Ok, I love a mafia romance with some spice, and I would say I am a mild dark spice kinda reader. This was a bit too “spicy” for me. Not my cup of tea at all. I was honestly a little shocked at times, and thinking - that’s messed up. But for a dark romance reader, 100% they will enjoy it.

A dark spin off of Snow White. Eshe is the heir to her mother’s mafia, but after her mother is killed, her evil aunt takes over. And one day that aunt hires the Huntsman to end her and take her heart. But it turns into a game of cat and mouse when their chemistry takes off and neither can end the other. And when their lives keep pulling them together - even if it’s really to end each other. But the Huntsman has never failed to take down his target, and Eshe has enough will and deranged know how to survive most anything.

Thank you to Tor/Bramble and Netgalley for the early copy. All opinions are my own.

After Eshe finds out her aunt Abena, queen of the family has hired an assassin to take her out, Eshe decides it’s finally time to get her revenge for Abena destroying her family years earlier

🖤 Dark romance
🖤 Mafia
🖤 D3ath
🖤 Sexual content

I came for the fairytale retelling but stayed to see a queen bring an assassin to his knees

If I could give this 10 stars I absolutely would. I loved everything about this. The characters, the story, the darkness and the humor 🙌🏾

Apparently we no longer use the term “stalking” it’s “research” and Eshe is real good at researching 😌. Also, how many times do you have to tell someone yall go together before they get it 🙄🤭

The way Eshe and Malachi were at each others throats I didn’t know if I should be turned on or scared 😅 but I believe their hardships and sordid pasts are what helped them understand each other and without it I doubt they would have connected. Trauma bonding for them win 😛

I adored watching Malachi’s walls slowly crumble, and going from 100% wanting to unalive Eshe down to only slightly wanting to unalive her is what I call growth 🥹

Normally my steel toed boots are reserved for crappy ex’s but Eshe’s aunt had me ready to make an exception and jump through the pages to get to her 🥾💥🥾💥

I love anytime a book has a solid friend group so when Eshe and her seven or Malachi and Jamari were together I ate it up 💖💖

I’ve already preordered and can’t wait to start my reread

If you love dark romances with “researching” and only I can unalive you vibes then you need this book

As a fan of Naima Simone's writing, I was excited to see that she's ventured into the mafia romance scene, especially after finding out they are Disney-inspired, and she did not disappoint. The two main characters are perfect foils and their tragic backstories drive them together, even though they still kind of want to kill each other. But no one else is allowed to touch them. The story is fast-paced and just close enough to Snow White and the Seven Dwarves to make it fun without being too bogged down in the likeness. This is also extremely spicy, with some elements that may trigger some readers, so hopefully the finished copy has some trigger warnings included. I have my fingers crossed that there is another Disney-inspired mafia romance on Simone's docket.

This book was super fun! It was the dark romance version of Snow White that I never knew I needed but definitely can never go back from.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have Snow White as a member of a mafia family?

This is the darker version of Snow White that contains everything my adult mind loves: hunter/hunted, enemies to lovers, mafia families, and a fantasy world.

It’s dark, twisted, beautiful, and honestly one of my favorite reads of the year.

Thank you very much to Tor Publishing Group and NetGalley for an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own and are not influenced by the manner in which I received it.

This book was stunning. Deliciously dark and fun, with unapologetically flawed characters and brilliant storytelling. I read it and immediately wanted to start it all over again. It’s so good!

Full review will be posted on my website closer to release day.