Title: Mafia Queen
Author: CD Reiss
Publisher/Year:  Paige Press 10/12/21
Length:  298 Pages
Series: DiLustro Arrangement #3

Overview

What doesn’t kill you makes you a killer.

Santino DiLustro changed me. You can’t spend time in bed with the devil without getting addicted to the heat.

Before him, I was a girl. Innocent and weak. 

Now, I’m a woman. A fighter. A killer.

I’ll burn the world down for him. Shatter the sky. But I will not break. 

No. I will rise up and destroy whoever dares to threaten what my king has built, because I am forever his queen.

My Thoughts

I was relieved when this final installment of the story came out – we were left on such a distressing cliff at the end of book two that I NEEDED to see how the story would pan out. If you remember, things were going downhill fast at the end of book two. While Santi and Violetta were finally in a good place, trying to start the life that they felt they needed, Dami (Santi’s old best friend) was jealous and wanted what he felt was his – the inheritance that Violetta was getting of the sacred crown – and he chose to use Gia (Santis’ cousin) as bait on this.

This story shows us how easy it is to sway someone – convince them that the life they have can be better – that they can get more power and stature just because someone tells them. that’s what happens in this story with Gia. We learn that she had a romance with Armando – one of Santi’s closest men, but Dami showed interest, and claimed her, really to use her as a pawn, and Gia was quick to jump on that attention – to go with what Dami wanted because he had power and she wanted it. She was almost the demise of Santi, and that makes our opinion as a reader of her go way down.

So….we left the last installment with Gia pulling the trigger and shooting Santi, so he’s no longer a factor in the story. We watch him fall and believe he’s dead. At that notion, Dami gets what he wants – he takes Violetta now and goes to marry her so that he can get what he feels he deserves – the crown and the rights that he felt Violetta’s father bestowed on him and not Santi. Lucky for Violetta though, she’s not one to go down without a fight, and she makes a mess of things – kills someone and wishes that it were Dami in fact, but gets out of the marriage.

Violetta is now forced to be the Queen – to rule over Sanit’s men since that’s her position to hold. To gain their trust and their support and some how overthrow Dami and the Tabonas – all other ‘mafia’ groups that want to take over the territory that Santi has claimed.

The roller coaster continues – Violetta learns Santi is alive, they try to get to the Crown from the lawyer yet Dami is a step ahead of them and blows up the lawyers office. Death and destruction continue in this third book because every turn we take there’s another thing going wrong. Santi is captured, tortured, his finger is cut off, he’s imprisioned, and there’s no hope for salvation. The saving grace is in the form of Violetta’s mother’s ‘consigliere’ – he comes bearing the crown – which makes every one bow to Violetta since she’s the only one who can handle it. to everyone else it’s hot to the touch, and it’s ethereal – forcing everyone to bend when they see it.

Things move quickly from here – we see plans and strategies put in place, knowing that there will be death and destruction coming next. We have Dario who’s a mafia leader from New York come to their aid, with his own agenda though since he comes when he believes that Santino is dead. There’s something that we’re not quite getting to with him in this story and I look forward to seeing where his saga takes us since CD Reiss hints that the next series coming is about Dario.

When we began this series, there was the hope for love and the need to validate family. We have ups and downs in this story – watching as love is forced and not earned. Power is exchanged and taken from those who earned it by those who are too hungry for it. We watch as there’s a hope and desire for a life that’s never meant to be, in the hopes that we can make a life that works ….with balance. There’s chemistry and passion and there’s heat and need. All the necessary ingredients to a story that keeps moving quickly and resolves in a way that’s worthy. So….that all being said – i’m now off to find something new to read. Enjoy!