I so wasted to like this book because I enjoyed the movie but this book was horrible, I don’t know if it was because it was a poor translation to the book published quickly but definitely was not what I expected of it after watching the movie.

i thought I’d give this a chance after watching the movie which was scorching hot. But what the movie has in hotness the book lacks in plot. While i understand this came from the English translation from the very successful Wattpad novel, i just couldn’t get it. The sex scenes were fairly bland as was the dialogue. I k ow that mafia romances are all the rage, but kidnapping and lack of consent are hard to make sexy for me.

Hmm, this book made me cringe. I like a good alpha male but this was way too toxic for my taste. There was nothing appealing about either character, Massimo introduction was a turnoff.

Let's start out by being blunt: this is one of the most blatantly harmful books that I have ever read. I read this because I had heard so many people buzzing about the movie based on it last summer (which I have not seen and now definitely won't), and wow do I regret it. Not only does this glamorize an extremely abusive relationship, but it does so while also being extremely misogynistic and fatphobic. And on top of my issues with the content, the book itself had horrible pacing and the plot made absolutely no sense. This book was just all around a HARD miss for me, and if you somehow still have any intention to read it, please take care of yourself and be mindful of any trigger warnings.

TW: sexual assault, coercion, kidnapping, emotional manipulation, murder, violence, slut shaming, food shaming, drug/alcohol use

TikTok made me do it!!! I of course heard about the movie first on TikTok and hopped onto Netflix to see what it was all about. STEAM CENTRAL!! So of course when I heard it was a book I was allll over that! i've had it o my TBR list for awhile and then saw it o NetGalley. This site always has my back with good books!! Let's be honest, this is smutty, sexy and problematic. The romance isn't the most realistic and the submissive/dominant theme is STRONG, but one woman's trash is another woman's treasure!

After watching the Netflix adaptation of 365dni, I was excited to hear that the book was going to be translated and published in English. Unfortunately, my excitement dropped once I started reading the book and I found myself skimming and skipping over a lot of the story. I think a lot of things were lost in translation, and the way the story was told didn't have a good flow......so it was hard to get into the story and connect with the characters. Plus, the way Laura kept calling Massimo "The Man in Black" really drove me nuts - I think i counted her saying that at least 10 times in the span of a few paragraphs, which was a little much for my liking.

365 days is a mafia romance to the extreme. Laura Biel is kidnapped and given 365 days to fall in love with her captor, mafia boss don Massimo. While the story is intriguing the translation was done so poorly it was distracting. Surely they could have come up with a word other than 'snatch'! Because of the immense popularity after the hit Netflix movie I had higher hopes for this English version. I really think that one or two more passes with an editor could really benefit this book.

It is with sincere apologies to inform that I could not finish reading this book. I really tried, but it really did not work for me. Although I know it was translated from Polish to English, it really was not done well. Certain words and phrases just did not sit well for me.

Laura Biel is a young woman, highly successful in her career, with a caring family and a romantic relationship that seems perfect, but it is not.

Laura feels sexually unsatisfied with her boyfriend because they don't have a steamy sex life. He prefers to spend time with his laptop than with her.

Don Massimo Torricelli is a powerful, dangerous, and dominant man. He was born in the Sicilian mafia and stopped at nothing. A few years ago, he suffered a terrible accident that caused some hallucinations about a beautiful and unknown woman. Since he woke up, Massimo has looked for her everywhere and has become obsessed with her.

As fate would have it, Laura will go on vacation to Sicily, where Massimo will meet with his beloved object of obsession. Immediately, Massimo orders Laura's kidnapping.

When Laura wakes up in Massimo's mansion, he proposes a deal: 365 with him in exchange for not hurting his family. During this time, Massimo will either make her fall in love or let her go.

My impressions
WOW.
These kinds of stories - powerful men kidnapping women who end up falling in love with them - are nothing new. They were very famous in 2015 and even before.
However, 365 by Blanka Lipińska shines on its own.

At the beginning of the book, the sexual tension between Massimo and Laura is intense. You can almost feel Laura's desire to surrender to him even though she doesn't want to.

Maybe if Massimo had approached her differently, she would still have fallen in love with him because Massimo proposes the kind of passion that she craved.

Laura comes to live a dream life, filled with luxury, extravagant trips, expensive dresses, and plenty more.

Then there are times of tension and terror because of the dangers Laura faces when living with a mob boss. I didn't expect the cliffhanger because I didn't know it was a series. I just hope they translate the rest of the series soon.

My rating is 5.5 stars because this book is incredibly sexy and intense. It goes straight to my best of the year list.

And now I'm going to watch the movie on Netflix. YAY!

So I’m typically a thriller book reader but I just had to jump in and check this one out after seeing so much hype and oh my gosh I was not disappointed! I think I have a new guilty pleasure! Blanka is a really amazing writer and I loved the characters so much! Even the ones I really should hate, I still loved! Can’t wait until the next book is published in English! And oh, boy. The STEAM factor!!! Yes, please!

Thanks so much to Atria via NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review!

