I had been intrigued by Shay since we met him in Mafia Prince and I was not disappointed. The alpha gruff anti hero gives you all the swoon with all the dark! Enter Emma who has a fiery disposition and gives Shay a run for his money. The wit and banter between these two was utterly epic. Then their passion was off the charts! With every twist and turn, these two keep each other on their toes and leaves me begging for more. I have to say, I am in love with this series and the concept. It is dark and delicious with so much depth.

I felt like the MMC was pretty crappy to her the entire book. He's didn't have any redeem qualities IMO.

This book I was looking forward to so much because I loved Shay in the first book. Shay is a dark knight of sorts. He does his job, protects his family, and doesn’t hesitate to hurt those who have wronged him or what is his. He is setup in an arranged marriage as an agreement to secure his place as a King for the mafia, what he thinks he is getting is a docile agreeable fiancé, but what he really gets is the opposite. Emma has known her whole life that she is to be married off but the plans change last minute and she is promised to a Northerner. She is taught from a young age how barbaric Northerners ar so she is scared, but also she knows how to stand her ground. With so much happening around them lies, betrayal, murder as they try to survive one incident after another the tension between them grows, then their feelings become involved. So much action, drama, that it was intense and I didn’t see which way the story would go until the end. It is a slow burn where they push each other’s buttons but know they need each other. I loved Shay and his darkness that was him. He felt everything he did was in the name of his late brother and it haunted him until he could make it right. The author even got Emma’s immaturity dead on because she is younger than him and taught to hate him it annoyed me how judgmental she was but I knew it was just the way she was raised and her naivety but it was how she was suppose to be. I enjoyed all the action and mafia ties, but especially loved Shay. I can’t wait to see what will happen next for the family.

This is a really bad book. At first I stopped at 21% and came here and read y’all comments “how good it is”. Forced my way to 35% and no more. Just no more.


It’s not good at all. Makes no sense and the girl it’s annoying. It starts where she is very sweet and dreams about being married so she can be “free” and go shopping and what not. She goes willingly to her new “savage” future husband and starts to act like a brat. And ends up being very strong and stubborn, now not so obedient in like a matter of minutes. Makes bombs her brother thought her. Has an orgasm in 30 seconds. Goes down on a guy she just met.


There’s forced “chemistry” - randomly “oh he is so good looking, oh my God, my body doesn’t listen to me”. And he is “she looks like a child”. 24h later - “she is so hot, i have a hard on”. Random. No natural build up, just “her eyes say that she wants me, she doesn’t look like a child no more”. For real.

No emotions. Just random shit thrown out.

She was promised to another guy, but last minute given to this “savage” dude. When she sees the first guy she says he doesn’t look that good as the savage and she feels proud she belongs to the savage. Two minutes ago, she wanted to run away. She was tied up to a chair by the savage with a gag, and says “i’m proud I belong to the savage cause he is more good looking, yey”

There is a time when he takes her to illegal cage fighting and looses her through the crowd. She sees how women fight in a cage, rough and deadly and she goes to the cage door and says “i want in”. What the hell. Like yeah. No training, no nothing “i want in” in some savage fighting till almost death. Sure-sure. Oh, so strong. Oh my God. Oh, she’s so amazing *eyes rolling*. Two days ago the most hardcore stuff she did was singing lessons and now she wants in cage fighting.

So stupid.

I love Shay but Emma is by far the most annoying love interest in the entire series. Her way of thinking keeps making me check to see if this book is set in the 1800’s. Her closed minded upbringing is definitely realistic but still annoying AF. I wish Shay was set up with someone more likable (or likable in general). I already wasn’t a fan but when she insinuated that Jack isn’t attractive, that was the final nail in the coffin. I know Jack isn’t her man but she didn’t have to lie to us, especially when it was in her thoughts.

Shay is the embodiment of the broken, dark, anti-hero! Emma is the strong woman that may be able to make him whole.
*****
Rating: 4 stars
Steam: 3 flames
Genre: Dark / Antihero / Mafia
*****
I am not going to lie. Shay has his issues and there were times in the book that I questioned how Vi Carter could redeem Shay, he is angry, insufferable, and oh so broken. But by the end of the book, I fully understood Shay, his actions, and why he was the way he was.

Emma was raised to be the perfect mafia wife for Jack O'Reagan. Imagine her delight when the day finally comes, and Jack's father is meeting with her father. It's going to happen FINALLY; she will marry Jack O'Reagan. But wait, we read book one, so we know that Jack already found his someone…uh oh!

Emma is about to find out that her dream of marrying Jack is over and instead she is marrying Shay O'Reagan, a Northerner. Oh goodness, Southerner's (Emma's family) hate Northerner's and vice versa. What kind of devious plans are afoot?

Shay has been consumed with vengeance. Cage fighting is how he dulls the pain and causes it but when he is told that in order to gain a seat in the South, he must wed, he is willing to wed. Anything, to finally unite the North and South.

Mafia King is full of lies, betrayals, and deceit. The story of Emma and Shay is not easy, and I will be honest there was one point in the book where I HATED Shay and I hoped that Emma would run. At that one point, I felt there was no hope for Shay, but slowly the secrets are revealed, the story unfolds, and the chemistry between Emma and Shay begins to grow.

Emma is a strong young woman with a stiff spine. She may be a little naïve at times, but she learns fast, and she knows how to handle herself and eventually how to handle Shay.

This story is a dark read with disturbing content. If that is not your thing, turn back now. Mafia King is also full of suspense, twist and turns, steam and treachery that knows no bounds. Sometimes you can't tell who is good, and who is bad. I think all the characters are both at some point. This is an intriguingly dark read and I can't wait for more of the Young Irish Rebels.