TITLE:  Beautiful Dark Temptation

SERIES:  Arcadia U

AUTHOR:  Roxas Winters

PUBLISHER: Evernight Publishing

LENGTH:  251 pages

RELEASE DATE:  September 27, 2024

BLURB:

Tomás

I’ve lost everything.

Forced into a prison masking as a school, I find myself in the crosshairs of more than one killer. My savior? The arrogant prick who wants to control me. Kieran is a nightmare wrapped in a seductive package and when he sets his sights on me I don’t know whether to fight him or kiss him.

Kieran

I am the eldest bastard of one of the four founders of Arcadia University, and I will do anything to see my family fall.

The secrets I’ve kept hidden behind my heart now threaten to bury me alive with the arrival of Tomás. He consumes my space, my thoughts, my nightmares. I hate him for how he makes me feel. This toxic attraction between us forces me to question what matters most—vengeance, power, love. But Tomas doesn’t fit into my world of lies and violence and I’m not ready to lose it all for a beautiful dark temptation.

Yes, another totally different mafia story! I’m not quite sure what I was expecting, but this was definitely a surprise. It starts out a little slow for the first chapter while things are getting set up. Once Tomás arrives at Arcadia U thought, we get to see a little more of this story shape up. Arcadia U is a school where the mafia and underbelly send their kids. It’s a neutral safe zone where the various families/gangs do not touch. However, it is sort of like the mafia within the mafia, with the family members of the four founding fathers holding the highest rankings. Kieran is the head of the highest house, which is also where Tomás ends up.

This is where things get a little muddy, at least for me they did. The ties between Tomás, Kieran and the rest of the families are somewhat intricate and tangled. Tomás is somewhat lost at times trying to find his place and fit in while uncovering details about his family. Kieran, on the other hand, is a member of a founding family who has a plan, with his friends and “allies,” to take that family out. In the meantime, he is trying to figure out how and where Tomás fits in to the structure. Add to that is the attraction/connection Kieran and Tomás share which complicates things even further.

Kieran is closeted, and for good reason. He cannot let it affect his plans, and if anyone, including his family, find out, things will be very bad for him. Kieran was forced at a young age to be a ruthless killer with no emotion. So, when Tomás evokes feelings he has kept squashed, he doesn’t handle it the best way, and unfortunately, Tomás pays the price. Tomás, on the other hand, while unsure of many aspects of his life, is pretty secure with his sexuality and feelings. He probably takes more than he should from Kieran, wanting to fit in and be taken care of (unlike how he was raised), but he stands up for himself after a time.

There are a lot of twists and turns in this story that make it very interesting. As I said earlier, this is a story within a story with things happening inside Arcadia while things are happening outside. When those two collide, things really get shaken up. People you thought were the bad guys turn out to be not so bad as reasons and details are unveiled. Plans evolve as the story unfolds, and while this ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, we know what direction things are going in. This is my first book by this author, and I am hooked. I was turning pages quickly and didn’t want to put this down. It’s gritty and dark but relationships grow and evolve. Here, the “youngsters” are the main players, and while the elders are still in charge, these guys are looking to make moves. I am really looking forward to the next installment and hope we don’t have to wait too long to get it. Definitely recommend if you like interesting and intricate mafia themed stories a bit different from the rest.

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