A mafia romance about betrayal and faith by Rachel Van Dyken, the number one New York Times bestselling author of the Eagle Elite series.
The truth may hurt for a little while, but a lie hurts forever.—Ryan Bigge
I grew up knowing it would happen one day.
Believing that I would fall into my father's footsteps and become a monster of my own making.
So I fought it.
I lived.
I loved.
I teased.
And then one day… I destroyed.
And realized I loved the pain.
Obsessed over the feeling.
So I cut again and again and again.
She saw my rage, my madness, and tried to stop me from destroying myself, and I hated her for it, pushing her away past the point of no return.
Izzy Abandonato was supposed to be mine.
But there are some things people can never come back from. I hurt her, she hurt me, and now I'm living a lie. Telling the ones I love that I'm on one side when for years I've been forced to play both.
I'm not the hero.
I'm the villain.
And I may single-handedly bring down the Cosa Nostra—by default.
I, Maksim Sinacore, will have my vengeance.
I will win her back.
Even if it means I have to kill everyone in my path.
The pain masks the betrayal.
I never realized that one day—I'd be the very rat that I hated. That I was sent to kill. But once you're deep in a lie—you'll do anything to hide the truth.
She fell for the bad one.
She fell for the sinner.
So why does that make me smile? Fallen Royal (Mafia Royals, #4)
READ ¸ TEXASBEERGUIDE.COM Î Rachel Van Dyken
“I have become the very thing I have always feared, and I have nobody to blame but myself.”
I don’t even know where to begin… I’m still shocked.
I didn’t think someone could even remotely come close to Ash but I was so wrong.
Maksim wreaked my world! I’m completely overwhelmed by emotions, that I can’t even give a name to.
This story is just too passionate, too explosive too everything .
“All I know was that I felt like if I didn’t hold him close, he’d disappear, and him being out of my life,as much as I wanted to throat punch him–felt like a tragedy I wasn’t sure I’d survive.”
This story is so emotional I was on the edge the entire time, and I loved every second of it.
Maksim and Izzy really played a number on my heart.
I don’t wanna say anything about the story line, you should be catapulted in their world without a parachute . I think this is the best way to really understand and feel deeply everything that went down in this story.
“We live for today because we aren’t guaranteed a tomorrow.That’s how we deal with it. We live.”
I’ll just tell you this: You should definitely buckle up because ,like with all the others mafia royals ,you’ll gonna go on a crazy ride and you won’t survive this time!
I gave it absolutely 523457246 stars
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I hope you’ll enjoy it like I did!
*ARC IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW* Fallen Royal (Mafia Royals, #4) “Kiss me like you’re saying goodbye, then hold me like you’ll never let go. When you think it’s not hard enough, squeeze more; when your lips are swollen, keep kissing me, and when it breaks your heart into a million pieces, let me know so I can put them back again before I leave this room.”
How I missed my family… ops the Mafia Royals family. Izzy Abandonato and Maksim Sinacore were one of my most anticipated book maybe of the year. Actually any book of this series are. And all my wait paid off. Fallen Royal was pure mystery, angst, love, betrayal, family. At some point of the story I was so desperate that I didn’t know if should have cried (which I did, a lot), scream, laugh or just ask what the hell is going on.
As usual, Rachel gives us an unforgettable rollercoaster. Maks and Iz have grown up together and they fell in love at the first insect. They shared the love for sciences or math, their brains and hearts were always for each other. “Until my heart stops beating.” But he was living a double life, one that he didn’t share with her or basically no one else. He had a role to play at the mafia family.
Maksim made my heart ache so many times, I’ve cried at some of them and other I just wanted to hit him in the head. At the other side there’s Izzy, she is incredible, she surprised me with her strength, love, compassion and she gave as good as she got. His a$$holery wouldn’t be forgiven and her comeback at times made me laugh out loud.
I was totally not expecting the twists and turns at the end. I was surprised, shocked and when the meaning finally hit my mind I positively in awe. This book can be read as a standalone, but I highly suggest that you read the whole series first, because some events will have a bigger meaning if you do. Now for the love of god can we have King’s book tomorrow? Fallen Royal (Mafia Royals, #4) ***4 Until my heart stops beating!!! stars***
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I'll hate you... until your heart stops beating.
To say to you that I was expecting how this story turned out after all, I will blatantly lie to you.
I have a weakness toward this bunch and even though, very often, they seem unreal, honestly, I don't care... I'm just enjoying their crazy adventures and I just want to read more and more about them...
They've all sacrificed enough; it's finally my turn to bleed.
Maksim and Izzy were kind of anomalies on this crazy mafia bunch... They were toward science, so imagine my surprise when I saw a different side of both of them, especially Maksim's...
