𝘽𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙍𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙋𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘿𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙡 𝙗𝙮 𝙉𝙖𝙮𝙖 𝙑

This was a 4 ⭐ for me. Non-spoiler review -

I received this ARC free from Netgally.com in exchange for an honest review.

This story is a dual point of view, between the FMC Asteria and MMC Azriel. I definitely enjoyed this angsty dark mafia romance. It is a bit friends to lovers to enemies to lovers. The author does a great job making you feel what Asteria feels and I was brought to tears a couple of times. The story follows along as she is promised to one mafia member and then another after the firsts untimely demise. I found the pace/plot/character development was all very well done. It kept me turning the pages and I wanted to know what secrets Azriel was hiding. My only complaint is after their first time together it was a little too fast for Az to make such a 180 in his attitude and treatment of Asteria.

Asteria is very naive but I really loved her. It isn’t really her fault when she has been so sheltered her whole life. I had an issue with Azriel, I didn’t really love him but he grew on me a bit. That being said, even not liking him, the spice was great. It didn’t feel like too much (I hate when it overshadows the plot or is just unnecessary) and it was detailed and I will always get on board for a dominating dirty talker!

If you enjoy dark mafia romances definitely add this to your TBR! But be prepared - there's a cliffhanger!

I am an absolute sucker for a Mafia romance! The more tropes the better! Princess and the Devil had all the best, enemies to lovers, arranged marriage, slow burn etc.

I was completely hooked for the first half / ¾ of the book (I was up until about 2am reading it I couldn't put it down) The set up for the Enemies to Lovers was done really well, but I just felt it was a bit choppy after they finally went from enemies to lovers.

The last quarter of the book in my opinion felt rushed and the connection with the characters was lost for me. It almost felt like 80% of the book was written over the course of a year or more and the last 20% was rushed out in a week.

With that in mind I did still enjoy the book for what it was and will definitely read the next one when it's out.

3.5⭐️
1.5🌶
I would like to start off by saying I genuinely enjoyed this book. I love me anything to do with mafia arraigned/forced marriage series with childhood friends-to-enemies-to- lovers/second chance romance and grumpy/sunshine. There was also a very loose Hades/Persephone undertone that I only felt occasionally.

That being said,
While I thought Azriel and Asteria’s relationship with they were teenagers was very cute I was conflicted later on. I hope we learn more about what happened after Azriel left in book 2 because it didn’t seem to know how he felt from chapter to chapter. I also really hope that Asteria develops more of a backbone/independence in book 2. Yes, she grew up sheltered but I mean it took her how long of living to Az to be all “I’m going to learn to cook” or to even discover the library??

Additionally, the pacing did feel a little inconsistent with the first 10 chapters being the same character and the plot not picking up until about 20-30%, slow build for a while, then love and spice and consistent flow starting around 65%. I felt the ending/cliffhanger was well placed— there was a good chunk of time between when they married to the end but with a majority of the chapters being from Asteria’s POV it lacked a sense of urgency or scope of how bad the situation was outside the estate. I personally would have loved an Az chapter of him finding out she left and having to go get her.

Overall, I did like this book and will be patiently waiting for the next one and hope we get a Gio/Franny story at some point too!

Ok. Why are the lead characters names so alike!?! This is my only issue with the story. I LOVE mafia romance, but the characters names drove me a but mad.

The story is an arranged marriage/mafia romance and is the first the series by Naya V. and it does end on a cliffhanger, so mind tg drop.

The story had a a very cool childhood background that gave way for a really good dynamic/tension between the main characters.

I'd recommend this book for individuals who love quick/fast-paced stories with tension, slow burn, and mafia drama. But dear god I wish there characters names were different.

“I’m not marrying him,” I blurt out, tone hard. “You don’t have a choice, princess.”

The start of this book was gripping and I was engrossed in Azriel & Asteria's story. They knew each other because Asteria's father was the head of the Cosa Nostra and Azriel's father was his consiglere. Az & Asteria loved each other in secret but something whisks them away from each other and as a result, Az and his father are pushed out from the organisation. While an unwanted marriage aliance is forced on Asteria and she's due to get married once she turns eighteen. Though things don't go as planned because her fiance is murdered on the wedding day. Fast forward four years later, Azriel has become the capo of another Outfit and is back in Asteria's life because her father arranged her marriage with him to save his rule. Asteria had always been caged and sheltered due to which she was naive and sometimes childish but that didn't annoy me until the very end of the book. I was so annoyed by her reckless behaviour and trusting nature. Azriel was grumpy, brooding and cruel but I liked to see him soften up for her. And while Asteria was soft, kind and sometimes sassy, I hope she develops some sort of self preservation instincts in the next book. This book ends in a cliffhanger and I must say, I wasn't very shocked by the twist. Still I'm looking forward to read the next book to see how Azriel & Asteria's story concludes.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review

That you NetGalley and Naya V for an ARC of this book.

