Soooo, I haven't read the other books in this series but I'm going to have to now because the dad dies in the end. I feel the need to see more of how he must have been in his prime

It's very insta-love which sometimes I like sometimes I don't. In this instant, I did because they gave Romeo Juliet vibes what with their families being rivals.

Thank you Netgalley for a copy!

Great ending to the series. I can honestly say I loved each book, and I couldn't choose which is my favourite.

Thank you to Netgalley for this advanced reader's copy.

This is for sure a dark, contemporary, crime related romance. Moves along at a good pace and Sebastian is a very likable character. The FMC is no slouch either. There were a few unexpected turns that had me on the edge of my seat!

Overall pretty good book.

Thank you to SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books, Bloom Books and Net Galley for the ARC!

5/5 star
4/5 spice

To finally have Sebastian's book was damn spectacular!
I had read books 1-5 in this series, but this was a first read of book 6.

"If the ocean were pleasure and my body were sand, then each time Sebastian thrusts into me, it’s like a wave breaking on the shore, soaking me in bliss." ~ Yelena

Sebastian and Yelena start dating, and we get to see them slowly fall in-love with each other. However, they have to navigate their family's dirty secrets before it turns into a heartbreaking betrayal.

- Dual PO
- Bratva / Mafia
- Forced fake relationship
- He falls hard
- True Romance
- Secrets
- Spicy

3.5/5 A mafia romance, with a morally light-gray MMC.

So whoever uploaded Heavy Crown to NetGalley forgot the crucial information that this is book #6 in the Brutal Birthright series. I thought it was a standalone. Good news, I've read book one 'Brutal Prince', so I'm going to let you know if 1) You need to read books 2-5 before reading this one, and 2) How much I enjoyed the read, even without knowing the full series.

Do you you need to read the full series to understand book #6?
TLDR: No
Explained: You at least need to have read book #1 'Brutal Prince', because it introduces you to all the characters and does the world building that will help you understand what is happening in book #6. As long as you've read the first book, Sophie does a great job 'reminding' you about what happened to the other siblings in the other stories (thank you so much for that reminder Sophie!)

How much I enjoyed the book
Book one was dark, which I loved. Our FMC ate strawberries before kissing her husband because she knew he was deathly allergic. Yes! I expected the same level of dark here, but our MMC and FMC are ultimately good people, a lighter shade of morally gray if you will. I wish there was a bit more spice. But I like the pacing of the book. I'd say this is more of a romantic thriller than a dark romance.

Thank you to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books for the advanced reader copy.

This book is best read in your childhood home, while your beloved plays the piano. If you smell smoke, you'd better run . . . fast.

This is my first experience with a Sophie Lark book. I thought it was a standalone. I hadn’t read any of the other books in the series, so I was worried that I’d be lost. I definitely wasn’t lost. There may be some things that took me a while to understand but I eventually got it.

I really enjoyed the book, I’m just not a fan of the miscommunication trope as well as the insta-love trope, and those seemed to be heavy in this book. Just because it wasn’t for me, doesn’t mean that it wasn’t a good book. I enjoyed the writing and the adventure (twists and turns) that the book took me on.

Thank you NetGalley and Bloom Books for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Heavy Crown - A good old mafia story of love, passion, revenge and loads of action. I enjoyed reading the Heavy Crown where the lead Sebastian reluctantly but ultimately wears the crown he is entitled to.

Thank you Sophie Lark, Bloom Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to express my honest opinion for a copy of the eARC of Heavy Crown.

First and foremost, what a finish! I've read a few other reviews and while I agree that the conclusion to this series was not what I expected; it's also not my series to end, nor are these my characters to write. After reflecting a bit, I have come to the conclusion that the how and why each family member found their own way was how it was meant to be. I don't want to give too much away - but try to put your own expectations aside and go with it.

I'm not a usual fan of the miscommunication trope, but Sophie is such a fantastic writer and the action/suspense was enough to keep me satisfied to not focus on the absurdity of how much I hate it. It really was that good. I also very much enjoyed the sub-plot that we got of Enzo + Yelena, Greta, Sebastian, etc.

The pacing was pretty on point but the extreme time jump with the epilogue, while it made sense to set up the next generation, was not my cup of tea and felt rushed to the max. I could have done without it. All of that being said; I loved this book - I loved this series, and I love Sophie Lark. The end.

Heavy Crown by Sophie Lark is an addicting book.
This is my 4th book from Sophie Lark and I've enjoyed reading the Brutal Birthright Series.

✅ Mafia
✅ High sexual tension
✅ Plenty of spicy scenes
✅ Action packed
✅ Betrayal
✅ Angst
✅ Suspense
✅ Heart breaking scenes
✅ Tear jerker ( i've cried a lot)
✅ Spiciness : Intense and explicit

The storyline are addicting and the characters are amazing. Throughout the series, I really curious about Seb character since he's the quiet guy. When he met Yelena, the attraction are very strong. I really love Yelena character since she doesn't just sit around when there's a problem. She really trying to help Seb in anyway she knows which really shows her loyalty to Seb.

I'll definitely be looking forward to Sophie Lark and waiting for the next book.

I struggled to get through this book. It could have been a great book as it was a decent story. However if this is being marketed as a standalone novel then I think the author should take into account that people may pick this novel up that have never read a mafia style book before ever. I am one of those people. I was so confused when it came to the many Russian, polish and even Italian words and phrases that were littered throughout the book with no explanation of what they meant. Leaving me guessing or trying to look them up. It really pulled me out of the story each time I had to get stop to look up a word that was a different language. I wish Sophie Lark would have found a way to introduce the meaning of the words within her writing.
I did enjoy that it was super action packed and even though it is listed as a romance novel there is very little romance in the book. I feel it is the perfect amount of romance to action.
The ending of the book makes me think there might be a continuation with other characters, which I think I would read because I am curious to see how thier stories play out.

