Broken Vow may have piqued my interest more had I read the other standalones in this series first. The relationship between the main characters felt rushed and forced. Unfortunately this book did not do it for me.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

I spoke too soon, this is my new favorite from the series!
The storyline is actually pretty interesting with a slight mystery of finding an assassin whose trying to eliminate Riona and Raylan comes to the rescue as a 24/7 bodyguard…!
I also like the change of scenery closer to nature with Raylan’s ranch instead of playing around Chicago city.

Riona reminds me of Nesta, I wasn’t a huge fan of her in the beginning but this book changes the way I see Riona. There’s a reason to her cold demeanour, she actually feels more than she let on.
I absolutely adore Raylan (he reminds me of Cassian) - he’s flirty, chatty but also a sweetheart which really annoyed Riona but he’s transforms to something hot and wild when he enter the bedroom….
Despite how different they seem, they actually fit in together like puzzle pieces.

Overall, this book is a great addition to the series that comes with a satisfying ending!
Fans of enemies-to-lovers and bodyguard romance definitely need to try reading this book!

⚠️ 𝐓𝐖: sexual content, gun violence, murder, death, brief mention of adult/minor relationship, car accident and domestic abuse

Probably 2.5 ⭐
This book was fine, and it might've been a little better if I had read the previous stand alones in the series but I just didn't feel connected to the characters at all. Raylans and rionas relationship felt very rushed and the intimate scenes felt forced into the story.

I thought this would be my favorite from the series. Riona has definitely been shaping out to be my favourite heroine right from the start, but sadly, her book didn't live up to my (perhaps unfairly) heightened expectations.

I have to give it to this book though - it's not often that we get female characters like Riona (STILL, still not often enough!) and I loved how she was written. Unapologetically ambitious, driven, straightforward, outspoken and blunt, a little bit cold on the outside, not a fan of conventions and fake pleasantries.

A fun addition to the grizzly underbelly of Chicago. It’s great to see characters you love from the rest of the series.

I really love that this series has illustrations throughout them. I also love that this book was focused around the bodyguard trope as it is one of my favorites. Overall the book was a little cringy but it was a quick read and I enjoyed it.

This book was so much better than. I was expecting. It was absolutely amazing. I loved reading Riona's story. I was hooked!!! 6 star read if I could. Sophie Lark is one of my favorite authors and I always but her books!!
I just reviewed Broken Vow by Sophie Lark. #NetGalley
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Unfortunately the formatting was unreadable for me to read but I do think it I was able to read it I would have enjoyed it.

A perfect story for those who need something dark and yet so soft. Everything was very detailed and you could see right into her thoughts.

I haven’t read the other books in the series before reading this, but I can say this can be enjoyed as a standalone, too. All in all, I liked Riona and Raylan’s story, although I came for the cowboy romance and was left with a mafia romance. Sure, Raylan was a cowboy at his core, but I didn’t know this was a mafia romance book. Reading this book confirmed for me that mafia romances are not for me, they’re a bit too dark for my taste. However, I loved those parts of the book that took place in Tennessee at Raylan’s family ranch. The passion between Raylan and Riona was amazing, their feelings ran deep. Riona was a real girlboss and Raylan was the perfect match for her. I liked Raylan as a man and his backstory was really interesting.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me a copy of the book.

I think Sophie larks writing is fantastic and she has beautiful writing style when it comes to her romances and the characters tension

3.5 stars for Broken Vow!

I love the tropes in this one (he’s her body guard, he’s ex military but also a cowboy??, fierce asf FMC) and the story was enjoyable.

I do find that with most Sophie Lark books, I wish the dialogue and descriptions around the couple was a bit…more? The plot is always great but I wasn’t FEELING the love between these two, I was just kind of reading it.

Still recommend though!

I'll only say one thing, I KNEW IT!!!! I KNEWWW WHO IT WAS THE WHOLE TIME!!!

I liked the couple, I like the story pacing. My only issue is for now that the books follow a certain formula, I think this is the second book where like they think they know who it was and they are gonna return to their normal life and psych! that wasn't the real person behind it.

It gets predictable.