They were in love since they were kids and even though there was this rule that the heirs couldn't get involved between them, they never back down for being together...
But lately, something changed between them... Maksim changed and he had broken Izzy's heart!!!
But their hearts are still beating for each other and will they manage to stay away for good???
He'd turned from my best friend, my everything -into someone I no longer recognized.
Well, I enjoyed this story very much, even though it was kind of confusing most of the part...
Izzy was a heartbroken girl who was trying to understand why her loved one made the decision to broke them ...
Maksim has his own demons to deal with... Demons that he is hiding from everyone and especially, from Izzy. He is not the same guy that he used to be and he is determined to do anything for Izzy's well-being... And the only thing for this to happen is to make her hate him...
But his heart is not always accepting the plans of his mind...
Is there still some hope for them???
Knew my love for her could hurt her, hurt us.
I could hurt us.
I liked Maksim very much... Yep, his situation was strange, but he was determined to make anything in the name of love...
He was divided inside of him and that was killing him...
He was frustrated and it was showing....
Poor Izzy was a strong girl and she knew how to love fiercely...
She was hurt and she knew how to hold her own, but she could understand and eventually, she knew how to heal a broken mind and heart...
Kiss me like you're saying goodbye, then hold me like you'll never let go.
I just love this crazy bunch full of unreal mobsters... even though they are unnecessary bloodthirsty...
I'm enjoying the new generation's stories and I can not wait for King's turn...
I am already very invested on his story and I need to find out everything about it....
I met the devil last night.
What did he tell you?
He said welcome home.
**An Arc was provided for the exchange of an honest review** Fallen Royal (Mafia Royals, #4) ARC kindly provided in exchange for an honest review.
My mafia loving soul has been resurrected! Maksim Sinacore and Izzy Abandonato's much awaited story is a whirlwind romance. My favorite nerds hold a special place in my heart but you know the rules. Their parents forbid the kids to date within the family or they'll face a punishment. Let's say Maksim suffered a trauma and kept his secret most especially to Izzy, his childhood best friend and soulmate.
Those two are meant for each other. Such tight knit friendship is unbreakable until their heart stops beating. My goodness. I badly want to hug them for going through a rough journey. The steamy scenes here are lesser than the previous books and centered more on Maksim's. The plot needs to be fleshed out because everything happened swiftly. It needs more build considering there's a new family coming in the way. So far, this series is doing good and I hope RVD will drop a bomb on the final book. Fallen Royal (Mafia Royals, #4) WTF Rachel !!!!! I found myself repeating that over and over as I read this book.
Seriously though Buckle up, RVD will torture the ever loving sanity out of you with Fallen Royal.
I'm seriously refraining from leaving too many curse words in this review. Don't get it twisted I lived for every moment. I wanted to jump into this book and reign hell on Maxsim Sinacore more than once. And I was glued to the pages.
This book gave me all the OG Eagle Elite feels, and Rachel didn't hold back with the emotional feels in this book. This was definitely a surprise for me, I honestly didn't expect all this Angst and with every chapter it felt like Rachel was reaching into my heart to try and rip it out. Like girl, why you gotta do me like this !!!!!
RVD also has me wanting to google things which might make someone looking at my search history look at me in a different light. LOL you will know what I mean when you read this book.
Dare I say this is my fav book out of these series so far.
Emotionally gripping, Fallen Royal will have you biting your nails.
PSA: You will curse out loud while reading this book. It's almost a guarantee. If you don't yell What the Fuck at least once then you should seek professional help. (Disclaimer, this is clearly a joke, I am not in any capacity to offer any sort of sound advice) But for real, I'm still cursing.
You gotta watch out for those nice authors, they will try to gut you with their books. Geez Rachel !!!
WTF !!!!!
Fallen Royal (Mafia Royals, #4)
A very different kind of Mafia story!
The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💋💋💋💋💋
Heat/Steam: 🥵🥵🥵
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙📒
World building: 🌎🌍🌏🌎🌍
Character development: 👩🏻🧑🏼🦱👩🏻🦱👱🏻♂️🦸🏼♂️
The heroine: Izzy Abandonato - Has been in love with Maksim since they were ten years old. They both love learning and loved being together. Izzy is the twin sister to Asher (the enforcer of their family) and their father is Chase Abandonato who is both a mafia boss and a Senator.
The Hero(es): Maksim Sinacore - heir to the Sinacore thrown (Cosa Nostra). His father is Alexei who has both Petrov and Sinacore, a mixing of the oldest Italian Mafia Family and the brutal Russian Mafia. Maksim was finally asked to step up and be a killer for the family like his father and Maksim didn’t think he could do it. He and Izzy were both into science and math not violence.
