Brutal Prince
by Sophie Lark
He’s No Prince Charming…
Callum Griffin is the heir to the Irish Mafia. He’s ruthless, arrogant, and he wants to kill me.
We got off on the wrong foot when I set a (very small) fire in his house.
Our families believe a marriage pact is the only thing that will prevent all-out warfare.
I think I might need to murder him while he sleeps.
This would all be a lot easier if Callum wasn’t so damned good-looking.
But I’ve got a lockbox around my heart. Because even if I’m forced to marry him…
I could never love a brutal prince.
Spice Level: 4/6 | Story Score: 7/10 | Rating: 3.5/5 |
I’ve been wanting to read Sophie Lark and while #2 in this series was the goal, may as well start at #1. Then realize about 35% in that I’ve already read it. Ugh. I obviously didn’t remember enough of it to make a huge difference. What made me realize it then? The parts that made me want to go berserk! Oh no.
I’ve read another book since this one because I needed to soften my review. I didn’t DISLIKE this book. However, you’re going to read a lot of things in this review that you’ve read before.
The plotline was fine. Typical mafia story. Reckless daughter of an Italian mob boss pisses off the son of an Irish mob boss. The dads get together and decide that it’s best they get married. He hates her. She hates him. They’re attracted to each other and start by fucking each other, but feelings grow slowly. He’s a dominant man that’s determined to “break” her. Nonetheless, she gets under his skin and slowly peels his heart open.
I started out the book hating her. By a third in, I hated him and I NEVER GOT OVER IT. I’m still mad at him. This hero was not my style and reading the book felt like I was being punished. I think I will continue though because I loved her brothers and I want to see them get ladies. However, I’m also petrified because I don’t want to hate them.
Something I did love in this book was the sibling relationships.
-SPOILERS-
What did I hate about this book/hero/heroine?
She threw his fucking watch into the lake. She gets her brother’s leg broken because of it. She reacts so fucking stupidly that she ruins her brother’s athletic career.
The entire part about him having her bits waxed. I hate him for the high-handedness, I hate him for what he says to her, I hate him for thinking he gets that choice, I hate him for taking her body autonomy away, I hate every single thing about it. I hate the way he likes to consider her a doll to control and play with. Fuck this guy.
The way he tells her to get on her knees in the shower the first time. I hate that she obeys. Woman clearly was thinking with her vagina and her backbone was gone.
I hate how mean he is to her while she’s not acting out.
I HATE the spanking scene. I hate it with everything inside of me. I hate that it was used as punishment. I hate that she was trying to get away and he wouldn’t let her. I hate that it wasn’t talked about and she had no way to help herself. THEN I hate that getting wet means she obviously wants to have sex and she can’t use her fucking brain. Spineless.
I hate that he does NOTHING to earn her affection or loyalty. He doesn’t even apologize well. This book has been sitting on my TBR for a long time. I like the cover and I just kept coming back to it and the trigger warnings had me scared, but I love demon stories and…ugh. Now, I’ve never read “horror erotica,” so I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I don’t particularly do horror at all, even though I read a lot of demon romances. Unless you are EASILY (VERY EASILY) triggered, this book isn’t going to be a problem. I will break them down in the spoilers section.
What did I love about this book?
This quote: Calm water doesn’t need more water—you need wind to move your sail.
Book #1 in the Brutal Birthright series | 376 Pages | Trope Challenge: Enemies to Lovers |
I head upstairs to our bedroom, expecting her to be brushing her teeth and getting ready for bed. Instead, she pounces on me the minute I come inside the room. She kisses me deeply, pulling me toward the bed. “Aren’t you tired?” I ask her.
“It’s not even midnight,” she laughs. “But if you’d rather go to sleep, old man . . .”
“Let’s see what it takes to tire you out, you fucking lunatic,” I say, throwing her down on the mattress.
- Brutal Prince by Sophie Lark
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