Burned Dreams: A Forbidden Mafia Bodyguard Romance (Perfectly Imperfect) Paperback – July 28, 2023

I love Neva’s writing. I particularly enjoyed this book because I felt that she really got into the heads of the characters and helped us understand their motivations as well as their actions. While I’ve read lots of stories of abusers, this one had a twist to it. Great book I recommend!

Tropes: bodyguard, enemies to lovers, who did this to youFMC: Ravenna - mafia wife, married off to cover a debt, family firstMMC: Alessandro (Az) - arsonist, used to work with Sergei, looking for revengeIntimacy: On page; hand necklace; vaguely hate ***SummaryAlessandro has one goal in life: avenge the death of his wife but making her killer face the same pain. After years of searching for answers, Alessandro has finally tracked down the man responsible for the hit and run that killed his young wife. The best part? He doesn't even know who Alessandro is, so he assigns him to be his wife's personal bodyguard. Alessandro couldn't be happier, he's so close to justice, a wife for a wife. Except Ravenna isn't at all who he expected. There doesn't seem to be a deep sense of love between the couple, her strict schedule and rules from her husband border on abusive, and while she spends most of her time at the spa or shopping, something seems off about those outings. Can Alessandro move passed his desire for revenge?ThoughtsRavenna and Alessandro are an interesting pair. When they meet, their initial assumptions about each other immediately frame them as adversaries. Ravenna is a spoiled wife to a Don and Alessandro is an emotionless bodyguard who seems to hate the very ground she stands on. Watching as Az starts unveiling the complex mystery that is Ravenna and the circumstances that led to her marriage is very satisfying to watch. There's a larger sense of justice there for any woman who has ever been overlooked because of their supposedly superficial hobbies and interests. Their romance isn't one that set my hear aflutter with swoony declarations, but the grittiness of their love makes it all seem more grounded and real. If you liked the relationship between Antony and Kate in the second season of Bridgerton, you will like this couple.A few of my favorite quotes- There are beautiful women. And then . . . there’s her.- Earlier tonight, when I watched Ravenna walk next to her husband, his arm around her waist, I nearly exploded in anger. The urge to remove the m************ hand off her was barely containable. I wanted to grab her and shout, “She’s mine!” for everyone to hear.- I shiver at the timbre of his voice. “I was wondering if it would feel like in my dream?” “What?” “You,” I whisper.-“If your husband still has his hand when he comes home,” he says in a deep, controlled voice, and a shudder ripples down my spine, “I’ll correct it immediately.”- “I dream about you even when I’m awake, Ravi.”- I would go with him to the ends of the earth.

If you haven’t read them all, I highly recommend stopping and going back to the start. All of these books in the series can be read as a stand alone, but I promise you will want to read them all. And the way Neva writes them is perfect each book gives us enough of the side characters to truly want more. I read many books as stand alones and don’t go back for the whole series, but this one I had to read them all.Now I have only read a couple bodyguard romances, so it’s not a favorite or even a top their trope to me, but this one was written great! Our MMC has lost everything he loves in a tragic way, he holds onto this for 8 years and seeks out those who were responsible for his pain for revenge.Once he gets into their house, he doesn’t see at first the wife is not there by choice and is trying to escape so he is very stand-off to her, he’s attracted to her, but he hates her because of his revenge plan.As the book progresses we watch these two completely forbidden people fall in love, it’s a beautiful thing because our MMC doesn’t think he can love anyone else and he’s held onto this anger and revenge for almost a decade and our MFC is scared her life is over and lives in a state of fear.These two are both fierce and fun to read, two strong main characters battling their own demons and pain in life coming together.

The overall story was nice, I was missing a little more of bonding situations between the main characters, but still was a good read. I enjoyed how she planned the whole items sale to get money from the shopping, Rocco had no idea and he wasn't interested enough to really notice which at the same time is strange because he was controlling everything that she used. We hate Rocco. We love Az.

This was a great read! The writing was perfect. It definitely kept me glued to my seat. My new favorite author I gotta keep going and read them all!

I was so curious to read about Alessandro “Az” and get his story and the book didn’t disappoint. We saw Ravenna’s wedding in a previous book, and heard about Az in Sergei’s book. It was sad seeing how Ravenna was treated by her husband and I wanted Alessandro to see that she was abused right away. I was so glad when he figured things out. I love that Salvatore let he and Ravenna get away and didn’t exact revenge on Alessandro.Domestic Violence (Not by MMC)Age gap4/5 on the Spicy Scale

From the get go the story grabs you. You keep wondering whats going to happen. Is he going to see the bruises, is he going to touch her? Is the husband going to see them? There’s is a very good love story. It progresses just right and it leaves you feeling fulfilled. The only thing I may complain about is that their escape was a little too easy. He could’ve fought more with Rocco, maybe add a little more suspense to Roccos demise.