This one was a bit of a disappointment for it did not deliver. Sadly, the entire book focused heavily on Serafina and the legacy she left behind so there was absolutely no place for the heroine to even get in the story. And ofcourse the hero just couldn't let go of Serafina.

She's gone.
Enough.
Get this.

The words use and overall review shouldn’t reflect personally on the author or any other of her series and books.

A page turner! This book was more than I was hoping for.

This was my most anticipated book of the year and I’m glad it didn’t let me down. Cora Reilly outdid herself.

Now to the main review.
This book is about Sofia a girl who had a crush on her sister fiancé. Destiny player a cruel joke and Sofia had the chance of her lifetime, be the replacement of her sister and marry Danilo. Sofia thought this would be a dream come true, but little did she know her life was about turn into a turmoil. Thanks to her cousin and best friend Anna her life was not as dark. Anna was the light! What made her laugh and enjoyed life a bit more. Anna and Sofia’s friendship was my favorite part of this book.

Some may misunderstand Sofia calling her immature and insecure, but I did get why she had her doubts and fears. Like whom wouldn’t! I loved her!

Now Danilo! Like he reminded me so much to Dante. He was poised, mature, kept his feelings to himself and he was full of pride. I love how his feelings changed, how the author took us along in this journey. Danilo is the type of lover that will not show emotions to fully loving.

As a couple! Loved them! Both were equals! He never was controlling. She loved pleasing him. Anywhere was a corner to show their love to each other. Each place where the sky was present, it was their little heaven.

I loved it and the only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars it’s because it was a bit slow at the beginning and saw a bit of spelling errors nothing mayor though.

it's not my fave from Cora Reilly saga and I really can't Serafina's little sister obsessing over her

Wow. Cora has done it again. She has managed to get you to empathize so deeply with the characters, no matter how flawed. Sophia was a constellation prize given to Danilo when she was a little girl. She grew up infatuated by him, while he ignored her every chance she got.

The hurt you feel for Sophia, always being second best to someone else's ghost is heartbreaking. But of course like every mafia character Cora has created, Sophia has a spine, and is fed up. If she had been meek the whole book this would have been a no for me.

The supporting characters were so much fun to get to go. I love it when authors do that. Especially because a lot of them will have their own books. Now i'm excited for the upcoming releases.

*thank you for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Fragile Longing is the tumultuous story of Danilo and Sofia.
He's the Underboss to the Indianapolis Outfit. She's his ex-fiances little sister. A match made in hell, if there ever was one.

Danilo is a ruthless, dangerous, alpha obviously seeking revenge and insanely pissed after Sofia's older sister, Serafina, jilted him. Hence, Sofia, the consolation prize. Only, is she really?

Sofia may be a little naive, or perhaps that's just her positive outlook on things, but she proves to be Danilo's perfect match and perfectly capable of stranding her own. She's definitely not afraid of calling Danilo out on his shit and man, does he fuck up. Like, a lot.

But that just means he's got some serious making up to do which I always enjoy. Whilst he proved himself as a cold, asshole, brute he also showed that he is human and loving and can be sweet on occasion when he deems the situation necessary. I loved his relationship with his sister, Emma. She helped show a different side to Danilo.

I would definitely say that the second half of this book was much better than the first for me but maybe that's because I've not read Serafina's story. There were also times where I wanted to kick and scream at the characters. Sometimes in a good way and sometimes for their idiocy. But all in all, I enjoyed this mafia, age gap done in true Cora Reilly fashion.

*Reviewed by Ali at Fallen For Books.

*ARC kindly provided in exchange of an honest review.*

I was very curious to finally meet Danilo and Sofia and they didn’t disappoint me and in the end I wanted to read more about them.

I didn't know what to expect from Danilo but I can say that he surprised me a lot. I was expecting a guy full of anger but he’s a sweet and caring guy. The way he protects Emma is beautiful, he’s an incredible brother.

Sofia is a cute and sweet girl it broke my heart to read every time she doubted herself and doubted how amazing she’s without having to try to look like someone else. It was great to read her grow up and recognize herself as an incredible woman.

