RUIN MY LIFE - Luna Pierce

3.5 stars

An emotional why-choose mafia romance with a lot of drama and heart to it. I have such a soft spot for this series, even though this particular one wasn’t my favorite.

Plot/Pacing: ★★★
Characters: ★★★
Steam/Romance: ★★★ 1/2

Ruin My Life is the latest installment in the why-choose mafia series by Luna Pierce. While this novel is technically a standalone romance, I really recommend readers start with June's story in Untamed Vixen, as all of those characters and several situations from that book are referenced in this one.

This is the long-awaited story of Cora and her men. Cora is June's best friend, so while we were along for the ride with June in Untamed Vixen, we saw Cora on the sidelines and I, for one, was really intrigued by her as a character.

In this book, Cora is immediately not having a good time. Her father is caught behind on his debts to a very scary mob boss, and in the heat of the moment Cora, his daughter, is offered up as payment for the debt. Yep—Cora is sold off to an absolute sleazeball to pay off her cowardly dad's debts that he accrued to provide for her mother's cancer treatments.

Cora can't let her dad die, and she knows her mother's survival depends on this mafia boss's money and treatments. So she accepts the forced deal.

Good thing there are a few men in Cora's life with power, money, and heart who are willing to help her out...

Y'all, I had such a sweet time with this story. Cora deserved good things, and she got them in this tale. That's honestly what I was here to read. And I got it!

However, despite my emotional connection to Ruin My Life, I did struggle with this novel's length and kind of repetitive-yet-meandering pacing. The drama is real, and the reactions are authentic—but given how long this drama unfolded, there was only so much we could do and I feel like it lost me as it continued to drag out the big bad drama. This sounds harsh—I did, truly, enjoy this read and despite my qualms it was an addictive read that I finished in one evening.

Don't miss this one if you're a fan of the series!

Thank you so much to the author for my copy in exchange for an honest review.