I LOVED this book. As someone with a type A personality, sometimes I just need someone else to take control and let me be along for the ride, and Raylan definitely need this for Riona! I also enjoyed his confidence, and sureness that he had of himself. There two personalities were very interesting to watch react, and I absolutely loved him taking her to Tennessee and her adapting to the new surroundings, and really finding herself that she hadn't been acknowledging previously! These two were destined for each other, and I enjoyed the majority of the book. I also enjoyed the slight twist at the end, even though I saw it coming a little early on, it was nice to have a little mystery thriller aspect to the novel with the hired hitman and her uncle at the end. Better than just the mafia action, and romance in my opinion!

Sophie Lark is a queen. I love her writing style so much. This is another gripping and passionate story and I really felt for the two main characters Raylan and Riona! Give me more!!!

This was my first ever mafia romance, and for some reason I didn’t realize this wasn’t the first book until halfway through. Though I’m not usually into country men in books, this felt like a dark hallmark movie while reading it. Big city girl goes to country side because her life is in danger. Falls in love with the handsome country man who has to help out the farm that his whole family takes care of. I loved the growth for Riona, as she reminded me a lot of myself, head strong, career driven, and sometimes I forget it’s important to maintain relationships around oneself. Definitely loved the artistic drawings as well during the book, as those were unique and so fun to see as I read.

First, I’d like to thank NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

Oh man! What can I say? The Brutal Birthright series has me shook!! Each time I read about a new couple, I think it’s my favorite. Then I read the next book in the series and it becomes my favorite.

I loved this story! Riona is a tough nut to crack but I think it added to dynamic with Rylan. It was a who submit with a twist that I didn’t predict. I could not put this book down and finished it in a day!

Well done Sophie.

Thank you NetGalley and author Sophie Lark for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

"I’ll Protect Her… Whether She Likes It Or Not.

Riona Griffin is gorgeous, intelligent, and iron-willed. My perfect woman, except she hates my guts.

She thinks she doesn’t need anybody. But she needs me.

She’s being hunted by an assassin who never misses his mark.

I’m going to stay by her side, day and night, keeping her safe. Riona thinks that’s a fate worse than death but I know she’ll learn to love me.

If this hitman wants to kill her, he’ll have to go through me first."

This is the fifth book in the Brutal Birthright series. I love reading this book. It is very spicy. A fun read and a page turner.

★ 3.5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Bloom Books for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I firstly want to say the illustrations by Sophie in this book are absolutely stunning (and spicy). I loved being able to see her depictions of Raylan and Riona 😍 This was such a fun read and ticked off a lot of boxes for me.

Tropes

➸ Enemies to lovers
➸ Bodyguard
➸ Mafia princess x ex military country boy
➸ Grumpy heroine/sunshine hero

I related to Riona a lot as I love reading about strong willed FMC's. She takes no shit and is very career driven. She's not your typical docile mafia princess and it was really interesting see the reverse trope of Grumpy heroine/sunshine hero play out. I'm glad she didn't give up her career completely for this man or I would have rioted - it would have destroyed her whole character.

Rayan is a great book boyfriend, he's got that southern charm but devilish bedroom eyes (*cough* BDSM). The barn and riverbank scenes were steamy. He goes from these streamy scenes to being super sweet - He even washed her hair! He falls first and doesn't try to push her to be someone she's not and shows her the joy she is missing out on in her rigid lifestyle. This was definitely opposites attract and I felt like they complimented each other very well.

The bodyguard trope is one of my all-time faves and I liked how this was done slightly different to normal with his country background.

The thriller element of the plot was interesting and gave you another aspect to focus on outside of the romance. It was a little predictable but I didn't pick this up expecting a crime/thriller book so I was ok with this.

I felt like this was missing more descriptive language between the two love interests as looking back I didn't have many quotes highlighted and made me not as invested in them as I wanted to be. The pacing was also a little up and down for me, I really loved the start and then it went flat at points before picking back up which made some of the development between the two of them seem sudden. I wouldn't say it's insta love, it just got a little lost around the middle with showing the reader how each of characters was feeling.

There was only a couple of cringy lines but they did throw me for a minute - something about 'milking her' when he was doing you know what. Like she's not a cow and you're not a baby?!

Overall, Riona's story and Dante's (book #4) are probably my faves in the series to date. It's a quick steamy read with a decent plot to keep you interested. We also got to see some of the other couples again from the prior books (including a wedding).

I can't wait to read Sebastian's story which I believe is the final instalment of this series.

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