I have come to absolutely love reading books from Lana Sky. She comes to the table with a very unique perspective on her characters and she’s not afraid to push the boundaries when she needs to. Point in case, tomorrow the world will have access to Ruthless King and the story of Donatello Vanici will be revealed.
First off, this story takes place within the context of Mafia families. You will be introduced to the current hierarchy of ruling families and the position each one has. Our focus is brought in on Donatello, or Don, and his approach at trying to get back into the families good graces after he turned a new leaf. Known in his past as Il Mostro for his heinous crimes, he suffered a tragic incident and decided to live his life through credible jobs and activities. But now he needs to secure the safety of his nephew within these ruling families.
All of their community has come together to celebrate the 19th birthday of Mischa Stepanov’s daughter. Mischa is currently the lead man in the Mafiya and everyone has arrived to try and secure her affection in hopes of uniting within that family.
As you can tell, we are dealing with dark crime lords and the inner workings of their families. Within these families there are lots of dark activities that take place and many of which include the trafficking and extortion of children. Mischa happens to “collect” many of the children within the industry that have been sold off, at least this is alluded to, and it leads the readers to wonder if he has a more sinister plan for these children.
Be prepared that this book ends on a cliff hanger and is only an introduction to the start of this series. But I loved the main female character known as both Willow and Safiya. She was the daughter of a crime lord who was then handed off into the care of Don Vanici who raises her for a while until a terrible crime up ends Don’s family and he has to make a choice regarding Safiya’s life that will forever haunt him.
A beautiful and tragic story about what it’s like living within these confines and dynamics and never knowing who you can really trust. Your anxiety will be tested, your emotions will be pulled in several directions and you may be quite uncomfortable with many of the scenes in this book. But if it sounds interesting, I recommend giving it a try, I loved it and can’t wait for the next installment!
Adventures in Literature 