I loved this. It makes me reconsider reading MC romance, even if I've strictly been a Mafia girl so far. Leave your "I'll burn the world down for you" men behind, and get in on the "I'll give you the match and watch you light the fire" man that is Maddox White. And Marcella was both strong and believably shaken about being kidnapped, slowly growing into a true Vitiello - strong and unshakable in the face of danger.
But that ending? No. I refuse. For me, the book ends at about 75%, and that is what I stand behind until the next part comes out.

Cora Reilly? Ma'am? Why would you do this to me? I am a fragile thing, scouting KU for my missing serotonin. Have mercy on my soul.

no surprise here that this was a 5/5 for me. I absolute adore the whole mafia world that Cora has created. I loved getting to see snippets of Luca/Aria. I love how each series is connected to each other but still separate and their own.

Cora Reilly can do no wrong in my eyes

This is the first part of the "Sins of the Fathers" duet. The story revolves around a forbidden romance between Marcella Vitiello, the daughter of a powerful mafia boss, and Maddox, a member of the Tartarus MC seeking revenge on Marcella's family for the murder of his own. The book is split into two parts, allowing for a better development of the characters' relationship. I particularly enjoyed Maddox's unique and amazing character, and Marcella's strong love for her family.

The ending left me feeling suspenseful, and I can't wait for the second part. The audiobook version, narrated by Wen Ross and Kai Kennicott, added an extra layer of excitement to the story. Ross captured Maddox's personality perfectly, while Kennicott brought depth to Marcella's character. Overall, the audiobook was a fantastic way to experience the story, and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys this genre.

4.8/5

I actually really liked their book surprisingly enough. I wasn’t expecting to like it as much as I did. But I found it just the right enough of entertaining, passionate and painful lol.

I love Marcella and her confident badass adittide and Maddox is definitely different to the other MMCS so far, but I really liked it.

I didn’t love the clubhouse or the biker farmhouse vibes, but hopefully the second part will be better because it’ll be with the other born in blood characters. And the famigila.

This book is told in multiple perspectives and is written In first person. This story involves Luca and Aria’s daughter Marcella. Then Maddox who is the second in command in the Tartarus MC.

I did read the reviews for this book on Goodreads before reading it and I was a bit nervous about reading, as the reviews weren’t great. However, I didn’t need to worry. As I really liked the story.

Marcella is the daughter of capo Luca and is set to marry one of the sons of a captain, Giovanni.
He is the perfect gentlemen and terrified of Luca. However, Marcella wants to have fun with her fiancé before they get married, but Giovanni won’t do it. Marcella is stuck in a world where she gets everything for nothing and is destined to be someone’s wife and that’s it. She wants more than that, but she knows her father Luca wouldn’t allow her to work in the business.

Maddox is the son of the former prez of the Tartarus MC. His father was killed at the hands of Luca and Maddox watched the whole thing as a 5 year old boy. Since that moment he has wanted revenge and wants Luca’s head on a plate for what he did to his father.
It is decided that in order to get Luca they need to kidnap Marcella and swap her for Luca. Maddox would prefer to steal a man but his current prez (also his uncle/step dad) says the girl would be easier.
Maddox kidnaps Marcella and has to choose between his head and his heart in a race against time.

I thought the characters were good, they were both naive and young but they developed throughout the book, especially Marcella.
My heart was racing in parts of this book.

This story does end on a cliffhanger of sorts so be prepared for wanting more when it’s over.

I wouldn’t say that this is a super dark romance book. I’d say it’s like a tame mafia book.

I’m looking forward to learn more about the characters in book 2.

This book did not give me what I wanted it to give me, and honestly, I have no one to blame but myself.

After the travesty of the last Cora Reilly releases Savio, Sofia, and Adamo's; the bar wasn't set high for future releases: however, I was pretty hyped up for the future generation - mainly Nevio/Aurora and Anna/Clifford but I digress;. For By Sin I Rise to be our first foray into the future of Cora Reilly, this introduction to new and old characters was severely disappointing. However before I begin I just want to say that this is NOT a hate review, but I am a little mad.

1. Telling and not showing If you want me to believe that that Maddox is supposed to be Mad Dog then you are failing because I can't. I really can't. Because WHERE is it? I hate when authors tell us who this person is supposed to be and give us this story of how they became that person but you don't actually see the character being that thing they're supposed to be. If I'm not going to see Maddox be this mad dog then why is that his nickname. In part two I really need to see Maddox live up to that nickname.

2. Maddox White Lord why? What did I ever do to deserve this? I love MC books. The characters are usually dark and gritty, but Maddox did not serve anything, besides stale bread. He was just there, like a stand-in. He could've been taken out of this book and replaced with any character because what did he truly offer? I'll tell you not a fucking thing.

And the sad thing is is that the potential was there. It was there!!!! He had the sad past and the3 motive but the execution was just terrible. And his inner monologue about Marcella being this queen - which she is - was so tiring. There should have been more of an inner struggle with feeling for Marcella even though he wants to kill her father, and his duty to his club than what we got.

3. Marcella Vitiello I liked Marcella, I really did. But I don't love her character, not the way I wanted to. She was different then our usual female characters that Cora writes which usually ranges from super naive of everything and everything to I'm not like those other girls. Marcella was aware of everything and she used her beauty to her advantage I appreciated that.

But like Maddox I wish there was more struggle from her regarding her feelings. Sure she fought for herself and try to hold out hope for her father to come, and she didn't break down immediately which was great but I wanted more from her. And added bonus - for me at least - Marcella actually experienced some trauma from the MC.

4. The reuse of old tropes I know tropes get recycled and that's cool that's fine. Sometimes they're done better and sometimes they're not. In this case I liked Twisted Pride better. I wanted something new for the new generation which is why I'm excited for Nevio/Aurora as well as Anna/Clifford.

5. The Romance What in the fuck was this romance? There wasn't a steady progression of the romance to warrant the three little words Marcella and Maddox exchanged and it pisses me off. Cora split this book into two parts, and I didn't like the idea because it felt unnecessary but I figured at least with two parts the development we would see with the romance would be more of slow burn that allowed the characters to go through their feelings and actually spend the time understanding one another. But did Cora set that up? Of fucking course not.

Their relationship started with lust and nothing is wrong with that put when you have the kidnapping trope you have to navigate how to make the feelings feel real enough throughout the story to get to that I love you and I would kill for you stage and it wasn't executed at all.

6. Amo Vitiello How did this boy go from relaxed video gamer to murderer and interrogating. That fast switch made no sense to me, despite the circumstances. So hopefully in his book with Greta we get a flashback to that moment and his thoughts.

7. Luca and Aria They were there. We saw them. I'm still not a big fan of them.

8. The Cliffhanger I'll be honest I didn't see that ending coming but the cliffhanger did it's job, it made me want to read part two and see what happens next.