Sofia and Danilo didn't have an easy start but when they gave themselves up and decided to invest in their wedding it was incredible. All I can say it’s that they’re a cute couple. On the outside they’re “cool” and controlled people but together they’re hot and have incredible chemistry.

Friendship is an important point in this book Sofia and Anna are best friends and they’re so different that they complete each other perfectly. There are scenes with all “outfit gang” together that really warmed my heart.

I think a word that describes this book well is patience. Patience to leave the past behind, patience to accept who you are and patience to discover, accept and enjoy love.

This book leaves me with a lot of mixed feelings. There were some parts that I absolutely loved (especially the side characters) but also a lot that I disliked.

Let‘s start at the beginning which felt very dragged out and repetitive. Again we had to read about Fina‘s kidnapping and the aftermath of it. I‘ve reached a point where I am completely bored by this storyline. I love Fina and her book is still my favourite but I seriously don’t need to read about the kidnapping from multiples POVs over and over again. I am sure we will get this plot again in Samuels book and maybe even with Nevio and Greta. It’s like Cora can’t create anything else. Yes she absolutely peaked with Fina and Remo, but she could at least try to come up with something new.
Also Sofia‘s insecurities annoyed me a lot. I really understand her feelings but her thoughts circled around the same topics over and over again. It’s definitely not easy for her to live in Fina‘s shadow and being compared to her constantly but I just wished she had more backbone to actually start living her own life. The balance isn’t good for my taste, the book focuses a lot on the past. And the first time of Sofia and Danilo was so horrible. I seriously don’t understand why this was necessary.🤦‍♀️ Sofia acted so stupid. I really didn’t feel sorry for her because she was so desperate.

But of course there was also a lot that I liked. Sofia was definitely a better heroine than Gemma, because she realised that Danilo had to work for this relationship to work as well. She tries to fight her insecurities and some scenes were hilarious, which mostly were connected to her best friend Anna. I wasn’t so interested in her book but now I love Anna and cant wait for her story. I was so awesome to get a better glimpse of her and Leonas and Santino. I am so curious about the pissed of bodyguard now. I hope we will get her book in 2021! Another side character that I started loving is Emma. Sure there wasn’t much information/depth about her but I am intrigued with her story. She definitely deserves better and I hope she and Samuel will find their way together. Emma is a real sweetheart. I loved Danilo so much because he treated Emma so wonderful. Their sibling relationship is great.
And then there was a plot line which I also liked but don’t want to spoil. Let’s just say that Fina‘s kidnapping isn’t the only time when she is mentioned or relevant for the story. You will also know why Danilo‘s chapter have a fish picture. This was so cute. Another cuteness overload was the end! I am so happy about it. And the steam was wow! Who would have thought that Danilo is kinky like that. I was definitely turned on as well ;-D I am glad that Danilo was this patient and I do think his feelings turned out to be real.
Disappointed that again we don’t see anything mafia related. These books are becoming more and more just plain romance stories with the same type of heroine. For me they aren’t mafia anymore because nothing happens in this apartment. Just thinking about it is ridiculous because these men aren’t ruthless or anything. They are a bunch of puppies.

*ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review*

This book is a standalone but it is part of the world of Born in Blood & Camorra Chronicles, specifically the Outfit, it is about Sofia, Fina's younger sister and Dante's niece, and Danilo, Fina's ex-fiancé, I didn't like Danilo for his apparent obsession with Serafina in pasts books, so I had my doubts about this book but I must say that it was better than I expected.
As a negative point, I think I don't like how lately Cora retell events that have already happened from the point of view of other characters, in this case I understand the need but it was very unnecessary and there were parts that I felt didn’t add anything new to the story, I end up getting bored 50% in, because everything became repetitive, from Sofia's insecurities to Danilo's problems, now leaving that aside, I still liked the book.
When we finally got to the wedding and then there was a fight between them I thought, my God there will be unnecessary drama and I was ready to leave, BUT what I thought would happen did not happen, because Danilo said let's talk and thank you for that, they decided to work as a team to fix their mistakes and give each other a chance, so seeing their relationship develop little by little was what I liked about the book. I really liked both of them even though they are not my favorite couple, I think they are very different from the others so I appreciate that.
Lastly, I really liked the book, the second part saved it for me, Anna and Emma I love them and I want their books now, but I have my doubts with Emma and Samuel I hope that what I feel is going to happen does not happen, Anna I don't know what to predict she’s very crazy, so I recommend it, it does not have strong scenes, so anyone can read it.

