“Because I was the consolation prize. The surrogate bride. Worst of all, I was not my sister.”

Fragile Longing is my most expected book of the year and I can tell I am totally satisfied. It reflected the perfect contrast between two opposites personalities. By one side, Sofia Mione, a little sweet, naive and willing girl who has a crush with her sister’s fiancée. In other hand, Danilo Mancini is the perfect gentleman, handsome, smart, always in control and the next underboss from Indianapolis; but his fiancée kidnapping changes everything. Serafina breaks the engagement hurting Danilo’s pride and not giving him another option to search another candidate to takes Fina’s place, the best option, her sister.

Sofia has the chance of become her dreams a reality and she’s on cloud nine. However this happiness is tarnished by Serafina’s ghost. Sofia feels as a consolation prize and the sadness and languid attitudes from her family isn’t helpful, although she is determined to seduce her future husband. Fortunately she counts with the support of her cousin, best friend and adventure companion, Anna Cavallaro. In the meantime Danilo is dealing with other issues: family and job issues, adding his anger, resentment and seeking revenge versus the man who steal what belongs him. His pride is his worst enemy and he commits a big mistake, one that changes perspective of both: Sofia and he. Now, Danilo isn’t perfect to Sofia’s eyes and he is battling in the search of his redemption.

This book is full of emotions: I laughed, got excited, cried, and fell in love with Danilo. I was determined to read the book with a neutral perspective, not judging, “forgetting” the past events and Danilo really won my heart, in a second I’m going to tell you why. Danilo Mancini is a complex man. In surface he shows us a serious, correct and perfect gentleman but he’s dealing with a lot of guilt and the weight of his responsibilities. He’s restrained with his feelings and emotions and he just can’t forget the past. His pride dominates him but he’s a good person who after realizes he acted wrong, is determinated to redeem himself.

With Soph, I love her personality. She was so sweet and naive but with a strong personality after all. I suffered and cried with her but analizing the situation, what happened to her was a milestone. It makes them react: she regained her dignity, take her time to heal; and Danilo had to work to conquer her, change, let it go and focus in his future with Sofia. After that he achieves to values her as for herself without comparisons. The evolution of their relationship was slow and perfectly written, and there were really steamy romantic scenes. Also I love the protective side from Danilo and Samuel toward their respective sisters. I have to add, was a delight to read about the secondary characters. I already love Anna, Leonas, and Emma. I can’t wait to read more of them!

**I received an ARC in exchange of an honest review. All the opinions and thoughts written here are on my own.**

“I’d tried to imitate her, but an imitation would never be the original.”

First of all, this book is definitely for people who have read the rest of Cora Reilly’s books. It is set in a world that is already established through two different series’ and this book spoils events that have happened previously. So, although this is a stand-alone novel, I wouldn’t recommend reading this before the other books as a lot of it won’t make sense!

Arranged marriage books are never easy, but Sofia and Danilo’s comes with extra hurdles. From jealousy to lust, rage to desire - their journey was a DRAMA filled one. And I loved almost every second of it!

Serafina’s shadow lurks ominously over everything that Sofia does, how can she escape the scandal that surrounds her family? How does she cope knowing that the man she’s always had a crush on, is still pining over her sister...?

Sofia’s character arc in this is one of my absolute favourites. From the naive, sheltered 12 year old with fairy tale fantasies to the grown woman that she becomes over the course of this book. She’s impulsive and reckless, but that kinda makes me love her even more. My heart ached for her so much throughout. But by the end, she’s a mature, powerful force of nature.
Now the absolute HIGHLIGHT of this book for me is the side characters. It has made me even more excited for the next series.

Also, the climax of this book?! It had me almost screaming. You’ll know why when you read it.

This book is full of drama, angst and a few blush worthy steamy scenes... I couldn’t put it down.

4.5/5
In Fragile Longing we follow Sofia and Danilo.
Danilo was originally promised Serafina. But if you have read Twisted Pride, you know what happened there. Instead of Serafina Danilo now gets Serafina’s younger sister: Sofia.
When Sofia first hears she is promised to Danilo she doesn’t mind at all. She always had a little crush on him, but the older she gets the more she starts comparing herself to Serafina.
Since her sister Serafina left Sofia felt a lot of pressure to be like Serafina. From the people around her but mostly from herself.
Danilo is a really proud person and we see that coming back a lot. He is too proud to get over what happened with his first fiancée. But he is also a good men. He cares about his loved one’s He will do everything he can do to protect them.
The first part of the story is cute. We see Sofia and Danilo before their wedding. You feel a little bad for Sofia because in her head it’s still all about Serafina. But the second part of the book when they are actually married… blew me away! In the first part we see that Danilo isn’t really trying to create a bond with Sofia yet. Danilo also noticed how Sofia is comparing herself to Serafina.
But the second they get married and Sofia started being Sofia again without trying to be like her sister Serafina everything started happening for these two. Both of them we’re willing to try. The road to them finding a way to love and care about each other was so beautiful..

Cora Reilly’s book are (almost) always a hit for me and Fragile Longing didn’t disappoint.

I wasn’t sure what timeline we were going to get for Danilo and Sofia, but it was perfect and what gave us their love story. Pain, betrayal, longing, and wanting fill both these characters so much, and they both react as would be expected of them. Sofia bottles it up and Danilo lets it loose. But time progresses, feelings expand, contract, viewpoints change, and characters mature. When it looks like it will all fall apart, it comes together. And when it looks like it will fracture and shatter, it strengthens and bonds. Danilo and Sofia aren’t the couple that was supposed to be together, but together they are the couple that other want to be like, that is how happy their ever after ends up being!