The Story: Maksim took some measures to be able to step into his fathers shoes and and the fallout from what he did broke him and Izzy apart. He started seeing other girls and broke her heart. They are still in college at Eagle Elite but Maksim hasn’t been right since that first night he was asked to kill.
This was a terrific book that kept me on the edge of my seat. It had romance, love, steam, suspense and internal turmoil. It had a damaged Hero who tried so hard to be what everyone expected and wanted him to be that he tore himself apart and became a monster. But you couldn’t help but love him the more for it.
I will have to admit that this series shows all the parents and the children as a pretty blood thirsty bunch of individuals and you can definitely see that many of them aren’t necessarily all there. But they deal with what they have been exposed to since they were children in different ways, including fighting, sparring enough to make each other bruised and bloody, pulling knives on each other and other people, and even getting into gunfights at times.
Maksim and Izzy were anomalies in the family in that they were more interested in studying than in being mafia leaders. Though we see in this book that their outward appearances hide very deep individuals. It was the best of the bunch so far, but I can’t wait to read King’s story as well.
I voluntarily read & reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts & opinions are my own.
Blog|Goodreads|Facebook|Instagram|Twitter|BookBub Fallen Royal (Mafia Royals, #4) An angsty and emotional roller coaster ride.
Fallen Royal is a forbidden mafia romance that follows Izzy Abandonato and Maksim Sinacore, two mafia heirs who’ve been in love even before they knew what romantic love was. But they don’t just have to face the consequences of going against the Family’s rules, Maksim has a deep dark secret that may end them before they even have a real chance to start.
What I liked:
- The angst and drama between Izzy and Maksim was heart-breaking. It was clear they were soulmates and I really wanted them to figure out how to be together.
- The reason behind Maksim’s hesitancy to be with Izzy was very original. I’ve read very few books with this premise.
- I really liked Izzy’s spirit. She’s strong, independent, sarcastic and very practical.
- I’m a sucker for epigraphs and the ones here were absolutely perfect for the story.
- Rachel’s writing is always incredibly hooking. I loved the fast pace and found myself engrossed in the story.
What didn’t work for me:
- I missed the tension and build up to their romantic climax. There’s very little shifting of feelings as Izzy and Maksim have been in love since they were around eleven years old and are past the stage of intimacy when the story starts.
- The resolution to a couple of problems felt glossed over
- I like my romances to be smexy and even though I loved a certain, very sensual element that’s uncommon in the romances I read, when the time came for Izzy and Maksim to seal the deal, we get a quick and almost faded out scene.
- There were a lot of secondary characters from past books that would be confusing to someone new to the series.
Fallen Royal is book #4 of the Mafia Royals series by Rachel Van Dyken. It is told from both points of view with a HEA. Genres: NA Romance. Tropes: mafia romance | forbidden romance
𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆:⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️
Amazon -> https://amzn.to/3FfHQ67
* I was given an ARC of this book courtesy of the author via. The excerpts are from that copy. I am voluntarily reviewing this title. *
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Fallen Royal (Mafia Royals, #4) 5 “Captivating” Stars
This story really had my mind reeling, from the very beginning to the very end. There is romance, turmoil, secrecy, friendship, heartbreak, violence, and eventually healing. I felt so many different emotions for Maksim and Izzy that I couldn’t put the book down. I just had to know…….
I will say that writing a review is alittle hard because I don’t want to spoil the story. It should be experienced raw and in the moment. I will say that I loved Maksim and Izzy and their very tumultuous journey. I wouldn’t expect anything less for them but still, it was hard at times. Going from friends to lovers isn’t the easiest when the parents have said that there is no dating within the families.
This story has crazy twists and turns, highly emotional angst, and a captivating creative storyline. There is also humor and sarcasm and all the rest of the 2nd generation kids that makes the story all the more dynamic. And the set up for King’s story has me all excited and scared because I know it will be a crazy exhilarating ride.
*advanced copy provided by Valentine PR in exchange for an honest review* Fallen Royal (Mafia Royals, #4) ALL THE FEELINGS!!! This series just keeps getting better and better- more emotionally chaotic, more emotionally riveting, more epically romantic, and more consuming. Fallen Royal is a beautifully existential journey- one at the nexus of hope and despair, will and resolution, fate and love. I read this easily in one sitting, and I’ve not stopped thinking about Maksim and Izzy since.
I can’t say much about this plot, but it was gripping and unexpected. Nothing like I’m used to for this series- but that is its charm. Maskim- OH my sweet, broken, brilliant and mysterious Maksim. I had no idea how much he would consume my heart. But the way he loves Izzy, the way he’s willing to break both himself and her, to break both their hearts to keep her safe and whole- well, it did things to me. The sacrifice he makes is unparalleled, unimaginable, and so breathtaking. His journey is by far my favorite of the series to date- the unconditional love, the angst, the tortured complexity, the pain and the ever fleeting hope.
