A kind of beauty and the beast retelling with a mafia twist.I didn't think the couple really connected it was rush the writing was decent but not as good as the previous book.

I can say that this book is wattpad coded. It’s mafia and it’s not that dark. I don’t think it’s actually dark romance at all. And we get an happy ending.

Characters wise, there aren’t much chemistry between them. The only they had are on bed. Progress of the story kinda rush. Especially before the 10 years skip. It’s just giving information why Mikolaj is the way he is now instead of getting the reader truly in depth into his past. (To be honest I thought it was the female character’s POV at that time and I had to reset my head again when I realised it later on haha)

But I really want to give the author a credit for putting really good details and information. It’s not easy tho to pile up those informations just to give the reader better visualisation.

Maybe I’ll try to read Nero’s book just for curiosity.

Enemies to lovers, good bad all the angst. Opposites in almost every single way. Mafia romance with a touch of Stockholm syndrome.

3 ★

“𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙥𝙨𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙄 𝙢𝙚𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪, 𝙉𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙖. 𝙉𝙤 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝, 𝙣𝙤 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩, 𝙣𝙤 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚. 𝙄 𝙛𝙚𝙡𝙩 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜. 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙄 𝙨𝙖𝙬 𝙮𝙤𝙪, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙤𝙠𝙚 𝙢𝙚 𝙪𝙥 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚. 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙖 𝙛𝙤𝙤𝙡 𝙖𝙩 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩. 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙤 𝙣𝙪𝙢𝙗 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙙. 𝙄𝙛 𝙄 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖 𝙣𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙖𝙡 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣, 𝙄 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙯𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚. 𝙇𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙩 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩. 𝙁𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙡𝙖𝙞𝙙 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪.”

Thank you NetGalley and the author for sending me this book!

Pls Remember that this is a dark romance kidnapping story! The characters in this book are not 100% in the head so keep that in mind while reading this review and reading this book!

TW: r*pe, su*cide, stalking, etc

The first chapter has so many trigger warnings I was so emotional and invested after reading that and the art in there🤌🤌 crying- and the first like 40% were kinda good yk but then it just went 📉 mostly bc:

𝟏. The kidnapping trope wasn’t done well. The only kidnapping stories I have read were on wattpad so idk if I have any say in this but the kidnapping trope was just not it??? Yk what I mean?? When it comes to dark romance story’s like kidnapping the story has to be written in a specific kind of way to make it enjoyable and not make you feel creeped out or like “what. Is. Going. On.” Dark romance is after all a side of romance that can go wrong very easily if it’s not written well.

𝟐. The length- tell me why my copy was 247 pages long 😭😭😭 did I get the right copy bc no way all of that happened in 247 pages- he fell for her way too quickly like there wasn’t any development he just went from “I hate her” to “I love her” and I was like where did this come from 😭 Nessa kinda too but not as bad as him.

𝟑. The romance. No slow burn, no tension, no consent. The moment he felt like he wanted her, he kissed her. I’ll go deeper into this later.

𝘕𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢

“𝙄 𝙩𝙧𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙙. 𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙣’𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙩. 𝙈𝙮 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙥𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡.”

She was cute, I liked her but there are some things she did that didn’t feel like her and something she did that I did not feel comfortable with. The way she was portrayed throughout the story didn’t fit in with what she did at times, they were very out of character.

The dance/str*pping scene was very out of character and just not Nessa. The Nessa she was supposed to be would not do that + the other sxual thing she did during and after that scene with her kidnapper while she was just crying 1 minute ago begging him to not kill her brother- if you haven’t read this you probably don’t understand what I’m talking about, but basically, these scenes were very out of character.

She also touched him while he was sleeping and that made me uncomfortable bc he may want you butttt that doesn’t give you the right to just go to the guys room and touch him the way you did while he is asleep and he literally pushed your hand away a couple minutes ago when you also tried it- PLUS IT DID NOT FIT HER CHARACTER ONCE AGAIN SHE IS SUPPOSED TO BE THIS SWEET INNOCENT SHY VIRGIR OR WHATEVER ANS SHES OUT HERE STRIPPING AND TOUCHING HIM LIKE THAT BAE THAT IS NOT THE DEFINITION OF SHY

The way she thought about her parents after also was kinda…Idk. Like yea I can understand how you feel but you also gotta understand how your parents feel. You’ve been missing for a whole month and now you want to marry your kidnapper ofc they gonna be like “girl go back to your room”😭

If we forget all those points, she was a pretty fun character to follow around. Her fear and all was pretty realistic in the beginning and her crying like that <s>I would be crying too</s>


𝘔𝘪𝘬𝘰

“𝙃𝙚’𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙛𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤𝙪𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙚𝙧, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙣𝙚𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙮 𝙚𝙡𝙨𝙚.”