In the mafia world, arranged marriages are a common way to bond together powerful families. Sofia is promised to Danilo at the age of 11 after her older sister refuses to marry him. She is beyond excited and spends the next 6 years fantasising about their life together. In her naive teenage mind, she longs to be noticed and loved by Danilo.

One night changes everything and she no longer believes in the fairy tale ending, but Danilo has finally taken notice. He makes it his mission to prove to Sofia that their marriage can be a happy one and I loved how their relationship evolved.

This was a fast paced story told from both Danilo and Sofia's perspectives, which I always love. It starts off fairly slow as the story builds but once they are married it is full steam ahead 🤣

Coral Reilly is a new to me author and I will definitely me checking out her other books.

3.5 stars
I loved the angst and the unrequited love, but at the 50% mark when there's a big change of heart of the two characters, I couldn't really understand why and it made the characters hard to understand. I wish that Sofia had been a bit more independent and less like a doormat when she was younger. The pacing in the beginning half was a tad slow. I did love the chemistry between the characters and this was definitely an emotional romance, however.

Age gap unrequited love and teenage hormones with an aloof unwilling fiance all made this an angst lovers dream. I have wanted this one since I finished Twisted Pride I was anxious to see how their story would play out.
Danilo Mancini needs a new fiance so who better to save face than Sofia Mione the sister of his previous one. I'm not sure who I wanted to slap more Danilo or Sofia's family for their complete disregard for her feelings. The best way to describe her is that she has stars in her eyes when it comes to her intended. I liked how Cora showed Sofia changing over time from the naive teenager who always feels in her sisters shadow to a young woman slowly realising her worth and developing a strong determined personality. Danilo's awakening takes a little longer than I would have liked he was so stubborn and stuck in the past. I am happy to say the author made me fall in love with this couple against all expectations. From stilted awkward meetings to red hot chemistry that slowly turned an unwanted arrangement into a solid loving respectful marriage.

My favourite thing about Sofia and Danilo was their open-minded nature. They communicated well with each other and their character growth was beautiful. This book describes the understanding of been patience. ⁣
[how to leave the past behind and accept yourself]⁣
⁣
Really recommend this book if you like cozy vibe, characters growth, arranged marriage, slow burn, age gap, friendship, and twisted pride aka Remo and Serafina story this book is for you guys.

— FL is a standalone novel but I highly recommend reading Twisted Pride before this.⁣

Cora Reilly always knows how to write addicting Mafia romance stories. And Fragile Longing is no different. Fragile Longing will bring Sofia to her greatest dream man, Danilo. But not everything is perfect for both of them. Sofia and Danilo are facing the aftermath when Serafina chooses the enemy. You can’t blame what the heart desires. There are severe consequences when you do. I feel for Sofia mainly because she is left to pick up the void and marry Danilo. It may be a dream to her but Danilo is not what he seems. She will soon realize this as she grows up. I really felt sorry for Sofia because she is trying too hard to be her sister than be her own. I know that it sucks she has left but try to be yourself, not her. It takes years for Sofia to finally realize who she is. It’s a shame. I really wanted her to find herself sooner than later.Danilo is such a-hole at times. Yeah, the dream girl you wanted left you but did you really want her or her fantasy? Grow out of it already. It does take some time for him but he is willing to forward with Sofia. I understand his frustration with Sofia because she is so stuck in the past that he wants to forget about. Sofia and Danilo can truly be there for each other if they are willing to move forward. They take so much time in the past that they almost mess up their relationship. Stop focusing in the past, it’s now that matters.

I love Cora Reilly's books and her stories set in the underworld, but what happened with Fragile Longing?

Sofia and Danilo's story is linked to Twisted Pride and Bound by the past, where we know that Serafina broke her promise and now her sister is forced to make amends.

