Bound by Duty (Born in Blood Mafia Chronicles #2) by Cora Reilly

Print Length: 240 pages

Published: February 10, 2016

From Goodreads.com: Dante – The Boss – Cavallaro’s wife died four years ago. On the verge of becoming the youngest head in the history of the Chicago mafia, Dante needs a new wife and Valentina was chosen for the role. 

Valentina lost her husband, too, but her first marriage had always been for show. When she was eighteen, she agreed to marry Antonio in order to hide the truth: that he was gay and in love with an outsider. Even after his death, she kept his secret, not only to preserve the honor of a dead man, but also to protect herself. But now that she’s about to marry Dante, her castle of lies threatens to crash. Dante is only thirty-six but already feared and respected in the Familia, and he’s notorious for always getting what he wants. Valentina is terrified of the wedding night that might reveal her secret, but her worries prove unfounded when Dante shows her the cold shoulder. Soon her fear is replaced by confusion and indignation. Valentina is tired of being ignored. She’s determined to get Dante’s attention and desire, even if she can’t get his heart that still belongs to his dead wife. 

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My Rating: 2 stars out of 5

The first in this series had me intrigued enough that I vowed to continue on with this series. And this book has me unfortunately second guessing that. 

Don't get me wrong - if you are reading this for the "mafia" part, then it is a decent story. There is betrayal, there is blood-shed and death. 

However - if you are reading it for the "romance", then you will be disappointed. Antonio very much loved his first wife, so much so that he treats Val pretty much like a prostitute. He barely speaks to her, and he will only have sex with her if its from behind. As the story progresses, there are moments when you think he begins to love her - but it never fully comes to fruition. Sure, they have sex more often - and she even calls him "affectionate", but it wasn't the evolving love story that I expected. Had the author spent more time building up the romance and less time having them act as strangers (or worse yet having him freak out over his dead wife), this book would have gotten a higher rating from me. As it stands now - I felt like these characters came off as pretty pathetic. Val so desperately wanted love that she was willing to take (and put up with) whatever scraps Antonio wanted to throw her way - and Antonio did not strike feel in me the way a "boss" should have.

Overall, I am sure there are people who will enjoy this book more than I did. And since I already have books three and four, I can only hope they get better. 

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Bound by Duty is available from Amazon.com