In this thrilling and sexy follow-up to Sempre, two young lovers struggle to keep their relationship intact after they become deeply enmeshed in the dangerous mafia-run crime ring they once tried to overthrow.
Haven Antonelli and Carmine DeMarco have been through a lot. Haven was taken in by Carmine’s father, and with his family’s help, she escaped a gruesome fate. However, saving Haven from the dark intentions of a mafia family cost Carmine a steep price: he was forced to swear loyalty to them.
Now, still passionately in love, Carmine and Haven must face the fall-out of Carmine’s forced service, as Haven discovers terrifying secrets about the family that enslaved both her and her mother—and why she matters so much in this intricate web of lies.
4.5 Stars
**Possible spoilers below if you haven’t read book one**
“You’re not asking me to choose you. There’s no choice about it. It’s always been you. Your father once told me that we always have a choice, but I think he was wrong. I think sometimes things choose us. It’s like with breathing. It’s natural. It’s a part of us. It just happens. We can hold our breath and try not to breathe anymore, and it’ll work for a few minutes, but we’ll eventually pass out and nature takes over. We can’t just not breathe, just like I can’t just not love you.”
I honestly don’t know how to begin this review. Okay, I’ll start off by saying that Sempre (#1) is one of my favorite books of all-time. So when I heard that this sequel was coming out, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. So many questions lingered after book one finished:
- Is Corrado alive?
- What’s going to happen to Carmine & Haven now that Carmine was forced to join the Mafioso?
- What is Vincent really up to?
Fear not.
Questions will be answered.
“All I ever wanted was someone to see me, to love me, to understand me. I didn’t have to hide from you; I didn’t have to pretend to be someone I wasn’t. You know me, the person no one else will ever know.” ~ Haven
I’m not going to sugarcoat it, but it took quite a while for me to get into this. The first 12% was pure heaven. Their lives are completely entwined. They know each other’s ins/outs and they don’t have to hide who they are. They’re in love and in a happy bubble. We were even treated with a little steam. Le sigh… I love this couple. However their bubble was about to burst, leaving the couple in pieces. This is where my struggle begins.
“What do you do when the thing you want most suddenly feels like it’s just beyond your fingertips?”
A good portion of this story has Carmine and Haven apart. Yes, apart. Carmine’s life is about to drastically change when his Godfather, Salvatore, summons him. His life in the Mafia is about to begin. He didn’t want his beloved Haven to experience this new life with him; a life full of danger, violence and the unknown. Carmine loves her so much that he feels that she deserves a chance to live a normal life. Unfortunately to achieve that, he must do the hardest thing he has to do – leave Haven.
Haven didn’t know what hit her when Carmine walked away. Honestly, I was shocked right along with her. I understand why he did, but what I didn’t understand is why didn’t he give her the chance to make her own choice?
You were worth it.
I was struggling. I wanted these two together; to face their futures together and as I was reading it, I felt a little cheated that the majority of this book didn’t have them together. However I was happy that I didn’t give up and skip to the reunion. A lot happens in this book – things that needed to happen in order for our beloved couple to have a shot a normal future. Some events shocked me, while some saddened me. This book wasn’t what exactly what I wanted and, yes, I wanted more of Carmine and Haven, but it was still a fantastic story. I love this series and this author can weave a tale like no other. This was definitely worth the wait.
About the Author
JM Darhower is the author of countless stories and poems,
most of which only she has ever read. She lives in a tiny town in rural North
Carolina, where she churns out more words than will ever see the light of day.
She has a deep passion for politics and speaking out against human trafficking,
and when she isn't writing (or fangirling about books) she's usually ranting
about those things.
Chronic crimper with a vulgar mouth, she admits to having a
Twitter addiction. You can usually always find her there.
Author's Links
Excerpts
Excerpt One
Carmine sat in his usual
chair in the library, casually strumming his guitar. A sliver of light filtered
in from the large window, illuminating his somber expression in the darkness.
