Bound by Honor (Born in Blood Mafia Chronicles)

This will contain some spoilers. Wow. I loved this book SO much. I'm actually pathetically sad that it's over and wish I could read it all over again like it was new. In fact, I stayed up all night to finish it and then went to work exhausted but it was totally worth it. So let's start from the beginning. Aria is a 15 year old girl who is basically being sold off to marriage for tactical mafia purposes to a 20 year old future boss, named Luca "the vice" Vitiello. She is terrified of him at first and of course the story is about how this will or won't pan out. The things I liked and loved: for starters... one word. LUCA. I am officially in love with a new book boyfriend. His oozing masculinity personality and edge that only seems to get the slightest kink in terms of Aria, was perfect. I loved that when they finally came together and admitted their feelings, neither one had to change who they were. They each fell in love with the other for exactly who that person is. There is something alluring about bad boys. The only stipulation for most women, is that he love them. It's a common theory that the bad boy fantasy is because a woman wants to be the one to change him. This is true, but it's not always about making him good. All it really takes it for him to be good to her. There is a part of some women that genuinely love and get a thrill from a badass. This story is exactly that. She accepts him and he loves her above everything. That is the bad boy fantasy in a nutshell. The hero is only sanitized so far as it pertains to the heroine. Not in any other way. Things I didn't care for as much: The writing was awesome. I just wish that we would've gotten his pov. Without it, we are guessing constantly and stuck inside aria's head which is a bit immature at times. I was already feeling swoony over Luca, but it could've been even more off the charts had I gotten a peek inside his mind. The author has mentioned a book from his pov and also a novella, which I hope we get because I'm in love with them and I really feel slightly cheated that the other books in the series gave the men a voice. Plus, I love the mob business parts of the book and with his pov, we would've gotten a lot more of that and seen how he interacts with others. Something else that bothered me a little was the issue of the ever evasive virginity. I was glad he was patient with her, but she was such a baby about it sometimes that it was cringeworthy to see. I get that it got better over time, but by that point the book was over and we don't get to see it. Also.. slight spoiler.. her sisters didn't have near the same issues as she did. There is also a certain thing that happened around 50% that everyone probably knows and I have an unpopular opinion about that. It happened like 3 days after their wedding. Which by the way, they only knew each other for days before that. Basically, they had known each other for about a week total when the cheating happened. There was no love in the marriage at that point, she hated him. And he was a mobster with a bad reputation. The only reason he got better at all, was for his love of Aria. So what shocks anyone about him not keeping his vows out of pure obligation, after knowing Aria for a week, not getting any from her and her hating him? I also think he really did believe that she wouldn't care. He didn't do it to hurt her. I didn't want it to happen, I was upset when I read it, I wanted her to be mad and rebel. She did. I wanted a genuine apology to show he cared and was affected. We got that. But I can't make myself hate him or ruin the love story over something that happened pretty predictably before a love story even really got started. In fact, ironically this was what kicked it off because it showed him that she really did care and he immediately ceased all ass-holery. This was the start of them coming together. I would've been more bothered had he done this after they either slept together or had begun falling in love. Neither was the case at this point. So, in conclusion on this topic, give the guy a break. When all was said and done, I think this deserved 5 stars. I am a sucker for mafia movies/books and love stories. This was the perfect combination. If you are like me in that way or even if you aren't, give it a try, it's not a waste of time. I will definitely be following this author from now on.

