Honestly you can not go wrong with a mafia romance. I have to say I didnt like that her father was kinda shitty when she already didnt have a mom. But her romance with this man saved me. I love that she could be who ever she wanted and could eat away in front of him. Im sorry but who doesnt love pizza and a hot bath. With that ending I def will finish the series.

This book was phenomenal! I really enjoyed it and loved the FMC narrator! She did a fantastic job! Big fan!!

For fans of:
- Brutal Birthright series
- Sinner's series
- Sinner's Anonymous series

Scarlette is a mafia/gang heiress whose entire life is devoted to following in her father's footsteps. He has strict rules on how his business should be run and how she should behave which he believes are the secret to his drug ring's success. His number one rule, above all else, is to never, ever, under any circumstances mix business and pleasure. Scarlette idolizes her father, so she is happy to live her life following her father's rules, but when she meets Axel, her father's hot new business partner, she is tempted to rebel against her father's rules for the first time.

This book includes:
- dark forbidden romance with a dangerous man
- "But Daddy, I love him!"
- morally gray, protective MMC
- fancy parties with glitz and glam
- mafia/European gang and drug dealers
- instant attraction
- dual POV
- TW

"It Kills Me" doesn't veer from the classic mafia man stories that are popular in the dark romance genre. Axel is strong, wealthy, single-mindedly devoted, and ruthless for the one he loves. Scarlette's father adds an interesting dynamic and I liked that it remained unclear if he was a hero or a villain for most of the book. If you're looking for a fast-paced drama, you've found it.

I didn't love Scarlette and I felt her character didn't have a clear personality. Sometimes she was bold and confident, other times she was meek. I also found her sheltered to the point of naivete, which was frustrating because she was already very dumb and oblivious. I also did not enjoy Axel's backstory since it perpetuates that women are golddiggers to the point of lying about assault and sending an innocent man to jail. So harmful and unpleasant to read. There was just a lot of misogyny in the writing in general, every female character except Scarlette was either villainous or a jezebel.

I listened to it on audiobook and I thought the production was good. However, Axel was supposed to be a wealthy European aristocratic heir, so the strong transatlantic accent from his narrator was distracting for me.

I received this audiobook as an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Penelope Sky, and Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to review this book. This review is also available on my GoodReads - check out my profile https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/62314863

I did enjoy this story and definitely want more! What a cliffy!

I didn’t love the male narrator for this character. His voice did not seem to match the character portrayed so that made it difficult to get into. His voice seemed too regal and not rugged enough for the role. I did enjoy the female narrator though!

Loved the way the male character wasn’t put off by the idea that he may be in love with the fmc . I definitely want to see where this story goes whenever book 2 comes out

This book lives up to the name. Almost killed me, ngl. The climax is too suspense-y for a soft girl like me. And yes I loved every bit of it.
Axel is not like the other Penelope Sky boys. He was different. Now there's a long list of positions l'd like to try with him but too bad he's busy doing his business partner's daughter. Axel #lovesachallenge.
Scarlett, isn't like the other Penelope Sky girls either. She helps her daddy sell drugs of all things and occasionally indulges in the art of reducing weight off rich people. Her idol is probably Sandra Bullock from Ocean's 8 aka badass.
It's different from the usual books I read because normally it's the MMC who is a psychopath. Here it's our girl's daddy (real one, not the bedroom one) and it opened a lot of avenues for me mentally.
Loved it

For a mafia romance it had strong rom-com vibes. I appreciated that it wasn't as dark as most mafia romances. The food sounded delicious. However the ending was terrible. You cant end a book that way. Literally the worst cliffhanger ever.

This was a great read/listen and thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for the ALC for this book. I thought this was a great mafia book and I loved the forbidden aspect to it. THE CLIFFHANGER!

The only thing I would say I wasn't a huge fan of was the constant bringing up of how Axel ate (weird I know its just something that grated on my nerves a bit).

I will also say I LOOOOOVED the narration.

Thank you so much Netgalley & Dreamscape Media

I have some thoughts, i will start with HOW DARE YOU BETRAY ME WITH A CLIFFHANGER!!!!!!

Okay now that i have screamed that out.. I will tell you my raiting is a 3.5⭐i have issues but i also enjoyed it as well. Things i loved were the connection between Axel and Scarlett the sex scenes were good however i will chat about that later too... I also loved learning about the past of Axel and why he is having issues with his family.

Things i did not like, Talks about the food Axel always eating healthy (cause he don't eat carbs) and Scarlett always pigging out and talking about her waist. Not much in the Mafia business which i would have loved to hear (i thought a few things woulc have happened but totally did not go the way i thought) and the sex scenes the only issue i had there was in the beginning they can talk about his 🍆 normally but when it came to talk about her 🍪 she says "sex" then in the middle of the book she bypasses using any words to describe it and then the end we finally get the description of what females actually have down there.

Overall, i had a good time listening to this and both the narrators did great i loved hear both male and female in my ears when there is two POV's to listen to.

3.75 Stars
For all those who love mafia romance, this is for you!

*Please note- the story ends on a cliffhanger.*

This was a quick and steamy read with a decent storyline. As someone who loves mafia romance stories, I found this one to be quite enjoyable. However, I would have appreciated it more if the story had delved deeper into the mafia's activities and not just focused on their meetings. Additionally, while the story overall was engaging, I felt that the ending was a bit disappointing. Scarlett displayed unwavering determination in her understanding and trusting of Axel's character, yet inexplicably, she abruptly gives up in the end. Really?!

