Take Me Apart (Vitale Brothers Book 1)

My rating might seem really low, but I don't consider this a bad book. Normally, I only rate under 3☆ if I actively dislike a book, but here I just didn't have enough I liked. My main problem was that I didn't believe their love. It was way too quick with the obsession, and when they were like, "You're the most important person in my life," I was like "Wdym, you barely know this man and have a best friend/brothers!". That just didn't work for me. These kinds of enemies to lovers stories need to be slow burn to really get the feelings across. But before I get more into it, the story: Tex is a cop who desperately wants to make Detective soon to show that he is better than his old man. So he decides to investigate the Vitale family, who even his father couldn't bring down. But when he meets Enzo, one of the three brothers running the family, they quickly land in bed. Of course, this is only to get info out of him, no other reason 👀 It's starts with spice, and then they "randomly" meet a few times. I actually really enjoyed their flirting in the beginning (this started as like a 3,5☆ read). Enzo was my favorite character, and we got nice autism rep with him (the portrayal was inspired by one of the authors, so it should be accurate). I also liked Tex, and the atmosphere in the beginning was good, but then the obsession (on both sides) kicks in way too quickly, as well as slipping into relationship behavior. They barely know each other at that point! Also seems really delusional, especially on Enzos side, who wants them to live together. How do you think this is going to work?! Of course, there is some big drama at the end, but I couldn't take the heartache serious. There also wasn't that much actual story outside of their love story. We only see one scene at the beginning about Tex' police work, besides his "investigation" (aka following Enzo). There is a little bit more on the mafia side with a few torture scenes to get information about a rat who is stealing their stuff (really obvious who it was since there aren't many named characters). I get that this book didn't want to go into depth with the topics, which is fine, but didn't really work for me. Also reminded me a bit about my problems with the "Necessary Evils" series, but that one I still liked way more. Anyway, the end was pretty good. I just wanted more on Tex' feelings about Enzo doing mafia stuff. He was pretty traumatized by one thing, but apparently, that wasn't a problem in the relationship department 🤷🏻‍♂️ Well, idk if I'll ever continue this series. I guess I should look for slowburn stuff when it comes to mafia romance.

A cop falling for his worst enemy a mobster? 🫣 Tex and Enzo’s Love story is the definition of a forbidden romance. Tex approaches Enzo to expose him and his family's criminal dealings, but what happens when they both fall into something much more dangerous and deeper that can cost them everything? I really enjoyed this book and it had a great suspense factor. You might want to check the TW’s though because this story is quite heavy and not for everybody! ⚠️ I love the way Enzo is treating Tex especially when he got all soft for the man he loves. This man might be a mobster but for Tex he doesn't shy away from being absolutely lovable and protective! 🤭 If you like a more thrilling and brutal story but also a great amount of romance and spice, definitely check out “Take me apart”!