I have previously enjoyed books by Sophie Lark and really looked forward to reading this one!

The start of the book was hard for me to get into, the whole captive/captor thing with no romance was hard for a while but then it developed and well-ah!

The characters were very well developed, I particularly liked the heroine a lot! Nessa was easy to like.

It has elements of Beauty and the Beast but it’s action packed and exciting.

I’m giving this book three stars because I went into this book thinking I’d like it a lot more than I did. It’s my usual genre and I’ve read from this author before, but I think the start of the book was slow which let it down for me - there wasn’t really enough to keep me hooked 100%!

5/5 ⭐
2/5 🌶️
4/5 🎧

I just adored Miko and Nessa. This mafia Beauty and the Beast is probably my favorite of the series. The tropes were fantastic with the Stockholm syndrome, dancer FMC, innocent FMC, bad boy with tragic past MMC and everything in between. I loved watching these two come together and fall hard.

The audio was great. Alan Carlson did a fantastic job as Miko and Faith Clark was so good as Nessa. While I didn't love Alan's Nessa, i will listen to this one again and again.

Sophie leaned HEAVY into the Beauty and the Beast similarities, and I loved it all the more for it. We get west wing warnings, a girl who adores books, an MMC nicknamed The Beast and more. I think Nessa knowing the parallels and calling them out made it less corny than it easily could have been. I pretty much love all B+TB retellings, but this is a fave.

I loved how this story brought the three families together. Especially after having read this series and The Kingmakers before. I'm so excited to continue on the series again and see what Sophie has in store for us.

Oh my gosh this book was amazing! One of my favorite Beauty and the Beast retelling currently. I couldn't put this book down. I loved the characters and the story.

This whole series was absolutely amazing. So many great characters. Ones you love and ones you hate to love.

RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
SPICE: 🔥🔥🔥

I feel like this is a good book for beginner dark romance readers, which is why I enjoyed it. I’m new to this genre, so reading a Beauty and the Beast retelling seemed like the perfect opportunity. Then I realized it was Mafia too, and got excited to dive in. This book was fast paced and kind of gritty with heavy content, but the relationship between Nessa and Miko wasn’t dark (after you get over the fact that he kidnapped her) and I really liked that.

I also really like Sophie’s writing style and will definitely go back and read the first one in this series, because the Mafia vibes definitely kept me hooked.

I liked that we got to see Miko’s tragic past and what made him who he was (even though it gutted me from chapter 1) and also how vastly different he and Nessa were. She was a sheltered Ballerina and he a seasoned killer, and enemy of her family, but still somehow they worked, and the chemistry and spice was perfect.

I really liked the emotions of this book, and the way Nessa burrows her way under Miko’s skin. She was underestimated quite a bit in the beginning but I felt like her character grew throughout the story. Miko is all kinds of red flags in real life, but in a book, I couldn’t help but fall for him.

Definitely recommend if you like enemies to lovers, forced proximity, virgin heroines, and Mafia vibes. Great gateway into dark romance! Also, the copy I received has gorgeous illustrations and that added to the vibe of the book! I’m a sucker for art, so that made a difference to me!

Recommend!

Thank you Sophie Lark, NetGalley and Bloom books for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book. My review is voluntary

Any book with Beauty and the Beast vibes is an automatic read for me. There's just something in the building of undeniable tension between the captor and the captive that makes for a deliciously engaging read. And this novel does not disappoint. Mikolaj is out for revenger after his father what murdered by rival mafia families. And what revenge is better than stealing their precious daughter? Only Mikolaj isn't prepared for the way innocent Nessa with make him feel or the lengths he'll go to protect her.

Mafia Romance
Beauty and the Beast Vibes
Forced Proximity
Bookish MMC
Ballerina FMC
Touch Her and Die

I thought this book was fun to read and easy to follow. i love a good kidnapping winnie's to lover trope. the plot is a little unsteady but, let's be honest that's not what what we're here for lol

It's been a hot minute since I've read a book by the author but this sucked me right in! I loved the Beauty and the Beast references, which obviously made this a modern day retelling. Nessa was the coddled and innocent one in her family. She was the only one not involved in their underworld dealings. But it was her innocence that made her attraction to Miko seem out of character and it played well into the Beauty and the Beast storyline. My only beef is with Nessa. I wanted her character to be a little more feisty, to have fought more. Just like the fairytale, Nessa was the one able to bring out the true Miko, giving him the safety and the space to to be his real self. Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite fairytales and this modern day retelling made me fall in love with it more.

I received an advance copy of the book at my request and voluntarily left this review.

Thank you so much NetGalley, Bloom Books and Sophie Lark for an arc of this book!
I don't read dark romances often; I am a mood reader and I really have to be in the mood for it to enjoy this genre. But I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book, especially the Beauty and the Beast retelling elements. I loved the modern interpretation of the tale and how it was tied to mafias, and I loved Nessa and Miko together. I do however wish that there was a bit more interactions between them.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to any dark romance lover.

I absolutely loved this book. It was good. I enjoyed reading it. Thank you so much for the arc. I really appreciate it.

This book gave beauty and the beast vibes turned mafia and Belle is my favorite Disney princess so I obviously loved it. I was intrigued by Nessa in the first book and so glad I got to know her even better in this one. The smut in this book is so good and these two have the best chemistry almost immediately. I loved Miko and Nessa’s story even with the Stockholmy vibes. However, the banter was phenomenal and the humanizing experience of the dangerous bad boy. I’m a sucker for this series.

