I would recommend if you like mafia romance, insta love, dark romance, spice and forced marriage. The spice was good. It wasn’t my favorite Katee Roberts book but it was a quick and easy read.

I read my first mafia romance and literally finished it in 3-4 hours! “Dark Succession” by Katee Robert is a real wild one and is totally bingeable!

This story revolves around three Irish mafia families in Boston! Business alliances are formed through arranged marriages within the family hierarchies! However, one bride to be holds onto a dark secret that causes war within the three families! Loss, gain, danger, power, revenge and tons of grit are all deliciously tangled together in this action packed

Read this if you like
🖤 mafia storylines
🖤 insta lust/love
🖤 arranged marriages
🖤 dark romances
🖤 exposed family histories
🖤 lotsa spice

Thank you to Forever Pub, Grand Central Pub, Katee Robert and Netgalley for my advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review! This book releases May 9, 2023!

🖤👑Book Review🖤

Thank you Forever Pub for the ARC via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this mafia romance, it was easy to read and the story flowed well. Teague and Callie had a solid and wholesome romance and i’m really interested to see what happens James and Carrigan!

Read this if you like:
🖤👑Mafia romance
🖤👑Feuding family
🖤👑Solid romance with HEA

Spice meter: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

I love a Katee Robert romance however typically I read a monster or Greek retelling. This is my first mafia romance with her. And it was just as sexy and spicy as is expected from Katee

I was a little disappointed in how helpless Callista was after the moment of strength in the beginning. I was just expecting a little more push for her future, especially as an heir. I couldn't compute these differences in characters

For Teague its a love at the first signed situation and he automatically wants to take care of Callist and she kind of allows it

Since this is a reprint series. I will keep going - I hear the other characters' romances have FMC with more push than this so I will keep this in mind to keep reading

All in all, I did enjoy this romance and the spice. Chefs kiss

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and Katee Roberts for a free arc in exchange for an honest review. Katee roberts knows how to read one addictive, intoxicating book. And this one is no different! The characters, the plot, the smut all work together to pull you in and makes it to where you can’t put it down! A fabulously delicious read all around!

i think ‘married in secret’ might be one of my new favorite tropes. this book was hot, steamy, and fast paced. i will read anything that katee robert writes, but this was one of her best pieces i’ve read so fair. while crime family isn’t my usual go to, katee really draws you in with star crossed characters that you can’t help but root for. i loved carrigans POVS and am hoping we get more of her story in the future!!

Not bad but not my favorite. It is a Mafia romance but not necessarily a fantasy but it seemed like it required more suspension of disbelief than a fantasy tale. The plot is loose but works in the end. You can tell it is one of her earlier works and her formula wasn't really defined yet. A good general read and fits her style if you are already fan of her other works.

Fast-paced mafia classic. Dramatic, with lots of focus on family dynamics. I liked that both main characters were part of the new generation and were pulling in different directions: Teague wants to get out of the family business completely, Callie wants to go legit. Loved the protector vibes. Definitely had the "who hurt you?" moments!

Overall, the romance is not super developed, but this first story certainly sets up for more development as a series. And while it doesn't quite end in a cliffhanger, it certainly wraps up very quickly and leaves quite a bit to be answered.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

Dark Succession is a dark, mafia romance featuring the enemies to lovers and arranged marriage tropes. I would recommend it to fans of darker or suspenseful romances like Things We Never Got Over by Lucy Score, My Killer Vacation by Tessa Bailey, The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L Jensen, Scandalized by Ivy Owens, A Shadow in the Ember by Jennifer L Armentrout, or Redeemed by Lauren Asher. Dark Succession deals with themes/ topics like quest for power, family, loneliness, desire to escape, death, love and sacrifice, manipulation, oppression, war, crime, and good versus evil. Trigger warnings include kidnapping, abuse, shootings, and mention of rape.

