Dark Queen: A mafia romance

A dark and dangerous Mafia romance with a slow burn story, this book will keep you glued to every page. Ker Dukey is at her best when she writes these dark, brutal dangerous men that I love.Alyssa Phoenix has danced all her life, she is living her mothers dream to become a ballet dancer and has gained a scholarship at the prestigious Swan Ballet Academy in NYC. Not having had the easiest of upbringings Alyssa is finding it hard to settle into the dorms, money is short and Alyssa needs to find ways to make ends meet. Alyssa is a strong minded girl who speaks her mind, which I loved, she knows what she wants from life and goes all out to get it. When she literally accidently bumps into Luca Leto she has no idea who he is other than a rude arrogant SOB. Soon she realises Luca is a dark and deadly man oozing sex appeal and good looks who belongs to the top Mafia family in New York. I adored the instant chemistry between them both but also how they fought against it, especially Luca who is alpha through and through.Soon they find themselves in all sorts of predicaments in the cruel dark Mafia world the Luca belongs to and Alyssa is soon out of her depth and yet also finding herself drawn to the darkness that surrounds Luca she realises she is turned on by that same darkness and realises they have more in common than she first thought.Packed full of twists, blood, danger, family loyalty, traitors, death and hot hot sex this book has it all and I loved every minute of it, especially the ending that had a massive twist I never saw coming at all. Brilliant !!

This was my first Ker Dukey read and it definitely wont be my last.This was a good fast paced read that kept me hooked into the drama that was Alyssa and Luca.Luca is going to be the head of his family but is dealing with lots in the background.. when he sees Alyssa for the first time his life flips upside and he has no reason why.Alyssa moves away to try and start a new life but when she bumps into a suited hottie her life changes in more than one way!Dark, delicious and drama filled read that you honestly dont want to put down.

I do love a mafia romance and Ker Dukey came through with this story. A dark broody mob boss that's dangerous and sexy AF with a strong willed heroine who knows exactly who and what she wants. Aylssa and Luca are a perfect match with undeniable chemistry neither of them saw coming. I hope there will be another book from from them in the future.

A strange occurrence has happened with unthinkable thoughts and I do not know how to process it.I have every single book that Ker Dukey has written on her own and a few were she teamed up with other phenomenal writers. D.H. Sidebottom been my number 1 duo.This story failed to grab me, If I pick up a Ker Dukey book up nothing comes between me and those pages, and I do not stop until it has finished, I have cut more late nights on her books than anyone else.This writer has an ability to drag you in and keep you there from the beginning to the very last page, and once you reach that last page its an immediate re read. The subject matters are dark and I am okay with that to a point, Dukey's I SEE YOU is my absolute favourite book she wrote with D.H. SIDEBOTTOM it deals with horrendous events and as cringe worthy as they are you can not stop reading that ability is phenomenal I know Dukey is going to deliver every time or at least she did. Her series with K Webster Pretty Dolls is the best series of any I have read. To be able to make out the absolute devil in those books and you still want him is a trait that very few can do, Dukey, Webster, Sidebottom are 3 of my favs who can do this.So this is hurting me to write this, the book is not in that category at all.It's set in one of my favourite genre's MAFIA/ ORGANIZED CRIME which makes this much worse for me, I hate the two protagonists of the story, Alyssa and Luca there is nothing nice about them.Alyssa was a contradiction of herself, she is a strange girl and the things she does, sometimes don't make sense within the story context, she is a dark angel, with some very deep issues, but the simple fact for me is I do not like this character at all. Her mind is a cauldron and its continuously on the stir, A budding ballerina, I don't know if it was the way the book started or what How do I know this is not a good read, It has taken me 7 days to read it and by that I mean I have just put it down and gone and read something else, the story has failed to grab me, I feel like I am casting blasphemy all over her books but as an avid reader of all genres and my Amazon account can attest to that, to be failed by an author I love I feel a bit sick, because a few of my favs have now gone because of the decline in their writing I pray and beg that this is not happening with my fav author. Am I been dramatic no I believe in honesty and the truth is I didn't like it because I could not connect with either character, if there had been more information about them both maybe I would have

𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐦𝐚𝐟𝐢𝐚 𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝. 𝐀𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐬𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐚’𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫, 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞. 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐈 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐨 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞! 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞.

Ker Dukey is an automatic one-click author for me. So naturally, when offered a chance to receive an ARC in exchange for an honest review, I jumped on it.I'm not always the biggest fan of mafia romances, but this didn't read as a typical one. Which for me, was a definite bonus. Ker might write in a trope, but she makes it her own, and it's all the more refreshing for it.Luca and Alyssa's story was dark and interesting and kept me turning the pages. With a mystery running behind the scenes, danger lurking and some steamy goodness, it certainly didn't disappoint.Can't wait to see what she brings us next!

Brilliant as always! Great start for a series. I devoured this book and would love to read more from this world. Loved Luca and Alyssa. Definitely think Antonio should get his own book.

This story was thrilling, sexy and full of surprises. I loved the characters and the writing was excellent. I just ordered another book by Ker Dukey and cannot wait to read it!

Dark Queen by Ker Dukey ⭐⭐⭐✨It's my first Ker Dukey book and my first dark romance mafia style too, so I'm really out of my league here.However I gotta say that the characters are very well created. I love that Alyssa, although she's from the countryside, isn't a naive bright-eyed little girl excited and scared of the city. She's feisty, she doesn't care. She's a package deal and if you don't want her the way she is, she'll move on.And even more than her, I loved that Luca doesn't have a good heart below the surface. HE IS A MAFIA KING, he's evil. He'll gut and toss your body in the river if you step on his toes (in a hot kinda of way). And he stays true to his character until the end of the book.They both have a sparkling flame as they met, and they also have very interesting fantasies towards each other, but the act itself isn't as good as their fantasies and made me crave for a little bit more.Overall, I feel like Dukey created a really nice mistery (although some aspects of the book seemed like they were put there for no reason), but all the solving was too fast. The climax of the book was slowly built throughout the story (even tho I guessed correctly who was the villain right away), yet it went so fast I couldn't really taste the feeling and as soon as the climax was reached, the book ended... So... It left me hanging a bit.It's a nice and easy book to read if you're looking for a fast-pacing romance novel, with a quick narrative and charming characters.

It was a little slow in the beginning, but then you know why. Because the rest of the story falls into place. And wow…I was not expecting the last 5 chapters to turn out the way they did. What a twist. I really liked Allysa’s character. She was strong and not the typical shy, naive, stupid virgin (I am over those books). Luca was good not too over bearing and I actually liked Marcello, until I didn’t. Antonio, who was Luca’s brother was an ass. Good story, lots of action. Although I didn’t understand the epilogue the very last 2 paragraphs that ended the book….?

I really like it! Alyssa is strong, as dark as Luca. It's not about a good girl but about two dark souls meet each other. All the story is around darkness, desire and lies, and I love it! It's not 5 stars because wan't more about Swan and Georgina, and I missed some details but I love Ker Dukey, and always read her books.

Great read . Alyssa definitely earns her title of Luca's Dark Queen .Good writing keeps you on your toes throughout the book. Loved the twisted ending.