I am so hooked to this author now! I have this habit of always being attracted to books that throw off a mafia vibe since it's my fav genre and so I didn't hesitate when I was signing up for this book. even though this is a new to me author , I knew I had to sign up for it.

This one is a dark marriage romance with tons of mafia and don't even get me started on the hero of this one. I am so hooked! I plan to browse through other books of this author and see if there is any genre I want to try by her because this book is good.

It is a must read for all the mafia romance loving people out there.

I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the ebook. The plot sounded interesting but it just was not my cup of tea. Other people might like it.

Bloody Union follows the love story of Makenna and Dante. This is a dark mafia arranged marriage romance.
Makenna is the daughter of the NY Irish mafia boss and Dante is the eldest son of the NY Italian mafia boss. As with most mafia books, their marriage is meant to bring peace for the two families. Only Makenna is a lot more than Dante barganed for.
I liked Makenna as a character. She is strong and dangerous and not at all the classic sumissive mafia wife.
The characters were not fleshed out enough and the plot seemed rushed. The book has a good premise but the execution was underwhelming.

This book pulls you in from the beginning! I have to say this is one of the best if not the best mafia books I have ever read !
I already liked Dante and it wasn’t very far into the book ! It has shocking moments, blood and carnage .... loving it and Kenna f@$k I love her, what a woman! Dante and Kenna fit so perfectly together. Can’t wait for book 2 !!

This was not for me.

This pair are supposed to be all hot and bothered for each other instantly but I felt nothing. There wasn't chemistry or fire, you're told things rather than shown them and everything just felt disconnected and almost like when you're a teen and you fantasise about some hot bad boy and how you'll be their queen and they'll only look at you and think you're the best etc but written into a book.

Book received from the author. Voluntarily reviewing and all opinions are objective and my own.

DNF @ 40%

I tried. I pushed on. I really wanted to like this book and was enjoying the plot. It starts very good, very unique and something that sets it apart from other mafia romances. Rather than the female main character being a simpering girl, bound by the restraints of the mafia world, Makenna is one of them. She runs operations, knows how to fight, etc. All very good and I was intrigued by the concept.

I couldn’t get past the writing. I did for a long time actually, but then around the 30-40% mark it became more noticeable and I could not. Incorrect punctuation was one thing, but the writing could definitely be spiced up. More emotion, more descriptors, and less telling. It really caused a story with so much potential to fall short.

Still rating this two starts though because, as I mentioned, the concept is great.

I love dark romance, so if you don’t, I do not recommend this book, but if you’re like me, then I highly recommend it! Full of deliciously dark, Mafia romance! Very well written, unputdownable, and while not completely original definitely unique! A fun, dark, twisted romance, which will have you squirming in enjoyment! Captivating, riveting, and unputdownable! Highly recommend to my fellow farm Romance lovers!

This book was everything I expected mafia, romance and quite violent. Makenna and Dante were a great lead couple, neither expected to find love, tons of secrets, twists and turns. A great mafia romance

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Wow.... I didn’t expect this. This is not just a sweet romance. Two strong mafia families, an arranged marriage between very strong characters,, heat, violence and retribution throughout, Great storyline. Definitely worth a read.

I received an arc from Victory editing for an honest review.
This was one of those books that grabs you from the very beginning to the last page, even then I did not want it to end I was still looking for more pages of the story.
The book opens with two people meeting each other agreeing to marry five years later., Makenna Gallagher looks nothing like the girl that Dante Bianchi remembers from five years earlier. As a matter of fact, he is attracted to her which he was not expecting. Especially when the shooting begins at their wedding and she is right there shooting with percussion then afterward takes charge and helps with the care his brother needs for his wound.
Dante begins to see that what he thought was going on with his family really was not and she and her family really had control. He needed to get on board. He also needed to find out who was after them at their wedding.
Everything about this book and the characters really makes this story especially the relationship between the two of them hot which really adds to this book and keeps the pages turning. A really good story and one that is different than a normal mafia book which was nice. Good characters to go along with the story.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital arc of this book, all opinions expressed here are my own.

