La Sposa: A Mafia Romance Saga (The Battaglia Mafia Series Book 3)

3.25Finished this book a few hours ago (3:00am ish) It's 8:30am now. I literally opened my eyes, rolled over and popped open my laptop to write this review. I have to get these thoughts down. It may seem rambly. I apologize in advance.Things I liked:1) Giovanni Battaglia is still the baddest mafia boss ever written. I DO NOT say this lightly. I set a high bar for my mafia men and, until now, one has stood head and shoulders above the others in my heart. He is still there but while, in most things, he and Gio run neck and neck, Gio has slightly eclipsed him in how utterly cold and calculating he is AT ALL TIMES. Many mafia books fall short of what I envision a true Mafia Don to be. Gio leaned over, looked me in the eye and said, "I'll see you...and I'll raise you."He is the truth; the penultimate alpha male. What he wants, happens. What he says, goes. The women in his life, heck EVERYONE in his life, gives advice...until he needs them to be silent. And then they are. He has final say. He and his women are not equal. His wife and sister are given the respect due to them as Cappo Donna and the sister of the Cappo di Tutti, but they do not run his business. Most importantly, they do not run HIM. This, more than anything, I think Sienna did PERFECTLY. Gio is Italian, a Boss and he continually has to prove himself and re-assert his position. She nailed the character perfectly and realistically. I CANNOT STAND (there is no font big enough to express this) a p*ussy whipped Mafia Boss. I'm looking at you, A. Gio and Lorenzo never coddle their women by making them think that they are anything other than what they are...the woman behind the man. It may ruffle our feathers to hear it, but their world is not our world. The RL strong, independent woman in me balks at the things the Battaglia men say. In real life, I would be right there with Bella and Marietta trying to check them. But the 'book world' Donna in me stands back, shuts up and says, 'Yes, Gio'. HE is the Boss. You are his woman. Be quiet when he needs silence, support him when he needs it and ride him like you stole him. For the most part, Mira gets/got it. I have no patience for female characters who marry into traditional Mafia families and try to dominate s***. It is NOT realistic!! You married a MAFIA DON. He kills people for fun! Was your Donna manual lost in the mail??2) I really like how gritty this series is. Other interracial Mafia books are a bit fantastical about how easy it would be for a Mob Boss to bring a black woman into the folds, not as a side piece, but as a wife. This series doesn't do that. The racism is front and center. The name calling is there. The looks, the whispers..it's all there and it's REAL. I really appreciate that. It's harder to write books like this and I appreciate the author's attention to detail.3) Editing was really well done. There were no real errors that I could see and as usual, the writing is stellar.Things I could have done without:1) I read Mafia books for the men. I tolerate the women for their role in things, many times just barely, so any book that mostly focuses on the women is going to lose me. I spent 60% of this book not caring, and waiting for bodies to start dropping. What I liked about the previous books is that there was more of a balance between the mafia violence and the family stuff. This book feels more like a gateway book. And you have to have those. But this book, for me, was all about enduring the wedding prep (didn't care..just put a damn dress on and let's get this over with); enduring the honeymoon (didn't care AND Mira brought work with her? Really?? Do you even know who you're married to??); Marietta and her damn mama (don't care..they don't want you; go away), Mira trying my patience with getting her business back. I'm conflicted on this one. AGAIN, I see the logic of it in real life, and I would probably want the same thing, but I don't have the patience for it in books. You are Donna di Cappo di Tutti!! And a mother..about to be two times over. Listen to Zia!! She is a wealth of knowledge. I guess Mira will have to find out for herself the way things work. Catalina makes me want to strangle her with a zip-cord. I can see her devotion to Dominic, but she is spoiled and annoying and gets on my nerves. Marietta. Sigh. One 'strong, independent woman' is awesome. Two makes me want to dig my eyes out with a dull spoon. Marietta, please read the manual and let's get this show on the road. I would love your sassiness if I knew you in person. In books, I don't have the patience. Fix your attitude and support your man because, sweetums, he is soooo going to need it.2) The Gio that I mentioned in Part 1 of 'what I liked' is the Gio of Books 1 and 2 and some parts of Book 3 and honestly I did, at times, take issue with Gio because I felt that he didn't soften enough behind closed doors. He was still too much of a Mafia Boss with Mira. Now, I'm feeling he's starting to slide into that very, very dangerous 'p*ssy whipped' area. I know. I know. There is just no pleasing some people LOL. Let me explain. I love that, as a Mafia Boss, he absolutely loves his wife and family but there was too much focus on that in this book. I sorely missed the violence. By 60% I'd had enough of the cooing, coddling and sex(though the new stuff IS hot!) And I'm damn near ready to choke Eve with that damn pacifier (that's horrible to say isn't it? Ok, ok, we'll just throw it away and watch her have a nuclear meltdown. That would be entertaining). But seriously, it would kill me to see Gio turn into one of those mafia bosses who can barely crawl out from between his wife's legs long enough to order a hit. I just...ugh...I like that he's growing, but let's not have him go from one extreme to the other. When Gio ripped that work Mira brought on the honeymoon in half, I cheered...not so much when he apologized. SHE agreed to the terms of getting her company back. Family first. The other women warned her about taking the work with her! So yes, while as his wife she can change his mind on certain things, him backing down on this didn't feel right to me. It made sense for Mira to challenge him; she's still learning what being married to a mafia boss means. It didn't make sense for him to relent. He is the Don and left his work at home; that should have clued her in. Having pains and not mentioning it, ending up in the situation she was in and Gio absolving her of responsibility..nope, nah uh. Of course I didn't want him to say, 'You effed up' while she was in such a delicate state but he should have, at some point reiterated his stance. It's Gio's job to take care of her. It's her job to take care of her babies. Yes, she had the cramps with Eve. She also had a very complicated pregnancy and almost lost her. Get your priorities in order. I absolutely want Gio to be a loving, understanding husband and father, but let's not turn him into a punk.Why I'll keep reading:Lorenzo Battaglia lol. That's it in a nutshell. I CANNOT WAIT to see what happens when all is revealed. 'Lo is like a comedy of errors, but I can't hate him. Yes, he screwed up with Carmine; he is desperate. And he will have to answer to Carlo and Gio..and I.can't.wait!I guess I'll see what happens with the parenting/birthright stuff and what that means for Gio and Mira. Eh.The girls and their dad should meet...and the deceit that kept them from him should absolutely be revealed. Yay! Keep those Battaglia men on their toes. Let's see them try to dance around that one. Don't die yet, old man.All in all, I absolutely love this series. I just liked the other books better than this one. It happens. Looking forward to Book 4.PS. After reading some of the reviews here re what Gio did in keeping things from Mira, did you think he would do anything else? Gio is all about controlling the outcome of situations. Given how vulnerable he is and how much he wants his family to work, he is not about to give Mira any leverage to leave him or have anything disrupt his perfect family. Is it right? No. Is it selfish? Absolutely. But had he done anything else, he would be out of character, IMO.

