So Good… Until the End
I was a bit skeptical going into this danmei because it takes place in a mafia setting, and I expected it to go in a much darker romance direction. In general, I’m not the biggest fan of mafia stories, though it really depends on the execution. But I got the first volume as a gift, so I thought, okay, I’ll give it a try. And I have to say: it was great. At the beginning, Porsche isn’t exactly a very sympathetic character. He’s popular, puts on a really tough front, and honestly comes across as kind of an arrogant prick at first. At the same time, I could understand why he is the way he is, since his parents died early and he has to take care of his younger brother. As the story goes on, though, you get to know him much better, and that really changed a lot for me. The story is told from both of their points of view, which I really liked. When Porsche becomes his bodyguard, neither of them wants that arrangement, so from the very beginning they are constantly on each other’s throats. And this is really enemies to lovers. Not just “they find each other annoying” enemies to lovers, but actually enemies. They fight all the time, provoke each other constantly, and at some points it feels like they could actually kill each other. But the banter was soo good. It was funny, sharp, and for me that was one of the best parts of the whole book. Also, Porsche really surprised me as a character. I honestly did not expect to like him as much as I did, especially when I think back to how he was in the beginning. But under that tough surface, there is actually so much more to him. He’s funny, he has depth, and I just ended up loving him a lot more than I expected. I also liked that the relationship is very much slow burn. From Porsche’s side especially, there is nothing romantic in the beginning. He sees himself as straight, and most of the time he is just irritated by Kinn. I actually really liked that, because it made the development feel more believable. What also surprised me was that it wasn’t as dark as I expected from a mafia story. Of course there is violence, there are attacks from another mafia family, and there is killing, but it wasn’t as brutal or bloody as I thought it would be. But I have to say, the last 30 pages really threw me off. I really did not like that part, and at that point I was just thinking: why? Now I understand it a bit better because I already read volume 2, but still, I did not like the ending in this one. If those last 30 pages had not been there, I probably would have given this maybe 4 or 4.5 stars, maybe even 5.