You had me at Hades/Persephone retelling, Mafia romance, arranged marriage.

I have just recently gotten into dark romances, and this was such a good one. I do feel like the writing was a bit basic at times and was very predictable. I wasn't the biggest fan of Azriel because of how he treated Asteria. It was hard for me to picture him as the love interest for a while.

I went into this thinking it was a standalone... and was shocked to find out it was a series at the very end by that cliffhanger! Now I am needing the next book, to know what happens next.

I'm not huge on mafia romances but once I read the book description, I had to give this a go.
Asteria is set up for an arranged marriage by her father on her 18th Birthday to a powerful man in the Underworld - an ex-lover. The writing style the Author uses makes you feel the tension between the two.

This book as it all!
-Enemies to Lovers
-Arranged Marriage
-Hades and Persephone references
-different POVs
-the spice!
-cliffhanger, I love a book with a cliffhanger.
-world building with the Mob Scenes and the Underworld

With all these amazing things in this story (and more) this book shouldn't be passed up. I am eagerly waiting for the 2nd book to follow along with Asteria and Azriel. One can only hang on to so many secrets before they come spilling out.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Princess and the Devil is a dark and twisted Arranged Marriage Mafia Romance that will leave you breathless. From the very first page, author Naya V. draws you into the seedy underworld of Chicago's mob scene with her vivid and descriptive writing. You will be instantly captivated by the story of Azriel Costa, a man with a darkness in his eyes and a thirst for blood, as he sets out to destroy the family who ruined his life.

Naya V. expertly weaves a tale of love, loss, betrayal, and revenge that will keep you hooked until the very last page. The characters are well-developed and multi-dimensional, making it easy to empathize with their plights. The plot is fast-paced and action-packed, with plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing. If you're looking for a dark and sexy read that will keep you entertained from beginning to end, then this is the book for you!

If you’re a fan of mafia romances, enemies to lovers, forced marriage, grumpy sunshine, hades and Persephone retellings, then this one is definitely for you. I’m a big fan of all of those, especially mafia romances and this one definitely can take my five stars. I was glued from the moment I started reading, and read it one sitting.

Astoria speaks what’s on her mind, is sassy, stubborn and lights up a whole room she’s so kind. She may be naive but she’s always been sheltered. I yelled “idiot” & got annoyed a few times at Azriel. But once I got past that, he’s amazing. I mean there’s one part in the book, where you’re just dreaming of it happening to you. (🦋) Their chemistry!!! Omg, out of this world!!! Even years apart, you can still feel their connection. The built up tension between the two characters was intense and sit on the edge of your seat type. There’s ton of drama, and some delicious spice!!

And Omg, that cliff hanger!!!! I need book #2 ASAP!!! 🫢😮 i really enjoyed this one, and I cannot wait to get back to these characters!!

Thank you, @netgalley, Naya V. Books and @authornayav for this amazing e-ARC, in exchange for my honest review.

I love Mafia Romance with Arranged Marriage so when i found this book, i was excited. The story follows with Asteria and Azriel falling in love with each other but her father found out and outcast Azriel and his father. Asteria was heartbroken when her father arranged for marriage. But her finace was killed a day before wedding. After four years, her father arranged marriage again to the powerful capo who turns out to be Azriel and she was shaken to meet him again but something was wholly different with him. He's cold blooded, expressionless and harsh. He confessed that he felt nothing when they were kids and he married her because he's taking everything back what he lost. Even if it hurts her. He's taking revenge on her father and she's the pawn. But Azriel has a secret trying to hide from her and about her mother's dead. He's also trying to protect her when enemies threathens him constantly. Finally, truth comes out but at what cost ?? It's ends in the cliffhanger so need to patiently wait for book 2.

The story was really good. The reason I'm giving 3 stars cause, it has Hades and Persephone retelling which I think the story doesn't need when it focus on revenge and secrets. The plot was nice and some actions and worth the wait smut after the second half of the story. I'd recommend it to those who love Arranged Marriage Mafia Romance with Hades and Persephone retelling.

