Historical Romance / Suspense
Shadowed Loyalty
by Roseanna M. White
-From Goodreads- Sabina Mancari never questioned her life as the daughter of Chicago’s leading mob boss until bullets tear apart her world and the man she thought she loved turned out to be an undercover Prohibition agent. Now she sees how ugly the underworld can be. Ambushes, bribes, murder, prostitution—she thought her beloved Papa was above all that, but clearly he isn’t. What does that mean, though, for her and their family? Maybe Lorenzo, the fiancé who has barely paid her any attention in the last two years, has the right idea by planning to escape their world. All his life, Lorenzo’s family assumed he would join the Church, but he has different ideas—marrying Sabina and pursuing a career in the law. But despite his morals, he knows at the core he isn’t so unlike his father and brothers, which has always terrified him. Has he, in trying to protect Sabina from his flaws, in fact harmed her? It sure seems that way when he realizes he all but forced her into the arms of the Prohibition Agent now bent on tearing her family apart at all costs. But how can they rebuild what has so long been neglected…and do it in the shadow of the dark empire of the Mafia? Shadowed Loyalty, set amid the glitz and scandal of the Roaring Twenties, examines what love really means and how we draw lines between family and our own convictions, especially when following the one could mean losing the other. ASIN: B09TWNFTRW Will they escape the shadows that surround them? | This Book received a 4.5 Bark rating. |
In many ways Shadowed Loyalty was unlike any other Roseanna M. White novel that I've ever read. As much as I have enjoyed the previous ones this book had a depth and an emotional quality to it that was entirely its own. So much more than just a historical romance or a gangster story, the themes that Roseanna M. White explores within its pages are completely riveting and many are just as pertinent today as they might have been in the Roaring Twenties world of Shadowed Loyalty.
I was quite surprised by how flawed Sabina and Lorenzo really were. They took it to an extreme that made them completely believable. The tendencies toward denial, thinking the worst of each other, lack of honest communication, frequent misunderstanding, unforgiveness, and lapses in judgment were quite refreshingly real. Equally as real were their attempts to come to terms with the world around them as their illusions are stripped away, their determination to cling to their faith, and the way they love their families even when they annoy them no end or are found to be flawed people too.
As to the historical aspects of the story, I loved them! I honestly felt like I was right there on the streets of Chicago during the era of speakeasies, flappers, and mafia dons. Because, trust me, Shadowed Loyalty has all of the adventure, romance, danger, and betrayal that you could ask for in any novel set during the era. Roseanna M. White not only gets you to ponder the deeper emotions of her story but she also flat-out entertains and intrigues. I think that I can honestly tell you that Shadowed Loyalty is the best Roseanna M. White novel that I've read yet...
Tell Tale Book Reviews gives Shadowed Loyalty by Roseanna M. White a 4.5 Bark rating.