Bloody Union by Brooke Summers is the first book in the Made series and the first book I have read by this author. It is a mafia romance and NOT my typical read, but that cover just totally grabbed my attention.

Mackenna is Irish and Dante is Italian. Their arranged marriage is destined to bring the Clann and the Familigia together. Mackenna is a strong, kick ass female in a male dominated world. Dante accepts and adores this and the two fall madly into insta-love. Romero, Alessio and Finn are just three of their brothers, faithfully following their Bosses orders while adding snark and extra humanity to the story. Romero was my favourite side character and I’d love to read a book about him in the future.

Overall I recommend giving this book a chance. I was surprised how much I enjoyed it and will look up more by this author in the future. 4 stars.

“To new beginnings and being the motherfucking monsters we were born to be.”

This was a fast paced book. I enjoyed it. I like that McKenna is a strong female. She can take care of herself. She’s not innocent or quiet. She’s strong, outspoken, confident and can kill in an instant without a problem.
It’s insta love between Dante and McKenna as soon as they’re together. I just didn’t buy the love between them. We’re told about how much they love each other and they say it to each other but it lacks emotion.
There are some secrets that are revealed along the way. And there’s a bit of action but not much happens.
It needs more emotion and it’s very predictable. No angst or edge of your seat moments. It needs a bit of suspense, angst.
It was an enjoyable read. Didn’t bore me or make me skim through the pages.

ARC provided by NetGalley for an Honest Review
This book was 🔥🔥🔥🔥. I’ll admit the blurb had me more than intrigued. I’m not normally a mafia reader because as we all know it’s a mans world. However I’ve been on a strong badass heroine kick lately and the character of Mackenna sounded right up my alley. Holy shit was I spot on, this is a woman who isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty that’s for sure. Mackenna is a whirlwind and an amazing character. I loved everything about her. Not only has she learned to grow in a predominantly male run ‘business’ she revels in it and rules all on her own. Hell she even gets in the ring with men the size of bears without batting an eye. I don’t think either MCs knew what to expect with their arranged marriage but they were a match made in heaven and sparks fly immediately. It didn’t even take Dante long to accept and believe in her, in fact he ate up everything she dished out. There is no question these two were meant to be and I loved how well they communicated. Even when Mackenna had secrets she knew when to fill Dante in so there wasn’t this long drawn out distance between them. In fact if they didn’t have so many responsibilities I imagine it’d be hard to pry these two off one another. The book was very fast paced and jam packed with action. I was sucked right in and am already looking forward to the next one featuring one of Mackennas nephews.

I'm usually not one for mafia romance. Bloody Union drew me in quickly and kept me interested in the story. There was romance, drama, action and blood. So much blood, but I enjoyed the story as a whole.

This is not the typical mafia story. It has traditional elements like joining families and arranged marriage, but the majority of the book isn’t typical. I loved the strong heroine Makenna. She is Irish and is being joined with Dante, who is Italian. This union is supposed to join both families to become stronger. These two have big secrets and big surprises.

If this author isn't anywhere on your TBR for 2021 add her immediately. Bloody Union by Brooke Summers is a beautifully written masterpiece. Makenna and Dante's book was a book that I couldn't put down. If you are a huge fan of Mafia like I am, you must read this book. You will not be disappointed.

‘‘Twas the cover that drew me in as I am very much a person who will read a book because it has a nice cover. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t. This it both Did and didn’t work for me...

It’s been awhile since I’ve read any mafia/crime family type of a book but I’m not opposed to such so why not? We start with an arranged marriage and a string of secrets you can’t help but to be curious about. Am I took curious for my own good? Yup. So onto the adventure with Kenna the Irish mob daughter with so many secrets and a shocking background and Dante the Italian mob son who is a cold blooded killer. They did not choose to be put together but for their families they do what is necessary and if this marriage will keep the peace it’s worth it, right?

