Massimo is waiting to avenge his parents death at the hands of a Chicago mob boss. To take his revenge he will his daughter Alessandra as bait. Despite the fact that she is a hostage, Massimo treats her with compassion, and of course, feelings develop. Love has a way of throwing in a wrench in your plans for murderous revenge. And of course like most mafia romances the hero wants out of his life of violence and danger.
The writing wasn't up to snuff. The grammar and syntax were all over the place. I didn't buy the plot twists, and ultimately the ending felt cheap and hasty.

Although this is part of a series, its a standalone. I haven't read any of anne rays previous books and found this an easy and enjoyable read.

Although it was slightly predictable it didn't take away from the enjoyments, and seeing how things played out. I read this in a day as it was well written, fast paced, the violence wasn't to much (given some mafia books there can be a lot) and was more romance/love and the building of a relationship and the sex was steamy but showed trust.

I certainty will be looking to read more of anne rays books as i do like a mafia romance read.

Thank you to Netgallery and the publishers for providing me with a copy to give an honest review

Another enemies to lovers book, mafia/mob , however I don’t feel it was well executed this time. The author seemed to explain everything and I mean everything that was happening. The characters didn’t have much chemistry, but then I also felt they lacked depth too, the pacing was off, I guess overall this book just wasn’t for me.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest

It was an ok book..i totally thought it would end differently though... Mob bosses, enemies to lovers for sure,

I am so sorry but I've no desire to go through with another book of this series after reading the first book, It was awful. I hated those character and the plot too. The author had a really different concept about Mafia Romance I think. At least that's what it seemed in the first book. You might think I should give her another chance but I'm not ready for another disappointment. If only I had read the first book before requesting for this one. I was actually intrigued at first. Then I read the first book. It burst the bubble of my excitement.

Thank you NetGalley for the digital ARC. I wasn’t sure if this book was going to be a continuation of the previous one but i was glad it wasn’t. I liked this couple a lot. Their story seemed to flow. Of course them getting together was predictable but i still loved it!

This book is a little unusual as unlike most mafia books there isn't a lot of violence in it. That isn't such a bad thing as it allows more time to be spent on the 2 main characters Massimo and Alessandra. There are some steamy parts in this book which are very well written, and leave you feeling as you are there with Massimo. My only complaint is the twist in the story come a bit too early for my liking. Apart from that it's a great story and a good way to loose yourself for a few hours.

I received this arc for an honest review.
This is book two in this author’s series but has nothing to do with the first book. In this book, Massimo is looking for the person who killed his family when he was younger. Now believing that Alessandria Giuliana's father was the person who did the killing he has decided to kidnap her for revenge and ask for a ransom. The problem comes when her father does not call back after receiving his terms.
Now the two of them are together and Massimo has started to like her and after some time she has begun to like him as well. Later you find out that her father was not behind his family’s death but you do find out who was. Who also gets to see how everything ends for that person and whether the two of them will stay together? Overall an okay book.

I loved that this book can be read as a standalone. Massimo and Alessandra won me over from the first page to the last! A great mafia romance. Anna Ray is becoming an author that I think I could get lost in her created worlds any day of the week.

I voluntarily reviewed this book.

I received a complimentary copy of Trapped; A Dark Mafia Romance in exchange for an honest review. I read this is as a standalone even though it's part of a series. I really enjoy Anna Ray's writing style. The storyline was intriguing, and well written with a good pace. Ms. Ray did a great job of not over embellishing the mafia angle which was a nice deviation from traditional mafia romance books. I enjoyed seeing Massimo and Alessandra's relationship develop against all odds, and nothing felt forced or rushed even though I anticipated that would be the case since Alessandria was being held against her will. Overall, this was a good read that I would recommend to friends and family.

