BREATHLESS & BLOODSTAINED

The Chicago War, #4

Bethany-Kris

Publication Date: March 7, 2016

Genre: Adult, Contemporary Romance, Erotic, Mafia

Purchase: Amazon (#FREE with #KindleUnlimited)

No war is won without a few bloodstains.

Tommas Rossi wants what belongs to him—he wants it bad. At thirty-years-old, he’s on course to become the youngest boss in the Chicago Outfit’s history. He just has to make it to the end alive. But being the boss of the Outfit means nothing to Tommas if a certain blue-eyed girl isn’t standing with him when the city finally crumbles. The crown is so close he can taste it. Blood paves his way. Every king needs a queen, but he doesn’t know how to get his anymore.

Abriella Trentini has always been the rebel. She’s quicker than most men, dangerous when she wants something, and more careful than anyone knows. Her relationship with Tommas Rossi has been a dangerous game she loved to play, but someone always has to lose. With choices to make, the kind that determines who will live and who will die, Abriella doesn’t know what to do. This should have been easy, but nothing ever is, and her time to choose is running out.

So much blood has spilled for this. The Outfit is in shambles, grieving and angry. The families just want peace. No one knows who will take the Chicago throne because too many men have a stake in this game. In wars like these, no one will let it go easily.

They’ll be bloodstained until the very bitter end.

And left breathless in the devastation of it all.

Has it been worth it?

*** Please Note: Breathless is the fourth book in a series and should only be read after the first three books have also been read. It is NOT a standalone.

THIS SERIES...I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!

Mafia books have become my most recent obsession. It all started with J.J. McAvoy's Ruthless series and now Bethany-Kris has turned it up a notch. This series is a long and crazy journey for four different families who make up the Outfit: Rossi, DeLuca, Trentini, and Conti. The way Bethany-Kris intertwines characters within the Outfit is beautifully written. It all just works out perfectly. As the series progresses, the books just keep getting better and better. With all the messes that started in the beginning, Breathless and Bloodstained was a great way to end it all. It has to be my favorite.

Thoughts:

PLOT LINE - The story starts where Scarless and Sacred left off. If you haven't read the series...go read it now! Once you start Deathless and Divided, you won't be able to stop because it you just want to know how the war ends. Which family will triumph over the other to be in control? Who will end up in the cross fires and die for their family? Most importantly: Will love conquer all? The plot line is a roller coaster ride of emotions filled with twists, secrets and surprises. It was all quick-paced because everything just flowed so smoothly. The mix of action and romance made the journey worth while. This book follows Tommas Rossi and Abriella Trentini's story. The story we all have been waiting for since the beginning. Bethany-Kris has indeed "saved the best for last".

CHEMISTRY - Four years. Four years of sneaking around and staying hidden. A forbidden romance that can be used as a tactic if discovered. There is no possible way Tommas will ever let Abriella be used as a pawn in her family. All he wants for her is to be happy and he would do anything to make it happen. The attraction between the two is off the charts because the love is already there (even if it is not said). When love comes into play, the sexy scenes get quite steamy. Since they already have four years under their belt of discovering how their connection works as a couple, it just feels natural. All the anger from unfolding events will play a part of it. Their love is just as intense as the war happening around them.

FAMILY - THAT EPILOGUE!! The connections between all characters in the same generation (Damian, Lily, Theo, Evelina, Adriano, Alessa, and Tommas) are so beautifully written. I love how they are extremely close and continue to watch each others' backs. It feels like they are apart of one big family rather than four different families. They know each others' secrets and make sure to protect those who matter. While the older members in the families try to fight for the top seed, one of them has to put a stop to it all before the most important ones die. Tommas' personality fits the bill. He has the determination, courage, strength to fight for the ones he love. Especially his love for Abriella, it makes him fight even harder. On the end note, if I have to choose one favorite among the six, Damian is the one. He is like the protector of the family. If they need a job done, they can always rely on him.

