Consumed by Deception by Rina Kent

To say this entire trilogy put me through the ringer would be an understatement. My emotions were running all over the place but I was still enthralled by Lia and Adrian's complex and angsty relationship. This was my first series by Rina Kent and I was completely captivated by her story-telling, characters, heartbreaking romance, and spicy love scenes. There were so many painful lies and secrets between Lia and Adrian but the one thing that they could not deny was their love for each other. These two were very flawed characters—Lia's pride and stubbornness almost ruined their love for each other whereas Adrian's controlling and obsessive nature left so much destruction that he almost lost the one person who meant everything to him. But despite all the untruths and unsaid words between them, they were always meant to be together. Lia will always be Adrian's "bright light" and the fragile rose that he plucked from their dark world. It was impossible for him to let her go.

“I told you how different my love is, how dark it can get, but I do love you, more than I’ve ever loved anyone in my life. I don’t only need you; I also genuinely cannot live without you and the light you bring to my darkness.”

In the end, this was my favorite book in the trilogy because all of Lia and Adrian's secrets and untruths were finally revealed. Lia has experienced tremendous character growth and was able to find herself again after going through so much pain and heartbreak—all of which was by her own making. Adrian still considers himself the villain in their story but paid the price for his obsessive love in the form of her "death." In many ways, this book was a second-chance romance for Lia and Adrian because they were able to let go of their painful past and finally communicate with each other. I'll be going back to read Rai and Kyle's duet and will be looking forward to Kirill's trilogy. I'm hoping that Rina Kent will write books for Yan and Damien down the road as well. I highly recommend this trilogy if you are looking for a well-written and heartbreaking mafia romance with a dominant and possessive hero who will stop at nothing to obtain and keep his fragile but resilient heroine.

Rating: ★★★★★