I went into this book really wanting to love it, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I had read it before. That's not necessarily a dealbreaker—sometimes revisiting a familiar storyline or genre can feel comforting and fun. Unfortunately, this one didn’t quite hit the right notes for me.

The romance between the main characters sparks quickly, almost immediately, but without any real build-up or depth to back it up. I’m not opposed to insta-love when done right, but here, I struggled to understand why they were drawn to each other, and their connection never felt fully developed.

That said, it wasn’t a bad read! I breezed through it without feeling like it was a slog, and there were enjoyable moments along the way. The problem was, it just didn't leave a lasting impression. The heroine felt a bit underwhelming—I prefer female leads who challenge their love interests more—and the lack of chemistry made the story fall flat.

That being said, I can see potential for the series to improve over time, and others might connect with it more than I did.

I received an e-ARC through NetGalley, and these are my honest and voluntary opinions.

#ShesMine #NetGalley.

I got a ARC for this book. I might not end up finishing it because it just got too predictable. I love the dark romance aspect but I wanted something different.

This book was a great read however ended on a cliffhanger and will wait on next book. Intense scenes with a lot of plot twists.

This book is lacking in chemistry, personality, and angst.

Also, can the dark/mafia romance not end with the 365-day route? It's becoming taxing; I don't mind if it's well written, but not for this book.

I loved this book!!

It had everything I look for in this type of story - it was romantic and sexy

It was full of emotions and tense action - it was a will of wars in a shady setting - and it was an addictive page turner

The storyline was well planned out and this book, being the first in the series really does a brilliant job at setting the scene for the books ahead - I can't wait to read them!

It is 5 star from me for this one, very highly recommended - a fabulous read!

Slater runs a club and a gym along with other things. He is asked by a crime boss for a favor looking after his daughter while he is gone. Agreeing he goes to his home and is met with a beautiful woman. Dale is 22 and was looking forward to being by herself when her father leaves not being watched. After the night at the nightclub, everything begins to change for them up to when he kills a man who was in the home trying to kill Dale. Then the story takes off between the two of them until the end when she is taken and you have to wait for book two. A good story though and has good characters.

Long story short, I hated this book. Slater manipulated Dale in every sense of the way, and there were at least three parts where I cringed reading this story. The story itself was easy to get through because the chapters were so short; however, that left the story feeling very disjointed. The entire story felt like individual events that were poorly connected. There's even one chapter where the story just jumped to a new point in the timeline without any form of transition. I didn't buy the connection between Slater and Dale. The sex scenes weren't that great, but they also appeared very randomly and often served as the tool Dale used to manipulate Dale. Dale had absolutely no sense of self anything. She literally went from a gilded cage to a less gilded cage with a cuter captor without any ounce of doubt, fight, or question. I just literally finished for the sake of this review.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The tension in this was off the charts, makes me love the mafia romance books! Daleylah is a spunky young daughter of a mafia boss who has to deal with a protector named Slater while her father is away. Definitely some chemistry off the bat, a great read. Really happy to have gotten the chance to read it.

rating: 3/5
i am sort of pissed with this book, the book's theme is mafia and that was literally nonexistent in the book. there was supposed to be something in the book that hinted toward the mafia. more than the mafia it felt like a bodyguard-employee romance. it was also sort of forbidden but even that was not very evident in the book.
somethings that I really disliked were, the easy compliance of Dale, she is 22 but behaves like a sex-crazed teenager and the way slater treats her like she is his pet, that's way too far. i mean all the other mafia books do that too but this one just does'nt seems right.
the actions of the protagonists were cliche but they felt bland and emotionless so it was sort of a turn-off for me.
but still, it wasn't that bad that it made me wanna dnf it, so.
the cliffhanger at the end also has left me anticipating the next book way too much and ill probably read it too.

Quick read, different than most mafia romances, and that’s what made me keep reading. A lot of the sex scenes felt forced, like they didn’t fit in where they were placed. There wasn’t anything that really made me feel like it led up to those moments.