Uhm idk😃😃 I don’t really like him but I wouldn’t say I hate him. He is FCKED in the head and not like “owh psycho 🤭” no more like “owh psycho😟” <s>I really hope you guys understand what I mean</s>. We also never touched the topic of his sister again what was weird bc she was such a big part of his life so I expected an emotional scene that would bound them or something but no.

Anyways many things about him just didn’t sit well with me. The fact that he THOUGHT about undressing her while she was unconscious so she can be scared when she wakes up was already bad enough, but I’m happy he didn’t actually do it.

He’s fcked and he talks about women like objects even though he had a sister like 🤨🤨 okay, I understand. He’s supposed to represent a fcked up guy who’s mentally GONE but some things just didn’t sit well with me- you can write a psycho and have me go 🤭🤭 while reading, or you write him in such a way that I go 😳

<I>“Of all the evil things I’ve done in my life, and they are legion, I’ve never forced myself on a woman. It’s the one thing I won’t do.”</i>
And yet you just grabbed her hair and kissed her with no consent knowing you kidnapped her and she doesn’t like you. I can excuse murder but not touching someone with no consent.

Is that all you may ask?

No of course not😃 After that he watched her pleasure herself through the camera he placed in her room. I don’t think my girl knew that, she never mentioned she knew it if I’m right so wtf? Like wtf? Pls don’t, pls. Don’t. That made me very uncomfortable I’m sorry 😭

Anyways I’m probably going to continue the rest of the series but I don’t really recommend this

Smut: yea like 5/6 scenes

Nessa was born into a family of mobsters, but she has always been kept out of the family business. Her family thought this would be enough to keep her safe. They were wrong.
When her family takes out the leader of an opposing family, Nessa finds herself in the middle of a war.

This was my first mobster romance, and I was a fan. I read this as a standalone, but I think I could go back and read the first one even though I know the outcome.
This was a slow burn romance, that you can easily read in a weekend. If you are looking for a fast, dark romance, this might be it!

I already loved brutal prince so I was so excited to read the second sequel to it. It reminded me of twisted love series + magnolia parks series combined. Modern day mafia romance and it was spicy and good. You cannot put this book down once you are dipping your toes into it. It was such a fast pace read for me and I enjoyed it.

"Stolen Heir" by Sophie Lark was great! We were first introduced to Nessa in "Brutal Prince" but she was introduced to us as a somewhat flighty mafia princess who don't have much to do with the daily dealings of her family's "business". In this book, Mikolaj is out for blood. His father figure was taken from him by the Griffins and the Gallos and he will see his revenge. He decides to take the youngest Griffin as his prisoner, fully intending to use her and then dispose of her, knowing she could act as a lynchpin to destroy her family. The more he gets to know her, however, the more he realizes that he forgot to protect himself from her charm and beauty. She is fragile, yes, but also smart and kind. Nessa is drawn to him right away and they fall toward an inevitable crash into love with one another.

The stakes were high, the sexual tension was higher. I enjoyed this as much as the first book, if not more. I can't wait to read the next one!

This absolutely such a good read! The characters are just so uwu <3

The pace of the book was very fast which has made me feel intrigued and excited to know more on what happens in the story. Initially I thought I would not like the main characters by reading the prompt of the book but I was very wrong! I have grown attached to them and in a good way. Literal heart eyes for both Miko and Nessa because they are just cute together <3 <3

Miko, fueled by vengeance after his father's murder, kidnaps Nessa, an innocent ballerina. Despite his plans for revenge, his growing hunger for Nessa complicates matters, as they develop a connection that shouldn’t have happened.

.Enemies to lovers
.Virgin FMC
.Beauty and the Beast retelling
.Mafia romance
.Age gap
.Touch her and die
.Forced proximity
.Captive

This book delivers on its promise, it's a quick, spicy mafia romance starring an innocent female lead, Nessa, and a tough mafia boss, Miko, who melts only for her. Unlike typical mafia romances, Nessa's innocence doesn't translate to naivety; she's clever and self-preserving. Miko defies stereotypes; he's reserved but cutthroat when necessary, but can be soft at times, adding depth to his character.

The story heavily borrows from "Beauty and the Beast," with a touch of Cinderella for side characters. Surprisingly, the relationship feels healthy for a mafia romance. I’m not a fan of the virgin trope, but I did appreciate the avoidance of fetishization, treating it like an ordinary thing.

While the book was good, it didn't stand out. It delivered what it promised without venturing into extraordinary territory.

(This review will be posted on instagram @beco_books)

I read book one for this series a while back and enjoyed it well enough. It's by no means the best romance or mafia romance I have ever read, but it's definitely doing a solid job of fulfilling my need for mafia romance in general.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

This book, which tells the story of Beauty and the Beast in a dark, gothic way with a mafia twist, captured my attention. In the book, Miko, the boss of a competing Polish gang, kidnaps Nessa, the daughter of an Irish mob boss. Miko has Nessa under his control in his eerie home, where he intends to use her as a pawn in a deal to exact revenge on her family. He soon develops an obsession with her grace and innocence, though, and discovers that he is attracted to her in unexpected ways.

