Pages: 374
Released On: 20/12/2023
Which one will be the mafia’s next victim?
Gabe Giordano, the sexy young lead of the upcoming band Shine, will do anything to prove he’s no monster like his mob-connected father. Emboldened by mania, Gabe slips out after nightclub gigs and embarks on a secret redemptive mission against the dirtiest of mobsters. But reckless heroics mark Gabe—and all those close to him—as mafia targets.
Savannah Fletcher, co-singer of Shine, has faced too many hardships with her best friend and on-and-off boyfriend Gabe, but even as she tries to move on to a relationship with a carefree biker, her lingering feelings for Gabe are placing her in harm’s way—again.
Claire Noel Brooks, an isolated artist and “beauty seeker” like her Cherokee granny, is infatuated with the beautiful and wealthy Giordanos, who’ve unexpectedly arrived at her quiet lakeside community just in time for Christmas. But behind their beauty and wealth hide the ugly secrets of their first million-dollar deal. And history too often repeats.
Kallie Giordano, the fourth of six siblings and a skilled kickboxer, has always protected her unstable younger brother Gabe, but she’s not prepared to fight mobsters. She’s less prepared to save Gabe from himself… or face the possibility that maybe he’s telling the truth about the threats coming right from within the Giordano family.
*****
Thanks to C.J Simone for the copy of her book in return for an honest review.
This is book one in Simone’s Children of the Mob series.
There are 73 chapters in this book but don’t let that scare you. They’re not too long, which I like. It adds to the fast-paced snappiness that the story requires.
It’s very much a go go go book right from the first sentence, which makes it quite intense. There’s no preamble or scene setting, you’re thrown into the, literal, chase instantly.
Something I wasn’t a particular fan of – and I know this is purely a personal opinion – is that I found some of it…like the story itself was aware of the words being used to tell it. There are a lot of metaphors, a lot of language that only fits within a book rather than it being natural conversation. Again, people are fine with that as it is indeed a book and therefore the language used would be the type that fits into a book. But for me it felt a bit obvious and that drew me out of it slightly.
We have four main POVs:
Gabe Giordano is our main character. He is the son of a mobster and wants to make something of his life, especially through his music. Even though he wants to distance himself from his father and that mob world, there was something that still felt a bit slimy about him to me. But unfortunately, no matter how hard he tries to distance himself, he is as wanted as his family.
Then we have Savannah Fletcher, another singer in the band. She is Gabe’s on/off boyfriend and close friend. She really wants to trust him, but he is inadvertently causing her danger. I much preferred her as a character than Gabe.
Then we have Claire Noel Brooks, and artist who is obsessed with Gabe and the Giordano family, but soon discovers that there’s something ugly going on within the family. It was nice to get an “outsiders” view on the family.
And finally we have Kallie Giordano, one of Gabe’s sisters. She loves him and wants to support him, but she doesn’t want to be swept up in the danger he seems to bring.
Overall for me, this was about a dysfunctional family, about wanting your own future, about wanting to make your own way in the world, about distancing yourself, about friendships and relationships, about being scared, about what you’re willing to protect, and what you’re willing to sacrifice. It also manages the them of mental health very sensitively.
Amazon says it is aimed at 14-18 year olds, and I’d have to agree. At 30, it wasn’t the most grabbing of books for me, but I can see it being a real winner for that age group. It has everything I think they’d want in a story: danger, love, excitement, adventure – I can see it being very popular with teens.
Whilst there are several POVs, it is Gabe’s that leads the story, and it wasn’t something I was used to. In my opinion, very few books – especially teenage books – are from the viewpoint of a young man or boy, it’s usually girls. And so that was quite interesting to see how he faced up to the events in the books compared to how I imagine any other character world.
I’d say overall, it was an interesting story, with some slight flaws, but a promising debut, and I definitely think it could become a popular series for teens. Especially teenage boys who are notoriously reluctant to read.
Books By Your Bedside 