Well this author has written an engrossing story that really had me sitting up and paying attention and honestly I'm not really a fan of contemporary romance . Add in the idea of a strong Mafia family at war and this really shouldn't be my type of book but the romance, the hidden agendas , not to mention absorbing characters totally sucked me in.
It starts off well not exactly innocently as it's immediately obvious that Luca is never going to go quietly. A proud man with honour in spades and a reputation to uphold but inside him theres a profound sadness meaning we get to see this wounded warrior really go through the mill!
Gabrielle might not have a killer instinct but she is one very determined lady and no matter what she has to do she's going to bring her husbands murderer to justice. Just how this law abiding detective and gangster come together is nothing short of incendiary but it's more then just a sexy story. I think it's the supporting characters that bring a depth to this book and I was never quite sure just who would survive and dare I suggest prosper? Gabrielle might be a little blinkered at first but Luca knows what he is up against and the sacrifices that will have to be made. Plus there's the killer to track down so what we get is an interesting read that leaves this reader smiling!
This voluntary review is of a copy I requested from Netgalley and my thoughts and opinions are honest and I believe fair

Thank the ARC gods for this lovely little surprise 😍YESSSSS


Gahhh Luca is a sweetheart. Frustrating! But a total sweet hot mafia alpha badass. I love that he was 100% loyal to Gabrielle.. I find that with a lot of mafia stories they take over all me man you women over the top dominant alpha and not in a good way. However Luca is definitely the exception because he loved her feminine side and didn't much like her in danger but he also wasn't over baring he just let her be her and that ticked all the boxes for me.

Gabrielle is a certified badass. Having been dealt some extreme low blows in life she needed luca to come in with his alpha sweetness. I love that she never gave in or compromised who she was for him. She stayed true to her feisty nature to the end, even when you want to reach in and stop her from stepping in the shit herself. Oh and how she stood up for her man saving the day!! Absolutely brilliant.

I really loved them together I thought they balanced eachother out really well. Their chemistry was of the charts and the sweet moments had me melting in a puddle of mush. I enjoyed the forbidden storyline the cop and the mafia. The two should never mix but it worked to absolute perfection.
And that epilogue was just perfection. What a cutie Matteo is to!.

My only complaint in this story is I felt in places it was dragged out unnecessarily. A little to much angst over what would happen to them because of the forbidden romance. I have to be honest and say I prefer Nico but this is a great addition to the series and I can't wait to see what else the author comes out with.

I kindly received this ARC from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Welcome to the Second book in the Ruin and Revenge series by Sarah Castille. Let me tell you this book did not disappoint. I love getting my hands on Luca and boy did she blow me away with this read. Even though it was a mafia read, it had a twist that was not expected with the heorine’s career.
I loved Luca and Gabrielle together! I loved how Luca was the type of man she needed. They certainly had their ups and downs and certainly had their differeances but that made the story all the better. I also loved the twist and suspense in this story, I certainly did not see the ending coming, but it worked completely.
This book had me from the moment I started to the moment it ended and I cannot wait to read more in this mafia series!

This is a story about Luca, a lieutenant high up in the Las Vegas Mob and, Gabriella, a police detective who has spent the past two years hunting for the drug kingpin who murdered her husband. They both meet in the hospital after both have been shot in the chest. The attraction is immediate and all-consuming. The major obstacle to overcome for both is that Luca is Mob and Gabrielle is police. This storyline really forces you to think long and hard about the difference between right and wrong and just how very many grey areas there truly are. No matter how strong your beliefs of right and wrong may be, you are forced to look at and ponder other points of view with this book! I LOVED THAT!!!

Advanced Readers Copy Courtesy of Netgalley...:)

I enjoyed the second book in this series by Sarah Castille. She has proven that she is quite the master when it comes to Mafia drama's and I stayed hooked pretty much from the beginning to the end of this book.

I was not sure about Luca in the beginning (I must admit, I did not like the kind of father he was. He was a bit of a douche in that regards) but he defiantly grew on me and I liked Gabrielle from the start. I liked that she was so focused to get revenge for her husband that she didn't waiver or let anything get in her way. I liked how strong she was portrayed!!

You can read this as a stand-alone but why would you, when the first book was also just as good!!!

