Laura’s Review of Indebted (A Kingpin Love Affair, #1) by J.L. Beck

Synopsis

It was suppose to be a debt settled, just a price being repaid.
Instead love was born...
...from unpaid dues it bloomed.
See, that's the funny thing about love, you never expect it.

After losing her mother to cancer a few months prior to graduating, Bree Forbes was finally able to take some time away and enjoy her college days. That all changed in a blink of an eye the moment Bree came home for break. She didn't expect to find her dad strapped to chair, a gun pointed at his head.

Alzerro “Zerro” King wasn't a man to be messed with. Women flocked to him and men ran from him. He ruled the mafia with an iron fist and no one ever crossed him unless they wanted to pay the price. He believed the only way to pay for something, if unable to do so, was to do it in blood. Nothing got him harder than stringing someone up, and putting a bullet in their head.

That is until Bree.

One look is all it took for him to know she could pay for her father’s debt in many other ways… Ways that could get him hard.

Could a big city mafia king fall in love with the small town country girl? Would she be able to handle his dark and demanding ways? When push comes to shove, would Bree end up running only to be killed? Or would she sacrifice herself for love? 

What I Loved

           I really liked the fact that the prologue immediately sucks you into the plot, my heart just broke for Alzerro as a child.  I loved that no matter how evil he became as an adult and did some pretty disturbing things, you always have this little boy in the back of your mind that was helpless and scared.  I love how it makes you not completely hate him and explains a lot about him. 

          Also, I really loved the fact that Bree stepped up to the plate when it came helping her father.  It showed that even though her life was about to completely change for the worse, she was still able to stand up for what she believed was right.  There was definitely a lot of twists and turns in the plot that left my heart racing.  As well as the sizzling sexual chemistry between Bree and Alzerro.  The entire beginning of the book I couldn’t wait for them to just tear each other’s clothes off and go at it. 

Not So Much

          I really wanted to love this story, I’m a sucker for a dark abusive romance but this one missed the mark in a lot of ways.  First of all there was absolutely NO foundation to this story.  I have no idea where Bree went to school, what her life was like before she was taken by Alzerro or anything pertaining to the person Bree was before this all happened.  Not once are friends mentioned, what she was studying or anything.  It’s a pet peeve of mine when the same detail that paid to the male character of a story is not paid to the female character.  She is the main character that most of this story is told from but no foundation is laid out about her at all.

          Second there was nothing about this story that rang true to the mafia in any way, shape or form.  No one in the mafia goes around talking about the mafia, or mention the word kill seven times in about three sentences.  There was a cold calculating side to Alzerro but it all felt very forced and robotic rather than natural or real.

          The personalities of the characters were trying to come off as complex but it came off as inconsistent and not making any sense.  Alzerro was a dangerous man that basically takes a woman as his human slave but sets her up in his bedroom and treats her like she’s lived there her whole life but then goes back to hating her sometimes.  While Bree comes off as this brave girl in the beginning but turns is this shy innocent virgin the back to this belligerent not backing down victim. It felt like their personality changed to fit the scene rather being consistent to the overall plot and gave me whiplash.

To Sum It All Up!

          I really wanted to love this story, I really truly did.  But alas, it did not happen L The details were sparse if there was any at all and the plot was built off a very shallow foundation with inconsistent development.  I would have rather see and feel more through the actions of Alzerro and Bree rather than them telling you over and over again what kind of people they are.  The repetition of the words kill and mafia made the plot seem in genuine and robotic.  Although, I did like the thinking behind this story and loved the suspense.  I liked not knowing what was going to happen next to Bree and what was in store for Alzerro with his decisions.  Also, there was a huge cliffhanger at the end that left me needing more which I enjoyed.  I just wish the story was written better because it would’ve made a good story into an unforgettable one.