Review: Beautiful Torment (Empire of Kings #1) by A. Zavarelli

Beautiful Torment, the first installment in the new Empire of Kings series, by A. Zavarelli is LIVE NOW!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FKKKC5LC

Goodreads: https://bit.ly/4692hRX

🔥Stalker x Obsession
🔥Mafia/Secret Society
🔥Primal Play
🔥Masks
🔥Stolen Bride
🔥My Wife
🔥Touch Her and ☠️
🔥Hero Needs an Heir
🔥Fear Play

They call him Il Diavolo
When the devil dressed in black crashes my wedding
I know he didn’t come to offer me his blessing
He came to collect what was always his
For months, he’s watched me from the shadows
Haunting me
Biding his time
Planning his revenge
Before he was King of the Cosa Nostra
I was fated to be his queen
I promised him forever
Now, he’s here to remind me what forever really means.

Beautiful Torment is a dark mafia romance with a complete ending.

MY REVIEW

Abella and Angelo were supposed to get married and have a family. But when her condition is discovered and Angelo's sent away, it changes the course of both their lives. Now it's almost a decade later and someone is after her. Then he comes and takes her to exact his vengeance. Angelo has his woman back and he means to keep her.

Angelo cannot get over his anger at Abella. But they're married and supposed to fulfill the treaty and he's having a hard time figuring out what she's hiding. Why did she betray him? What are her secrets? And why can't he treat her the way he'd treat anyone else who went against him?

Ahh it's so good to be back in one of Ashleigh's dark worlds! It's finally time for Angelo and Abella (from Kingdom Fall) to take their long, tumultuous journey, and boy is it a doozy. Abella is one of the strongest heroines I think Ashleigh's ever written. The pain and torment she went through, all to protect someone who ends up taking his vengeance out on her, wow. I know she's a better woman than I, because I wouldn't have put up with Angelo's bs the way she did. But the heart wants what (who) it wants, and she never, ever fell out of love with him, no matter what she went through, no matter what he put her through, no matter how much it pained her when his anger wouldn't abate. Angelo is a morally black man to be sure, and he only had one soft spot, even though he didn't show it very often. I couldn't help but love him, though, so I totally get why Abella loved him, back when he was young and not hardened by life, clear through til their present when he was in his intense, angry state. I love their dark love story filled with Mafia shenanigans, IVI secret society machinations, and love, dark and intense though it was. I want a lot more about the women and men of the Empire Kings, and I have an idea of who's next to fall - I can't wait!