I was super excited to get an ARC of this book because let's be real, Hades and Persephone retellings have me in a literal chokehold. Anyone who is obsessed with mafia arranged marriage romances, will have a field day with this book because it is jam packed with all the mafia tropes we love. Not only were all my favourite tropes in this book but it helps that this book cover is also discreet which means it'll be easy to carry around without any worries ;)

On a technical level, this book had it all and the character growth was definitely one I enjoyed reading about. Our FMC was a little childish though, and despite her actual growth into an adult, I found she continued to stay very young minded and her actions or words reflected that. Not to say she didn't grow nor can she continue to grow more, but within the space of this book she didn't grow as much as I hoped she might. Because there's a book two though, I can't wait to see her continue to grow in this mafia and arranged marriage realm, she has the potential to become a badass FMC.

The writing vibes were a hit and miss with the classic Chicago mafia vibes that were being portrayed in the book. I think it's easy to get sucked into what a mafia book "should sound like" when in reality as long as the plot is good and the characters are more than two dimensional, the writing style didn't bother me as much as I thought it would in the beginning.

Overall, I'm super pumped to read the sequel because their story feels far from over!

❤️‍🔥 The Perfect Enemies To Lovers Mafia Romance ❤️‍🔥

From the first chapter, I was hooked. Quickly I fell in love with the characters until my heart was wretched out of my body in only the first few chapters. The dual point of view was perfect. You get the best of both worlds. The first chapter from his point of view made my heart strain with anticipation. What was he thinking ? Why was he acting like this ? But , god did I eat up every word. This book made me go through a plethora of emotions. You really feel the longing and the betrayal and the hope that no matter what these two characters are it for eachother. It was them. It’s always been them. I loved this book and I absolutely can’t wait until the next one!

This book will make your heart race in every possible sense you could think of. It’s thrilling , romantic , and filled with spice.

The Princess and The Devil is exactly what you want in a steamy, mafia romance novel with all the spice. I thoroughly enjoyed the mafia angle and always love a good lover-enemy-lover situation. The Hades and Persephone references are a bit much throughout; however, they don't detract too much from the story. The book does end on a cliffhanger. With that said, I can't wait for the next book to come out, so that I can find out what happens to Asteria and Azriel. I'll be recommending The Princess and The Devil to anyone looking for a spicy romance to read.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Naya V for allowing me to read this ARC. I was definitely torn between giving this book two or three stars. I ultimately gave it three stars only because this book had me hooked until the very end. The book was a very well done hades and Persephone retelling. But, the book was extremely tropey, we had lovers to enemies to lovers, grumpy sunshine, and mafia romance. The book did what it was suppose to with these tropes;however, the plot wasn’t anything mind blowing. It is definitely one of those books that booktok will absolutely love; it is filled with quotes that will most likely will go viral if they were to be posted. Ultimately my biggest issue is that I felt like there was plot holes. There was a lack of explanation regarding Azriel and Asteria’s relationship fall out, it kindof just happened; yet, it seemed like a bunch of stuff happened behind closed doors. There were many other plot holes as well; I feel like it was mostly due to poor transitioning between main events in the book (I.e. people being shot or poisoned or kidnapped). I will definitely be reading the second book because that ENDING was a cliffhanger and I just have to know what happens to these starcrossed lovers.

First I would like to say Thank you to Net Galley and Naya V for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I think I should start this off by saying I LOVED this story, I finished it in one sitting, so that should say a lot.
When I read the description of this story I was immediately intrigued. I love mafia romances as well as second chance romance and friends to lovers to enemies tropes. Asteria and Azriel's story had all the angst and banter one could have hoped for and I enjoyed every minute.

Now with all that being said, there were a few minor things that annoyed me. Mainly Asteria, she was way too naive for my liking and gave in to demands way too easily. There were times I thought well maybe she will start to grow a backbone and actually do something she wants instead of what others tell her to. Now don't get me wrong there was 1 situation she ended up actually doing something she wanted to do but that was the way towards the end. What I'm trying to say is I would have loved it if she actually stood her ground with Azriel when he decided to be a jerk, instead of letting him win all the time throughout the book instead of towards the end.

Overall I Loved this book and cannot wait for the sequel, and I don't know if I am the only one but I really want there to be a Francesca and Giovanni book in the future! ♥️

I enjoyed some parts of this book! While it was an easy read, there were minor things that I did not like.

Asteria is really naive but who can blame her? Growing up as a mafia princess in someways made her green. When Azriel, her one true love, leaves without a trace, Asteria is faced with devastation and heartbreak.

After a few years go by, Azriel is back and is a new person.

I personally didn’t like the inclusion of Hades and Persephone. I love the two, but in here it felt more like nicknames than a retelling- this can be improved. The 🌶 was just enough😮‍💨 I really liked this there’s just something missing that I cannot pinpoint.