She called his name but he remained still, continuing to pluck at the strings
almost as if he hadn’t heard her. She took a step toward him and was about to
say his name again when he let out a long, deep sigh. “I had a dream.”
“Another nightmare?” she
asked, walking over to him. He glanced up at her as his fingers stilled, the
music stopping, but Haven barely noticed. She couldn’t focus on anything but
the green eyes boring into her. Once so alive with passion, she saw nothing but
deep sadness marring the bright color.
Carmine set the guitar aside
and moved his legs to make room, motioning for her to join him. She climbed
into his lap and he wrapped his arms around her.
“Not a nightmare this time,”
he said. “It was a good dream.”
“What was it about?”
“You,” he said quietly. “You
made a painting—some abstract shit, I don’t know—but it was so good they hung
it in a museum and raved about how talented you were. It was like you were the
next fucking Picasso, tesoro.”
She laughed. “I don’t even
know how to paint, Carmine.”
“You could learn,” he said.
“Would you want to?”
“Maybe, but I don’t know how good
I’d be.”
“Oh, you’d be good,” he said
confidently. “You shouldn’t doubt yourself. You can do anything you set your
mind to.”
“Except for play the piano,”
she said playfully. “Or the guitar.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, for the
sake of everyone’s ears, we ought to leave music to me, but the rest is all
you. You can probably do all of that, you know. Draw, paint, sculpt shit into
weird shapes and tell people it’s something it doesn’t look anything like. That
takes talent.”
She smiled. “And you think I
have that kind of talent?”
“Of course,” he said.
“There’s gonna be no stopping you once you get started.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, a
swell of emotion surging through her at his words. “It means a lot that you
believe in me.”
“I’d be an idiot not to,” he
said, kissing the top of her head.
Excerpt Two
The smile fizzled from his
face as he strolled through the house, heading straight for the drink table. He
grabbed a small glass and filled it from an open liquor bottle, disregarding
Corrado’s warning. The burn lessened the pressure in his chest, unwinding the
knots and loosening his taut muscles.
He leaned against the table
as he drank, his attention shifting to the front door. Hours had passed, yet
the girl still stood there, as silent and still as ever. He studied her,
wondering where she had come from and how long she had been trapped in Sal’s
home. He couldn’t recall her ever being there before.
She snuck a peek after a
moment, tipping her head up slightly so her blue eyes met his. Her brow
furrowed when she saw him watching her, and she dropped her gaze again quickly.
“What’s your name?” Carmine
asked curiously.
She peeked up once more but
didn’t have a chance to respond before laughter sounded out behind him. Carmine
turned at the noise of a clinking liquor bottle and froze, the glass nearly
slipping from his hand as he stared at the badly scarred face. The familiarity
took his breath away.
“Her name’s Annie, I think,”
Carlo said, casually pouring a glass of scotch.
“Abby,” the girl whispered,
her voice shaking as she corrected him.
“Not that it matters,” Carlo
continued, shrugging. “You can call her anything you want.”
Carmine couldn’t tear his
eyes away from him. Everything about the man screamed vile, from his callous words to his horrid face. “I prefer to call
her by her name.”
Carlo looked over at him,
studying him carefully. “DeMarco’s kid.”
“Yes.”
“Makes sense.” Carlo brought
his glass to his lips. “She’s your type.”
Anger swept through Carmine.
He fought to control himself, forcing his feet to stay where they were. He
wouldn’t be provoked. Not here, not now. “Excuse me?”
“Ah, no reason to be
ashamed,” Carlo said. “If it’s any consolation, I’ve always liked to sample the
help, too. Little Annie over there is a sweet thing. Submissive. Didn’t even
put up a fight. Not that any of them do. Well, except yours. Feisty one, isn’t
she? Didn’t get that from her mother.”
Carmine’s rage spiraled over.
“You son of a—!”