“. . . 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.”

When you are promised to a man that was once supposed to be with your sister, it doesn’t start a very confident relationship.

This is a unique mafia story because it’s not your typical family against family action book.
This story is about Danilo and Sofia’s relationship and marriage. How something so shaky and doubtful can end with a strong marriage and HEA.

I understood Danilo when he didn’t keep communication with Sophia when he was promised Sophia. After all, she was a child and well... that’s what he saw. A child, not his future wife.
So all the while Sophia had a crush on him, she had to go through years of seeing her future fiancé in photos online with other women. Women that looked like her sister who he was supposed to marry first. It’s all angsty as hell and a shitty situation for Sophia.
She eventually gains a backbone once she’s of age and marries Danilo.
This story is the evolution of these two and it was a breathe of fresh air to read a non-typical mafia book.

“Danilo shook his head. “I wish you could see yourself through my eyes only once, then you’d never doubt my desire for you again.”

Full review: https://www.inabookshell.com/2020/09/review-fragile-longing-by-cora-reilly.html

In typical Cora fashion, I have a love-loathe relationship with the characters. Sofia was bold, feisty, and fun. She has this bright, lovable aura surrounding her. Danilo is the underboss of Indianapolis. I enjoyed his angry, unleashed version more than the cool gentlemen.

My favorite thing about them was their open-minded nature. They communicated well with each other. To be honest, I didn’t like either of them when I read about them in previous novels and even for most of the 1st half of Fragile Longing. I was wary of Danilo and Sofia seemed too naive for her own good. But their character growth was beautiful.

Although I enjoyed the 2nd part of the book, the side effects of the damage caused by the Camorra are portrayed realistically, in the beginning. It was easy to empathize with the Outfit and their suffering. I loved all the background characters, every single one of them. Samuel, Emma, Anna, I'm looking forward to reading their books. Sofia’s friendship with Anna was poignant. The dynamics between the underbosses families and the Cavallaro’s family were interesting.

From all the teasers, I had this image in my head of what Danilo was, I was so wrong. He was the biggest surprise. The entire climax and epilogue are simply awesome. There were tense moments but fluff trumped the angst. Now that I read Bound by the past and this novel I understand the Outfit’s perspective better, they never really knew Fina, not really. Some of those loose ends are tied up. After I finished reading it, I wanted more but I also felt content with the way things have played out.

This novel is written in the first person in both Sofia and Danilo’s perspective. The setting is developed better than Cora’s other books. More picturesque vacation-feels. It's a short novel but has slow pacing. I read the book in one sitting. Fragile Longing focuses more on romance than the mafia aspect.

It is more similar to the other standalone, Sweet Temptation than the novels in Camorra Chronicles and Born in Blood series. I recommend it to all romance-genre readers. Read ‘Twisted Pride’ before you read this. Fragile Longing is everything Sofia and Danilo’s story is meant to be. The wait was worth it! 👏👏👌👍. ARC is provided by The Next Step PR, LLC and Cora Reilly via NetGalley. Thank you.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is the first time I have read anything by Cora Reilly but my mind is blown. Why did I wait. This story between Sofia and Donila is beyond spellbinding and keeps you fully engrossed the whole time. The passionate moments to the heartbreaking truths moments. I was completely mesmerized by the concept. How deep and intense things go with the mafia world that Reilly has created. There is such a magnetic push and pull between these two. I loved their banter. That Sofia never backed down from Donila regardless of everything that has happened between them. You do get a little angst, small naive moments because of Sofia’s age but growing up in the world that they do, I fully get why she is more mature than her actual age.
Overall, this book was absolutely amazing. I devoured it in one sitting. I could not put it down. I loved the depth that was in this story as it entangles with previous books written by the author, but is a perfect standalone. I never felt lost, I felt connected to each character and in love with every moment. I honestly never wanted it to end. Now to go read the backlist by this author because her words are everything!

ARC Review
Fragile Longing was such a pleasant read. I love the story of Sofia and Danilo.

Sofia has always lived as her sister’s, Serafina, shadow. And the moment when Serafina left the family, Sofia knew she would never replace her sister, and that upset her.
Sofia was promised to Danilo as a consolation prize after Serafina couldn’t marry him. Sofia knew that getting into Danilo’s heart would be hard because she wasn’t her sister.

The story of these two shows us overcoming the past and moving forward with life. There were scenes that gripped my heart so much. Sofia’s struggles with life after her sister left, her constant trying to be more than a consolation prize.

Danilo at first thought of their marriage as a strategic deal but with time he started to see Sofia as a woman and not his ex-fiancée’s younger sister.

The chemistry between these two was on point and the slow burn built up the fire between them.

I really loved how Cora focused more on showing us the relationship between Danilo and Sofia, every step of it.

I’m giving this book perfect 5 starts. I loved everything in it.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

I love reading anything by Cora Reilly! I have been eagerly awaiting this book for a while!
Leaving off from the aftermath of Twisted Pride (my favorite book in the series) tells the story of Danilo and Sofia in a stand-alone, age gap romance. The writing has always been great from this series. I felt the pain and frustration from the characters through their struggles. I liked the book, but this was not my favorite from the mafia world. I couldn’t really get into the age gap romance because it started the story from when Sofia was 11, and I kept the image of her being a child throughout the story. There was a recurring immaturity that kept her too young in my eyes. There were some great side characters who were mentioned in previous books that got more character development and I hope to read more about their stories in future books. Overall it was a good read, and I can’t wait for Cora’s next book!