This was not for me. Too many consent issues for me to overlook and some pretty obvious Stockholm Syndrome.

YIKES! That is the only way to start this review. So, obviously, I have watched the movie on Netflix and that was why I read this. I knew what I was getting myself into but holy moly this was so bad. I hate writing long reviews of why I didn't enjoy a book but I want to be clear why I didn't enjoy this at all.

FIRST OF ALL. Yes, there is a lot more story in the book that the movie skipped over but sometimes that "story" was too much. There is a huge difference between enjoying sex rougher than others, BDSM and ABUSE. I hope to not offend anyone here but his attitude towards her was abusive. At one point he even said I won't stop if you tell me to.... UH NO. It doesn't matter when or if she said yes to start but the moment NO/STOP are used it is abusive to keep going... and the fact that she "loved" it was neatly horrifying. It wasn't stockholm syndrome... it was abuse and horrible.

Second. Some of the sex scenes were so unbelievable and NOT sexy that it was confusing. I have read my fair share of sexy times book that lean more towards darkness and while it may not be me thing I can read it.... this was cringeworthy.

Third. So many of the translations didn't make sense... there was one scene that I think was supposed to be a dream but it was so confusing. I understand that some things don't translate well but this did not get translated very well.

Fourth... ha... maybe it was just me but she seemed obsessed with the idea of "gay men" and constantly felt like it was not said in a way that was positive. It felt very odd to me.

As I said, I usually just like to say no I didn't like it, but this book was a train wreck and with so many waiting for it because of the movie I felt I had to be fully honest.

This was a HARD PASS for me. I won't be reading more if its translated.

I don't know why I thought I would like this one. I hated 50 Shades of Grey. There are some very problematic themes, so definitely not a read for anyone easily triggered. After seeing the movie, I'm not sure there is a need for a book.

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC ebook in exchange for an honest review.

This was not for me, it had some kind of abusive themes in it that I just couldn’t tolerate.

The book is written in Laura's POV - which is a bit sad. I would have liked to have had more of Massimo’s POV to help move the story. It starts as a holiday romance, we quickly learn of Massimo’s intentions.
Laura accepts her new life very quickly and the sometimes there are some very weird sexy moments. These are core problems in the story. It does make a little hard to feel like it is a true romance.
It's very sexy, it is erotica for sure. There is a Pretty Woman/Cinderella-ish with all the shopping and traveling and constant champagne-drinking rich-people. But it was very stereotypical none of it was groundbreaking or new to romance. There is a mafia component to the story. It does help move the story along, but it is just so so.

The story does end unfinished and there is a second part coming. I am not a 100% sure I really care to read it. The story was sexy, but the story line needs some work along with character development.

And it wasn't a bad read but it wasn’t great. The language was a bit weird. It was translated by a Polish guy, so that's the first thing the publisher did wrong. You need to let a lady translate a book written by a lady. The whole 'voice' of the heroine gets lost. And I think they should've used a team of translators - both native and non-native Polish speakers.

dnf'd at 21%

tw: kidnapping, threats of rape (there are more, but these were the main concerns within the fifth of the book that I managed to read)

I received an advanced digital copy of this book from NetGalley, whom I thank for supplying me with this book. All views expressed in this review are my own and in no way sponsored.

I honestly didn't have high hopes for this book, having seen the movie, but I still wanted to read it and try to understand what made this book so popular in Poland and then the rest of the world. The movie was quite beautifully made at times, but the story was concerning and much of the dialogue was poorly written. I do think that the movie can be enjoyable, if viewers put aside any ideas that it is going to be an excellent film. I likely will watch the sequel, but again I do not anticipate anything groundbreaking.

However, this review is of the book--the English translation of which is coming out in 2021. I think that the translation was done well, and the story is quite similar to that of the movie. However, the scenes and actions in the movie that made me uncomfortable were somehow made much worse in the novel. Not only are there chunky paragraphs of description thrown in rather than the characters showing their traits through their actions and thoughts, but much of the dialogue felt incredibly unrealistic (especially Martin and Laura's Polish friends, who are so poorly written and clearly just placeholders meant to show that Laura is unsatisfied with her current life).

Massimo is somehow worse on the page than on the screen. His dialogue is often delivered in long speeches that feel unrealistic--which is bad considering how ridiculous the scenario seems. It is clearer how Massimo came to know Laura (as he saw a vision of her, rather than actually seeing her). Laura's dialogue is also highly unnatural, as is her sudden decision to accept her fate rather than fight against it; though this could make sense, Laura decides too quickly and her reasoning does not align with her characterization.

The worst thing from the segment I read was how much more misogynistic and threatening Massimo is towards Laura, who he claims to love. Massimo clearly states in one of his lengthy paragraphs of dialogue that he will not rape Laura. However, after that moment he threatens to go back on his word multiple times because Laura is doing something to "tempt him," which could be anything from wearing lingerie in a dressing room he stormed into, being obstinate against his orders, or literally anything else he could possibly deem arousing.