The story spans a very long time, when Sofia was still a dreamy and fragile teenager.
But the world in which she grew up puts her in front of choices that she cannot refuse and what was destined to be a fairy tale turns into a nightmare.
She lives in her sister's shadow, despite everything she has done, in the first part of the book Sofia is invisible to Danilo's eyes.
Having to make amends for her sister's mistake, she feels with a consolation prize, a second choice and not a woman to love.
The story promised pain and anguish, but alas I could not get in touch with the protagonists.
For me Sofia was a flat character, so I felt absolutely nothing. On the other hand for Danilo I think he is one of the most stubborn characters written by Cora Reilly.
In the first part of the book the two protagonists will have to get to know each other, but in the second part I did not find a development of the story. They are like two pieces of the puzzle that do not match, although Danilo is willing to do anything to make it work.
Maybe I would have taken more time to better develop the conjugal sphere.
I think this is the first book by Cora Reilly to which I give a low mark. A real shame, but I have high expectations for the next one, the story about Anna Cavallaro, Sofia's best friend.

ARC kindly provided in exchange for an honest review

I was excited for Fragile Longing because it’s an age-gap/crush-to-lovers/arranged marriage/ mafia romanceabout Serafina’s younger sister, Sofia Mione, and her ex-fiance, Danilo Mancini. Sofia had a longtime crush on Danilo and now she takes Serafina’s place as Danilo’s fiancee.

It seems dreamlike to think you’re marrying your crush, but it’s the opposite for Sofia. Danilo still holds a grudge on Remo for capturing Serafina which hurts his pride and reputation and he didn’t paid attention to her. She can’t help feeling insecure and thought of being the second best. I am gutted for her and lowkey wanted to strangle Danilo for treating her like a child.

I like when Sofia made him grovel. She’s not as fierce as her sister but she’s a gentle, kindhearted soul. I love her patience and she’s beautiful on her own. She deserves not to be a shadow. I wish Danilo sees it sooner. His anger took over him and unintentionally hurts her feelings. They have a good chemistry and their love story is good. However, I’m craving for more conflict that isn’t related to Remo and Serafina. Overall, this is a tame mafia romance and a great starter for those who haven’t ventured in this trope.

Cora Reilly is one of my favorite romance authors and i know going into her books that I’m gonna enjoy it. I have been so curious about what happened after Twisted Pride with Danilo and Sofia. What I liked about this book was that it started with the events from twisted pride. We got to see the POV of Danilo and Sofia and how they processed things during those events. We get to see Sofias infatuation with Danilo grow and basically become an obsession. While I did like going through Sofia being a child to tween to teen to young adult, the book kind of dragged for me. All of Sofia’s thoughts were basically her obsessing over a grown man who barely gave her the time of day and comparing herself to her sister. I felt bad for Sofia in the beginning but the older she got the more infatuated she got, the more annoying she became. Danilo on the other hand wasn’t phased by her at all and definitely had an a-hole vibe to him for 90% of the book. Also his issues with having meaningless sex with blonds was weird and had me wanting to junk punch him. Toward the middle to end of the book there were a few sexual scenes that i didn’t love in this book. There was one scene in the woods in particular were it felt rapey to me and was was so put off. In the end the relationship between the two main characters felt a little forced. They aren’t my favorite couple and I just didn’t feel the chemistry between them. Overall I did enjoy Reading this and getting to see Samual and Anna and I have hope for their story. Like most Books by Cora, I read it fast and had fun so I’m not mad I read this. I do recommend reading if your love the Camorra Chronicles. 3.5/5 stars. Thanks to the author for providing me with an arc for review.

Every time I read one of Cora’s book I feel the need to reread all of them. I love being immersed in her mafia world. Her characters are always stronger than they think (women) and the sweet then we think (men).
This story is no different. Read this to find out what happened to Danilo after Serafina and Remo got together. Sofia is volunteered, is it a hardship? We will find out for sure in this book.
This was thrilling honestly and I couldn’t wait to read it. It took me no time to dig in deep and every moment pulled me in deeper and deeper.
I do feel like this on focused more on the couple and less on what was going on between the different families. The first part was kinda slow, but it takes you back to right after Serafina came back from Las Vegas. It tells us most everything that leads up to Sofia and Danilo’s getting together. It’s a long wait to over 50% of the book is Sofia underaged.
But the last part of the book is explosive as the couple work through their issues!

