Falling for the Villian by Rachel Van Dyken and M. Robinson

This is an honest review for an arc received.

“Make no mistake, though, your days as Juliet Sinacore are finished. But your days as my pet have only just begun.”

Juliet Sinacore princess and mafia royalty has never truly felt like she’s belonged. Although she is a loving aunt and sister she hopes to one day find her own way. When she’s kidnapped, she trapped in a world she doesn’t understand. But when her “master” is cruel to her, she feels things that she has no business feeling. Can one find love in pain?

Show me, Juliet, show me your pain so I can be the one to fix it.”

Donovan is a Master and head of The Society. His job is to break in slaves for others. But he’s always wanted Juliet for himself. When the opportunity arises for him to have her he takes what he believe is rightfully his. He was brought up in tragic circumstances, doing things no child or young man should ever endure. He’s a survivor himself. He will stop at nothing to break Juliet only for her to come to him to be put back together again. Will the villain fall?

“This is me, kneeling at your altar, worshipping you, adoring you, and begging you to forgive me for ever hurting you.”

I’m a little conflicted on how I truly want to rate this book. I love both of these authors, and I love them writing together. It was 5 stars for how seamlessly this was written. You honestly can’t tell who wrote which chapters. I love that in a co-written book. I thoroughly enjoyed the writing style and the way Rachel and Monica work together. Their ability to write seamlessly with each other is exemplary and flawless. The story, for me, is a 4 star. Let me explain. This book is dark and is nothing like the first book, which I’m totally ok with. I will say, it does bother me just a little that they never tell us Donovan’s last name. I know that may not seem like it’s significant but this is still in the mafia world where last names have meaning. He’s obviously someone who runs in the same circles so I was interested to see how. I’m also ok with Dom/Sub books. With that being said, some of the things that he had Juliet do seemed very demeaning to me. However, I understand those particular things are normal in the Dom/Sub world. It just went past my personal comfort levels. I do appreciate that the submission tactics were not written in a disgusting way, if that makes sense. You get small explanations for the whys, which I appreciated, but it is still too dark for my liking. I do wish we got a little more backstory on Donovan. I feel like there was so much more to learn about his character. There were too many holes in their story, but overall still a really great book. I found it difficult to bond with the main characters because the story should’ve started off where the first book ended, and there were also some holes in the storyline. However, despite my comfort levels, this is a generous 4-star read for me. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys this genre and wants to support these 2 magnificent authors.

Angie