In the beginning, readers are given a prologue to the background of Asteria’s & Azriel’s friendship, which I appreciated so much. There are many second chance romance type tropes where you aren’t given deep enough background information, so this was something I thoroughly enjoyed reading. It was friends to lovers in the prologue and first few chapters , and then shifted dramatically to tense, enemy vibes after Asteria and Azriel did their growing up apart from each other. The man that Asteria knew as a child is no longer there, and was replaced with a cold, brutal, and older version of Azriel that she is now destined to marry after 6 years of being apart from one another; really, I should say ghosted since Azriel left her in the middle of the night. However, circling back to what I said earlier, I do appreciate the fun, innocent snippets of the moments that Azriel and Asteria shared together when they were younger.

The character development of Asteria was amazing. She started to become more bold with her actions and language, which leads her to being depicted as a stubborn, “I’m sure as hell not holding my tongue” type of woman, which I love. I love when authors write the women characters as strong and bold archetypes, instead of meek and innocent. She seemed to break out of her gilded cage, which I really enjoyed watch happen throughout the course of the book. Azriel was a pain in my side throughout majority of the book through Asteria’s POV, but lessened when I read his POV.

What I really disliked was the miscommunication trope. It was prevalent throughout the entire book, and although I do think it did contribute to the suspense, I wasn’t a fan. It’s not something I enjoy in a book because it makes me annoyed or want to pull my hair out, but I get why the author decided to factor it in.

Overall, it’s been a great book and one of the better mafia romance books I’ve read, minus the few dislikes I had with the book. I would recommend it to a friend and advertise it to my audience, but would definitely warn them of the miscommunication and verbal harshness that Azriel exhibits since that isn’t particularly my cup of tea.

To me this was a 3.5 ⭐️ book. I loved the theme of Hades and Persephone throughout the book. I think I’m just not the biggest fan of mafia romances. The writing was good and the story line was good but I just couldn’t get over how Azriel treated Asteria. It just didn’t make sense to me why he treated her so poorly.

I also wasn’t the biggest fan of Asteria’s character. When the story started she was just a child but as the years go on in the book she just seemed to not grow out of that childish behavior. At one point in the book she knows if she does something other people will suffer from it and she does it anyway. The book did keep my attention and I enjoyed reading it, there were just things throughout the book that continued to bother me. This is a really short book so it didn’t take very much time at all to read through.

Thank you NetGalley and Naya V. For for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I loved this book so much I literaly devoured it in a sitting couldn't put it down I was hooked from the first page thank you so much for giving me a copy can't wait to read more

This story has so much potential and I did enjoy it, but their are a few kinks I think the author should have ironed out before publishing. Overall, it’s a typical mafia romance with that beloved “friends to enemies to lovers” trope. Just from reading the blurb I was excited to dive in and did truly enjoy the experience.

Yet, that being said, it did have some pitfalls that were hard to get past. The story didn’t feel like it really took off until around 25% in, even though I did enjoy the setup for the main characters, it was dragged on a bit too long for my liking. That’s just my personal preference though.

Overall, the characters were interesting, but the female main felt a little flat. At times, she was incredibly childish (which was fine in the beginning because she WAS a child). She never seemed to grow out of that childishness though. The author used the characters inner monologue to tell us things we already assume just from the genre of the book, and the character rattles on and on. I found myself skimming over a lot of her internal thoughts because of this. Another issue with the female main character was the fact that she seemed to know information that was uncharacteristic for her (i.e. she technically/scholarly analyzed a painting in an art gallery without the reader having any idea that she knew anything about art in the first place). It pulled me out of the story enough that I was actually annoyed.

The reader is left stuck Asteria’s POV for the first 10 chapters. For a moment, I wondered why the chapters were labeled with her name. And then you get Azriel‘s POV, and it’s fantastic! His point of view is compelling and interesting and I wished we’d gotten more of him in the beginning. Yet, even with him their were issues. His motives were inconsistent and changed so suddenly that I wasn’t sure if I had missed something important along the way. It’s felt obvious that the characters emotional changes were forced and not naturally shifting — the entire relationship dynamic was rushed.

And the Hades and Persephone theme was not done all that well. The characters held onto that theme with a vice grip and it was sometimes really awkward.

Were there quite a few issues with this story? Yeah, sadly. But, I still enjoyed the overall idea and concept and would still read the next book. I’m invested, even if the storytelling wasn’t up to par with what I had hoped for.

(I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review.)