Izzy isn’t outshone, however. Her story is quieter, more contained and steady, but nonetheless powerful. I loved her fire- her unbreakable spirit despite her deeply fractured heart. She stood her ground. Maks sacrifices to honor their love, and Izzy refuses to let go to honor their love. It’s an intoxicating tension, and in the end, it’s her unwavering fortitude that saves it. I loved how she accepts and embraces Maks, even when he struggles to accept and embrace himself. But it’s her love that’s the catalyst to this epic conclusion- one that I never thought possible, but one most welcomed.
Every book in this amazing Eagle Elite second generation mafia series surprises me more and more- not only each story and couple unique in their complexity, but the narratives themselves evolve to match the tone and tenor of the romance. I’ve always felt RVD has a bit of an impressionistic type writing style- her stories are all about emotional substance, the ENERGY of the story, rather than the specifics. She’s been known to quickly drop you into an already unfolding drama- with us as readers often entering a couple’s story mid journey, in the bitter challenges, rather at the sweet beginnings. And my does that approach really work for Maksim and Izzy’s story- it gives the book an incredibly disciplined focus, we have very little extraneous action or details. The experience is a psychologically and emotionally immersive one as the result- we’re entirely consumed by the dynamic between these two troubled lovers, the depth of their devotion to one another, and the mysterious circumstances that have created the tension and divide between them. It’s highly emotional, incredibly consuming, and powerfully emotive. All of the elements I love about an RVD story are here- the angsty, dark intensity we adore, but the emotional intimacy of it truly stands apart. It’s emotionally complicated and messy- yet somehow spiritual and centered all at once.
I’m so anxious for King’s story- and while I have all sorts of anticipatory ideas, I know better than to make predictions with this series. I just know I’m not ready to say goodbye to this amazing world and the consuming characters. These stories are captivating, complex, intense, and unpredictable-and I can’t get enough! But this story is hands down my favorite so far- Maksim and Izzy own my heart. Until my heart stops beating. Fallen Royal (Mafia Royals, #4)
ALL MY REVIEWS CAN BE FOUND ON MY BLOG: ABSTRACT BOOKS
“You want to know my story? Hers? Ours? Then start at the beginning when everything went to shit. And I killed my own love story with their bullet.”
Star Rating : 5/5 Stars
POV : Dual
Cliffhanger : None
Hero : Maksim
Heroine : Izzy
Pace of the story : Moderate
Angst Rating : 8/10
Heat Rating : 6/10
Triggers Involved : Past Trauma
Plot Summary :
Maksim Sinacore fell for Izzy Abandato when they were just kids. And it was the same for Izzy. Both of them thought that they would have a happy ever after until tragedy struck.
Izzy doesn't know what went wrong. All she knows is that the boy she has always loved and the one who was supposed to be her forever, just forgot her like any other girl he had been with. The pain of seeing him with others will never lessen and neither will the pain of him abandoning her. So she hates him. All they have is their hate to give because they know that the love they have for each other won't ever survive. Maksim has secrets that Izzy doesn't know and if it were up to him, she never would. But that's not how life works. And when his deeds come to light, it might just be the final end of them both.
“The scars left by Maksim Sinacore— were eternal. Here to stay. Even when he was long gone.”
Overall Opinion :
Holy shit. THIS ONE IS THE BEST ONE YET. I AM NOT KIDDING. THIS SEEMS TO BE MY MANTRA BUT HOLY SHIT, THIS BOOK IS LITERALLY THE BEST ONE YET OF THIS Series!!
I am telling you when I first got a whiff of the fact that Maksim and Izzy will get a book, I thought it would be the regular second chance mafia romance because they clearly had a lot of issues to work Out. But omg, I WAS NOT EXPECTING THIS LEVEL OF MIND FUCK. I was literally blinking back tears while reading this book and let me tell you that I am not someone who cries while reading my books. I am usually like, Meh this is sad but nothing makes me cry!!! The concept that the author had introduced in this book is something with which I have read a few books of but it's as shocking as it is in every read of mine. And the way Rachel had spun the tale, trust me you won't be able to guess what the actual fuck is happening is here. She will keep you at the edge of your seat and won't let you go until you turn the last page! I never knew what I signed up for but damn, this book was honestly not what I was expecting. It was so much more and in just a few chapters, this became a top read of mine!
Definitely recommending this book to all the dark mafia romance loving people. It's a high school romance with young characters. It can be read as a standalone but I would recommend reading it in order to avoid major spoilers of the past books.
“She always makes me react. Because I love her. Because I hate her too. Because she drives me insane. Yet makes me calm. She’s my storm.”
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