The author does a great job of creating a captivating and immersive story, with a unique and original magic system. The world-building is rich and detailed, with different realms, races, and cultures. The plot is full of action, suspense, mystery, and twists that keep you on the edge of your seat. The romance is intense and steamy, with a slow-burn enemies-to-lovers dynamic that is both frustrating and satisfying.

However, I also felt that the book was a bit too dark and violent at times (though that me just be for me). I also thought that the book ended on a cliffhanger that left me wanting more, but also annoyed and anxious (given this book is part pf a series). I wished that the author had given more closure or resolution to some of the conflicts or questions especially when it comes to these two main characters.

Overall, this was a thrilling and addictive read, with a strong heroine, a brooding hero, and a dark fantasy adventure. I would recommend it to fans of dark romance who are looking for a gritty and edgy story.

What a quick, wild, mob ride! I went in without knowing anything about the plot, other than that it was book 2 in a series. The drama begins immediately and basically continues throughout. At first, I wasn't sure how I was going to grow to like Miko, but we got there. The Beaty and the Beast vibes were a bit strong at times, but that's fine. As always, the artwork adds so much!

Posted review to goodreads on 10/5.

I wish this book held the same emotional energy as the first one in the series. I was completely sucked in and in love with Adia and Callum and I throughly enjoyed their romance. Unfortunately Nessas relationship couldn’t really compare.

I wanted to really be invested in this series because I’ve heard so much about it. However, I couldn’t buy the relationship between our two main characters. I wanted to see more of them actually starting to care for one another, this felt like there was sexual tension then huge professions of love but I missed all the small character moments that make the big ones so worth the effort.

I’m still going to keep reading this series because I am curious who the next books will be about and how the rest of this story will unwind. There’s a lot that could be done with these characters and I would like to follow through with it even though this wasn’t my favorite installment for the series so far.

Stolen Heir is the story about a man who falls in love hard with a sweet, young and innocent thing. While the chemistry between the two was great, that was about the only perk to the whole book. It was heavily predictable also taking around half of the book to actually draw you in, then the end was kind of skimmable. I love the idea of Beauty and the Beast themes, but the references to it did overtake a lot of the enjoyment. I'd recommend this one for anyone who is ready to take the leap into mafia romance and kidnapping stories.

Beauty and the beast retelling but make it fast paced mafia and written by sophie lark.
you cannot go wrong at all!

I love Miko and Nessa’s story!

stolen heir was one of those books that’s hard to put down. this mafia romance was fast paced and full of surprises. i loved the beauty and the beast retelling in the mafia world with the grumpy sunshine, opposites attract tropes. nessa finds herself kidnapped by miko, the polish mafia boss, as part of his revenge on the griffin’s for their transgressions.

the first chapter give us a backstory into miko’s childhood and it broke my heart. miko wasn’t a character i found likable right away, but the more i got to know him, i grew to love the soft side he shows nessa. nessa radiates kindness and goodness. she is the light to miko’s darkness, slowly breaking down his walls, making him feel things he hasn’t for a long time after losing the person that meant the world to him. by showing miko the beauty of life and love, it woke something deep inside of him and brought him back to life.

the slow burn and tension were delicious. seeing their love go from a twisted enemies to lovers relationship and something so passionate was beautiful. i also loved getting to know more about the other mafia family members and their family dynamics!

I loved this book, and this series, and I’m so glad it was picked up by Bloom!
This is Nessa and Miko’s story. Nessa is kidnapped by Miko because he wants revenge on her family. He threatens her but never ends up touching her or her family. The way he falls for her was super sweet, and I loved watching Nessa’s growth in this. I also really enjoyed the action, and the fact that there was no third act breakup. Can’t wait to continue the series!

WHAT A BEGINNING TO A BOOK!

I started this book ready for the spice and the inspiration from Beauty & the Beast (mafia style), but DAMN, I was not prepared to CRY MY EYES OUT in 1 chapter for a character that we just met!
I have heard nothing but incredible things about Sophie Lark online & those I follow, and I have to be honest, that chapter proved once again how much the praise is well deserved!

I ate this book up and was amazed by how I loved the characters and their story. Listen, I wouldn't want this in real life, but Miko had me FLUTTERED the whole book (red coloured glasses, baby). The gentleness that Nessa offered him and allowed him to feel & live beyond the mafia while also helping him move past his tragic beginnings was touching. All the while, Miko helped Nessa grow and stand on her own slowly (as that was realistic) is what made their development worth rooting for.

LOVING THE TWO FAMILIES REALLY COMING TOGETHER IN THE BACKGROUND!

I was not expecting just how much I would love this book.. the storyline which was essentially Beauty and the Beast, the characters, the gothic-ness of it.. I can’t even begin to describe how much I loved and plainly adored this book.

I so cannot wait to continue with the rest of this series!