Bennett Mafia

Books, Coffee & Passion
I don't even know how to start this review because I'm still speechless! Bennett Mafia is AMAZING! I barely slept because I couldn't put it down, it was an emotional roller-coaster. Kai and Riley are explosive together and this is definitely my top favorite standalone of 2019!
I was beyond excited when I read Bennett Mafia's blurb and I was literally counting the days to this release after I read an excerpt. Honestly, a few days prior to the release I was thinking that I might be disappointed because my expectations were sky high but after I read it in one sleepless night, I can tell you that Tijan blew all my expectations away in every way possible!
Riley and Brooke meet and bound in their boarding school. Riley knows that Brooke is a Mafia princess but Brooke never talks about that, she mostly talks about how she loves her brothers and she keeps their pictures displayed in their room. An event occurs which makes Brooke's family to go to their boarding school, to deliver Brooke sad news. That's when Riley meets Brooke's brother Kai... Then, a few months later Brooke leaves Hillcrest and 14 years later Brooke is missing and Kai kidnaps Riley. And I won't say anymore.
Nothing is what it seems, no one is innocent, everything has a purpose...
Kai and Riley are captivating characters, they're both strong-willed and their relationship is forged in chaos, fire and brutality. Bennett Mafia is fast paced, with no sunshine and rainbows, filled with action and suspense, dark and emotional moments, angst, twists and turns, red hot chemistry, lust, love, loyalty and fantastic secondary characters. I wish this wasn't a standalone because I definitely want more Kai and Riley! Highly recommended to anyone who loves a dark steamy angsty romance.

This is definitely more on the average end of Tijan's books. I didn't think the characters provided much chemistry at all, though they were having sex every five pages in the last half of the book. There was a lot of withheld potential relationship communication for the sake of badass-pretense but as life constantly shows us, it's actually REALLY badass if you communicate with your partner and face your feelings directly. Consequently, when we are first introduced to the Bennett mafia, the patriarch and Kai Bennett particularly, in a flashback, I could really think of them as cowards for going to their daughter's/sister's school and telling her tragic news, only to walk away.

(And no, that lingering moment that the protagonist bases Kai's sliver of humanity on does not redeem him in any way for that entire scene. I know he was under his father's control and it's not really his actions I'm critiquing here. The book is based on Kai having this morally gray, nuanced approach to conducting business and the main character excuses a lot his attitude with just that, excuses. I actually would have liked if the author embraced more of Kai's character head-on rather than reading from the timid-dance Riley's mind plays anytime she tries to rationalize any bad attitude or decision from Kai. It would have been much more nuanced had the author confronted the hard decisions Kai made throughout the book with all the planning that led up to the grand "reveal/finale", rather than dissecting while it was happening.)

The rest of the characters were lackluster, which is not to say is a surprise from Tijan, but I wish she'd spent more time on their history and relationship to the protagonist because it would have been great to connect to their personalities and motivations.

I feel like I might be unduly harsh on this one but I'm not a big mafia fan. I'm a Tijan fan. :) I will read anything she publishes to get more of that angst she does so well. This has not dissuaded me from my dedication.

I'm thinking I am just not the right person for this author's work. I didn't like Carter Reed which people gushed about to me and even this one just didn't click. The beginning was pretty good, but then... it stalled.
I really do prefer when a relationship is built on more than just enjoying each others looks, which is what happened here. I didn't believe it. They have a few good scenes – one scene caught me offguard and was so out of place, yet it was my favorite.
I didn't understand why we were continually told how amazing Riley is at hiding and escaping, but then when she does, she really.... isn't? And she always goes back to him or gives in. The ending didn't make too much sense to me. No spoilers here, but I don't know why people kept telling her things as if their relationship was her choice.