Sienna, don't make me beg for volume four. I love this series and this book is my favorite in the series. I love introduction of Marietta because I seen some of myself in Mira, but Marie is me through and through. I also think Lorenzo needs another love interest because love seems to make him do right or want to do right. Now Gio, he has proved to be a selfish brat and when he refused Mira a chance to know her sister-- the ultimate betrayal.I could have did without a lot of the wedding and honeymoon stuff because there was too much sex and not a lot of connecting outside of that, but don't get rid of the sex.Now from beginning to end Mira has proved to be loving, caring and loyal, but I am waiting for her to stop being so dependent.I really can't wait until she really comes into her own. Throughout the series we have seen Mira depend on people. She depended on Kei when she started her business and depended on Fabiana and Teddy to run her business. When Fabiana died and her assistant was murdered in her place she turned her life over to Kei and now she is doing the same thing with Giovanni. She didn't have her parents, but she grew up with her grand parents( which is still her family), so she should have more than a Christmas CD to bring to a relationship. She should have some culture or family tradition to bring to Italy, but at this point she just seems like a blank slab that Giovanni and his family are sculpting into the perfect Italian woman through and through and I want her to finally go say no. I want her to openly reject something and not during sex, but a real argument that people in a relationship can get into...Giovanni, he is supposed to be the good one out of the two cousins, but I don't like him after this book. Mira has no identity or connections outside of Gio and his family and it's obvious that Gio wants it to stay that way. His love for his wife should have extended to her sister, but that's not the case. His actions in this book have proved to be self serving and I can not wait until Mira gains her voice and stops babying him because that is the problem. He has the two year old mine and my way syndrome,which I can kind of understand since he's the Don.I want Lorenzo to do right. I'm actually rooting for Lorenzo, which is amazing because I wanted him to die in the first book. I still kind of blame him for Fabiana's death, but I really do feel like her cared for her. Lorenzo is the ultimate bad boy and screw up and with his mom we can understand his ways a little better. I guess I just want our screw up to have a day of redemption and he had a bit of a turn in the right direction for me until he killed Carlo's brother.I know women that read these stories tend to like alpha males and dislike strong women, but let me be one of the few to say I love Marietta. Everything that she has and doesn't have she went at it on her own. She survived on her own despite a real effort to bring her down. She had a hard life, which makes her rough around the edges and I appreciate that fact because it's realistic. She is ready to go out on a limb for her goals and that I admire. I know she will suffer the same fate as Kennedy and Michelle(chocolate) because she isn't a push over or a blind follower. She asks questions and does what she needs to get answers and Lorenzo needs a woman like that because he will continue to run a muck if he doesn't have a woman questioning or challenging him. I know there will be a lot of people that say that Marieta is annoying and mean; you know, the same things said about Kennedy and Michelle but those type of women get things done.Now I kind of like that there is tension between the two sisters because as someone with a sister I can say that our relationship is stronger because there were times when we probably wanted to kill each other. Marietta is going to be jealous of the lavish life that Mira has because she has never had anything close. Marietta is also looking for someone to love and be loyal to so I can understand where she wouldn't take to Mira. The Media's portrayal of Mira(which is mentioned like twice) would be that of a woman who faked her death letting another woman's family go without answers, while she hid out from a life that she ran back to. I couldn't see the media playing Mira up as Victim, but as a selfish woman who doesn't take responsibility for her actions. That won't sit right with someone like Marietta and I can kind get Marietta's beef. Even though there are moments when she is just jealous. That would be the point, blank and the period.The ending left us hanging because the women aren't on good terms,but they have potential. Gio just needs to get out of the way and give them the chance.

