My review contains spoilers and they're mostly my thoughts as I went with the book...

I’ve been meaning to read Nancy Haviland’s debut release, A Love of Vengeance (Wanted Men #1), for quite sometimes now. I’ve been on the search for some new material after reading another popular mafia book couple of months ago. Well, TBH, it wasn’t as good as I expected it to be. Don’t get me wrong, Nancy Haviland’s writing and narration of the story was pretty well-done. But it also had some clichéd stuff that I couldn’t help noticing.

I’ll get to my point soon enough, but on to my review now... Vasily Tarasov, a powerful Russian organized crime leader, aka Mafia Boss, meets up with a very good friend of his, an Italian-American, Gabriel Moore with a request. He needs help. Gabriel is much younger than Vasily but they’ve been closest of friends for a long time. Gabriel seems to be earning legally now but we soon learn that he had his own legacy, and was supposed to have been the original Don of the Italian-American Moretti mafia family. Something pushed Gabriel away. So far he hasn’t shown any interest in those shady dealings, though he still has connections with other mafia bosses around the world. Secretly of course. His elder brother, Stefano, is now the Don, with whom Gabriel doesn’t really have a good relationship. Gabriel’s father was a jerk to whom nothing was more important than their mafia business. He made both Gabriel and Stefano’s lives hell. When he, alongside his wife, were murdered, Gabriel has had enough.

This story really pulled me in from the beginning, as it has the type of set-up that REALLY keeps me turning the pages; the reluctant relationship.

Laila (with no choice in the matter) enters into a marriage arrangement with Aymon, and he's really no too thriller with her, either. But reading how their relationship evolved and how they were forced to lean on each other kept me glued to the book!

The final conflict was gripping. Thank goodness this is a romance novel (which guarantees a happy ending), otherwise I would think that both Laila and Aymon were doomed. Still, knowing the relative outcome, the thrill of reading the action-and-adventure of what they had to go through to GET to the end was a nail-biter.

Louise did a fantastic job of writing the "love" between Laila and Aymon and I enjoyed reading the interactions they had. While the ending was not entirely what I expected, it seemed fitting given the time-period of the book. This was just an all-around fantastic historical romance!

***I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***

Gabriel snatched up his fresh Stoli and swallowed it whole. "She's mine," he rasped through the slight burn, wishing his voice could carry to the three fucks pissing him off.

I am so glad that I bought this ebook. I was up in the wee hours of the morning finishing this book because I just couldn't put it down. I haven't really read many romance books which involve the mafia but this book will definitely change that. Not only did this book have a perfect alpha male main character but it also had some action that kept me on the edge of my seat.

Gabriel, who is no angel, is dragged back into the mafia when he promises to protect the daughter of a Russian mob boss, Eva. The two main characters, Eva and Gabriel, had great chemistry. While I really liked both of them, I have to say that I loved Gabriel. I was light-headed whenever he showed up. If you like ultra alpha males who can be a bit jealous and overprotective at times (okay, most of the time) than Gabriel is a character for you.

Not only did this book have strong main characters but it also had a ton of strong secondary characters. I pretty much loved all of the secondary characters. I feel like some of these characters have really interesting stories that I can't wait to read about later in the series. I am especially excited that the next book is about Vicente and Nika.

There were a few reasons why this didn't get 5 stars from me (Gabriel gets five stars though). Some of the action towards the end felt a bit awkward and slow moving. Also I felt like Eva's feelings towards her father changed way too fast. Those are not major problems and I still loved the book. I cannot wait to read what happens next in this series.

So I wasn't supposed to start this book until I caught up with all my ARCs but I couldn't stop myself. I cannot describe how much I love this book so far. I can't control myself whenever Gabriel shows up. Eva is an interesting character but Gabriel stole the show in this book. It looks like there might be a little tiff coming up between them, we shall see.