The Family Girl

I am really hoping this is the start of a long series. Catalina Bennett is a gruesome creation of ice and beauty, a contract killer trained by an entire mob family of contract killers. Each generation creates one inspired in death, and this time she's tall and gorgeous. There is certainly the stench of the psychopath in this character, whose interactions are brief, even those with her family. The bulk of this book was a cracking plot and action scenes that were clear, and moved along at a good pace. I'd like to see a bit more of the character coming out next time. There is room for that if this develops into a series, and Brankin has left plenty of room for that with the ending of this book. The start of the book required some concentration, as Brankin bounces us around with different characters, locations and times, until she starts to pull it all together. It certainly hangs together well, and I am looking forward to reading the next one. 4.5 stars.

Every girl has her weakness Catalina Bennett isn’t any different with her endless Christian Louboutin shoes, extensive art collection and Faberge egg. Catalina Bennett looks like a model with her long blonde hair and ice cold eyes but she is an assassin for Sicilian Famiglia.
Catalina lasted hit causes her trouble sending her into hiding with her brother, his daughter and her father Frank who prays he can keep Catalina safe from the CIA and his nosey neighbors.
Her handle send hers on a job, as payment she is given a fabulous Faberge egg for her collection, but instead of walking away the CIA is soon hunting her down and the agent just happens to be someone Catalina put a bullet in once Jim Campbell.
As she takes refuge in Chicago Catalina begins putting together the puzzle that takes her from New York, Washington DC and finally to Miami where she is ready to settle all her affairs.
Where to start The Family Girl by Katherine Brankin is like watching a movie with endless characters that caused the book to be drawn out losing its steam halfway through. Catalina is describe with cold eyes thought out the book and after a while I wanted to yell I got it she is a killer can we move on please. Several times in the book you would get a glimpse that Catalina loves her brother, niece and father but then the reader would be sent to another character. I wished the author would have spent a little more time allowing the reader to feel a connection to any of the characters but she doesn’t give you enough time before she moves onto another scene. The flow of the book was extremely choppy due to the parade of the different characters throughout the book. If this was a movie it would be much easier because you can see each scene played out in front of you but as a book I would found myself lost having to reread certain pages to make sure I didn’t miss anything.
Sent to me from NetGalley

This book titled Family Girl. Is about a female hit women, who comes from a long line of assassins from the Bonedetto Family from Sicily and they now work out of Chicago part time. Catalina, who is the assassin does a job and then takes an extra job not looking at it all the way through. After it is finished it turns out that she was set up and now the entire family is in danger. She must find out who sent her the job and why and deal with the problem. What I like about this story besides being fast paced is that the author gives you a back story on every character that she comes in touch with and how each person that is helping her or chasing her all have some connection. This makes the story more interesting and for me more enjoyable than just a shot them up story. I like how she goes into detailed about cars, cloths, disguises, weapons, etc… this made for a very entertaining book and much better read than I was expecting. Full of action and a little suspense, overall a great read.

A light read about at a gorgeous woman who loves her job and her family, even when her family is the Mafia and her job is murder.

When Catalina Benedetto joins the family business, her collection of art and Faberge eggs grows quickly. She's in demand as a sniper and hit-woman. all over the globe. When Catalina takes a side job to eliminate a cheating husband, she takes out a CIA weapons developer and has to go into hiding. Casanova, CIA agent Jim Campbell is assigned to solving the murder and recovering the software.

A light romance mixed with the action of cat and mouse investigations made this book a real page turner.