Marlobo

As usual with this author, I really enjoyed her writing, yet the MCs were a bit irritating and repetitive at times.

My biggest problem was the normalization of mafia behavior. I had to shift my mindset as a reader and somewhat separate it from my moral compass in order to read the story. And if a story challenges me as a reader, it speaks well of it, in my opinion.

While I'm not particularly fond of dark romance, I found this story really good. It's gripping, well-paced, and the tension is handled really well.

Sugary sweet as a romance, utterly implausible as a spy novel.

On the spy side, MCs trust practically everyone they meet, even though their handler explicitly told them to trust no one except a single contact using a code name.

Then there's a mole, a high ranking enemy official in a position far too strategic to risk. He shows up and starts spilling information without the slightest precaution, just to warn that some "American friends" are in danger. Hardly the kind of intel worth blowing such a cover for, and there's no reason he should have known about them in the first place.

And that's just a couple of examples.

On the romance side, there's way too much inner monologue about how much they love each other. Moreover, other characters easily figure out they're lovers just from the way they look at each other. Some spies.

3.5 stars

I don't fully buy the premise of the breakup 15 years ago, but I enjoyed the rest of the story, especially the focus on the players' wellness and the documentary filming aspect. Furthermore, I would say I connected more with those aspects than with the relationship between Sandro & Bennett.

Loved the story, the characters, Marco as Ash's alter ego, and the dry style. And the humor (oh my gosh, it was midnight and I was all LMAO)

Yet, the editing is atrocious, if not non-existent: repeated paragraphs, missing sections or pages. At least twice, when turning a page, I found the ending of a word followed by a paragraph completely unrelated to what had been said before. Yes, I checked locations to make sure I hadn't missed something, but it still made no sense. There were also some other inconsistencies as well.

I doubt the book even had a proofread. It detracts one and a half stars from my rating.

Short review in Alfie: Part Two