BOUND BY HONOR : BORN IN BLOOD MAFIA CHRONICLES #1 by CORA REILLY

“Born in Blood. Sworn in Blood. I enter alive and I leave dead.”

If you follow our blog you’ll know we absolutely LOVE our mafia books. There’s just something quite irresistible about these dangerous and criminal men who have our hearts passionately racing. We love the gruesome nature, the traditions and the absolute bastardly characters. So when we stumbled across this series we just knew we had to read it. We just couldn’t put this book down. It’s one of those times where it’s so wrong it’s actually right. It worked, despite a few niggles we were hooked and knew we wouldn’t rest till we’d devoured the whole bloody thing. Bloody being quite an apt word!

‘Being born into our world meant being born with blood on your hands. With every breath we took, sin was engraved deeper into our skin. Born in blood. Sworn in blood.’

Bound by Honor was intriguing, violent, emotional and passionate. It was an easy and exciting read. What we really enjoyed was the realism in characterisation, situational and emotional circumstances. Cora Riley got it so right in so many aspects. Sure we would have liked a bit less repetition of scenes and of certain overused words in the heat of the moment, however, on the whole we fell in love with her characters and this series.

“Someone once told me not to run from monsters because they give chase.”

Luca Vitiello; The Vice and Capo of the New York Cosa Nostra was cold blooded and brutal. His demeanour was that of a truly controlled and ruthless Made Man. However, he had honour and integrity in a world of bloody killings where no one knew any different and had this life literally beaten into them. Luca charmed us, he gave us chills and we were completely captivated by this man. He was no angel, in fact he was on the other end of the scale. However, in the moments that mattered he was patient and swoon worthy.

“When will you stop being afraid of me?”

Luca is given the hand of Aria Scuderi by her father in order to form a bond between the New York family with the Chicago family. This, to increase protection and unity going up against the Russian mob. Aria is the oldest sibling, therefore this role has fallen on her. Whilst Aria has quite a sensible head on her shoulders and an inherent goodness and loyalty she does come across very much younger than Luca; this not only in years but through her naivety. Despite this, Aria is under no illusion of the life she must live – a world of guns, knives and blood baths. She also realises the extent of what her role is mapped out to be. Yet Aria does not go gently into the night with her new husband.

‘A lamb alone with wolves.’

We loved the writing, how the characters remained true to themselves all the way through the story as well as the realism under the circumstances. This is a fabulously dark and sexy Mafia read which we highly recommend. If you’ll excuse us we’re about to go devour book two in this series; Bound by Duty.