Given to Danilo! "Unable to forget what he’s lost, Danilo might lose what he’s been given."

I really enjoy mafia romance, and this had a different take on it. Sofia takes her sister's place as the family union is needed. Danilo is none too pleased, and Sofia suffers the consequences.

Can she find the strength to find a way into Damilo's hard heart? Will Danilo let her in? Can they find love?

I received an advanced reader copy, and this is my honest and voluntary review.

Fragile Longing is another story set in the mafia world created by Cora Reilly. It’s the story of Danilo Mancini and Sofia Mione, and it’s a somewhat unexpected match, considering Danilo was supposed to marry Sofia’s older sister Serafina in Twisted Pride.

After the aftermath of Serafina’s kidnapping in Twisted Pride, in need of a bride, Danilo is promised her younger sister Sofia, despite their 10-year age gap. Sofia is over the moon, at 12 she’s always had a crush on the Indianapolis underboss, so is excited that he is her future husband, but Danilo proves time and time again that he sees her as a consolation prize, after losing Serafina to the Camorra. As Sofia grows up, she becomes more and more resentful towards her estranged sister, and eager to prove to Danilo that she isn’t second best. When one night the opportunity presents itself for Sofia to show Danilo she’s all grown up, it majorly backfires causing her even more self-doubt and insecurities, just weeks before their wedding. Will they be able to make it work as man and wife or have they been doomed as a couple from the start?

Okay, so Cora’s mafia books have been a favourite of mine since Bound by Honour, but my absolute favourite is Twisted Pride which is Remo and Serafina’s story. So, with Fragile Longing about Serafina’s ex fiancé and her little sister, I was intrigued to see what lay ahead for this unexpected couple. But I found myself struggling with some aspects of their story throughout, because of the constant bashing of Remo and Fina. I understand that both Danilo and Sofia were angry with how Fina left and with the rivalry between the Outfit and the Camorra, there was a lot of pride there which had taken a big hit, but I never truly felt like I was on Danilo and Sofia’s side when it came to the war of the Mafia families, because I completely backed Fina for leaving, and never really liked how the sisters were essentially rivals in the end, despite how much they wanted to be close. There was an almost unhealthy obsession with Remofina from the start and I just wanted them to get over it and moves on with their own lives.

Sofia was a difficult character to understand, because I feel like this shadow of Fina she thought she lived in was almost created solely by her. Her parents and brother never compared them, but she always thought they did. Initially Danilo did because he was embarrassed that his bride-to-be had left for a rival family, and so needed to get his anger out, but Sofia interpreted that personally. She was fairly naïve throughout the first half of this book, and although I loved her change in mindset after the event which changed everything, it was horrible it took that to make her see things differently. It broke me how she had to go through that, but she then saw that she could be who she wanted to be, without trying to live up to this ghost of Serafina, which were expectations she only pushed on herself. I adored her friendship with Anna, she seemed to be the little devil sitting on her shoulder pushing her to do things out of her comfort zone, but I really liked how they were both there for the other to lean on always, almost like a substitute sister.

Whereas my opinion on Sofia improved at 50%, I am still unsure how I feel about Danilo. As a mafia man who had been humiliated in front of the entire Outfit, I could understand his anger, but I felt like it was far too drawn out, it got a bit annoying in the end. I get his pride took a hit but come one, move on and prove that you’re still a strong leader, which he never really did. The second half, he marginally improved, but again I couldn’t believe it took that to show him that his actions were affecting others. I liked how attentive and caring he was with Sofia, especially after she stopped doting on him, and it was clear that his affections were genuine, it just took him a while to get there.
As a couple, I liked how they built their relationship slowly once they were married, they learnt to trust each other and slowly built on that trust to turn to love. I think that seeing the build up to their marriage did help, as you see every stage, they both went through until they were married. Danilo was so patient, his affections for her grew each day and he really cared for her, despite how rocky their road to a HEA was.

The Outfit has always been my least favourite family, starting with their treatment of Aria, and I’m not sure if this is just my interpretation but I’ve never felt that they were the strongest of the families. That doesn’t even mean they’re the underdogs who you’re rooting for, they just seem the weakest, with countless examples of when either New York Famiglia or the Camorra get one over on them, with the Familglia being cunning and strategic and the Camorra ruthless in their protection of their family, but the Outfit always seemed like their members were somewhat disposable and not nearly as tight knit as the other two.