What can I say? The third instalment of the Battaglia Series is absolutely brilliant! Like other reviewers, I was completely absorbed in the storyline and could not wait to complete household tasks so I could sit down in peace to complete it as quickly as possible.I take my hat off to Sienna for penning such a complex storyline that she unravelled for us chapter by chapter. So many questions and puzzles were answered in book 3. I felt my heart stopping at times whilst I got through the book - and I know that for many of the characters things will not end well. I don't usually get emotional over books, but what happened to Carmine saddened me and I wanted to scream, NO! But that is part of the success of this series: it's emotional, it's harsh, it's realistic but always enthralling. Also, the sex scenes were cut down slightly (I tend to get slightly bored if there are too many).I can't wait for the next books to find out what unfolds with the characters in the sub-plots: Kei, Lorenzo, Catalina, Teddy, Rosetta, Marietta and of course, the cobra - Isabella.I would like to finish by giving a cheer for the fact that Sienna has also found other words to use instead of 'smirk' and 'sly'!

I really enjoyed this 3rd installment in the B.M Series. To me it was the best. And why? Mostly because Ms. Mynx didn't over use the work 'smirked'. Lord she had killed it in books one and two. Thank you.The other reasons. I love the continuing caring and loving relationship between Mira and Giovanni. They make a wonderful couple. Lorenzo showing a softer more vulnerable side(although I hated what he did to Carmine). The new character Marietta, although she needs to calm down a bit....she's too quick to judge. I know she may have been through a lot, but calm down girl.Can hardly wait for book four to see what the cobra Isabella will do. Also Carlo. How both Gio and Lorenzo's withholding the truth of Marietta's true identity will effect their loved ones. Loved the whole soap opera drama. The betrayal. Secrets. Curruption and hot sizzingly sex.This is right up there as one of my favourite romance reads. Can't wait to read the 4th book in the series.

This the third installment in the Battaglia Mafia Series is by far the best. Although I love the continuing developing relationship between Mira and Giovanni, to me this book belongs to Lorenzo and the new character of Marietta. Lorenzo shows a more vulnerable side and that he is capable of loving someone besides himself ( albeit that person may be deeply damaged and complex like himself). I'm now dying to see how Lorenzo's deliberately withholding the truth of Marietta's true identity will effect their growing bond with each other. I see a triangle developing between them and Carlo. This book is character driven and I actually loved the contained use of sexual sences and when used, any sexual coupling to me where appropriate and necessary to the essence of the characters.Well done Sienna Mynx, I'm definitely seeing a growth and depth in your writing. This book was engaging and now holds the esteemed place of top of my favourite romantic reads please don't leave it to long for the fourth book in the series. I literally am counting down the days.

And despite Giovanni's incredible alpha masculinity, he wasn't it. Oh Lorenzo, how many lives have you got left? Watching you skate through mission impossible after mission impossible (of your own creation) is becoming my favourite past time. For me the supporting characters really made this book. On to the next one!

I'm absolutely obsessed with this series. The drama never ends with the Battaglias. I love Giovanni but I found him infuriating in this book, he is very sexist and his need for control over Mira irritates me but I'm still drawn because of his unshakable passion for her. I can't wait to get into the next one.