Stolen Heir is the second book in the Brutal Birthright series by Sophie Lark. This is a dark mafia/enemies-to-lovers romance with a Beauty and the Beast retelling vibe that can be read as a standalone.
The main characters in this story are Miko and Nessa. Miko is the head of the polish mafia. His plan is to kidnap dancer and daughter of his enemy Nessa and hopefully destroy her in hopes of breaking her family. Holding her prisoner in his home, he doesn't expect to fall for the sassy dancer. But the more he watches her, the more enamored he becomes.
Nessa is just a plain Jane. She works hard as a dancer and choreographer and just wants to be recognized. She is smart and knows what the family business is even though she isn't apart of it. Being captured by Miko, she doesn't expect fall for him. Is it stockholm syndrome? Will these two end up with their happily ever after knowing that their families are rivals?
I absolutely loved this story. The slowburn, chemistry, tension and passion was all on point. Sophie Lark wrote an amazing story and I loved the references to Beauty and the Beast.

Stolen Heir is the second book in the Brutal Birthright series by @sophie_lark_author & let me tell you; this series will COMPLETELY suck you in!

The romances, plot & writing are all so addictive and easy to get lost in.

The blend of fairytale and mafia was a much better combination than I thought it would be 😍 I loved how complex Miko & Nessa were and watching their characters develop throughout the story.

I do wish we had seen a little more build up to the romance as it did feel slightly rushed from them hating each other to wanting to be together but sometimes… you just need a fast paced steamy romance to binge 😍

When beauty and the beast meets mafia.

This book was a bit meh for me.
The idea of ​​the book is very nice, but through the story I started to get annoyed by things.

That it is a beauty and the beast retell was not to be missed. Nessa was really just a belle 2.0.

there were a few things that felt a bit unrealistic to me. Miko who said she smelled like lily, orchid and plum.. I don't know a single man who can define scents like that let alone a mafia man.

i missed the part where he really started to melt for her. It was quite fast from hate to love without really big events.
And once they had sex he was suddenly a completely different person.

All in all I thought it was a nice story and I read the whole book. Would i read it again ? Probably not.

Read if you like:

-Maffia
-Touch her and you die
-kidnapping
-a not to dark romance
-dancing

You can and will devour this in one setting!

You can expect:
▪️Second book in a series of interconnected stand alone’s
▪️Beauty and the beast retelling
▪️Mafia romance
▪️Captor / captive
▪️Gentle, ballerina FMC
▪️Domineering, morally grey (black?) MMC
▪️Dual POV

Some of my thoughts:
📍I was instantly pulled in to this story! The prologue was intense but very relevant backstory. As I was already familiar with the main characters (side characters from the first book) it was very easy to jump right into this book.

📍It’s in dual POV! I loveeee this in contemporary romances!

📍I find Sophie Lark’s writing snappy! The plot moved along briskly. There was never a stagnant, boring moment!

📍Look, a captor / captive romance is not for everyone but I love em’ 😂🙈
This one in particular ticked all the boxes for me! Darker elements and a slow (ish) burn that was equal parts fear and lust. I found it titillating and when love finally bloomed, satisfying!

📍It was very clearly a Beauty and the Beast retelling. Not especially original but I did enjoy it all the same!

📍As ever with Sophie’s books, I loved the art and music suggestions littered through out the pages! It just adds that extra something!

📍I look forward to carrying on with the series!

Memorable quotes:
✨ ‘I see her, and she sees me. I was death, and she was life.’

✨ “I was a corpse when I met you, Nessa,” he says. “No breath. No heart. No life. I felt nothing. I 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 was a normal person, I would have realized it was love. Love at first sight. From the second I laid eyes on you.”

I did not expect to like this book as much as I did. This is my first dark romance and my first mafia romance but I loved it! It was very beauty and the beast which is what intrigued me initially. I loved the story and the way it was told. It wasn’t told in a way that was too unrealistically. Would read again

Sophie Lark does it again! I’ve loved every books of Sophie’s that I’ve read. This is a Beauty and the Beast retelling (which I loved in a mafia setting). Nessa was very sweet and naive and Miko was scary, but he had a soft spot for her. This was a story that shows you that opposites really do attract.

Stolen Heir by Sophie Lark
🔍Genre: dark romance
📱 Format: ebook
📄 Length: 430 pages
📚 Series: Brutal Birthright - Book 2
✔️Available on KU? Yes

🚨 please check triggers before diving into this book.

✨Read this if you enjoy: ✨
Mafia Romance
Open Door
Beauty & The Beast Retelling Elements
Insta Love

Thank you to Netgalley, Bloom Books and Sophie Lark for an e-arc of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts.

I read Brutal Prince back in 2020 but I completely forgot, probably because it looks like I set it down about halfway through. So I actually thought this was my first Sophie Lark book...oops. Sophie Lark is a very popular author in the book community and highly recommended for her dark romances. When people recommend a book often enough, I listen. But I also picked up this book because....HELLO LOOK AT THIS COVER.

My biggest issue with this book was the lack of overall conflict. The whole point of the story is that Nessa has been kidnapped by Miko as a punishment between rival mafia families. I just didn't get any angst or build up because these two jumped at each other so quickly. However, I appreciated that Sophie Lark isn't afraid to get dark; there are several parts of this book that hit hard and don't shy away from getting ugly.

I haven't decided yet if I will continue with the series but I am interested in giving another Sophie Lark book a try.

I fell in love with Sophie Lark on TikTok, her series is a fun mix of romance, stuff, and a great plot!

I enjoyed this so much more than I thought I would. Initially, I was hesitant about the character of Nessa because the use of the innocent character in these sort of books can often make me feel uncomfortable. But this book perfectly executed it; starting to show a different side to Nessa.

Mikolaj was an intriguing character with a compelling backstory. He balances with Nessa well, with the chemistry between this pair being palpable.

Another treat in this was seeing things for Nessa’s perspective. The author certainly did her justice in this book- seeing beyond the innocent ballerina shown in Brutal Prince.