Overall, I didn’t enjoy this one as much as some of the others set in this world, there was little action and suspense, but a lot of drama which usually came from their own insecurities. As much as I love Remo and Fina, I felt they were mentioned far too much, almost everything was blamed on them, and it became fairly recycled by the end, like I was reading the same part of the book over and over. I am excited for Anna’s story, her hinted love interest is bound to cause waves in the mafia community, so I will continue to read the books from this series. There were some aspects which I genuinely loved, especially Sofia’s lesson of not needing to try and fit a mould for someone else, you should be who you want to be for you, and although some things missed the mark for me, I would recommend a read if you like Cora’s work.

– 1.75 stars

How many times does Cora Reilly want to write about the same events in Twisted Pride? Remo kidnapping Serafina is making such an impact on everyone that CR is shoving that fact down our throats from 1030 different angles. I get it, Remofina living in everyone's mind rent free, but maaaybee try to write something different for once? All of CR books are reading the same.

I'm also tired of the Hero being a manho, sleeping around on the heroine until their wedding. It's always the same, these mafia guys can't keep it in their pants.

Warning: There are going to be spoilers from here on, only read it if you have read the book already or never ever want to read the book. Also very long review cause there was a lot to rant about!

4 reasons why this book didn't work out:

1. The timeline of FL was just not great

The book starts after Serafina's return from the kidnapping, when Sofia is promised to Danilo as a consolidation price, cause he can't marry Fina. She is 11 and he is 21. I'm not a fan of long time jumps but in this case I wished it would jump to their wedding right away when Sofia is 18 with occasional flashbacks to the past. But instead more than 50% of this book was when Sofia is still underage and had barely interactions with Danilo, because that would be just downright creepy with their 10 years age gap. Which brings me to reason numero two

2. The lacking romance & Sofiadanilo's first time

What can you expect from the romance if more than half of the book Sofia and Danilo have scenes alone, because that would be inappropriate.

Their first time together was just ew. Sofia and Anna are going to Danilo's birthday party. Sofia is putting on a blond wig and some of Fina's perfume to look more like her and because she knows Danilo likes to fuck blondes. Sofia catches Danilo's eyes and he takes her outside for a quickie against a tree from behind. Note: Sofia is 17 years old when this happens. Danilo asks Sofia a couple of times if she is sure and every time she nods. Danilo is pretty rough to Sofia, enters her without any foreplay and realized that he's fucking a virgin. At a closer look Danilo realized that he it's Sofia and feels guilty while Sofia is in some kind of shock because she doesn't know this rough side of Danilo. She only knew him as the gentleman.
His mouth returned to my ear. “I’m going to fuck you hard right against this tree. I’m not in the mood for fucking foreplay, so you better tell me now if your pussy is ready to take my cock,” he growled.

“Say it.”“Yes.” I didn’t even recognize my voice. He turned me around, so I had to support myself against the tree. The bark of the fir was dry and rough against my palms as I braced myself against the tree trunk. I stared at it, breathing shakily, tears stinging my eyes. He pulled down the zipper at the back of my leather pants and shoved them down. My panties followed. The cold hit my skin and I shivered. “I like your ass,” he rasped. He pushed my legs further apart with his foot and squeezed my ass cheek once. I couldn’t connect these actions with the Danilo I desired and loved. It would hurt. He’d tear me apart.

The sheer stupidity of these characters. I have no words or I do have words but none of them are nice. First of all, how can you not recognize your own FIANCEE??? The hell Danilo? How blind can you be?! All Sofia did was put on a blond wig .. It can't be THAT dark inside to not have recognize her. Wow the power of one single wig.. my mind is blown. What pissed me off is Sofia's reaction. She acting all shock and as a victim when she could have said NO so many times. I blame Danilo for a lot of things that are happening in this book, but the fuckery that is their first time is mostly on Sofia. She knew Danilo fucked other women behind her back and went to the party with the intention of being one of them. He did what he did and she thinks he's a monster.
I couldn’t say anything, couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, could hardly breathe. I’d stopped living, merely existed now. I was gone, gone, gone.