Before he could leap over the
liquor table and pound his fists into the man’s grotesque face, the noise in
the room grew louder as a slew of guests filtered in. They scattered through,
some heading for the door while others made their way to the back den. Carlo
took a step back, tipping his glass at Carmine with a menacing smile. “Nice to
officially meet you, kid. I’ll see you around.”
He sauntered away as Corrado
approached, grabbing the glass from Carmine’s hand and slamming it on the
table. “Your ability to listen is astounding.”
“Do you know what that
motherfucker just said to me?” Carmine asked, clenching his hands into fists.
“He just—”
Corrado cut him off. “I don’t
care. He’s made, Carmine. You don’t disrespect a man who earned his button.”
Excerpt Three
“How long ago did you
initiate?” the other officer asked casually, changing the subject.
Carmine glanced at
him, surprised at his nonchalance “Initiate what?”
“La Cosa Nostra.”
He scoffed. “You’re
joking, right?”
“Do I look
like I’m joking?” he asked, raising his voice. “We know you’re involved, so
there’s no sense denying it.”
“You must’ve watched Scarface
one too many times,” he muttered. “That shit’s not real. It doesn’t exist.”
He sighed
exasperatedly, giving Carmine an annoyed look. “We know it exists.
We’re not stupid.”
“Neither am I,”
Carmine snapped. “Take your bullshit questions about the Mafia elsewhere,
because I have nothing to say about it. Period. End of motherfucking story.”
A tense silence fell
over the room before Agent Cerone cleared his throat. “I saw her, you know.”
“Who?” Carmine asked,
the shift in topic catching him off guard.
“Haven,” he
clarified, his lips twitching as he fought back a smile.
“How . . . ?” His
confusion deepened. How the fuck? “You’re lying.”
“I’m not,” he said.
“I’ve been thinking about looking her up again.”
“Leave her the fuck
alone,” Carmine spat, standing and shoving his chair back in haste. “I swear to
God if you—”
Before he could
finish, Mr. Borza grabbed his arm and pulled him back into his seat.
“Threatening my client’s loved ones isn’t going to help you.”
“I wasn’t threatening
anyone. I was simply saying—”
“We’re all
well aware of what you were saying,” Mr. Borza said, “and it was nothing but a
thinly veiled threat. You claim to want his cooperation, but yet you bring up
Miss Antonelli in an attempt to upset him further.”
“I did no such
thing,” Agent Cerone said. “As far as I’m concerned, he doesn’t care about her.
In fact, last we spoke, he denied even knowing her.”
“Then why bring her
up at all?”
Excerpt Four
Carefully, so not to
wake Haven, he slipped from underneath her and climbed out of bed. He tiptoed
across the room to the window and pulled some slats of the blinds apart to look
out into the night. It was nearing three in the morning, the sky pitch black
and the city quiet. Carmine surveyed the street, looking for any sign of
trouble, and tensed when his eyes fell upon a car out front.
A vaguely familiar
looking dark Chevy Camaro.
He stepped back from
the window and gave Haven a quick glance before heading out of the room.
Instinct took over, every move calm and calculating. He found his pants and
pulled them on before grabbing his gun downstairs. He made sure it was loaded
as he quietly slipped out the back door. He headed around the house and came up
behind the Camaro, eyeing the license plate.
The moment he saw the
letters JK, his adrenaline kicked into overdrive.
Staying in the
shadows, he watched the car for a bit. The man was alone with the driver’s side
window down, his attention focused away from Carmine’s house. Every time
headlights flashed nearby he would watch them like a hawk until they passed. He
was waiting for something, but Carmine wasn’t sure what until a set of
headlights shined their way. The man ducked as a black Mercedes sped by them
before swinging into a driveway about a block away.
Corrado.
