboss but i didn't really get that vibe. Giulia has always known she’ll marry the man her father chooses for her, but she never expects to be given to someone so much older. Suddenly she’s supposed to be a mother to two small children when she hasn’t even held a baby before. I stared down at my blood-covered hands and then at the lifeless body of my wife. Slowly, I closed the door in case Daniele came by. He didn’t need to see more of this. The red roses the maid had bought for Gaia as a gift for our eighth anniversary lay crumpled beside the limp body. Red roses to match the blood that stained the sheets and her white dress.

The story started with the death of Cassio’s wife - Gaia - and he’s miserable & confused because he’s left with two small children and no one to take care of them, so he had to marry someone immediately. Anyway, I really liked the first third. It was fun, and I thought "redemption"! Guilia was super fun, one of the best female characters in this whole... thing. She knew who she was; she had personality, hobbies (I'll get more to that later), personal style and opinion.Giulia, la protagonista, me ha gustado muchísimo, ella me ha parecido tan fuerte, valiente, y con un carácter propio. Ella es la protagonista que más me ha gustado de los libros que he leído de esta autora, a pesar de al principio ser tan joven, afrontaba todo con una madurez impresionante y se propone convertir a esa familia desconocida que está muy rota en un hogar feliz. Ella tiene sus convicciones claras, decía las cosas que le molestaban directamente y sin rodeos, su humor es otro punto bastante especial de ella, siempre les sacaba su cosa graciosa a las cosas, es que he amado completamente a esta mujer. Cassio was brooding, a little mysterious, and very loving. He was intense, but quite kind towards his wife. I loved that even though he went through so much, he was willing to open his heart up. Gabriel/Daniele/Simona (Cassio and Giulia’s kids). since they’ll be part of the 2nd gen series, I’m curious how things will go down with all the secrets revolving around this family. 🤔 I’m a little nervous but also excited to see what happens in the 2nd gen series and to see more drama/mafia things/romance happening. 😌✨

Father patted her arm but looked at me. He knew I didn’t need time to mourn Gaia, but we needed to keep decorum in mind. Not to mention that I wasn’t sure I wanted another woman in my life. What I wanted was irrelevant, though. Every aspect of my life was dictated by ironclad rules and traditions.

Why do I have a feeling that it's pretty obvious what I'm going to say about this book since I started this review with this "Explanation"?) Este libro es mi favorito de todos los que he leído de esta autora, me ha encantado muchísimo, Giulia y Cassio me han fascinado, esta es la relación más dulce que he leído de esta serie de libros. The fourteen years age gap between them soon vanished. Her determination to fix everything and everyone that was broken in her new house, the sassy attitude, the sizzling chemistry they shared since the very beginning are just a few of the things that make this story so incredible.

Early morning: Some people find that reading in the morning helps them start their day with a positive and productive mindset. I understand why the author is trying to make more standalone books, many readers don't want to read every book in the series, it's a good approach but it didn't work for this book.Everybody, including Cassio, kept saying how cruel Cassio is but the problem is that we did not really get to see it. Since there was almost no "mafia business" in this book we did not get to see Cassio in working mode and therefore it was just the talk, he certainly did not do the walk.