The Predator: A Dark Contemporary Mafia Romance (Dark Verse)
What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object in the field of death?
In the dark underbelly of the mob, Tristan Caine has been an anomaly. As the only non-blooded member in the high circle of the Tenebrae Outfit, he is an enigma to all - his skills unparalleled, his morality questionable, and his motives unknown. He is lethal and he knows it.
As does Morana Vitalio, the genius extraordinaire daughter of the rival family. What Caine does with weapons, Morana does with computers. When a twenty-year old mystery resurfaces, Morana infiltrates Caine's house, intent on killing him, unaware of a tie that binds them together. Hate, heat, and history clash together with unexpected sparks.
But something bigger, something worse is happening in their world. And despite their animosity, only they can fight it down.
The Predator is an enemies-to-lovers, dark, contemporary romance set in a fictional universe with mafia, passion and incredible storytelling.
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Community Reviews
Don't you know not to run away from predators, sweetheart? We like the hunt
Book twitter is always talking about this and my question is why? What is so interesting about them? Am I the problem or is the book the problem?
THIS IS NOT SPOILER FREE
The word "stared" brought up 21 matches and "glared" brought up 10 matches. If you want to know why it's because that's what Tristan and Morana did for most of the book.
I'll let you in on a secret: I actually read 2 chapters before this previously and dropped the book because I couldn't get into it. I think my gut instinct knew it'd be tough to get into it so I dropped it at that time and I should have listened to it, right?
Except I didn't and I suffered to get through the first 40-50% of the book. The inner monologues was never ending and it was written in 3rd person pov (a blessing and a burden to be honest). The silence was so deafening that I felt it irl while reading the book so I had to constantly look around to see I hadn't gone into the book, there was also so much unnecessary staring, Morana's description of Tristan Caine and his voice that felt like whiskey and sin (which brought up 9 matches throughout the book), Tristan Caine's blue eyes that were pissed off 24/7 because he's supposed to be a dark and grumpy man, his habit of holding the back of her neck at every opportunity, SO MUCH STARING - I swear these are all the details I really didn't need to know because they're not the plot. A one time description would have been enough, I know I am a visual learner but I can't visualize a whiskey and sinful voice and how helpful is that fact to me really?
This book had me praying as I swiped the eBook to have the plot on the next page and it arrived, very late when the book was almost ending. It's the usual let's-send-the-reader-on-a-wild-goose-chase-just-to-push-them-into-the-pond. It's supposed to be a mafia book but does some shooting and burning of cars add up to a mafia book? The first half of the book was terrible, I actually rated it 1 star. It should have been deleted from the final draft because... why not? Since it didn't serve any purpose rather than to let Tristan and Morana stare at one another? You'd think the Predator, Tristan Caine would do more than just staring and he did all right- he cooked, he snuck into places, he ran Morana a bath and he threatened her that he's a mean man. But when it came to the action - he liked shooting the villains in the knees and he liked demanding Morana to never cut his call. That's really it. There's nothing really dark or enough to be categorised as "questionable actions" as described by the author at the start of the book, even the main plotline didn't seem as dark because what really happened to the abducted girls was not revealed though there was this one line that said Morana read the "gruesome details" but it wasn't described so it isn't dark. The plotline about Morana and her codes also wasn't developed properly and it was put into random parts throughout the book to remind me that that's why the book even exists - because Morana assumed Tristan was behind it and wanted to kill them. But it seemed so sloppy. The chemistry between them is just staring, period. Otherwise it felt pretty forced to me.
The side characters, Dante and Amara (whom I understand have their own book) also didn't interest me much. Although Amara seemed like a sweet girl who spoke her mind at times (I can be 1/4 interested in her), Dante was just another Tristan, always intense and angry for god knows why.
There really, really wasn't much potential in the book until the end. The last scene (rain scene) was what saved this book and raised it up to a 2 star. And also Morana, I liked that she wasn't just a girl waiting and sitting around to be put into a marriage of convenience arrangement, I liked that she actually had some intelligence and fight in her (she can handle a gun, think Rai from Throne Duet), I liked that she outright told her father she had public sex with Tristan Caine while her father was outside (the main point here is that she's bold, not that public sex is hot).
So if you ask me - would I recommend this book? No. So why am I already reading the second book? To see if there's more staring.
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