Fall of Snow: A Dark Mafia Romance (Frost Industries Book 3)

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With Snow’s familial history - mainly surround her not being taken seriously by her family - it’s easy to see why she fell in love with Elijah as fast as she did. He treats her like a queen from day dot and won’t tolerate anything less. She was not innocent like Rayne perceived her. She had some history. She was NOT a Mary-Sue character. She had her share of ex-boyfriends and one-night stands. I feel at times she did things out of obligation. This group is a safe environment, where readers c Welcome to Some Like It Hot!, a group for those of us who love to read and write romantic fiction. This one kinda gave me a mix of vibes from 50 shades and Haunting Adeline (def not as intense as that one, but he does want to k!ll any man who looks at his girl and he does admit to stalking her). But I loved the second part hence the rating. He started being honest about his feelings and they actually started communicating and that was great. We could actually see them building a relationship and affection and this was great.

There were a few things in the book that were… ahem, questionable. Sure, the whole premise revolves around mafia families (we’ve seen The Godfather). But this book was quite unhinged. Some might even say brave. But seeming as how it’s meant to… invoke certain feelings in the reader, it was a little (ok, extremely) hard to swallow and wrap my mind around it.I have issues with the romanticising of obsession or sexual abuse that clearly wasn’t consent. However in the grand scheme of female representation in mafia fiction I do want to give the author props for making Snow stand up to her family. It is very clear that we are also touching on the influence of family on our behaviour and our acceptance of what is normal or not normal. As an IRL couple goal book, good lord no! BUT if I was going to be a mafia princess caught up in this crazy, Elijah is definitely going far higher than most other problematic fictional characters on my hot list!

Em works at a club that is run by a bad guy that has a long history with Rayne. So there is that drama. Nothing I did not read a hundred times before. And when the villain was revealed,I laughed out loud so much,it literally felt like comedy instead of a thriller.I mean seriously a long lost sister,how much cliche you want this book to be?? Yet she never reported the ex to the police for identity theft. All she says is she can't file bankruptcy because she might go to medical school and then she wouldn't get in. I would add that I loved Twist Me series by A.Zaires (!). Just for comparison, since it's 100% more brutal yet I loved it, cause it had depth and context to those actions. But Elijah? He’s the king of all possessive/obsessed heroes. He actually refers to his obsession as just that. Doesn’t sugarcoat it and is in fact, super shameless about it.

I can understand why this is a DNF for a lot of people but I also think there is a certain amount of “reader beware” with mafia romance. As such I think it’s important that it gets reviewed as a part of its sub-genre because in context it’s actually quite progressive (not that it means we should not keep pointing out how problematic these stories are in the broader romance category). I am not a huge fan of mafia anything because as a genre anything mafia related is notorious for its degrading treatment of women as such I would expect the male characters to be deeply flawed. In no way do I think we should be justifying Elijah as desirable real life romance partner, he is definitely a stalker but he is not an entirely despicable character! He is a deeply flawed character which I think is touched on very well throughout the story as Snow thinks about the irony of him hating his father.

And I’m so sorry for saying that. But to have someone forcefully make another person give oral, and then convincing themselves and the other person that it was good for them too? No. To somehow make the so-called Angel that brought light into his life of darkness, commit murder?! Oh, hell no! To say that she is the most precious treasure and that she is a strong and worthy warrior, but then always forcing her to submit to his physical needs even when she’s on her period, AND when she has said no. How is that supposed to be good? Where is the RESPECT?! I mean, I get that the MCs were both into rough, dirty, hot sex. But… this was NOT it because, we need consent. Consent. Not force.

This book is really recommended in the FB groups I am in. Normally, feel like it should have the things that I like.. buuut it frustrated me to no end! You are telling me that 6 people who are highly intelligent and were involved in the mafia from the beginning got bested by a single women ?? Heroine is supposed to be tough, independent women, who then is submissive for hero and enjoys it. I mean fine, but she never was this tough independent women! Like based on her actions she just struggled to live and made TSTL decisions. Just saying she is somebody without showing doesn't convince me!