Overall, I didn’t feel like Dark Succession lived up to my high expectations; I was expecting big things after reading and enjoying Court of the Vampire Queen by Katee Robert last year. At the beginning of the novel, I often found myself confused as to which characters belonged to which crime family and where they ranked within the hierarchy. Similarly, since the book is told from a few different perspectives, it would have been helpful if Robert had included a heading letting readers know when the perspective was being switched to avoid confusion. Lastly, I wasn’t a fan of some of the darker elements that Robert’s included such as the physical abuse and mention of rape.

On the upside, even though the book was initially hard for me to get into, once the story got started, I found that the plot was interesting and fast-paced. Furthermore, I enjoyed the mystery and suspense elements as well as Teague and Callie’s spicy enemies to lovers romance (it almost gave me a bit of a Romeo and Juliet vibe). I’m hopeful that the rest of The O’Malleys series will be republished; I’m especially excited about book 2 (originally titled The Marriage Pact) as the main characters in this book, Carrigan and James, are introduced in book 1 and have a sizzling chemistry!

This book was fantastic and gets you hooked from the first page. You can’t help but root for all of the siblings who are at war when they didn’t want to be. Teegan has always wanted to keep his six siblings safe and marring Callie is one way to help with that or so he thought. Will he be able to save everyone he loves while making some hard decisions?

Thank you for the ARC Netgalley!

I’ve been on a dark romance kick lately so I was thrilled to pick this one up. With Katee Robert we can always count on morally gray characters, steam and drama. This book did not disappoint! I had fun with this one, it was sweeter than I thought it would be with it being set in the mafia world. Callie and Teague were little shining lights in their dark families. This was a quick and fun read, perfect to pick up when you can’t decide on what’s next! Great palate cleanser!

I loved Teague and Callie's story. I hadn't read any of the books in this series and I was thoroughly impressed. It had me swooning, laughing and crying throughout the book. I've read several mafia romance books and this is by far at the top. I think the cover and title change from the previous version match the author's overall aesthetic.

I unfortunately did not finish this book. I found it extremely hard to get through, which was a huge disappointment as I've read several of Katee Robert's books in the past and absolutely loved them.

The insta-love in this did not work for me, neither did the world building. It felt like we were thrown head first into this mafia family with absolutely no context, and then the context was given in such a weird way that I felt constantly behind and that new convenient details and characters were added just to get away from any sort of conflict. I didn't feel any sort of tension between our main characters and just didn't find myself caring about their relationship or what happens next in this story.

Unfortunately I wouldn't recommend this book, but will give Robert's new works a read, as it seems she has improved drastically since this novel was first published.

I did not enjoy this one. This is a me problem though. I just do not like this authors writing style and I struggle with every book I read. This author is loved on booktok though so if you like Katee Roberts, you will enjoy this one.

im in love with Roberts books! and this was just as good. the male mc is delicious! the darkness of this book makes it extremely difficult to put down. I highly recommend!

I realized I already read this book years ago and just forgot that they changed the title and cover. I enjoyed re-reading it though.

I just never really liked it in the first place like I liked the other books in the series.

Not a favourite but in the end, they all started somewhere and this actually makes me see how much she grow as a favourite author and how her writing become so much better over time.
The characters, the banter and suspenseful moments, all add up to a nice story overall.

I wanna start this off by saying that I’m a big Katee Robert fan. I absolutely love her newer books but her early writing does not measure up. The best way I could describe this book is just that it was bland. The characters, writing, plot, sex scenes. Nothing really stood out to me to make this a worthwhile read.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me a copy for review!

3.5 stars

Although this may not be the best Katee Robert book I’ve ever read, I always enjoy her stories. This was a short and entertaining read which I finished in just a few hours. Callie and Teague are part of rival mafia families and agree to an arranged marriage, and lots of violence, family drama, and romance ensues. There was a lot of chemistry between Callie and Teague, so although the romance happened quickly, it was mostly believable. Some of the other characters were interesting, but I’m not sure I would make finishing the series a priority.

Thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the review copy!

Unfortunately I DNF this one. Love the cover and the new name, but the story fell flat for me. Very slow to start and I wasn’t connecting with the characters or the story line. I did not like that POVs would switch in the middle of the chapter. It was very confusing whose POV it was since there are more than just Teague and Callista.

Thank you NetGalley for my copy in exchange for an honest review.