<b>Every book is this series by Sophie Lark is unique and captivating in it's own way! The author delivers so many different kind of love stories and I love every single one of them. Broken Vow is rich in heartaching emotions. It has some incredible characters with layers after layers. It's all about escape and healing and finding love for even the most sceptical person. Riona always shows her strong and indestructible and infallible side to the world and to her family. But even the super heroines need a space to be safely vulnerable. Raylan gave her that peace, that safety. He pierced through her shield and won her heart.</b>

<b>👢Alpha hero ( ex military) & alpha heroine ( bada&& lawyer in a mafia family)
👢escaping to small town family ranch to beat the enemy
👢 reverse grumpy sunshine
👢 bodyguard romance
👢 emotional and suspenseful.</b>

Riona doesn't like to show her soft underbelly and having a bodyguard as a shadow was hard for her but she was attacked and she is stubborn, but not fool. I love her attitude. And I loved her softer side even more. The ranch was an unfamiliar situation but Raylan's family is so amazing. Our ex military hero has his demons but he is fighting hard. For both of them. Riona is afraid to lose control but Raylan is driving her crazy. He is over protective dominating alpha but for Riona...he had infinite patience. I just loved that he played all the right cards to show Riona that it's OK to give up control for the right person. It was so swoony and sweet at times..something I didn't see a lot in the previous books in this series. The mafia part was present by proxy but I liked the layering of romantic suspense. That epilogue teared me up though. Riona has found her space!

I reviewed an early copy voluntarily

Hot as hell bodyguard romance. Mafia daughter can’t stand the military man/cowboy assigned to guard her. Perfect mix of sweet and sexy. Absolutely love this series!!

Riona is a high-powered Chicago attorney determined to make partner at her family’s law firm when she is attacked at home. She narrowly escapes the brutal attack and her mafia-connected family hires a bodyguard for her until they can figure out what prompted the assault. This is a huge disruption to her work-centered life and driven and aloof Riona does not appreciate cocky and cowboy-esque Raylan watching over her every move even if it is keep her alive. When another near death attempt on her life occurs, Raylan whisks Riona off to his southern farm where she is forced to slow down and examine her priorities. Sparks fly between these two big personalities and as Riona inches closer to the truth of why she is being targeted, Raylan becomes aware his need to keep her alive is more than just the job- it might be love.

——————
If you’re not familiar with mafia-style romances, this would be a good starting point. I found it to be a quick and entertaining read but rather formulaic. There weren’t any real surprises and I didn’t feel the connection between the two main characters. While Raylan’s personality seemed to jump off the page, Riona felt flat and underwhelming. The spicy parts were fine, the pacing was fine, it just overall wasn’t a stand out book to me.

Tropes- bodyguard romance, mafia romance, grumpy/sunshine

Thank you to Bloom Books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really loved Broken Vow. I was prepared to struggle with Riona. In previous books she is grumpy and unlikeable. But when paired with Raylan and removed from the pressures of her job and family, I fell for her story just as I should.

Riona unexpectedly is the target of a hit. Her family hires wild card military man, Raylan, to be her bodyguard. When the threats ramp up, he takes her to his family ranch in Tennessee. This story is a mix of mafia and cowboy and hit all of the notes I wanted in a romance. It's steamy and fast and kept me turning pages much later than I intended. I think Lark's stories get better with each book and I am going to be sad to leave this family behind.

At first I wasn't sure how I felt about the ending but having thought about it I think it was the best it could be. I liked the characters and I felt that the relationship progressed in the best way it could for them. Thank you for the e arc

This was my first Sophie lark book and it was so addictive. I could not put it down. This was exactly what I wanted in a book. I would highly recommend!

Riona and Raylan are oil and water! They do not seem to have much in common other than annoying the other. Riona is stubborn! She’s an independent woman who takes charge of her life but her world is shaken and now has to spend her days with the blue eyed bear of a man!

I loved Rionas independence and yet what I loved most was that under it all you could feel her vulnerability. seeing her slowly giving her heart to Raylan had me giddy and happy! Raylan didn’t want to change her he just wanted to see her blossom! He wanted to see her truly happy and doing what she loved. I loved that he didn’t try to clip her wings or hold her back!

This book brought so many characters I love together and also gave me some new ones to love and i hope to see more of them all in future books!

3.45 ★ stars.

❝It’s funny—we were in a room full of gorgeous women, but I only had eyes for her.❞

Thanks to Bloom Books for giving me a digital copy of this book in exchange of a review and helping me tick off one of my most anticipated reads off the Tbr.

I was stuck on Dante's book, considering putting this series on hold for a while, when this came in the mail. Apparently, that was all the universal signs my excitement needed, to break free of it's leash and jump straight on it because come on, we're talking about Riona Griffin right here. I've been waiting to get my hands on her book since forever and when that came paired with a trope I'd gladly call in sick and stay up nights for, I felt like I was losing my head all over again.

