ABOUT THE BOOK
My father murdered his, so the king took me, prisoner, as his wife.
Once upon a time…
A dark King ruled New York.
I used to believe in fairy tales until one winter night, a rival mob set my world on fire. I’m Roza Ivanov, the young prized Mafia Princess of the Russian Solntsevskaya Bratva, the Pakhan’s daughter.
My happily ever after never came.
It wasn’t prince charming that came for me, but the Mad King himself. The brutal Italian’s dark beauty is violent and wicked. This is my life sentence for my father’s sins. I must atone for a debt claimed because he always collects.
The monster claims I destroyed his reality, now he challenges my sanity.
My outspoken mouth gets me in trouble, and the bruises he gives me have become too frequent on my fair flesh, leaving scars behind. The people around me look away as my innocence is shed until one stare lingers.
Bodyguards are meant to be protectors, not lovers.
One beauty. Two beasts. Three lives. One love.
Welcome to New York’s Underworld.
Trigger warnings: Language, graphic content, coercion
MY REVIEW
She’s the spoils of war. She lost her parents. She lost her freedom. She lost her control. Her choices were taken away. Caged in an endless cycle. In love with a monster and addicted to his darkness.
Roza Ivanov was brought up sheltered as a Russian Mafia princess destined to marry someone her father chose for her. She never imagined she would be kidnapped along with her sisters by a murderous Mad King determined to destroy her and her family for her father’s transgressions. As she is locked away in Enzo Vitalli’s unforgiving hellhole of a castle, she slowly loses herself to the darkness. Holding the threat of killing her sisters over her head, she is forced to be a prisoner to a beast she hates and loves at the same time. Now with a son to live for, she copes from day to day until she meets someone who sees her as undeserving of her situation and brings her back to life, but at what price?
I read Ms. Khan’s previous books in the series which contained an older retired Enzo. I knew he was going to be an unlikable character and wanted to know what made him so loathsome. My heart broke the day Enzo lost his soul. It explained his hatred for Roza’s family and how he was always ready to explode over anything the Bratva did to his family. And Roza was Bratva. His mental state is questionable in many instances by his abuse and brutalization of Roza one minute and then giving her things to try and appease her afterward.
Enzo and Roza have a very twisted disturbing kind of love as a captor and a prisoner that is so unhealthy and a trainwreck to watch. As they go further down the rabbit hole of unstableness, the dread builds wondering if Roza will ever make it out sane and alive. Let’s just say the ending is impactful.
From the very first Beena Khan book I opened, I have been addicted to her beautiful and haunting prose and her complex and broken characters. Her writing is breathtaking and I have found myself sobbing and sometimes having to take a break from an extremely heartrending and excruciating moment and then returning to the story more determined than ever to finish it. Her stories are not light and sweet by any means. They are filled with triggers and many times bittersweet endings, and it’s that unexpectedness and that raw emotion in her books that make me come back for more.
I recommend this tragic story about a dark, degrading obsession of two very broken people who love each other in their own disturbing and sordid way and try to do what’s best, in the end, to save what’s left of their souls.
Thank you to Ms. Khan once again for giving me the opportunity to read this book with no expectation of a positive review.
Beauty & The Beast Series
1. A Beauty So Cruel (2021) – My review
2. A Beast So Cold (2021) – My review
3. A King of Beasts (2021)
4. A Beauty So Cursed (2021) – My review
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Beena Khan writes literary fiction and edgy, contemporary romance. She 27 years old and lives in New York. She’s from Azad Kashmir, Pakistan, an immigrant who moved to New York when she was five years old. She currently holds a Masters Degree in Developmental Psychology. She enjoys reading, writing, and netflixing. The Name of Red is her debut novel published at the age of 26. All of her books are on Kindle Unlimited + Free Novella!
Follow Beena on her website, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Goodreads.
