Heavy Crown by Sophie Lark – action-packed, interesting conclusion of series

Heavy Crown is enjoyable, action-packed, dark, and interesting conclusion of Brutal Birthright.

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Previous books in this series –

Brutal Prince (Book 1)
Stolen Heir (Book 2)
Savage Lover (Book 3)
Bloody Heart (Book 4)
Broken Vow (Book 5)

Synopsis

A Temptation I Couldn’t Resist…

I saw her being stuffed in a trunk: Yelena Yenina, only daughter of the most vicious Bratva boss in Chicago.

The Bratva hate my family. They burned my uncle alive. I should have left Yelena to her fate…

But she fought like a Valkyrie. Gorgeous, ferocious, and unbreakable.

I saved her so I could make her mine.

She says she’ll never submit to a man. I guess we’ll see…

I’ll push her to the limit. And far beyond.

Heavy Crown is the mind-blowing conclusion to the bestselling Brutal Birthright series. It’s a stand-alone Dark Mafia Romance with HEA and no cliffhanger. Contains extra-steamy scenes guaranteed to make your night!

The Lark Notes: I knew I had to end the Brutal Birthright series with the biggest twists, the most intense action, and the hottest hero yet. I’ve always had a soft spot for Sebastian from the very first book – you’re going to be so surprised where his journey takes him!

Review

Heavy Crown follows the story of Sebastian Gallo, the baby of the Gallo family who never wanted to be involved in the family’s mafia business but his encounter with Griffins in the first book changed his life path. With his brothers being in love has changed their priorities in life and his father’s health issues made him get into the family business more and more.

He is frustrated with lost dreams and lacking purpose in life but then he meets Yelena, the only daughter of the most vicious Bratva boss. More chance encounters bring them together but Bratva hates his family, they wouldn’t approve of their match easily. Little did he know all those chance encounters weren’t just chance.

It was interesting to see what Bratva boss was planning with pushing Yelena in Sebastian’s life, how and when will find out about their plan, and how Yelena and Sebastian’s relationship will survive once the secret is out.

I was wondering since the first book how Sebastian was feeling after losing his dream of playing in the NHL, we get all his frustration and feelings in the first couple of chapters. While he looked perfectly fine in the previous book we get Seb was feeling for getting more and more involved in the family business and even more now that Dante is moving to France.

I expected him to be more shaken by his first murder and the rest of the jobs he helped Nero and Dante with but I was surprised to find him indifferent. I wasn’t expecting him to accept his dark side this easily. While he has less experience with the family business, he still handled things pretty well after Dante left him as an unannounced heir.

And yet he was naive and blinded by love. He never stopped to think Bratva might be using Yelena as a pawn, even after a warning from Dante he chose to ignore it. Dante’s warning and his appearance at the turning point show why he was the perfect heir for the Italian mafia in Chicago (I didn’t like him leaving for Simone). In fact, I was surprised even Enzo Gallo was also duped in the agreement with Bratva but then he wasn’t well.

The carnage Bratva created on the happiest day of Sebastian and Yelena wasn’t exactly surprising and yet it was hard to read. How Seb treated Yelena after that was cringeworthy. I get he felt betrayed and yet that revenge sex isn’t something I like to read.

Yelena is strong but she is used to fearing her father. While I didn’t like Yelena for keeping her secret from Sebastian hiding her father set up their chance encounters in the beginning, I felt bad for her throughout the book.

Her family is super twisted and dysfunctional. I hated how her father treated her and kept her in a gilded cage only letting her free when he wanted her to do something for him. Her brother, Alexei, was her only real family.

Their sibling bond was really good but I always felt it wasn’t strong enough because of how readily Alexei believed his father and never stood up for Yelena nor did anything to make her happy and I was right about it in the end. I didn’t like how he reacted and blamed Yelena in the end for something his father was responsible for.

I wanted to shake her for letting go of all the chances she got to make things clear with Sebastian and as expected Sebastian found out about her secret in the worst possible way. Even though she was at fault in some way and it was frustrating to see her keep fearing her father and then the consequences of truth, I felt bad for her for how Sebastian put her in prison.

I loved how she tried to make things right with her brother even after his betrayal and how she saved Nero and went to ask for help of Aida even after everything.

Climax was action-packed. It was both tragic and exciting at the same time. Seb’s plans with Mikolaj were impressive. While I liked how everything turned out in his favor, I felt sad for the mansion and also for Dante not staying back.

Epilogue is inetresting. I’m curious to see what the Mafia kids of Seb, Mikolaj, Aida, Nero, and Alexei will do in the Kingmakers series that I plan to read soon.

Why 3.5 stars-

Romance felt too fast and too unrealistic looking at the bloody history between Gallos and Bratva.

As I said I didn’t like Dante leaving his family behind and the lack of action from Griffins until the very end. I thought they all would unite and retaliate but then I get the author has to make Seb the new boss and there has to be something to prove that which might not be possible with Dante staying back and Griffin taking guns in their hands.

I just feel this could be much better.

Overall, Heavy Crown is enjoyable, action-packed, dark, and interesting conclusion of Brutal Birthright.

You might enjoy Heavy Crown if you like,

Mafia romance
lots of action
Rival family
Forbidden love
Dysfunctional family
Revenge plot
Secret and betrayal

Book Links

Goodreads | Amazon.in | Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

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#HeavyCrown is enjoyable, action-packed, dark, and interesting conclusion of #BrutalBirthrightseries. ⭐⭐⭐.5#mafiaromance #rivalfamily #revengeplot

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— Books Teacup and Reviews (@BooksTnReview) December 26, 2023

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