Overall, it was an entertaining read and I look forward to reading the rest of the series!

***Thank you to NetGalley, Penelope Sky, and Dreamscape Media for graciously sending me the audiobook to review. As always, all thoughts are my own.***

I think maybe FMC crime boss stories aren't for me. I've never been super in love with them but have still picked them up every now and then. The writing was fine, the narrators were fine, I just didn't really vibe with the characters & struggled to get through it.

I enjoy a good mafia daughter story but I didn't enjoy this as much as I had hoped. As the first book I was hoping for more. Maybe come the rest of the series we get it, but I was left wanting and not in a good "I wanna keep reading, or listening too, the series" kinda way. Story overall was good just maybe not the author's writing style is for me. The narrators were good overall as well.

This is a good book if you want to just read something fun. This wasn't one that tore at my heart strings, but I defiantly wasn't bored listening to the audiobook. I wish that the ending didn't feel so abrupt.

Tropes:
Forbidden
Dark romance
Mafia boss’s daughter/successor
Touch her and 💀
A+ banter
Feisty FMC

3🌶️

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! This book was intense and spicy. Scarlett and Axel were a very interesting couple, but they had so much chemistry. This book ended on such a major cliffhanger and I am dying to know what happens next in this relationship.

I really didn’t enjoy this audiobook unfortunately. The narrators were not great. Idk why they put so much emphasis on so many of the words throughout the book, it made them sound childish for half of it, having to emphasize “biiiiggg diiiccckkkk” 7 times every sex scene. The way they were saying it was so weird. The male narrator sounded so pompous, I would never let that narrator hold my drink at a bar, I for sure would be massively uncomfortable with it, just by the way he talks honestly.
I think the story could be great, I love the dad not being a horrible person, manipulative yes, but not a monster. Thats rare in Mafia books.
The sex scenes need help though.
I shouldn’t have to hear “big diickk” and “big hands” every 3 seconds during the scenes.
This is definitely not one that makes you want to go jump your persons bones after.
It has a decent story line though, so that’s why I am able to give it at least 2 stars.
I think it’s a good starting point, but it needs help in a lot of places.
And I very much recommend either new narrators, or having them re-record to not sound so gross the entire time.
OH! And it was going to be 3 stars, until everyone’s waistline became a topic of so many conversations.
We get it, he is trim and doesn’t eat carbs, it doesn’t need to be talked about every conversation, and every time she talks about eating spaghetti and pizza, she doesn’t need to talk about her waistline.
There is nothing body positive about this book. It gets incredibly frustrating hearing about it every single time food is brought up.
Maybe just don’t talk about food if it’s going to make someone’s body the main focus.
I don’t even mind that it ended on a cliff hanger.
But there’s a lot that needs to be reworked to get more stars imo.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the audio ARC.

True 2.5⭐️ I honestly am rounding up to 3⭐️ due to liking the relationship up until the book hit the 98% mark.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good “mafia daughter dates someone she shouldn’t”, but this one by the end was a bit of a let down due to the way it ended.

I LOVED their relationship 90% of the book. The MMC definetly acts like a cocky ass in the beginning to get the FMC’s interest. Some people don’t love that, but I’m a dark romance girlie, so I’m used to that. Axel absolutely loves Scarlett, but he has a hard exterior working in the ‘industry’. Scarlet understands him, because she too is in the industry and is slated to inherit the drug pushing business from her dad. Throughout the book their ‘dates’ get repetitive because they’re sneaking around. Sex. Pizza. Sex. Pizza. Bath. Repeat.
I did love how endearing and soft he was towards her and their relationship was sweet.

HOWEVER, the big kicker and why I rated it so low was the way it ended. I can understand leaving a book on a cliffhanger, without a finite happily ever after, but this book just strait up ended in the middle of a thought.

I legitimately thought there was an error in the ARC audio because of the abruptness of the final sentence. It was like the story was trucking along and progressing towards her saying how she felt and poof… no more book. I understand it’s book one in a series, but it doesn’t feel like a ‘complete’ novel without a true ending.

If it would’ve had more of a finite ending I probably would’ve went to a 4⭐️

This was a fantastic audiobook!! This was my first time reading a book from Penelope and I absolutely love her writing!! This is a steamy mafia romance with great banter and chemistry. The ending had me screaming!! But I am excited to continue reading this series.

I keep going back and forth on my review for this book. It took me some time to get into it. Did I enjoy the book, I did. Will it stay with me forever? Probably not. Mafia book typically have blackmail in them and this one did not disappoint. I loathe the FMCs Dad so much so that could be what is swaying me. All in all this book kept me entertained and I will read the next one. I need it to end differently.

Axel is the bad boy that is off limits to her, so of course that just makes it all the more exciting to explore. There’s a lot of back and forth between these two as they try to work out how they fit in each other’s lives, especially with Scarlett’s volatile father in the mix.

This is a series that leaves you not so much hanging off a cliff, but certainly eager to find out what happens next in their story. (No HEA in this book)

Thanks to #NetGallery and publisher for a copy of this book.

Genre: Romance
Format: Audio
POV: Dual
Tropes: Dads a drug dealer, secret relationship, family business, bad boys
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ /5
Age suggestion: 18+