5 BREATHLESS STARS

EXCERPT

There were very few things in life that made a man worthy. Those things became lessened when a man was in the mafia. Instead of his value being counted in his actions and words, it was tallied by his deeds and possessions. It was determined by the number of men on his streets and the most red he could cover on a map to say he owned.

Tommas Rossi had always found it amusing how made men were called Men of Honor. There was nothing honorable about this life. The Outfit had forgotten honor a long time ago. Long before the war.

They breathed. They bled.

Life and death.

That’s all this life had ever been.

The one thing in his life that had kept Tommas honorable throughout the years was just a few steps ahead of him, but still out of reach.

Tommas tugged his jacket tighter around his neck, determined to keep the cold February air out. Even with it being the last days of the coldest month of the season, he knew the weather wouldn’t let up for another two. Probably. The bite of the wind was the only thing he seemed to feel lately. Maybe that was why he preferred to be outside rather than inside.

“No way,” a familiar voice said down the way.

Leaning around the lamp post, Tommas watched the two women walk arm in arm down the street. His eye caught the taller of the two and the dark waves of her hair that flew wildly in the wind. For a moment, he felt something else.

His heart splintered.

It was an agonizing crack.

He hated it.

But he loved her.

“Not at all?” Abriella asked.

“No, I want to make sure it’s all pale yellows and greens,” Alessa replied. “No pink. I hate pink. No dark blues, either. I don’t want to know the gender or make people think we do know what it is.”

Abriella’s laughter floated down to Tommas’ spot, traveling in the wind. It was a sweet sound, and one so familiar to him that it soothed the deep ache inside his chest. But not for long. It never lasted very long.

He hadn’t expected to see Abriella strolling out of the hospital with her sister in tow when he arrived to visit Theo. His plans to see the Capo had been forgotten while he followed the sisters down the street.

“I’m excited for you,” Abriella said.

Alessa tugged her sister closer. “Me, too.”

Tommas wondered if Abriella was smiling. The fact that he was the cause of her unhappiness lately, or the majority of it, sucked away what little soul he had left. People shouldn’t hurt those they loved.

God knew he had grown up in a home where that’s all he ever saw. His mother hating his father, and his father despising his mother. Violence. Drinking. Abuse.

Tommas wanted to be better than that, but then he’d went ahead and got himself mixed up with a girl eight years younger than his thirty years. Someone that the Outfit determined he couldn’t have because of her status and last name. And because he wasn’t good enough for her with his status or last name.

Fuck.

He knew better.

All those years ago?

Tommas wasn’t stupid, but it had been fun. Just simple, honest fun with a girl who tasted like trouble all over and gave him a whole new thrill that had nothing to do with the streets, being a Capo, or the mafia. Somewhere along the lines, fun with Abriella turned into a private apartment with her clothes in his closest, scarfs hanging off the bedpost, and her lotions in the bathroom.

It changed to comfort.

She seeped into his blood.

She infected him.

**DON'T MISS THE FIRST 3 BOOKS IN THE CHICAGO WAR SERIES....**

Damian Rossi and Lily DeLuca

DEATHLESS & DIVIDED by Bethany-Kris The Chicago War #1
Publication Date: September 7, 2015
Genres: Contemporary, Erotic, Romance, Suspense

Buy (#FREE with #KindleUnlimited): Amazon • PRINT

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Adriano Conti and Alessa Trentini

RECKLESS & RUINED by Bethany-Kris The Chicago War #2
Publication Date: November 9, 2015
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Erotic, Organized Crime, Romance

Buy (#FREE with #KindleUnlimited!): Amazon • Print

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Theo DeLuca and Evelina Conti

SCARLESS & SACRED by Bethany-Kris The Chicago Wars #3
Publication Date: January 11, 2016
Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Erotic,Adult, Organized Crime

Buy (#FREE with #KindleUnlimited): Amazon • PRINT

Bethany-Kris is a Canadian author, lover of much, and mother to three young sons, one cat, and two dogs. A small town in Eastern Canada where she was born and raised is where she has always called home. With her boys under her feet, snuggling cat, barking dogs, and a hubby calling over his shoulder, she is nearly always writing something … when she can find the time.

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