I would like to thank NetGalley and Evernight Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

I really liked this! Beautiful Dark Temptation was not perfect, but imo it was a lot better than some of the books i've read in the MM Mafia sub-genre, so i was pleasantly surprised. Tomás' POV was complex and emotional and gave this story the heart it needed to be more than just a stabby sexy read. Set mostly at a uni for mafia bastards, there was the expected melodrama, some murder, some spice, and OFC that flex for adding killing games to the curriculum in order to hone special ops murder boys.

Lbr, I'd take that over romantasy masquerade Balls any day of the week though js.

And while i would have felt more for Kieran, if his early insta-aggression against Tomás leaned more into his closeted yearning instead of coming off as a-holery, he was still a dynamic and interesting character who had a lot going on in the background that would exhaust even a team at Langley, and ngl i really got that.

This story had a bit of everything these OTT NA romances are typically known for, but where Roxas Winters really shone was in the way she brought the Moyas alive for me. Her narrative truly evoked the palpable intensity in the family dynamics that shaped Tomás' character, and his journey after the death of his father and brothers was more compelling to read because of that evocative depth.

The future of the Arcadia U series will be a wild and entertaining one, if this first installment is anything to go by! Very much looking forward to what the rest of the Ark boys get up to, especially Fox, who was mega ferocious but with a weakness for a certain someone i can't wait to get the whole story on! Can't wait!