This was quite a bizarre read. The writing style was nothing like I remembered from Anna Ray before. Everything was written in a very "explaining/telling" way that made me feel like the character was talking to the reader like they were an idiot. She would write a really nice moment between them that suggested they were getting closer and then she would ruin it by adding something on the end like "now we're getting closer." Like - DUH - that was made clear by the conversation that was happening - you know?
Also the pacing was very off - the main climax and drama of the plot happened waaay too far from the end. I swear a solid 25% of the book at the end was after the main plot had ended and was just a very longwinded closing up of all the small threads that could have been done in a few lines and not a few chapters.
I did like the premise and the twist in the plot. So that was good. But I feel like we didn't get enough of a build in their relationship, it felt quite insta-love and I know this is a short story but I think it all came down to the pacing and if that had been better then we would have gotten more of their relationship development and therefore liked them more. They didn't seem to have much personality outwith family, mafia and each other and I wanted them to be deeper.
Overall, not great but I am going to try the next one in the series soon and hopefully that will be better paced.

Complementary copy given for honest review and opinion from NetGalley. Everything isn’t at all what it seems with this book. It’s a wonderful mafia romance with a happy ending, maybe not the way you expected but it was a great book and I loved the mystery following it.

Everyone who loves romance loves a mafia romance right? I know I do which is why I snapped at the chance to read this book. I went in expecting it to follow the typical kidnap mafia romance trope but was pleasantly surprised that it differed in ways.

The book is set in Chicago where Massimo is essentially a co-Don of the mafia along with his godfather after his entire family where murdered 10 years before. After discovering it was their rival, Giuliani, who murdered his family and that he has been hiding a daughter, Alessandra. Massimo decides to kidnap and ransom her in order to draw Giuliani out.

Usually at this point you get the usual tortured hero and indifference to the kidnapped heroine, but Anna Ray flipped that by showing us that Massimo wasn't all that in love with his current life and Alessandra is actually a pretty normal 21-year old who loves Marvel movies and watching TikToks (who else can relate?). Once they start spending time together doing normal things, their relationship evolves beyond that of a typical 'stockholm syndrome' trope so often seen in these kinds of stories.

I really enjoyed this book for a quick and nice read. Although you typically associate the mafia with dark elements, this book was a lot lighter which I liked. The relationship between Alessandra and Massimo was also well developed and made sense, rather than just becoming a 'situationship'. Alessandra was a strong independent heroine who didn't just submit to the will of the men around her which I love to see in romance books. There was also a bit of a twist at the end which made the HEA all the more nicer!

Trapped is a "dark" mafia romance, that could have gone a little darker for my liking. Although Massimo kidnaps Alessandra as revenge against her father, he is actually a rather considerate captor and goes out of his way to make her comfortable and ensure she enjoys her stay with him.

On the whole, I really enjoyed this book. I found the writing style to be fast-paced and engaging. The plot had plenty of intrigue and the ending took me by surprise, in a good way. I did find Massimo's character bounced around quite a bit. His switch from being caring and compassionate, to proposing a sexual relationship with himself as Alessandra's master, felt a little bit forced and I would have liked slightly more overlap between the two sides of his personality. Still, I really enjoyed watching the two characters' relationship develop and thought the overall story was entertaining.

Ten years ago Massimo lost his father, mother and sister and has been seeking revenge ever since. Acting as the second in command to one of the biggest mob bosses in Chicago he finally gains confirmation that a rival mob boss killed his family. Whilst his father was playing both sides and arguably deserved the hit, his mother and sister were innocents and they deserve revenge.

Alessandra lives her life under the ever-watchful eye of her father and his many guards. Attempting a slice of normality she heads to a club with her best friend where she meets Massimo and they get chatting. Drugging her and kidnapping her back to a secure home his plan for revenge is starting to fall into place. With the daughter of his families killer under his protection, all he needs is for her father to take the bait and answer the ransom demand.

Weeks pass as Alessandra and Massimo live side by side in the house. Waiting for her father to agree to the demands. An unlikely friendship and love forms between them. Making Massimo question his revenge plot - but his mother and sister deserve to be avenged. How can he do this without losing Alessandra?