Carmine wasn’t sure
what to do, torn between reacting and alerting Corrado, but he didn’t get much
time to consider his options. The driver’s side door swung open and the guy
climbed out, keeping his head down as he started down the block. Without even
thinking Carmine followed him, dodging streetlights while trying to keep up
with his pace. The man slowed when he neared Corrado’s house, staring at it
peculiarly like he was trying to assess how to get inside. The living room
light was on and Carmine could see shadows, Celia’s laughter faintly filtering
out of a cracked window.
The man ducked beside
Corrado’s house and Carmine hesitated, taking a deep breath and clutching his
gun before darting behind him. The invader had almost made it to their backyard
when he heard Carmine’s footsteps. He swung around, alarmed by the presence,
but it was already too late.
Carmine slammed him
into the side of the house, shoving his gun against his temple. “If you move,
I’ll blow your fucking head off.”
He cursed and shook
as Carmine patted him down, frantically pulling everything out of the guy’s
pockets. He found a gun in his coat and made sure the safety was on before
sticking it in his waistband.
Grabbing the man’s
wallet, Carmine flipped it open and yanked out his driver’s license. “Oisin
Quinn. What kinda name is that?”
“Don’t hurt me,” he
begged. “I’m not looking for trouble!”
“Bullshit,” Carmine
spat. “You don’t lurk around this neighborhood with a gun if you aren’t looking
for trouble.”
“I swear it’s a
mistake!”
“What is?”
“This!”
“What the fuck is this?”
Carmine asked, pulling him away from the house and shoving him into the
backyard. He stumbled but caught himself before he fell, and hesitated for a
second before he took off sprinting through the yard.
For a brief moment,
Carmine remained frozen in utter disbelief. He had just let go of the guy. How
fucking stupid could he be?
Adrenaline kicked in
again. Carmine aimed with his finger on the trigger, a hair away from pulling
it, but lowered the gun and took off after him instead. Carmine managed to catch
him, tackling him in the grass at the edge of the yard. Panicked, the man
swung, trying to fight Carmine off, and his fist connected with the right side
of his jaw. Pain ripped through his cheek, sending him over the edge.
If he wanted a fight,
Carmine was going to give him one.
He pulled his arm
back that clutched the gun, slamming him straight in the face with it. A
lifetime worth of aggression came pounding from his fists, disappointment and
anger, shame and heartbreak. Carmine didn’t know the man, but that mattered
not—he took his pain out on him, battering him with pent up hostility he needed
to let go of.
After he was beat
down, Carmine pulled him across the yard and forced him on his knees right
outside Corrado’s back door.
“Stay there,
motherfucker,” he spat, giving him a swift kick in the side out of frustration.
His jaw ached and he was out of breath, blood splattered on his hands.
“I’m certainly glad
you decided not to shoot him.”
The voice caught
Carmine off guard. He looked up, seeing Corrado standing motionless at the back
door, watching them. “Fuck, how long have you been there?”
“Long enough.”
“And you couldn’t
help me?” he spat, annoyed he had just watched.
“You seemed to have
it handled,” he said. “Besides, it was quite entertaining.”
Carmine glared at
him. “Entertaining? There’s nothing entertaining about this!”
“I disagree.”
“Well, you’re wrong,”
Carmine said, reaching into his waistband for the guy’s gun. He cursed yet
again when he came up empty-handed and glanced around, realizing it had fallen
out during their scuffle. He found it a few feet away and picked it up, handing
it to Corrado when he stepped outside. “He could’ve killed me.”
Corrado laughed
dryly. “You’re exaggerating. You had him, no problem.”
“You couldn’t have
fucking known that.”
“Yes, I could. He
didn’t do his homework if he parked in front of your house.”
“How do you . . . ?”
Carmine stopped, narrowing his eyes when it struck him. “Wait, you knew he was
there?”
“Of course I did,” he
replied. “He wasn’t sly, Carmine. Even you noticed him.”
“Son of a bitch,” he
grumbled, aggravated. “I did all of that for nothing?”
“I wouldn’t say it
was for nothing,” Corrado replied, smiling with amusement. “Like I said, it was
entertaining.”
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