Savage Proposal by Bella Ash

Lorenzo is the Don of the Vitali Mafia, after losing his wife he has given up on love. He takes Isabelle to cover a debt he’s owed, will his debt repayment become so much more?

This is a dark, addictive mafia romance with lots of spice! There’s forced proximity and some great enemies to lovers tension alongside lots of action that keeps you wanting to read more. I read this book in a day, it was easy to get into and fast paced. There are parts of the story that some readers may find upsetting, so please read the trigger warnings before starting this book.

I had no expectations for this book, but once I picked it up I couldn’t put it down! There were parts that seemed a bit far fetched at times, but the characters, pace and overall story made it a great spicy read that definitely kept my attention!

Savage proposal was indeed a savage read!

I have always loved Mafia romance books and I think I will have to put Savage Proposal as one of those books that I liked. I really liked read in this book and the characters are also well developed in my opinion. It just that it was a bit confusing with the characters and their names, I kept mixing them up but overall the characters were spot on. In each character there is developed especially the main characters. The plot I would say was quite interesting but also I felt as if I would read about a similar mafia romance books somewhere else and which I felt like some parts were cliche but the book itself has great potential. I love how the story is written and how it just plays out. Savage Proposal is definitely of those books that I could see being turned into a movie series but I enjoyed read in the book and I hope to read the next one.

Did I enjoy this book? Yes. Was it an absolute rollercoaster that gave me whiplash with how often the characters changed their feelings for each other? Also yes. The beginning was a little rough, but once it got into the actual story and plot, I really enjoyed it. The spice was great and we love a tortured MMC. The cliffhanger that it ended on is KILLING ME. 🌶️🌶️🌶️/5

Thank you Netgally and Bella Ash for the arc!

I love a good mafia romance and this was about on par with the rest of them. Nothing that particularly stood out.
I would have liked to know WHAT made Isabella insanely attracted to Enzo because I read the book and I didn't see it. Overall, entertaining and I'll be reading the next book, because WOW what a cliffhanger.

I love a good enemies to lovers, mafia romance, but this one just didn’t ring true. The MMC was a little to enemies for me and the FMC just took it all without any kind of push back? There never seemed to be a moment when the MMC turns the corner and starts to soften so I didn’t really feel the romance part. The spice does spice but without the heart it just felt hollow. Definitely a 2.5 ⭐️

This book was interesting. Interesting in a really cool big ass fire that I can't look away from kinda way. I haaaateed the idea of him being with her cause she looks like his late wife. Cringe asf; BUT it works? See what I mean? lmao The MMC is a selfish brute and the FMC could be smarter but I enjoyed the way the loved each other. The spice was spicaaay and I liked it a lot. I also liked that Bella already understood his language. I wanted more on them connecting culturally. The way Isabella insists on forging a relationship with her captor annoyed me because he hadn't done anything worthy of her good graces. As much as I don’t like what’s going on in the story I was still very stuck the moments and engaged. There were moments in the book where I feel like I couldn't quite knab the characters. Like, does he give af about her or do he not?? Because he almost kills her and then he’s fucking her but then he doesn’t give af about how she feels about another woman being around but yet… wants to spank her as punishment and cares if she’s into it or not and is willing to take his kinks at her pace???? Idk. I'm willing to accept that maybe it's me and not the book. Overall, I did enjoy my time here and I'm gonna read the second book. This book gives Baby’s First Dom lmaoo like, if someone wanted to get into books with a Dom/Sub trope I’d recommend this to ease them into it.

Savage Proposal is one of those dark mafia romance novels you can’t stop once you start. It is filled with spice, intrigue, intense emotions, and two MCs that want to slit each other’s throat one minute, but willing to hurt anyone who hurts them. Full of sadness and heartbreak, laughter and such emotional trauma it cuts you like a knife, Ash delivers poignant depth to both MCs that you feel the crushing weight they carry. The spice is SPICY in this sweet book and it ends on an edge of your seat cliffhanger that has you screaming at your Kindle (not that I did that, but it could lol). The minor characters are lovable, sweet, and dangerous, but have you second guessing their loyalty.

Bella Ash is an author I’m on the lookout for. Her writing is tight, emotive, and downright sexy.

I received an ARC of #savageproposal from #netgalley in lieu of my honest review of the book.

This book had its ups and downs. Drew me in after a little and I kept reading and then ended on a cliffhanger that I wasn’t expecting.. now I have to wait for the next book.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Don’t think I’ve read this author before, which made this book completely unique to me. And I loved every page.
I was totally hooked on the story, its full of of action and has a cast of characters that were both charismatic and very well written.
Bella will be a go to for me from now on, I can wait for more .

I received an Arc copy of this book from Netgally and chose to post this review

Fantastic mafia dark romance book!
I had a good time reading this and did not want to put it down.
It was a little weird that Enzo basically replaced his wife with a copy of her but I get that that was the point of the plot.

(ARC provided for review by NetGalley) I am suing Bella Ash for emotional damage. How DARE you leave me on a cliffhanger like that??

