RULE – SONGS OF CORRUPTION #3 by CD REISS

“Some things are in the stars. I was meant to protect you. And you were meant to rule.”

Pledge open : il nostro capo e la sua contessa sempre nei nostril cuori.   Our hearts are overflowing! What a series! What a love story! What an author! What a conclusion! Bravo, CD Reiss, Braaavo!

It’s seldom we’re afforded the experience of reading a series which proves to be 5 star read across the board. We either encounter one book that  becomes a filler of some sort or all too often we find somewhere along the way the voices of the characters or the direction of the story changes so dramatically it’s hard to distinguish the characters from those we fell in love with to the ones they become by the end of the story.   Sure we love, admire and relish witnessing a characters growth but we also want to be reminded of why we initially fell in love with them and their story. Well, CD Reiss take a bow because you managed to achieve this and so much more because The Songs of Corruption series delivered and it delivered superbly!

“I want my kiss.”
“Come and get it.”

We’ve run out of accolades to bestow on the extraordinary talent of CD Reiss throughout this series. Her descriptive and vivid prose never fails to astound us. There is a poetic beauty to her writing which leaves us breathless as we hang on and devour her every word.

It’s a doubled edged sword when we come to the end of a series we’ve loved so completely and in Rule we experienced the excitement of seeing the conclusion to Antonio and Theresa’s story together with the sadness of saying goodbye to these two passionate characters whom we’ve falling irrevocably in love with.  Whilst we did find the first 60% of the story dragged a little  now and then this in NO WAY impacted on our overall feelings of how much we loved and enjoyed Rule. We understood the build-up required to the conclusion and the last 40% had us on tenterhooks, sobbing, speechless and clutching our hearts! Such passion, such heart palpitating moments, such suspense and such intense soul searing love, not to mention the treachery, lies and deceit that abounded.

‘Amor regge senza legge.…love rules without laws. ‘

We reveled in the growth of the characters in this conclusion, Theresa Drazen in particular whose outward grace, poise, elegance and beauty, tinged with an aura of fragility belied the strong, capable and fierce woman beneath. Theresa was a force to be reckoned with and quite the match for the forceful, possessive and determined Antonio Spinelli. She was a revelation!

‘When he smiled, the sky opened and God himself showed his favour. ‘

Antonio Spinelli. Words fail us! Here is a man, and what a man he is, who loves his woman and we mean LOVES her. That alone is reason enough to love him but we also fell in love with his flaws, his heart and his strength.  Yep, this guy is it for us and boy were there moments he even had us in giggles as the inner caveman was exposed! Oh Capo, our Capo!

“Take me,” she breathed. “You crazy, beautiful bastard. Take me.”

The love between our Capo and his Contessa may not have spanned decades but it was no less an EPIC love story.  Time does not equate to intense, soul deep love – feelings do and we FELT every emotional, passionate and intense moment between these two and find ourselves indelibly marked by their love story.  Brilliant! Moving! Intense! Passionate! Evocative! A stunning conclusion to an outstanding series! Pledge closed

“I want what I love, and I love what I want. What I want is you. You came to me as a lady and now you are a queen. I’ve never met a woman lie you. I don’t even deserve you.”