Kings of Vegas #1

ALC provided by author

Author: Natalie Kane

Narrators: Avery Caris and Teddy Hamilton

Thanks, @authornataliekane for the ARC/ALC! 

Welcome to the Kristen Proby ‘After Dark’ side! We have… well, not cookies! This one starts hitting the ground running: Eloise, a Mafia ‘Princess’ (who’s treated more like a Cinderella by her sadistic capo father) is summoned to find out she’s soon to be ‘collected’ by her future husband. She’s had it. She’s been preparing to run and now is the time. She flees to Vegas under a different name and she hopes to find a bartending job there. She tries a club and is nonchalantly dismissed by the lady who is the manager for being ‘too fat’. What she doesn’t know is that the club owner, Rome Alexander, one of the Kings of Vegas, is watching the interview and interferes. He NEEDS to have this woman in his life. A firefly. Just looking at her has stirred feelings he never thought he had. 

Rome doesn’t know what hit him. Equally baffled are his men and his ‘brothers’. He’s never been like this with anyone. And when Eloise’s father starts sniffing around Vegas looking for his ‘lost property’, Rome just won’t have it. 

Oh, this one was dark, gory and steamy fun! I loved how unapologetically BAD they are. They do what they do, no qualms about it. No ‘morally gray’ here. There is no grey. Eloise was also born into this world, so she’s no ingenue here despite the 20-year age gap. She’s seen a lot in her 23 years. She’s also a fun heroine”she’s been hurt and abused but she’s no damsel in distress. She has agency and goes for it, despite all the trauma she has been through.

The audiobook, narrated duet style, his a ‘press play and stay till the end’ experience. We have Avery Caris, whose sweet melodious voice is perfect for ‘Lulu’ (and she nails all the other female characters). I love when when we get dark and broody Teddy Hamilton! His warm and cozy voice makes a deranged, dark and dangerous Mafia capo even more scary. And, whaddya know, more swoony. 

I can’t wait for Julian’s book! 

Content notes: including, but not limited to – child abuse ( mention), PTSD from abuse, graphic torure, loss of parent (mention), kidnapping and murder on page

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