Dante gets far more than he ever bargained for with his new wife. Including a surprise attack at their wedding moments after saying “I do”. He expected a docile wife who might have a bit of an attitude but what he got was something else entirely. The question then becomes who is Kenna really and what all is she hiding? Plus there’s the whole who and why their wedding was attacked and are their traitors in their midst? And the biggest question of all is what exactly happened to Kenna all those years ago? And of course can Dante handle the surprising revelations about his new wife?

With a marriage that starts literally drenched in blood the story can of course only get bloodier from there....

I didn’t not like this book it might just be the writing style that seems a bit odd to me. And maybe because Dante and Kenna react to things in an unbelievable way and they like go from strangers to partners in a blink. It’s almost love at first sight-ish but not because it didn’t exactly happen like that. I don’t know something about the two of them was just off for me. And it’s like if this was a movie they would be overacting. At that said I can appreciate the fact that Kenna is strong willed and doesn’t back down and used what happened to her to make her stronger. And it’s nice that he’d and Dante are equals there’s no question in that from the moment she reveals the truth of her situation to him he’s like ok we are in this together. Which sounds nice until you kinda realize that she over shadows him and he’s just kind of there.

At about 40% the book went from promising and interesting to extra very very extra and a bit of a mess throwing in a bunch of people and side situations. Like everything to do with Kinsly seems like there is a book missing that explains that whole situation.

So I’m the end didn’t hate it didn’t love it but I couldn’t resist the bloody wedding dress. As it was my first read from this author I’m not sure if this is just how she writes or if it’s just this book.

Upon discussing this book with a friend I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s kind of soap opera-ish life if you turned the various mafia organizations into a soap opera.

So pleased I found this book. It was so good!

Once I seen this stunning cover, I had to know the story behind it. I just didn’t see any of this coming. I was glued to my kindle from beginning to end. It was so addictive! Love a good mafia romance.

3.25 stars [thank you to the publishers and netgalley for my eARC in exchange for my honest review]

I am a huge fan of this sub genre of mafia/cartel romances. And because of that I’ve read quite a few and I did enjoy this book and it is far better than some of the ones I have read recently it’s not perfect but I did enjoy the romance and our characters. Loved Kenna as a strong woman in a mans world, who isn’t afraid to say her mind and act on it too.

Unlike some of them I read in the last couple of weeks in this books we actually got to see the workings of the Mafia family, the family interactions, the brutal work and loyalty. However I felt the focus was mainly on the Irish family I would’ve liked to have seen more of the Italians and what Dante and his brothers did before the wedding. We get very swept up in Kenna’s families work, and that kind of takes over. The second group I had with this book was too much focus on Kenna’s Secret at the start they also couldn’t have made it more obvious if they put the flashing lights around it, if you were trying to get someone to keep a secret you wouldn’t be mentioning it every other word, it could’ve been done in a more subtle, natural way.

Overall I thought this was a good mafia romance it was a nice balance between the workings of the mafia and the actual romance side of things. It was definitely setting it up for the rest of the series but there were a couple of minor things that brought my rating down.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author-I was lured in by the blurb and the cover, both of which were true to this story. I love books that has capture my attention in terms of both characters & plot, and this story has it covered. This is the first book in the Made series, and it makes me so excited to know that more books set in this world are coming! This story focuses on Dante Bianchi, underboss to his father in the Italian Mafia & Kenna, daughter of Irish Clann leader Seamus Gallagher. What struck me most about this book: how bada$$ Kenna is, and how her strength is so revered by her husband. These two are equal in all ways, and I adore the dynamic created by the author. Both Dante & Kenna have lots of family & family and loyalty are everything. Much revolves around family alliances and betrayals, so you get to know the secondary characters quite well, too. There are lots of secrets that are revealed in this book, so to say too much would add spoilers. If you haven’t read this book, stop reading reviews & dive in!