This story is Luca and Gabby's story. Gabrielle is a police detective who is looking for revenge on a drug lord that murdered he husband a few years ago. She has lived and breathed her revenge for years now and nothing is going to get in the way of it. She meets Luca and is immediately attracted to him. She is not looking for a relationship, but he does look like a good way to blow off some steam.

Luca is the second in command in the Mafia in Vegas. His first wife betrayed him terribly and he has vowed never to let a women make him feel that way again. When he meets the sexy Gabrielle, he is so attracted to her, that he just has to have her. He does not know she is a cop, just like she does not know he is in the mafia. What happens when the truth is brought to light? Can they continue their illicit relationship or do they have to end it? What will happen to Gabby's revenge, when it starts to entangle in Luca's life with the mafia?

Good strong read that I highly recommend and I look forward to the next installment of this epic mafia romance!!!

"Love wasn't a choice, and once you found it, you couldn't let it go." Or could you?

4.5 iScream Cones! This 2nd installment in Sarah Castille's Ruin & Revenge #MafiaRomance series is a nail biter. There's nothing like the forbidden to get your blood pumping and your nerves on edge as you wait for the guilty couple to get caught. The author turned up the heat in this one and kept my attention as I waited for what I was afraid would happen while hoping it wouldn't.

Luca is a a sexy charmer that says filthy things using beautiful words. Gabrielle might not be able to understand Italian, but just hearing him whisper to her in that sexy accent while he's doing dirty things to her body turns her on. And the fact that he insists she tell him what she wants him to do to her using dirty words pretty much guarantees they aren't PG-rated. I confess, he turned me on too. I'm ready for the audible version of this book if the narrator can nail that accent...sigh.

I haven't read a Sarah Castille book yet that I didn't like. She has a gift for writing sexy alpha males whether they be MMA fighters, badass bikers, or filthy mouthed mobsters. She gets it right every time. I can't wait to see what she has for us next. The line forms here...

Absolutely awesome read! A mafia romance with a Capo and a Detective getting together - yes please! Luca Rizzoli is all sorts of yummy sexiness and Gabrielle Fawkes is the kind of strong willed and determined woman it will take to bring him to his knees. Luca has been betrayed by a woman before and never plans on letting one get close again. Until Gabrielle. They both have their secrets and they accept that but when Gabrielle is threatened Luca knows he's all in regardless of what the cost may be.

This book is very well done and I can't wait for Frankie's story. No one does Mafia romance like Sarah Castille! I highly recommend this one!

After reading and LOVING book one in this series (NICO), I was super excited to get my hands on this one. Unfortunately, it failed to live up to the greatness of its predecessor. I found this one to be just SO slow and long winded. It felt like the book that never ends. Every chapter devoted to Paola could have been dropped without it affecting the storyline and would have helped speed up with the pace.

That aside I did enjoy the characters for the most part. Luca was SMOKIN' HOT and very alpha. I did not like the way he treated his son for the first half of the book. Nor did I find it believable that he wouldn't have at least had his own (view spoiler) to verify if Gina was telling the truth. Since sons are SO important to the Mafia. Gabrielle was ok. I didn't love her or hate her. Her and Luca made a good couple, and I enjoyed them together.

There isn't any OW drama other than a few mentions of Luca's past. There is some OM drama. There is action. Twists and turns. A lot of violence. Some super hot sex scenes. Some humor. Some feel good moments. Some cute kid action. An excellent array of secondary characters. A little NICO action. All wrapped up in a sweet epilogue.

So even though this one wasn't a complete hit with me, I am still onboard for the next book ROCCO.(I was kind of hoping it would be Frankie, but no matter). One thumb up from yours truly.

Is Luca on the menu? Check please. Having read (and loved) the first book, I knew that this was not going to be a glossed over mafia romance. I loved this story as much as Nico. The characters are so vibrant and alive and you have to keep reading to see what will happen next. Luca and Gabrielle are both fantastic characters (loved Matteo also). I really like how Ms. Castille writes the women as strong, kick-ass and no-holds barred when it comes to their convictions. The tension is high and the story great.

Have I mentioned how much I love the way this author writes? No? Well let me start by stating that I don't typically ready Mafia/Mobster books. It's not really my thing. But after I picked up the first installment in this series, Nico, I just HAD to know what was coming next. Why? Because this author has a way of telling multiple, separate, stories, and bringing them all together in an amazing climactic way.