In all seriousness, this book was ADDICTIVE. The plot? Plotting. The family dynamics? Insane. The psychopathic MMC? So hot. Bratty FMC? ALSO hot. I read the entire book in a single sitting. I was up until 5AM finishing it. I need the next book. Expeditiously. Thank you, love you, PLS I MUST KNOW HOW THIS ENDS

This was an exciting introduction to the world of dark mafia romances! The fusion of "Beauty and the Beast" elements with the gritty, intense world of mafia intrigue offers a thrilling and unique reading experience. Bella Ash has crafted a captivating narrative that resonates well with readers who enjoy complex characters and high-stakes drama. And the cliffhanger ending had me scrambling to preorder book #2.. I would say as you delve deeper into this series, you'll likely discover a fascinating array of stories filled with passion, danger, and redemption.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for allowing me to review this ARC. In return for this book, I am providing an honest review.

Isabella (our FMC) came from a family where her father continuously broke her trust, all in the name of gambling and other ventures. She has worked to get her life sorted by studying to become a nurse. Enter Lorenzo, our MMC. Lorenzo is the head of a group of Mafia families, and a while back, he lost his wife, Sienna. Being pushed for an heir and having a convenient doppelganger fall into his lap, Lorenzo decides to go down the unconventional route for securing an heir.

This book is a cat and mouse chase between a brat and a brat tamer who are insistent that they aren't falling in love with each other. Our FMC is strong, bratty, and caring. Our MMC is a little bit of an ass, dominant, and in deeeeeep denial.

This story was a perfectly written Mafia romance that kept me on the hook the entire way through the book. Though, as an ARC reader... I am now distinctly displeased because the next book isn't there to read. I genuinely had no issues with this read.

I don't usually read mafia romances, but this one hooked me and I really enjoyed it. Basically, Isabella is sold to the head of the Cosa Nostra, Lorenzo, to pay off her father's gambling debt. Turns out Isabella is a doppelgänger of Lorenzo's late wife and he coerces her into an arrangement where she'll pay down the debt by becoming his surrogate so he can have an heir. Their chemistry was off the charts from the beginning and they soon start having sex, but their feelings for one another evolve over time. All the while, Isabella is grappling with a difficult past and Lorenzo is facing threats from a rival mafia.

I will say, for the first half of the book I found Isabella and Lorenzo's characterizations really inconsistent. They'd both go from hot to cold in a millisecond and I got whiplash from all the back and forth. There were also a few things that got repetitive - like, my god, how many showers a day do these people take??? Lol. But overall, I was super invested in the story. Just fyi, though, it ends on a cliffhanger.

Definitely going to check out some more of this author's work!

Thank you to Bella Ash and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I have no idea what to rate this Mafia romance. On one hand I hated the manipulative, abusive MMC. Somehow that didn’t stop me from reading. It could have been that this wasn’t just for me, but also I need to know what happens after that cliffhanger. I don’t think it’s a bad book, just aspects of the plot really bothered me and other people may not think they’re that bad. So I think that averages to 3.25/3.5 stars.


Thanks to NetGalley and Relay Publishing for this advanced copy.

OhhMyyyGaaaaaahhhh!
I knew going into this book that it is a duet and there will be a cliffhanger so I prepared myself but I'm still just tense yet numb after reading it. The last 25-ish% of the book is full of foreshadowing to possible events that could be the cliffhanger. I was increasingly nervous with each page turned!

Lorenzo is the heartless and intense head of the Vitali family. Isabella is a nursing student with only a semester left until she gets her degree. She is smart, sassy, and tough. One of her downfalls is that she looks almost exactly like Lorenzo's dead wife, murdered several years ago.
Isabella's father racked up quite a lot of debt with the Vitali business and basically left his daughter out to dry telling them she can settle his debt. (A$$h0le!)

This book will have you squirming in your seat with all it's heated spice. Your eyes may water a time or two, you'll get frustrated and angry, and may get physically tense as well. At the end of this book I was physically and emotionally exhausted and shook.

The cliffhanger is killing me but at least there's only a two month wait for part 2, Savage Claim. (If you're reading this review after June 2025, you're lucky that you don't have to wait!)

I loved it!

I really enjoyed reading this book. Lorenzo and Isabella have such great chemistry. This book gave me all the feels. It’s a mafia romance with dark themes. Check your triggers! I can’t wait for the next one!

I’m a huge fan of Mafia romances, but I could never love a book that promotes domestic violence like this does. The fact that he beat Isabelle when he found her in the library and she slept with him like it was nothing the next day while making excuses for him being a savage is insane to me.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an early copy of this book.

This book has a prologue and 58 chapters in 287 pages (at least that's the amount shown in the NetGalley app). To get that many chapters in a short page count, the chapters are short. I'm a fan of short chapters and this allowed for the story to move quickly but still had a lot going on.

In Chapter 16, there's an incident between the MMC and the FMC that can make it or break it for the reader. Since I was reviewing this book, I kept going. I liked that the FMC was like "No, that was fucked up." I did like that the FMC kept going back and forth on "I hate this situation but I want to sleep with MMC" because it felt very real for me. I wish the FMC wasn't as "forgiving" (the impact of the incident wasn't dwelled on for very long) and I wanted there to be more groveling on the part of the MMC. Since this is Book 1 of a duet, it either should have been resolved here instead of Book 2 (if it is at all) because they have enough issues to work through for Book 2.

A few things that would be nice to spell out early since they weren't items that need to be a slow-dripped reveal.

In the end, I surprisingly really liked it and I'm excited to read the next part of the duet.

Another fantastic story by Bella Ash

This is the first book in the Vitali Mafia Series and it certainly didn’t disappoint, in fact it definitely left me wanting more and I can’t wait for the next book, especially with that cliffhanger!

Thank-You to Netgalley for an early copy of the book for an honest review.