Aria is only fifteen years-old when she is told that she has been promised to marry Luca. At twenty years-old, and with reputation as a cold-blooded killer, marriage to Luca is a terrifying future for Aria to behold. Seemingly overnight her world is turned upside down, as she becomes the property of a man she only knows enough of to fear. Her anxiety and fear only seems to grow during the three years she spends finishing high school and counting down the days until her life as she's known it comes to an end. When Aria marries Luca at eighteen, she is resigned to her fate. Committed to performing her duty as a mafia wife, to solidify the union between her Chicago family and her new husband's New York family, she never expects to love her husband. In fact, she is determined to hate him. Luca is a cold-blooded killer and is in line to be the next Capo of the New York family. He doesn't try to hide the fact that he isn't a good guy. He's lived a life where emotions were weaknesses that could be exploited by enemies and betrayals are a dime a dozen. When his fresh-faced young wife blows into his world, a gentler side of Luca is revealed. Although his desire for her is evident, he wants her to want him. He's willing to woo her and wait until she wants him as much as he wants her...and wait he does. Although the plot of the book seemed to largely revolve around when Aria would finally have sex with her husband, I have to say that it was an engaging and thought-provoking story. I absolutely fell in love with these characters, despite their less than ideal start. I hung on every word and was up into the early morning hours reading this story. The only reason that this book did not get 5 stars from me was because it needed som editing/proofing. There were multiple instances of incorrect word usages and/or tenses. It was pretty distracting and sometimes laughable. I think that perhaps this stood out even more because the east of the story was so well-written and appealing. The characters were well-developed, etc. That being said, I loved this story! I will be jumping right into the next book in this series and cannot wait to see how things play out. I was kind of hoping to get Matteo and Gianna's story next, but guess I'll have to hold out for a little longer. If the next books are half as great as this one, I'll be hooked for sure!

The fmc was a bit inaccurate in an infuriating way. For someone born and raised in a mafia family it rang untrue that she'd be so morally opposed to everything they stood for. Like her asking Luca about killings and business. No real girl born in the mafia would ever ask her husband about what he did on thr street. There were just so many instances where I was like she seems like a woman from Kansas just dropped into mafia world randomly with no clue how any of it works. But the story itself was lovely and heartwarming once I got past my irritation at her non mafia daughter ignorance

It was an ok read. It was really hard to like any of the characters in the book. Gianni was a loud mouthed little girl who needed to learn to read the room and learn when to keep her mouth shut. She was all big and bad until she realized she'd be marrying Matteo. Aria was whiney, and although she grew up in the Mafia, she knew absolutely nothing. She was a child, and it showed. 70% of the book was her and Luca pleasuring themselves orally. Boring. I get she wasn't ready to have sex, but she wanted to give everything and change while she did nothing. I don't condone cheating, but I was hoping she'd let him take a mistress, so she'd be less annoying. Luca was alright. He never lied about who or what he was. He was honest with her, but he had the patience of a saint when it came to Aria and her fickle behavior. There are some grammatical errors that sometimes made it harder to understand what the author was trying to convey. There was hardly any real character development and no real chemistry between Luca and Aria. I love me a good mafia story, but this one missed the mark.

“When I became a Made Man, I swore to put the Famiglia first, and I reinforced that same oath when I became a Capo dei Capi even though I knew I was lying. My first choice should always be the Famiglia.” I held my breath, unable to utter a word. The look he gave me almost broke me into pieces. “But you are my first choice, Aria. I’ll burn down the world if I have to. I’ll k*ll and maim and blackmail. I’ll do anything for you. Maybe love is a risk, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take and as you said, it’s not a choice. I never thought I would, never thought I could love someone like that, but I fell in love with you. I fought it. It’s the first battle I didn’t mind losing.” Bound by Honor is the first book in the Born in Blood Mafia Chronicles by Cora Reilly. And happens to be the first book of Cora Reilly's I've read. An arranged marriage is set up between two feuding Italian mafia families; Chicago Outfit and New York Familia. The ever growing threat of others led to a joining forces between the future Capo of New York and the prettiest girl the Chicago has to offer. "This wedding wasn't about love or trust or choice. It was about duty and honor." Aria Scuderi is the beautiful, young, sweet, and honorable girl that is married off to the future Capo Dei Capi of the New York Famgilia, Luca Vitiello, also known as "The Vice". Once she turns 18 she will become the wife of the most powerful man on the East coast. The stories she heard that gave Luca a reputation for violence, made Aria fearful and intimated by him. But Aria is a smart women, and decides that the best way to stay safe is to capture his heart, that is if he even had one. Since he was a little boy, Luca Vitiello was born and forced to become the brutal, ruthless monster his father wanted him to be. The only people he cared about was his mother and brother. But he witnessed the wrath his mother endured from his father, that left him with nightmares. It was engrained into Luca's head that love is a weakness, and his father would beat him until he grew cold and heartless. While his mother was beyond saving, Luca had protected his brother, Matteo, from their fathers brutal ways. To Luca, the wedding was only a business transaction. But along the way Aria and him had fallen in love. Through a battle of respect and honor, Aria learned to trust and understand Luca. She slowly crept into his dark heart and brought light into his life. They might not be the perfect couple, but together they are devastatingly beautiful. This is just the beginning and I can't wait to read more of this mafia fairytale land Cora has created. "Born in blood. Sworn in blood."