If you haven't read the first book, Nico, don't worry. You can actually read this one as a standalone, although I don't recommend it. There are returning characters that only add to the story if you start from the beginning.

Luca's in the Mafia. Not only is he in the Mafia, he's pretty much one of the right-hand mans to the Don. But there's a problem. After his father betrayed the family, turning evidence and ratting them out, Luca has been trying to prove his worth and loyalty ever since. It seems like he's earned the respect of most, but there are still a few that see him as a potential rat. Like father like son, right? So imagine how difficult life becomes for him when he meets and falls for a cop. Yep, a cop. What the hell was he thinking?

Gabrielle has been chasing a murderer and drug lord for years. But it's not just anyone. It's also the same man that murdered her husband. After being pulled off the case, she finds herself struggling with letting it go. Ironically, someone helps her move past a lot of issues in her life. She forgets the rules, loosens up and starts enjoying herself more. Who's the someone? Luca, of course. But when she finds out that his way of dealing with things and her way are total opposites, will it matter in the end?

Like I mentioned before, there are multiple stories within this read. You've got cops, Mafia, drug lords, Albanians, dirty cops and a son. And that's just an outline. The way these stories merge together is awesomely beautiful. Is there chemistry between Luca and Gabrielle? Duh. But I never felt like "that" was the story. Luca has his issues, Gabrielle has hers. But together, nothing mattered. And in the end? Well....you read it to find out.

reviewed by chris

Luca is the second book in the Ruin & Revenge series, and I wasn’t sure Sarah Castille could make me love this one as much as the first. I worried for nothing. She has created such an intriguing, dark, seductive world surrounding the Las Vegas Italian mafia that she sucked me in from the very first page. I spent almost the entire book wondering how a romance between a police officer and a mafia criminal could work, and the happy ending didn’t disappoint.
Gabrielle Fawkes has been pursuing a dangerous drug lord since the day he killed her husband. Not only did she love David, but he was everything good and stable in her life, something she’d been missing since the death of her mother years ago. Focusing on finding and apprehending his killer gave her something to live for as she worked through her grief. Injured during a police raid, Gabrielle finds herself sharing a hospital room with the mysterious Luca Rizzoli.
Luca never expected to wind up in the hospital with a gunshot wound, and he never expected to find an intriguing woman in his room recovering from her own gunshot wound. A powerful crime boss in sin city, Luca is no stranger to beautiful women. What he’s not used to is having to convince a woman to spend time with him. To Luca, Gabrielle is a gorgeous, frustrating, elusive challenge, and one he refuses to ignore.
The attraction between Luca and Gabrielle was instantaneous and HOT! Their chemistry sizzled, and I loved how neither one of them could resist the other, despite the obstacles. Luca was the ultimate alpha male…. protective, possessive, seductive and powerful. He believes in the old school ways of treating women, and everything in him wants to love and protect Gabrielle. It throws him for a loop when she pushes back and insists on taking care of herself.
Becoming involved with a man with ties to the criminal underworld is career suicide for Gabrielle. Being tied to a cop could send Luca into exile from his family business, or worse, could result in his death. Both Luca and Gabrielle are torn…. knowing that being together is as natural as breathing, and yet so very dangerous. The fact that both of them were willing to sacrifice everything for the other was amazingly beautiful. This book was emotional and sexy and exciting. The writing was excellent, and once again Sarah Castille made me fall in love with a dangerous man on the wrong side of the law.
I give Luca 5 stars.

Gabrielle, a police detective, lost her husband when a drug cartel boss decided to send her a message. She has spent the last two years working on a way to put him behind bars and avenge her husband's senseless death. Her life on hold, Gabrielle doesn't even know how to enjoy anything until she meets sexy Italian Luca. What she doesn't know is that he is a made man in the Mafia and he doesn't know she's a cop. Opposites attract and somehow make it work in this red hot romance. Loved it!

