This is part of the Leave Me Breathless collections. There are 4 collections that make up the Leave Me Breathless books. Go hit up their website to find out about all the collections. Breaking Donatella is part of the Black Rose Collection, which is all about the dark romance, BDSM, suspense, dark sided things that we all know that I love.
So, we have Cristian Moretti. He’s the head of the Moretti mafia family in Italy. They have been at war with the Rossi family for centuries. The current head of the Rossi family is dying, so Cristian has a deal for him. He tells the old man that he will marry his granddaughter, Donatella, and that will let Cristian merge the families and become super-rich and powerful. Old man Rossi says, oh no, you can’t marry my granddaughter, she’s been dead for years. Cristian is all like, yeah, that’s what you think.
Ella Rose wasn’t born Ella Rose, she was born Donatella Rossi, but when she and her mom ran from Italy, she became someone else. Now, she’s an adventure writer and television personality. She does BASE jumping, diving, rock climbing, and, on this occasion, roller derby. She’s fierce, she’s strong, she’s got all kinds of lady balls. She knows her family history, but she figures being on televison and famous will protect her. Besides, who is going to connect a pierced, tattooed woman with a bright pink mohawk to a dead Mafia princess. Cristian, that’s who.
Cristian manages to kidnap Ella, who wakes up naked, with a collar on, in a private airplane. He tells her what’s going to happen, and she attacks him. He shocks her with the shock collar she’s wearing, and then she manages to get the chain of her cuffs around his neck and nearly kills him. Cristian whips her with his belt, she stoically takes it. He asks if she’s ready to say she’s sorry. Ella tells him that she’s sorry that she was gauche enough to not kill him. He shocks her again.
At this point, Cristian’s plan is to keep her prisoner, break her, and have a perfectly submissive wife who will allow him to take over the Rossi family. He also needs heirs, and getting heirs from her will cement his dynasty. All he has to do get her to marry him, willingly, and oh yeah, put this historical Bridal Collar on her. That collar has been put on women from both families, when they are taken as spoils of war, and the only way to take it off is for the women to be beheaded, since it is literally welded on to their neck.
It’s important to note that the best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry, and this is definitely one of those times. When Cristian made all of his grand plans, he didn’t know what Ella was like, and I think that he would’ve made different plans if he did, but maybe not, because he’s kind of a stubborn man. He thinks that he knows best and that everything is going to go the way that he wants.
I love Raisa’s heroines. She writes some of the most amazingly strong female characters. I mean, just fucking kickass women. Women who try to choke you out with the chains on the cuffs you put on them. Women who manage to escape from locked rooms without going through the door. Women who ask you to kill their grandfather as part of their wedding present. I just really love these women that Raisa writes. Now, that doesn’t say that other authors don’t write strong women, because they do, but there’s just something about Raisa’s characters that is just special. And Ella? I have a definite crush on her.
OK, that’s all for this one. Really, you NEED to go check it out. Yeah, there’s some serious dark things that happen in this, but then there’s Ella. Fanfuckingtastic book.
In Between the Pages 