Good read

I'm a fan of this series!!! I have read this treasure for 7 times! These books about mafia and arranged marriages, alfa men, and unfair treatment towards women in their world may be twisted, and I don't know if something is wrong with me, cause I want to re-read after reading the last word in this books. Like always!! And I'm sure I'm going to read this again, I'm obsessed with it! While in real life I don't and will never accept the arranged marriages, in this series I love it, I love this books in general, and especially in mafia books, but this series are the best!! It shows mafia men, but each of them different and similar in some way, same for the women. and their lives and marriages together and how they fight them! Aria and Luca are the heroes of this book. Two totally different and at the same time so similar characters. Like the book's name says, Luca is the honorable man of this series. And Aria is the innocent girl! Well yeah how can Made Men be honorable, right? I mean they are but we are talking about moral honor and not their oaths, and while yes all women in these books are virgins, so innocent, but Aria is the one, really. She is the one that hates this life, but she doesn't see herself anywhere else, she's so hopeful, and kind, young, but so strong! Fights for everyone and everything she loves. They are our original couple. While they have this twisted mentalities, it's interesting, I'm not saying right, but it's interesting to see the contrast between them, everyone is a murderer, but in their houses, some of them are fathers, some bosses and others monsters. It's interesting and disgusting, their lives, of course I'm not saying that's they rule a right life, but it's an interesting one none less. While ruling the world but not having a real chance in their lives. There are no innocents, even the just born kids in this circle are sinners! There is no out, if you are in, if you want to be part of that, it's till the end, when you are born in, then it's worse cause you didn't have a choice, and there is no out ESPECIALLY for you! I don't know why but I loved how Aria was scared of him, flinched from his touch cause it showed how much he didn't want her to see him as a monster, and that he didn't want a coward but his equal in this marriage. I just love their couple!!! It was nice to follow his protectiveness and possessiveness, also his human - as husband- side as well, not only as Vice. But it was right to show that he was insecure too. That not only girls can have that in them but boys too, and possessive alfas like him! It was fun to see him shocked that someone could really love him! They have everything and nothing in this life! and few are really lucky! One of the things that I loved in Aria is that she didn't want to die in her sadness that she is part of this life but embrace and enjoy the little treats that it gives her. And she found her happiness, her love, the life that she wanted! And what I love in this books, that it's an erotica, but the erotic part don't suffocate you, actually there are not many of it, it's more tells about there developments as characters, their lives, it's not this fairytalish thing, no, it shows difficulties and all, it shows reality in so many ways. And I think each of us can find ourselves in one of these characters. I see part of me in all of them actually, and maybe that's why I love these books that much!

This is the start to epic and exciting stories. I love Cora Reilly’s writing, she’s one of my favorite authors. Luca and Aria’s love story is a true mafia arranged marriage you look forward to reading. It’s told only through Aria’s POV, but don’t worry Cora has a novel called Luca Vitiello where you will get Luca’s POV of their love story in the same time frame. Bound by Honor is Spicyyyy 🥵 just the way I love my novels!! It’s also very exciting, it’s not boring, it’s a page turner. If you read the remaining of the trilogy, their story continues and beyond. It’s sooo worth it, trust me you will not be disappointed. I have all her books including the the Camorra Chronicles and Sins of the Fathers. Please read all her books in order so you can get the full picture as the years pass and the characters grow. Thank you Cora for introducing us to this HOT mafia love story. This is where the journey begins Bound By Honor! ♥️♥️