"Luca" is a mafia romance featuring the titled character and a police detective, Gabrielle. They meet after both being shot and ending up sharing a hospital room (which probably wouldn't happen because hospitals generally assign room sharing based on gender). They are both instantly attracted to the other but both are reluctant, for their own reasons, to enter into a relationship (and that is without knowing what the other does for a living). Luca has been working his way up in the mafia to restore the ruining of his family name by his father and dealing with the death of his drug-addicted wife (who he did not love) and who left him with the knowledge that his son was actually someone else's, while Gabrielle is hot on the heels of a drug-lord, Garcia, who brutally murdered her fiancé- the event which induced a miscarriage.

Their attraction makes them unable to stay away. The romantic scenes in this book are really intense and hot/heavy. The rest of the plot is not as strong, and the investigation to find Garcia is frustrating (especially since Gabrielle has been such a great detective and now is OK with working with the mafia?). Gabrielle has always been fiercely independent, but Luca needs to be in control of everything- but especially his woman. Apparently, this is played out as a mafia rule where the man must be in charge and is allowed to have affairs but women are not. I'll admit this was my first mafia romance, so I wasn't expecting the extreme sexism. Anyway, the tone of the book suggests that he'll probably never have affairs with Gabrielle because he's so obsessed with her, so you can take that as you will.

As a warning, there are several instances of domestic violence, and we hear about the way to handle it (e.g. with the police, I mean- we also get the mafia take, but this is not the way most people would go). It's difficult to read however, and is an important warning for people for whom this might be worth knowing. Overall, I did read the whole book, mainly to find out more about Garcia and the case, but I was not totally on-board with the mafia (a lot of violence) or their contradicting romance (chauvinistic) throughout.

Please note that I received an ARC from the publisher through netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Emotionally invested well written book. I loved it and would definitely recommend this book.

Lots of action, interesting pairing of a policewomen and mafioso wiseguy. It was a little unbelievable for me, but I enjoyed the story.

Who said that the mafia and a cop can't find love.
Luca Rizzoli is out to restore his family name after his father died.
Gabrielle Fawkes is trying to get the man that killed her husband.
They meet at the hospital and it take off from there.

Love it!!!

Felt it was very slow moving and not a lot of emotion. There were plenty of hormones but not a lot of heart.

Another Mafia story with a smooth but dangerous Italian at the helm!

Whilst I loved Nico, I found this story a teensy bit slow to develop. Luca’s character more than made up for this though as he charmed his way towards making Gabrielle Fawkes his and only his, despite knowing that their relationship could ostracise him from his family.

Gabrielle is a Detective who is working towards finding the man responsible for killing her husband. The elusive drug lord, Garcia, has evaded capture to date and the closest Gabriella has got to him resulted in her being shot and benched from the case. Now working in theft, she is even more determined to find Garcia but with her case files no longer available to her, she seems to be at a dead end, that is until Luca steps up to help her.

Meeting whilst lying side by side in a hospital room, after having both been shot in separate incidents, neither Gabrielle nor Luca know of each other’s backgrounds but they both see something in the other that intrigues them. Gabrielle decides to take Luca up on his offer and decides to visit his restaurant with her friends and from that point on the duo become inseparable, whilst continuing to hide who they really are from each other.

The story from this point becomes mostly sexual as Gabrielle and Luca get to know each other in every sense of the word. Their connection and personalities match perfectly and despite not knowing, at first, that one is a cop and the other a made man, they find comfort in each other's arms. Eventually, their secret is outed and soon the rest of the family find out that Luca is dating a cop and knowing that there will be a price to pay for his relationship with Gabriela, Luca prepares himself for whatever is to be thrown at him. All he knows is that he’s not about to let Gabriella go.

I loved the strength and determination between Luca and Gabrielle despite living lives that are akin to oil and water. Despite their initial reservations though they are determined to be together come hell and high water and that’s exactly the message the rest of Luca's family receive from Gabrielle when things start to fall apart for them. This book has drama, violence and mystery by the bucket full, just what I want from a mafia story. It is well written although, as mentioned before a little slow to develop but when it does, it becomes explosive and captivating.

Luca is my first book by this author and I'll definitely be looking into reading more of her work since I enjoyed it so much. It was hot, drama filled, had some action and interesting characters.

If you love mobsters and cops this book won't disappoint.....fast paced, suspense smoking hot sex and just a little blood. Luca is a widowed mobster, that was betrayed by is wife.......Gabrielle is a cop that doesn't stand a chance of winning Lucas heart or does she.