My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was appaled at how badly written this book was - and yet it is a bestseller in Europe. I dislike stories where caricatures, as opposed to characters, are presented to the reader, and the author pieces together hackneyed scenes that she pulled from this or that miniseries. Trite is another word that came to mind. Deluded was another - that would be Laura, the female who is the object of Massimo's obsession and desire.

Massimo is a brutish mobster who decides to kidnap the woman whose face came to him during a comatose vision. He is going to force her to love him and stay with him, even though she is engaged to another man.

Why do women think we can "save" someone like Massimo - or anyone else, for that matter. I have seen so many relationships where one partner took on the burdens of his or her spouse in an effort to "save" or help them. These unequal relationships seldom end happily. I was fed up by the end of this story. Materialism: that is what Laura loves. She gushes about the beautiful dress she will wear, etc. I wanted to toss my ereader out the window at one point: all of these characters were just a mash up of brutal or foolish cartoon characters. I believe this is a series? Well, I don't think I'll be holding my breath until the next thrilling installment comes along. And no, I won't be watching the movie based on this novel. I don't even want to give this one start. Barbara Cartland could do better from the grave - and she dictated all of her romances while in a trance - or so the story goes. I never read any of Barbara Cartland's novels either. The same trashy lust of power and money. I was told once when I was very young that women admired rich and powerful men because they could not hope to be rich and powerful in their own right, by their own endeavours. Well, this author just rehashed that ridiculous premise and is now raking in the big bucks.
I refuse to glamorize mafia/biker/drug lord hereos - these are bad men who profit off of human misery. They enslave women and children and do not deserve my time or notice. Like war, I do not give them the time of day. I wish I had read the blurb on this one more closely and avoided having to read this at all.