She’s mine is the first book I’ve read from this author but surprisingly I actually liked it. The book was well written, I love mafia books

I liked this book for a different take on the bodyguard trope. At times the plot fell flat and I was confused about what was going on, or it became a pattern of conflict between Slater and Dale. Even though Dale was 22, I felt that she was portrayed as much younger than that. Of course, this was her first relationship so I would understand the naivety and innocence that comes with that, but her actions were that of someone who was much younger and more naïve. I was frustrated with Slater at times because of this and his unwillingness to communicate his needs or ideas with Dale. Much of the conflict came from communication issues and Slater wanting to protect Dale. In the rest of the series, I'd love to see much more growth from both characters, especially Dale since she is very smart and should be able to make more logical decisions rather than purely emotional ones.

I really wanted to like this one, but to me, it felt as though I'd read it before. That's not always a bad thing, of course, sometimes a rewriting of a well-loved story can be fun, or revisiting a genre that you haven't read for a while. This book just fell a little short for me.
The main characters find themselves pretty much in love or the very least lust from early on. While that's far from being an instant no from me, here I just couldn't see why they felt like that. It seemed to happen with no build-up (as insta-love often does) but then little to back it up afterward.
This is perhaps a little overly harsh, this wasn't an awful read. In fact, I got through it fairly quickly and it didn't feel that it was a chore, I enjoyed it. The problem was that that was all it was. I think that there was a lot of potential here, but the combination of lack of chemistry and a weak female lead, (I much prefer heroines that present a challenge to their lovers) just meant that it wasn't for me. I suspect that this might be a series that gets better with time.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own and given voluntarily.

If you are looking to dip your toe into dark romance this is definitely a book to do it with! There was a little mafia forbidden love going on but definitely mild on the darkness scale.

Dale, the daughter of a mafia leader, has had a very sheltered life. Wanting to break out from this, she uses her father’s time away to display her independence. Slater was not prepared for what all would come with protecting Dale. I loved how Dale grew in maturity in this book. Her stubbornness and Slaters domineering personality came together with so much tension!

The ending got me! 😬😭 I was not prepared!!! I hope there will be more books to come for some of the other characters and potential relationships to look forward to.

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest review!

She’s Mine is the first book in the Protected series by Belinda Wright. This was a new-to-me author but the overview of the book sounded interesting, so I decided to read it. Although this is not the usual type of book I read, I found it to be a great book. The characters were likable and the plot was developed. It was fast-paced and full of intrigue.

I wanted to love this book and for Ch. 2-10 I really did enjoy the storyline. But there were several things that made this story hard to read. The formatting made the story timeline unclear. The MMC reminded me so much of Tamlin from ACOTAR. The FMC wanted independence and she just decided that she was ok with relying on the MMC cause he made her feel safe even though he constantly gaslight her. He used sex as a means to shut her up. The end of the book leads to a next book so the MMC may have some redemption but right now he is just an asshole.

She’s Mine by Belinda Wright is the First book in the Protected series. This is the story of Dale and Slater. Slater and his brothers are dangerous men but they help the innocent people too. When a favor is called in for Slater to keep and eye on Dale he goes through to do so but he starts to learn things are not what they seem and that his attraction to Dale is more than he can let go.
I will be looking for the next installment.

I shall start off by saying I don't like mafia books half the time but I thought what the heck let's try something new. I will say I loved our Mc. He was smart and quick witted and I love the merry bad of brothers the book brings. The mafia aspect isn't really actually put out much. Also I felt all of the sex scenes were disjointed like they didn't fit where they were placed. It was awkward. But the book was well written and enjoyable overall.

First off I would like to thank Netgalley, the publishers, and the author for gifting me with a copy of this book for a honest review.

Slater is a fighter who owns several gyms and businesses with his brothers and best friends. He is approached by El Patron to babysit Dale, his 22 year old daughter, while he is out of the country.  Neither Dale or Slater are exactly thrilled about this situation, but they both try to make the best out of it. They quickly realize that they are attracted to each other, and they must trust each other when someone threatens Dale's life. This books does end with a cliffhanger.

She's Mine is the first book I have read by this author. This Mafia romance is told in dual perspectives. Which we all know I enjoy because we get to see into both characters minds. However, I found the character dialogue to be lacking, and while I usually like the alphahole attitude something about Slater rubbed me the wrong way. Overall, this mafia romance book was an okay read.

The book has the spark to keep your interest only to reach a cliffhanger at the last. A mafia story with steamy moments in between. A one sit read not to be missed.