Jane Henry is back with another high ranking Bratva member. We met Demyan back in the first book, but The Bratva’s Bride is all about him. Well, him and Calina/Larissa. You’ll see the reason for the name being written like that.
So, years ago, Larissa had a mother, father, and her twin sister. But then there was a car accident and her parents were killed, her twin sister suffered brain damage, and everyone thought that Larissa had died. Her sister, Calina, is now locked up in a Russian facility so that she can be safe. When Larissa goes to visit her sister, she discovers that Calina has stolen a huge buttload of money from the Bratva. Which, yeah, not the smartest thing ever. She knows that they are going to come after her, so Larissa manages to get her out and takes her place so that she can be Calina and take her punishment.
Demyan has tracked down Calina and knows her record. He knows that she’s smart but her brain suffered damage after an accident and she has been in a locked facility because she isn’t as safe as she could be otherwise. It’s not that she’s nuts, it’s more that her brain doesn’t function in the same way that it used to, and she makes some… not wise decision. Like, oh, say, stealing a bunch of money from the Bratva. He is going to get her and she is going to pay off her debt, one way or another. His preferred way is that she pay it off under him.
I thought that the whole Larissa/Calina thing was an interesting take on the whole mistaken identity thing. The whole identical twin thing is really a nice twist on the trope. I do like how much Larissa loves her sister. I mean, she is pretty sure that she’s about to die, and she just wants to make sure that Calina is OK. That’s her entire goal and her entire mindset.
Watching Larissa as she learned to settle into Demyan’s world was fun. She still kept expecting him to kill her, and frankly, I don’t blame her, I would’ve thought that too. And I would probably have fought against him a lot harder and a lot longer than Larissa did. But, I’m really stubborn like that and I have serious issues with authority. I would love to see another story with these two just to see how the Bratva are handling Larissa, and how she’s handling them.
I’m looking forward to seeing who is going to get bitten by the lovebug next in this universe.
Pretty, right? It’s a kokoshnik style tiara from the Russian Imperial crown jewels. Kokoshniks were part of Russian folk dress, but were generally only worn on special days and would be handed down through the generations because they were often highly decorated. I just thought it was great for this story.
It seemed to me that Demyan was completely blindsided by the idea that Larissa was Calina’s twin sister. He did research on her, so he should’ve known about her.
OK, that’s all I have to say about this one. Go check it out. Happy reading!
In Between the Pages 