Review: Vendetta (Blood for Blood #1) by Catherine Doyle

When it comes to revenge, love is a dangerous complication.With a fierce rivalry raging between two warring families, falling in love is the deadliest thing Sophie could do. An epic debut set outside modern-day Chicago.

When five brothers move into the abandoned mansion in her neighbourhood, Sophie Gracewell’s life changes forever. Irresistibly drawn to bad boy Nicoli, Sophie finds herself falling into a criminal underworld governed by powerful families. As the boys’ dark secrets begin to come to light, Sophie is confronted with stinging truths about her own family, too. She must choose between two warring dynasties – the one she was born into, and the one she is falling in love with. When she does, blood will spill and hearts will break. (From: Goodreads)

Actual rating: 3.5/5 Mafiaso Stars

I want to study the realness of life, not the gloss. There is beauty everywhere; even in the dark, there is light, and that is the rarest kind of all.

Vendetta is so far the first Mafia story I’ve ever read about and simply the idea of Mafia fascinated me much; thus, I had high expectations for the book. Well, did it meet my standards? *turning into Le Penseur’s, aka The Thinker by Rodin, mode*

To begin with, there are different titles for each chapter, which I absolutely love, and basically, those are exactly the cores of them. Honestly, I thought those topics wouldn’t be so…specific because a part of me still wanted some surprises. Therefore, when I found out the pattern of them, I was a little bit disappointed (just a little bit!). Besides, I personally think the connection between chapter and chapter isn’t strong enough to make me feel something. It’s not that they’re all separated from the previous ones, for me, it’s just that I find it hard to be a part of the story when I can barely put myself in the main characters’ shoes. As a result, I feel like watching some sort of drama as a third person throughout the book, as if whatever happens to the characters is none of my business. However, as a reader, I WANT IT TO BE MY CONCERN! The characters’ problems are MY problems. Okay? *getting furious at the moment*

The story is about a seemingly innocent girl named Sophie Gracewell tangled up with a notorious Mafia family originated from Sicily, Italy. It all started with an unnoticed pot of honey left by someone on the table in her diner. Well, it actually meant a declaration of something much deeper than it seemed and you’ll find out in the story later.

“It is an honor to be stung by such noble creatures. That they would lay down their lives for a fleeting moment of my attention is extraordinary.”

There are 5 Falcones brothers in that family and she fell in love (at least she thought she did) with one of them. The one with beautiful brown, almond-shaped eyes and pretty hair. The one whom she was busy running away from when caught spying their mansion near her house. And also the one who hurt her uncle even when she told him not to. I like the way they met and their romantic development because seriously, they were hilarious and funny most of the time. He was a lovely guy when no fights or murders was concerned but sadly, that wasn’t his true self. Maybe it was just her imagination because she wanted to be loved and to feel love too badly.

“Why would you pass the ball to me when her face was in the way?” Nic seethed over me.
“Why would you be feeling her up in the middle of a basketball game?”

When Sophie discovered something mysterious about her uncle Jack and his past with those boys, she decided to dig deeper and that was what dragged her down ever since. Perhaps she wasn’t as innocent as she appeared to be.

The story building was pretty astonishing and as things turned out more complicated, it left me wanting more. Unfornately, I think the descriptions and the way it’s told are lack of flourish. To put it differently, the words and phrases the author used in this book are quite simple and easy to grasp the whole idea of them but I truly hope that the story could be more well written. I mean, there are too many ways of speech that I’ve seen in other ordianry books several times and I’m tired of reading them again and again. Moreover, since it’s all about Mafia’s definition of loyalty and love, there are many Italian conversations in the story…without translation. >< Trying not to complain, but I’d like to understand what those Mafia boys are talking or arguing about while I’m reading the book. Although I did look up those words in a dictionary(trust me, the auto-translation on Google is incredibly perfect!), I admit that I’d rather not spend so much time searching them. But in the meanwhile, I believe it’ll be a special reading experience for those Italian readers or anyone who understands Italian. 🙂

In the end of the story, there’s a HUGE cliffhanger and I really want to continue it!!! Despite the fact that there are some flaws in the book, the entire idea of how the story was plotted still imprinted on me. I wouldn’t say that I LOVE this book, but at least I LIKE it and that’s enough for me. For now.
All in all, it’s a quick and humorous read for me so I recommend Vendetta to those who’re also interested in how Mafia works out and their circle of friends/family/love. I hope this book will intrigue you more than me. 😀