Storyline seems fairly simple and fantastical, hard to believe. The writing is easy to follow, pretty straight forward.

This was the first for me in the series. We get Massimo and Alessandra who are children of Chicago’s mafia bosses. Massimo isn’t really the heir but was taken in when his family was murdered. Now a revenge plot, kidnapping, secrets, lies, and love make this really interesting and I consumed it in one sitting reading well into the night. The dark and twisted worlds hood all the nasty dark things but sometimes can lead to better and light at the end of the tunnel. I really enjoyed their love story and respected it. I was scared it was gonna be a weird Stockholm Syndrome thing but it wasn’t. Like it a lot!

ARC received for review

This is book two but there is absolutely no cross over with the other books, so don't worry if you haven't read them. Or if you're like me and read them out of order.

This was a great idea with lots of chemistry, sex, a little romance, and very little violence but the end was really rushed. Then the ending was just meh.

For some reason, completely unknown, I've managed to read this series in the wrong order. I had books 3 and 2 to read and read book 3 first. It doesn't actually matter (other than for my own personal sense of order) because although they are a series, they aren't the type of series that follows on. In fact, I'm not sure that there are any major reoccurring characters. Rather the series is about the world that they all inhabit, the shady Mafia world.
Trapped is a classic kidnap and the kidnapper and kidnapee fall in love story. I've read this idea a few times now and I've seen it done with varying success. In the case of this story, it works well. Massimo, despite being desperate for revenge, is actually clearly a nice guy. This is a dark romance because of the world he inhabits rather than his character. Right from the beginning, although he plans to get revenge, it's quite clear that he won't be able to follow through with all of his plans. His captive, Alessandra, is never really in danger and it's obvious that they would be together anyway if they had met normally. I think that this helps with the story. Often, when it's a case of one of the characters (usually the female) being held against their will, there's always a question of how much her feelings are influenced by the captivity. That simply isn't the case here.
I really enjoyed this instalment of the Mafia Sinners series, as I have the others. I hope that there might be more to come in the future.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I really loved this book. I do not know why I love the Mafia Romance Genre so much but it's really something that I am enjoying and with books like this it will be something really easy to continue into the future.

First things first: it has a great story with lots of twists. I enjoyed it so much that I finished it in one day. I just couldn't stop reading it even though I have to get up really early in the mornings.

Massimo is intelligent, attractive, smooth talking, a gets what he wants and he knows it kind of guy. Even though you don't want to be attracted to a guy like this you always end up being so just simply because of his charm. It just goes to show you that charm is a dangerous thing indeed lol. He's a second in command to one of the top mob bosses in Chicago and does a dang good job at it. He's had a very tragic last ten years because of something that has happened in his past so it makes it very hard for him to trust people. Especially women. You just never know what their true intentions for being with him are.

Alessandra is a somewhat spoiled mafia princess who isn't like most of the other mafia princesses but yet at the same time has no problem in throwing her father's name around when she's threatened. However, being somewhat spoiled aside, she's also clearly compassionate, intelligent, witty, and does have some common sense.

Massimo and Alessandra do not meet in the normal way of things and she especially doesn't for-see what the future immediately lies for her when dealing with Massimo. However, sometimes life is all about baptism by fire and that is exactly what ends up happening with these two.

I really enjoyed the first book and I really really enjoyed this one. My one and only complaint (not really a complaint, should say it's just not my preference) are the love scenes. I am not into being made to play a submissive during making love and I am not a fan of seeing that in books. Like I said, just my preference so not going to knock it because of it. Other than that, super hot, I loved the story. I enjoyed it immensely and I actually cannot wait for the next book to come out.

I think it's well written and it has enough twists and turns to keep you from getting bored. Highly highly enjoyable. I could not have been more pleased. This is starting to really become one of my favorite romance genres.

I was given this ARC to read and to review by NetGalley. All opinions are honest and of my own volition.