Review: Beast by Mary Catherine Gebhard

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Hate Story #1
Release - March 14, 2017
Genre - Mafia Romance
Dual POV - Hero ~ 3rd person/Heroine ~ 1st person
Heat - 4 out of 5
Length - 572 pages

Once upon a time, I thought love was a fairytale.

I thought selling myself to a mafia boss was noble. So what if they called him the Beast? I grew up in rags, and he would lift me to riches. All I had to do was give him my soul.

He was punishing. Insatiable. Captivating. Nothing like I expected him to be. Each day my reality blurred, leaving me wondering if I was slave or princess.

The longer I stayed, the more I lost myself to him. Even after every cruelty the Beast visited upon me, I longed for his touch. Even after every savage word he spoke, I begged for his lips. I thought the worst thing he could take was my body. I was too naïve to guard my heart.

Once upon a time, I thought love was a fairytale.

Now I know better than to speak of happily ever afters.

Beast is the first book in the Hate Story duet. About what it means to fall in love with the person who has absolutely destroyed you, it contains disturbing and graphic situations that may be a trigger for some.

Find your copy of Beast here:
Goodreads | Amazon

MY REVIEW

Let me start this off by saying that Beast is MINE!! The author created an insanely hot anti-hero and he could do no wrong in my eyes. He was perfection. Although I didn’t like how soft he got so quickly, I could appreciate that he found a kindred spirit in Frankie. As for Francesca/Frankie, I wavered between admiring her spunk, questioning her sanity, and wanting to give her the beatdown that she was eagerly asking for in every scene.

See… here’s where the author, these characters, and I differ. If I were Beast and Frankie were my slave, she’d be my freaking slave! No tender moments unless I wanted to give her a real mindfck. No coddling. No special treatment. I’d break her ass. Plain and simple. This girl thought she could come up in the place and talk and act any old way she liked? Her life was literally in Beast’s hands. And what did Beast do? Nada. I’m not feeling it. She was allowed to question and yell and disagree and argue way too much for my liking. This was supposed to be a dark mafia romance, right? I expected her to be tormented, desperate and broken. At least that’s how I’d have her. How else would you mold her into the person you wanted? I’m just saying.

The non-torture issue notwithstanding, I loved the fck out of this book. I’m about to start Beauty because I need to find out what the heck happens, but I have to say that I’m a big fan of this author’s writing. She held me captive with her characters, the plot, the loose morals of just about everyone, the sex, the suspense, the everything. I sure as heck was more of a captive than Frankie.