Girl please stop being so dramatic. You could have stop. Idk i just can't feel sorry for Sofia in that scene.

3. Danilo panini head Mancini

Since Serafina was taken away from him, he has an UNHEALHTY obsession with Remo and Fina. It was infatuarting. All he was striving for was taking revenge on Remo for what he did. Remo's power is tury a sight to behold to. So proud of my husband.

I was going to kill Remo Falcone for stealing my fiancée, for breaking her in ways that made it impossible for her to marry me. I was going to destroy everything that mattered to him. I wouldn’t rest until I’d ruined his life like he had ruined mine.


What was the worse about Danilo's character is his obsession with Serafina. After she went back to Las Vegas with Nevio and Greta (as she should), Danilo started to hate her for her betrayal. From there all he does is fuck blonde women to get her out of his system. When he fucked one of his blondes, he picture how it's Fina that's why he treats all the blondes so rough and shitty cause he imagine it being Fina. How disgusting is this?! Dude Fina is not even thinking a second about you. It's super pathetic. All these sex scenes with OWs … things I really didn't want to see. Why did we get all these details? For once I would been grateful for fade to black scenes.
After a short chat and a few more drinks, we stumbled into the restroom together. I fucked her hard against a bathroom stall, her front pressed against the wall, her back to me. I focused on her blonde hair and let out my frustration and anger. Remo had taken Serafina from me, had stolen her innocence and her heart. I could imagine his feeling of utter triumph every time he fucked her, knowing he’d taken this from me. I came with a violent shudder and untangled myself from the woman in front of me . I wasn’t sure if she came, but I didn’t care.

The door opened and a tall woman with long blonde hair stepped in. She was dressed in a white wrap dress matching the theme of the room . In my exhausted , half-drunk state, she looked like a bad replica of Serafina. Fuck Marco, the bastard. He could read me like an open book. Only her seductive smile and her sexy movements betrayed her true identity . Accepting her was admitting weakness; sending her back would send the same message. Either way, I was a fucking mess. “What do you want?” she said in a beckoning voice. “No talking,” I growled, jerking her against me. “Now suck my cock.” She fell to her knees and I tilted my head back, staring up at the ceiling adorned with ancient Roman mosaics. I didn’t look at her as she sucked me, didn’t look at her as I fucked her. Images of another blonde woman entered my mind, and my thrusts turned almost vicious as the prostitute knelt before me, but the images were distorted, clouded with bitterness and a sickening need for revenge.

Ew. Ew. Ew. EWWWWW!!!!

Anna the best character in the whole book said it best
“Still,”Anna said pointedly. “It’s weird how he picks all those blonde bimbos. It’s been years. Why can’t he get over his hurt pride?”

One of the reason why I'm not a huge fan of how Cora writes mafia books is because the guys are always sleeping around. I expected Danilo to sleep with other women, because when Sofia was promised to him, she was only 11 years old and of course he wouldn't have any romantic feelings about her for years that would make him such a pedo, BUT what makes me rage are these bros who STILL fuck around on the heroine even AFTER their engagement party. Sofia was 17 at her engagement party and for the few months until their wedding Danilo could have waited, but no even after the OFFICIAL engagement party he's still fucking blondes and it was pissing me off, cause that's cheating. The disrespect jeez!! That's another case of Twisted Heart..while Sofia didn't crush on Danilo as hard as Gemma did on Savio it's still a no go how Danilo disregarded their engagement.
“You weren’t supposed to be at a party, Sofia. We weren’t married yet, so I was still well within my rights to do as I please.”

Aheem, the audacity?

4. Sofia Mione

Sofia's fixation on her sister Serafina was as unhealthy as Danilo's obsession with Fina. Sofia CONSTANLTY compared herself to Serafina to the point that it was her only personality trait. It was really annoying how Sofia can get pissed when people compare her to Fina, but girl you're doing it yourself all the time?? She wants other people to acknoledge her existence like they did with Fina, then she goes and dyes her hair blond like Fina and gets pissed at them when they say that she looks exactly like Serafina… the hell? WHERE IS THE LOGIC??
Danilo with blonde girls. Nobody had taken Serafina’s place in Danilo’s heart. With every new conquest, he seemed to look for a replica of her. For the first time, a flicker of anger mingled with my usual feelings of inadequacy.