As I did not finish this ARC, I do not have a full picture of the plot and writing outside of the fifth of the novel I read and the movie I have seen three times. However, I feel that I read enough to get an idea of how the book would go down. This novel is clearly a bad/dark/taboo romance, but I do not think it is worth the read. Not only is this book poorly written, but the characters are so unrealistic and confusing that I doubt anyone could truly connect with them. Pairing that with how disgusting the set up of the romantic pairing is, I do not feel comfortable recommending this to anyone. I do not see how Massimo could be a good partner, even in bed, due to the fact that he hates and harms women so many times within the first 21% of this novel.

Many readers have waited for 365 DNI to be translated into English and the wait is over! I had many mixed emotions as I read the book. I was excited. I had seen the movie. As far as action, sexiness and chemistry - it was yes, yes, and hell yes! Sadly, there was not enough content in the movie. To my surprise, the book closely mirrored the movie and even filled in some gaps.
“I am not a capo di tutti capi. They are older, you’re right. I am a capofamiglia, or a don.”
This is the story of Don Massimo – a complicated, dangerous and controlling man. While in a coma he has a vision of Laura. It haunts him as he searches for her. He even goes as far as having multiple portraits painted of her from his vision and hung all over his Sicilian mansion. Fate has Don Massimo and Laura’s path cross and the rest is a wild ride. The push and pull between the hero and heroine was palpable.
I had thought he wasn’t one of those men who took women by force, but this behavior must have been normal for him. Such roughness came as naturally to him as shaking someone’s hand.
So much to say. There were things I liked and things I didn’t. I felt the beginning of the book was very crude. However, I sense that the author was setting the scene for Don Massimo’s character and lifestyle. Laura’s character was also a bit careless. But, once again, this is set in a different culture. She drinks, a lot. She is strong, independent and sexy.
Alcohol always had that effect on me – I feel bolder – but with Massimo, when I got drunk it seemed to always bring out the demon in me.
Some have compared the story to Fifty Shades and I must disagree. There is some rough sex but no BDSM. As stated earlier there is a lot of push and pull between Don and Laura. The story has a steady pace. The ending is not quite a cliff but pretty close. I am sure there will be many opinions both good and bad on the book. Its content – both included and excluded. I will absolutely be reading book #2 as soon as the translation comes to English. I need to know what happens next!
As far as the next 365 movie goes – count me in. Netflix has done a great job with amazing scenery, action and sexiness. Now if the movie can match the trailers and the hype…
3 stars

I wanted this to be more then it was, I think. With all of the hype surrounding the book, I was so excited to read it but it sadly fell a bit flat for me. Maybe something was lost in the translation? And no, I didn't see the movie.
It had the potential to be a fantastic book if it went another direction but instead, it followed the overdone cliffhanger ending. I actually would love to read the second book to see if the writing and storyline become stronger. The characters are amazing, I will say that as a real positive.

I almost didn't read this book because of all the hype and spoilers out there. I liked the concept of the storyline. It's intriguing to me and I felt there was potential for a great story here. Sadly, I have heard some spoilers that I'm not liking and that made me hesitate. But I decided I would lower my expectations and give it a go.

So, here are my thoughts on this much anticipated and hyped up book. As much as I would like to give the book credit, it's my opinion that it's the actor Michele Morrone is the reason for the hype. He's a sexy guy and there are some intense sexual scenes in the movie based off this book. Even though I'm giving the actor the credit for the hype, the book was actually pretty good, but with a few issues.

I was conflicted over rating this. I decided on 4 because overall, the storyline proved to be just as intriguing as I had hoped. I also really liked the chemistry between the main characters. That chemistry you saw in the movie is what you get in this book. My issue was there were times I felt the writing was a bit off. It felt like a story that was professional cleaned up but missed a few spots. Maybe some things were just lost in the translation to English. Either way, it was enough to notice but not enough to ruin the book for me.

As for the main characters, Massimo Torricelli was an intense anti-hero. His obsession with the heroine is one of the draws for me with this book. He's very dominant and not a nice guy but he tried very hard to be better for Laura. He is mafia and the author kept him real to that role. I'm just really glad she didn't have him abuse Laura, because that is one thing I don't like for a hero to do to his heroine. He was firm and a bit rough at times with her but also very protective. She was his dream for so long, he just desperately didn't want her to disappear.

Laura was a harder character for me to like. Her reactions are very unrealistic. It's a book so I really shouldn't hold that against it, but I can't help but think this could have been better with a more proper reaction to certain scenes. She also came off a bit bratty at times and I'm not a fan of that. She's not the worst I've read and for me, it's all about the hero anyway.

One of the spoilers I learned did happen in this book. It was also in the movie. Did I like it? No. Did it ruin the book for me? Also no. Now, the other spoilers I heard that must happen in later books could be a deal breaker for me if they are true. That's something I am going to have to think on before I continue with the series. To be continued...or not.

Hot, steamy, romantic, and suspenseful! This is one of the best books I have read in 2020! I am giving it 4 stars only because the ending left such a cliffhanger!