Malevolent King by Mila Kane [Dark Romance Book Review] 1
A Dark Mafia Romance – Made of Mayhem Duet Book 1
MATURE READERS ONLY! Read TW on authors website.
Summary
“When this sheltered mafia princess meets a bratva devil on the run, neither of them will ever be the same.
When my cousin bets me in a poker game, I catch the eye of a predator who will never look away.
Nikolai Chernov is infamous in our world. Unhinged, brutal, merciless. A hot-blooded killer with a deadly laugh and a sinful body to match.
He won’t leave me alone. He says I belong to him. His prize. As time passes, I can’t tell if I want him to win or lose.
He’s a dearly devoted psychopath,,, and he has his sights set on me. Nothing can stop him. Not even being imprisoned by my father.
I’m about to learn the hard way… When the villain doesn’t get the girl.
He takes her.
Malevolent King is Book 1 in a duet, and therefore ends in a cliffhanger. The story resolves in Runaway Queen. This is a dark mafia meets bratva romance, and as such contains dark themes which may not be to everyone’s tastes. Please read with caution.”
-From Amazon.com
Summary
So it’s been a HOT MINUTE since I’ve ready a good kind of smutty book. I’m not usually a huge, huge fan when there is quite literally no story and this one absolutely was not that! There was totally a story, good character development and progression and all the good stuff! I’ll also say it’s been a while since I’ve read a dark romance book as well and Bookstgram has been recommending me a ton of books in my list, most notably the Haunting Adeline (which I may or may not read, not decided just yet). So, decided to give Kindle a month free trial to see what they have there and BOOM, immediately, recommendations. And this was one of them.
DARK but still enjoyable
So this is classified as dark romance and it absolutely is. There were some heavy themes that may not float your boat, some of which definitely wouldn’t float my boat for real life stuff but for a book I was like, hmm okay I can go with this. You’ll see what I mean in the TW on her site but definitely having a psychotic kind of character as the male makes it a pretty heavy book. And of course it’s a mafia story so there’s some other kind of weird and creepy under themes to it but honestly it does kind of add to the story. I don’t want to say mafia romance books are ever realistic, because we know that mafia and romance do not go together (let it stay in your head ladies and gentlemen) but dark mafia romance usually has the level of twistedness that makes it a bit closer to ‘reality’ for lack of a better phrase. But don’t get it into your head to find the nearest mafia hangout spot to try and catch their eye!
Steamy and kept the pages going – but vulgar.
Now I am absolutely not a prude. I love a good steamy scene as much as the next person, but there are certain words that I am not a huge fan of, some of the more…seriously extreme and crass words (it’s used in Australia as a friendly greeting to give a hint). I’m sure you can guess which ones I’m getting at. And well, the main character Nikolai loved to used some of those words and it was kind of a slap to the face. I absolutely know that it comes with the territory but you can get the dark point across without a use of a certain word, or used as much. Especially normalizing it’s use in books or making it seem sexy. Now, I now everyone has their own personal preference and this is just one of mine. But just be aware, not only is it dark but it is going to definitely expose you to new words which may or may not be your thing.
But if you want a steamy book, then this definitely may catch your interest! It kept me with the pages turning and I wanted to know more! Not only from the steamy side but also the story side.
Psychotic Development – Caged Bird Freed
The main character Nikolai definitely did progress a little bit over the book, going from the crazier person to someone with a little more heart. As well did Sofia going from a bit more of a timid-ish young woman to trying to kick some butt a little bit in her own way. It’s was certainly interesting to see that develop over the book and see how their stories entwined, especially with the running theme of the mafia and mafia families in the background. To also see some of the background of the families and how they all got to where they were, well that was certainly an added bonus to get some of that additional view.
Overall, I definitely enjoyed the read and can see myself reading this book again just to pick up on a few other bits and pieces going on – you know, wink wink nudge nudge. But in all seriousness, it was an enjoyable read and certainly one I’d recommend if you like more mature romance and dark romance in general. It does end in a cliffhanger and book two was definitely enjoyable too (review coming soon-ish). It’s free on Kindle but you can also grab yourself a paperback!
Happy Reading!
Get yourself a copy here, or read it on Kindle Unlimited!
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