Books Not Decaf

Daisy Turner is a broke, single, recent college graduate who would say yes to just about anything if it helps her climb out of the pile of debt she’s in. Which is why she agrees to fill in for her roommate as a waitress catering a high-end private wedding. Her expectations are low—at most she’ll get a small stack of cash and a free meal, right? Wrong. Bad luck has a way of finding her, and so it’s no surprise that she would become an accomplice to a murder. Okay, not an accomplice but definitely a witness.   

Turns out the wedding is an arranged marriage between two rival crime families, and the woman who died was supposed to be the bride. As the sole witness and the only living, breathing woman within feet of the angry and ruggedly handsome soon-to-be husband, Daisy knows she has to do something. Unfortunately offering to bake him a sympathy casserole isn’t what he was looking for. Sorry for your loss, also not good enough. She’s sure he’ll kill her on the spot but instead he shakes his head and gives an ultimatum.  

Death or marriage.  

Of course Daisy chooses to marry the man. Marriages can be annulled, but there’s no coming back from death…

*POTENTIAL SPOILERS*

This was my first Lucy Smoke title, though I’ve come across promotions for her Sick Boys series on occasion. I gotta say, going in with no expectation was the right decision.

I’m not saying it was bad…I just didn’t find it necessarily good, either.

The trigger warnings at the beginning of the book had me going “oh, oohkay” and prepared for some mafia chaos. It did not deliver. In fact, I would say the espresso I brewed that morning made the book look like the equivalent of that double shot dropped into 30oz of cream. That is, not dark at all.

Was there a mild torture scene? Yes. Am I using my threshold for crazy to compare shades, and therefore it may be a bit askew? Sure. Am I also saying this ignoring the epilogue? Yes, because I don’t think adding something ‘shocking’ in the bit not everyone reads counts towards your whole book’s status.

Ultimately, the book was fine. It was the general middle-of-the-road mafia romance that claims to be dark romance, while really only having stuck its toe in, claimed that it was cold, and went about its way.

Which, if that’s what you’re looking for, a “dark romance lite” story, there you go.

The spice was also incredibly chemically vanilla for claiming the tag dark romance.

Daisy was…at least not whiny. Mean Daisy? Kinda the funniest part, while riding the edge of being an annoying and obviously convenient plot device. Guilio? Can’t say I was too compelled by him as our MMC. Michelle the best friend? Eh, she was fine.

Can’t say I would recommend this one, except if someone needed a quick palette cleanser.

Rating: 3.0/5

Spice: 2/5

Thanks to NetGalley for the copy of the audiobook!