'Broken Vow' has:
• The bodyguard and mafia princess trope but minus the forbidden part
• None of them wants to be in the situation they are in, so that calls for a lovely forced proximity
• Mild country fluff/cowboy energy
• Posh, collective, elegant and organized city girl for a wild, messy, rough and adventurous brute
• When he's the soothing wind to her raging inferno
• She doesn't like food but he's one hell of a cook and makes it hard for her to resist
• Lastly, what I consider to be my personal kind of guilty pleasure, the reverse grumpy sunshine trope

╰┈➤ Riona:

❝The idea of being controlled by someone else, doing things for their convenience instead of mine- no thanks. I barely tolerate that for my family. Why would I want to center my life around a man?❞

Green-eyed and red-headed lawyers are the official 'It Girls' of book community; I'm one hundred percent convinced of that. My girl Riona didn't disappoint; she's as much the hard shell I remember from the previous books—an absolute sweetheart with a bitter edge. She slayed and didn't leave anything to be desired. She's smart, feminine, competitive, brutally honest; you'll need to earn her respect first before she acknowledges your existence. She doesn't like unnesessary people and their unnesessary drama, likes her life uncomplicated. The way she's committed to her ethics and has her shit figured out is her most attractive trait. I admired her and connected to her on a deep level.

❝I’d respect him more if he were an honest asshole, instead of a fake nice guy.❞

I'd say it out loud: RIONA IS HER OWN PERSON, SHE'S NO DAMSEL AND EVEN IF SHE WERE, DEFINITELY NOT IN DISTRESS.
She didn't need saving, she just needed a big hug and daily reminders of how much she's loved. Who needs a bodyguard when she defeated a man triple her size with a single hairpin and walked out to tell the story?! I can't help feeling like the whole bodyguard thing was a massive joke because demons were slayed, bad guys were defeated, not by the knight in shining armor but by the silver-tongued, hot-headed warrior princess. The knight in question just gave her a couple of free motivational quotes, which her family tried and failed to give her all her life, and she was soaring high in the sky.

╰┈➤ Raylan:

❝I’ve always had this compulsion to overcome challenges. And Riona is a constant challenge.❞

Ex-military, security expert, and a secret small town cowboy? SIGN ME UP. When I first read the description of this book, I didn't know what I expected but I wasn't expecting him. I didn't expect him to be such a sweet talker, smooth flirt, endlessly patient, makes everything brighter and every situation lighter kind of person.
—Momentarily unstanning the other MMCs of this series so I can give him my undivided attention.

Every woraholic, private person needs their outregeous, reckless plus one to drag them out of their orbit and Raylan was just that for Riona. The way he paid attention to small details, like how she liked her coffee and gave her princess treatment, had silly feelings stirring in my stomach. He compared her to freaking Greek goddesses, praised her stubbornness and fucked it out of her all the same and he loves reading?!! NO WAY! He somehow always predicted her moods and knew just the right thing to do.

❝I want it more than anything. I want to crack the code of her psyche. I want to win her over. I want to make her mine.❞

╰┈➤ The chemistry between Raylan & Riona was sizzling, all-consuming:
They already were acquaintances and yeah, I missed that because both of them are bestfriends with Dante and I skipped Dante's book. I'll catch up to it eventually. Dante and Riona's friendship was superior as hell.

“You better name your firstborn after me, for all the work I put in.”
“I’m not having a firstborn, or any born. Even if I did, I wouldn’t saddle them with the name Dante.”
“Dante has been popular for eight hundred years. It has history and gravitas.”
“It’s not even a real name! It’s a nickname! You know Dante Alighieri’s real name was Durante.”
—Sis definitely went for the blow.

Their easy interactions didn't feel awkward to me solely because of that but they detested each other still, I was eating it all up. They were sceptical about making sacrifices but at the end, they both were prepared to put everything on the line without the other one knowing. It was ridiculously cute.

The main issue was with the pace at which they were taking things and the stupid mess they made of it. In fact, I enjoyed the first half of this book so much, the second half pretty much knocked it off my favor #plain-disappointing.

↳ I swear, I felt nothing between them and remember wondering they had a long way to go. Then, all of a sudden there was an oasis of sparks I didn't see coming at all; it completely threw me off guard. This book being a bodyguard romance but the bodyguard goes MIA when shits hit the ceiling, except for a few occasions where Raylan made me feel guilty for finding a life-death situation hot. I know it's not supposed to be a big deal but I felt kind of weird that he jumped on her the second she broke up with her boyfriend over a phone call. Okay, he was waiting for the chance and seized it but GIVE IT A FEW DAYS AT LEAST.

↳ They literally left a dead body out in the open fields so they could get home and fuck, they even had their beauty sleep afterwards. The dead body was barely 10 miles away, IT'S A SMALL TOWN, NOT THE FREAKING SAHARA. What were they thinking and how come no one stumbled upon that? Why would he drag her to his country home in the first place instead of keeping her with her mafia family so they can watch over and eliminate threats before they occur? It was so unprofessional of him.