3.5/5 ⭐
1/5 🌶️

I received an advance review copy for free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review

Thanks so much to Sophie Lark, Bloom Books and NetGalley for the eARC, all opinions expressed are my own.

I absolutely adore this series and this book is no different, accompanied by the illustrations, Heavy Crown is a fantastic read, The chemistry between Sebastian and Yelena is electric and I throughly enjoyed reading it.

I would highly recommend for those after a quick, fast paced and addictive read

Sebastian and Yelena's story is an angsty forbidden romance full of deceit, secret keeping, and lust. While I enjoyed a majority of this book the use of sex as a tool for a character to earn trust and forgiveness just...ugh not for me.

Dual POV, Mafia Romance, Spicy, Her First Time

Check Trigger Warnings before picking this one up.

The plot and action in this book was well done! I enjoyed all the twists and surprises. However I wasn’t a huge fan of the romance in this story or the fmc.

“𝐈𝐧 𝐚 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥.”

Heavy Crown is the final book in the Brutal Birthright Series and is a dark mafia romance following Sebastian Gallo and Yelena Yenin, daughter of a rival family. I was not expecting to love this one as much as I did! Sebastian and Yelena worked really well as a couple for me and some of their scenes were beyond hot 🥵🔥 This had twists I didn’t see coming and was heavy on the mafia content and action which I loved. Heavy Crown was a great conclusion to this series and perfectly sets up the Kingmaker Series which I cannot wait to jump into. 5⭐️

𝕎𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕋𝕠 𝔼𝕩𝕡𝕖𝕔𝕥:
💋Dark mafia romance
💋Forbidden romance
💋Heavy mafia content
💋Revenge

“𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐈’𝐦 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐘𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐚. 𝐈’𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮.”

“𝐈𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐲. 𝐀𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭.”

“𝐘𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐚 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐠𝐢𝐟𝐭. 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐭 𝐘𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭. 𝐀 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞.“

“𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭?” 𝐈 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫. “𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐟𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐧𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 ...“ 𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐧𝐬. “𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐮𝐩 𝐦𝐲 𝐚𝐬𝐬, 𝐃𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐲…𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐭...“

I’ve been going back-and-forth between giving this a 3 or a 4. I really enjoyed this story between Sebastian and Yelena. From the start it hooks you and keeps you wanting more and wanting to know what’s going to happen next and how things are going to unfold knowing the dynamic between the two characters and their families and ultimately how everything is going to come to an end. The plot twist right from the the beginning was something I really enjoyed in this book because it wasn’t something that we found out 100 pages in it happened right at the beginning and still we had no idea where it was going. Without trying to spoil anything the reason I’m leaning more towards a 3 than a 4 is simply because of Adrian and how Yelena was with him regardless of everything that happened. I also feel towards the end we got too much of him which I partially didn’t think we needed. The other part is how little towards the end we got of Greta! We waited multiple pages before she was brought up and I kept sitting there waiting for her and I just think it took too long. But overall it’s good and it definitely gives you a lot of mafia but also has its moments outside of the mafia, which made these two characters seem more relatable in my opinion.

***Honest ARC review thanks to NetGalley***

I'm going to be completely honest - I stopped reading after around 100 pages.

My dnf of this book has nothing to do with the writing, or the characters, or even the plot line as such. I cannot stand the miscommunication trope and that is basically what this is - at least up until I stopped.
If you like a fluffier (in my opinion) mafia romance and you don't mind the miscommunication/inevitable betrayal trope then the chances are you'll like this.

I've given 3 stars because while I didn't finish it, I can appreciate that it is a good book and a lot of people will enjoy it.

Sophie Lark never disappoints! Just when I thought she couldn't outdo herself she proves me wrong. I loved this so much and definitely one of my favorite reads of the year so far!

What a way to end the series! I am so happy that Sebastian got his happy ending. I love the chemistry between Sebastian and Yelena. The steamy scenes were amazing! I especially loved one particular scene where it features clothespins. So freaking hot! I also liked seeing all of the Gallos and the Griffins. I would say that this is one of the heaviest with the mafia stuff in the series. We get some explicit scenes and goriness that I’m not the biggest fan of. I did see all the plot twists that were going to happen, and I’m happy that the ending was on a high note. I’m excited to see what’s in store with the Kingmaker series!

Read if you like:
Dual POVs
Mafia romance
Virgin heroine
Open door romance
A bit of violence
A splash of BDSM

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Sebastian and Yelena
Heavy Crown had me laughing, crying, and furious and heartbroken.So excited to read the Kingmakers series and reading my precious Mafia men.Sebastian is the good son involved in sports had all the girls crazy about him. Yelena is being use as a pawn from her family to get into the Gallo organization
The guilt Yelena feels for tricking Sebastian into their initial introduction is eating away at her, but she's so in love with Sebastian, she doesn't want to reveal that their meeting wasn't the accident Sebastian believed it to be. The trust will be broken but they have to deal with the betrayal of Yelena and figure out how to win this. Yelena will lose literally everything even the naan she love but in the end Sebastian will forgive her because he going to recognize want Yelena loss and risk to be with him.

If there is one thing that Sophie Lark can do, it is write a mafia series that has me eagerly awaiting each and every page while needing to push past my bedtime to see what will happen next.

And Heavy Crown was no exception to the rule. With twists that keep you guessing at every turn and an over the top steam that will have you gasping for breath, Heavy Crown is how you end a crowd-favorite series on a bang.