I mean can she just stop doing that? It was soo annyoing. I can't hear Serafina's name anymore.
My throat clogged up. With Fina’s hairstyle and color, I looked like her. We had the same eye color, the same high cheekbones and narrow nose. I had a few freckles, but my makeup covered those, and I was shorter, but seated, I was Serafina’s double. It was so close to the original that my heart ached, and my pulse sped up.

As a comparison Sofia's name came up 431 times in this book, while Serafina/Fina's name, who is NOT the main character, came up 386 (!!!!!!!!) times. That's almost as much as Sofia's name. Wow Cora really knows how to hold onto characters.
My stomach sank. Danilo and his cousin Marco stood off to the side of the large wooden patio, talking to two girls. Naturally, Danilo was with a blonde— again. Always with blondes. Always with women who resembled Serafina but couldn’t hold a candle to her beauty. They were less, a copy of the original. Less. So was I. Not what Danilo wanted. I was the consolation prize, would always be.

Sofia would make all these comparison like how Fina would have wear the same style of veil if she had gotten the chance to walk down the aisle. And here I'm sitting and asking myself "Who the fuck cares about that?"
Even if my hair wasn’t blonde anymore, my resemblance to Fina was unmistakable. Suddenly, I didn’t want this anymore. I wanted to be different. As long as I looked like Fina, but not quite, people would keep comparing us.

Oh wow really??? Never thought of THAT. Someone call MENSA so that Sofia can join their rank asap!!

Even on her wedding day Sofia couldn't stop comparing herself to her sister. I'm tired. I'm so tired.
My fingers trembled as I smoothed down my wedding dress and lowered the veil over my face. This was my day and yet . . . . . . it wasn’t my name they would whisper in the pews today. Because I was the consolation prize. The surrogate bride. Worst of all, I was not my sister.

Dressed like this, I almost looked like Serafina, minus the blonde hair. Still less. Always less. But maybe Danilo would see the similarities between my sister and me. Maybe, for a second, he would look at me with the same longing he used to direct at Serafina. Before he realized I wasn’t her. Before that look of disappointment settled on his face again.

Not to mention that even on their wedding night the only thing Danilo and Sofia talk about is Remofina. Do they have a life outside of remofine? I don't think so. The best thing Sofia said was acknowledging that she's stupid.
“Why is it so hard for you to believe that you mean the world to me?”“Because I’m stupid.”

4 Reasons why not 1 star

1. Anna Cavallero & Leonas Cavallero

Anna was without a doubt the best character for me. I loved her scenes and her friendship with Sofia. Even the couple of scenes where she's bickering with her brother Leonas were better than the rest of the book.

I'm also intrigued about her and her bodyguard Santiago's romance.

2. Emma and her relationship with Danilo

While I think Danilo is trash. Not boyfriend or husband material, he's relationship with his sister Emma was very cute. I love how he is so protective of her since her accident.

And Emma she's baby 🥺 I already love her so much and think she deserves better than Samuel! He's just another manho fucking everything with legs before their wedding whie ignoring Emma. Just the thought is making me so angry!!

3. Serafina & Remo cameo + Nevio & Great mentions

After years of no contact. Sofia finally contacts Fina through Samuel and can talk to her. I enjoyed their scenes together even on the phones more than the mentioning of Fina's ghost. Also when Fina talks about her babies uwu
Nevio? How’s the little daredevil?” Fina laughed in exasperation. “Don’t get me started. He tests my patience on a daily basis. He and his cousins stir up nothing but trouble. But I can’t really stay mad at him for long because he’s such a caring boy when it comes to Greta.”

They have my heart!!

The ghost of remofina is hanging over sofiadanilo's head most of the time. But after reading about their ghost all the time at the end we finally get an on screen scene with them when Sofia's meeting Fina!

4. It's bad, but it's not as bad as Twisted Hearts

Nuff said.

– I still have so many great quotes about Fina in case you haven't had enough her ghost yet 😌 but you can thank goodreads because they said no it's enough rant for today, ma'am please go to sleep and leave Sofia and Danilo alone in their remofina obsession