ARC Review: Control Me – Michelle Heard (Corrupted Royals #2)

From USA Today & Wall Street Journal bestselling author Michelle Heard, is a new STANDALONE, full-length MAFIA ROMANCE novel.

I wanted to be a painter. But that’s just a dream because a mafia princess doesn’t get to choose her future.
Still, I never let it get me down. I always try to make the best of everything.

Until I’m forced to go for brutal training, and I meet Nikolai Vetrov.
Forbidden and way too attractive, the man turns out to be my worst nightmare incarnated.
He’s cold and ruthless, and I’m pretty sure there’s no heart to be found in his chest, unlike mine that won’t stop beating overtime at the mere sight of him.

Just because I flirted with him, he’s dead set on making my life as miserable as possible.
And as if the hell I’ve been thrown into isn’t enough, the worst thing possible happens to me. It strips me of my light and drops me into a darkness so suffocating there’s no way for me to escape
There’s a lot I can endure and overcome, but the trauma and Nikolai Vetrov are two things I can’t handle. One of them is bound to be the end of me.

Unless a miracle happens, and let’s face it, I’m well past the point of believing in miracles.

STANDALONE: A Mafia/Bratva Romance, standalone, full-length novel.
WARNING: 18+ only. Please read responsibly. THIS NOVEL CONTAINS TRIGGERING CONTENT.

Please check the TWs before reading Control Me.

Control Me is the second book in the Corrupted Royals series and follows Abbie (Aurora’s friend from book one, Destroy Me) and Nikolai (an instructor at St. Monarch’s). Abbie is your typical wild child but with a heart of gold. She loves and cares about her best friend, Aurora, and wants nothing more than to spend her days painting and flirting up a storm. Nikolai is older (39yo compared to Abbie’s 21yo) and serious. He’s not interested in starting up a relationship, especially with someone so much younger. However, he underestimates Abbie’s ability to get under his skin and drive him crazy (in all the best ways).

I prefaced this review by mentioning the TWs because they’re one of the main plotlines in this story. Personally, there were sections here and there throughout the book that I needed to skip/skim-read because of the topics. While it meant passing over sections of the book, it didn’t affect my review or enjoyment of the rest of the storyline.

I really enjoyed seeing both Abbie and Nikolai’s back-and-forth flirtations and the sweeter moments when Nikolai was caring for Abbie. It really showed their relationship development and the friendship that blossomed between them. Their interactions might have started from lust but they definitely felt genuine love and care by the end.

I also really enjoyed that it showed enough of Abbie and Nikolai’s interactions through the events of book one to show their perspectives but still allowed their story to be more than that. Their story continued beyond the first book and showed more of the families and lives within this mafia romance world. As someone who hasn’t (yet) read the rest of Heard’s books, it was a great introduction to many of the characters she’s previously written about and I cannot wait to delve further into their stories.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I love mafia romance and I’m very grateful to see the world that Heard created with this series. It was a fun take with strong heroines, protective heroes and an educational institution with quite a different take on learning experiences (lol). I also very much want to go spend some time on the Vetrovs’ island. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys dark romance, mafia romance, age gap romance, forbidden romance and/or grumpy x sunshine characters.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC.

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Want books similar to Control Me by Michelle Heard?
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