↳ The reason Riona never took relationships seriously was because she hated the idea of giving up what she loved, altering her preferences for some man. I was actually in disbelief when Raylan asked her to leave her life and share his. That wasn't as bothersome as Riona almost saying yes.
<u>I would have thrown the book across the room if she gaslighted herself that she didn't love her job and quit everything in the name of love because <b>that is not independent Riona, that is delulu Riona.</b></u>

↳ Sophie Lark really needs to work on her <i>undercover names for criminals</i>, in <b>'Stolen Heir'</b>, it was butcher and here it's djinn, like how do you not get the ick from someone saying, 'Oh, djinn is after me'. I was so mad at the last scene, Riona dealt with the bad guy herself and everyone was thanking Raylan instead. He didn't even try to correct them, he bagged all the credits.

Not the biggest compliment, I know but it did okay. I'd admit I expected a lot from Riona's story and was sure her book would be the best one in the series. It met certain expectations but it wasn't the best. I still prefer Nero's book and vise versa; Camille your man saying things like these— <i>“You don’t know what’s missing inside of you, until you find it in someone else.”—What kind of sorcery is this?!

Next up is Seb's book. Sophie Lark please make it good and make up for all the Seb content we were depraved of.

4.5⭐️

Broken Vow is the fifth book of the Brutal Birthright series of interconnected standalones. I loved this book more than I thought I would. Honestly, I wasn’t looking forward to Riona’s story…just didn’t care for her. But am I so glad I read it! For one, I ended up loving Riona! She is so dang strong! And for two, Raylan…need I say more? This man is everything you could want in a book boyfriend! He showed Riona so much care and love. He helped to break down her walls and also help build her up. And the man definitely isn’t vanilla! That barn scene was just…wow! Another great story and amazing couple by this author!

Thank you to NetGalley, Sophie Lark, and Sourcebooks Bloom Books for allowing me to review this ARC!

A little bit of this and a little bit of that. A good mystery and romance combo! Riona is a successful lawyer in the family firm but when she almost is killed her brother hires Raylan to protect her. Riona and Raylan have met before and she didn't like him them so when he has to be around her at all times it's down right driving her crazy. When another attempt on her life almost kills them both Raylan takes her back to his hometown. While Raylan already has feelings for strong and independent Riona, she finally starts to notice him and she's pretty happy with what she finds. Romance ensues but not without some suspense.

This book was a somewhat spicy with a good mystery/thrill component and romance all in one. If you like both, then this is a read for you!

Wow oh wow! There is a spicy scene in this book that will live in my head rent free.

Thank you NetGalley!

Another amazing book for Sophie Lark!` The next amazing book in this series! Sophie is also one of the sweetest human on this planet.

OH MY GOODNESS. This book is phenomenal!!! Let's first take a moment for that stunning cover model—seriously, why isn't he talked about as much as the story?

The story follows Riona, who is so focused and obsessed with work, has a prickly exterior, quick temper, and an unexpected relatability. Every aspect of Riona resonates deeply—the fears, insecurities, and unwavering determination. Witnessing her embrace and conquer her fears is truly heartwarming. Raylan, the alpha sweetheart, serves as her perfect counterpart.

Sophie Lark's skill in writing action scenes continues to impress, infusing suspense with precision. For those seeking a mafia series that strikes the right balance—not too dark, not overwhelming with mafia elements—this series is an excellent choice. From start to finish, this story is perfection, and no one can convince me otherwise. Therefore if I could rate this 6 stars I would but I'm rating it 5!!!

Riona Griffin is gorgeous, intelligent, and iron willed. She doesn’t need anyone and is completely in control until someone hires a hitman to assassinate her. Raylan is brought in to protect her until they can find out whose after her. Riona hates Raylan but she can’t shake him that easily. He will do whatever it takes to keep her safe and teach her to really live.

This is another amazing book in the Brutal Birthright series. I love to see all the previous couples from the series and get to know Riona even more. She is fierce and I love her strength but it is nice to see her soften up. Raylan is the perfect man to get her to warm up and let loose a bit. The smut in this book is on point and the illustrations had my jaw dropping. I can’t wait to finish this series out and check out the series about all their children.

2.5/5 ⭐⭐⭐

I have seen so much hype for this book, and I can see why it’s popular. For me, though, the strongest parts of this book are the action/suspense scenes. I really enjoyed reading those and I could imagine them happening so vividly.

The romance wasn’t totally romancing for me. They started off strong, but then the banter fades away and suddenly they’re in love and Riona's changed so much and I don’t quite see it. It was hard to buy. There were also a couple decisions during romantic scenes that gave me the ick and I don’t think that they fit.

Thank you to Net Galley and Bloom Books for the ARC copy!