His Tesoro by Emilia Rossi felt like an important read to me as I was reading it, so much so that I created a draft of this review at about 50 pages in so that I would be sure to actually write a review and not just shrug it off. You can’t tell it from the cover, but this is a pretty spicy dark mafia romance. (Or, maybe you can, since this is often how spicy book covers are styled these days.)
You may be wondering, “Katie, what is so important about a spicy dark mafia romance on Kindle Unlimited?” I’ll tell you why: Sofiya, the FMC, is disabled and in a wheelchair much of the time because of a genetic condition known as hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. Her joints become easily dislocated or overextended which causes near constant pain, and her skin is very fragile and prone to bruising and tearing. As a mafia princess whose only worth to her parents is her ability to marry into another mafia family and create an alliance, this is a problem. In fact, when her father arranges her marriage to Matteo, the head of the New York Mafia, he sends a very carefully curated packet of photos and information that does not let Matteo know about her condition. Matteo finds out when Sofiya wheels herself down the aisle at their wedding.
Sofiya is written with great care by Rossi. She is funny, feisty, and fully allowed to be a complete person with her own likes, dislikes, needs, wants, desires. The spicy times in particular are beautifully handled. Together Sofiya and Matteo navigate the accommodations that need to be made because of Sofiya’s condition, but it doesn’t mean that this is a clean romance where everything happens off page. On the contrary, the author includes trigger warnings because of some of the sexual preferences of the couple. It is so refreshing to have a main character with a disability that is allowed to do some very filthy-in-the-best-way things, and not have that person turned into a Disney princess because they’re in a wheelchair.
The main plot itself is a fairly standard dark mafia romance plot with asshole family members, betrayals, etc. I saw the “twist” coming a mile away, but that’s not what was important here. The relationship is what’s important. Well, that, and the fact that Matteo quickly grasps that Sofiya has not really had access to the right medical care and sets about rectifying that situation. He even gets her a golden retriever service dog named Noodle.
Do I recommend this book? Absolutely. Not so much because this is going to be the next Pride and Prejudice, but because it is important that books like this continue to be written. Everyone deserves to see themselves in books, tv and movies, and everyone deserves to feel like they are worthy of love and romance.
I’d give it 3.5 stars out 5, but I am instead rounding it up to 4 stars since we can’t give halves. I found and read it on Kindle Unlimited.