War of Hearts by Julia Skyes – 2.5 Stars

War of Hearts by Julia Sykes was certainly sexy and delicious but fell short on so many other levels for me. This book picks up where readers left off with Battle for Love with Marco’s kidnapping of Ashlyn. Joseph is broken hearted over leaving Ashlyn behind. Additionally, as a result of Joseph’s actions in Battle for Love, the family’s enemies are now at Ashlyn’s doorstep, so Marco decides he can rectify both of these circumstances by abducting Ashlyn. Julia Sykes is new to me as an author with the exception of reading Battle for Love in preparation for reading this book. Having read both books, I honestly feel like the two should be combined to one story. Realistically, if you were to read War of Hearts as a true standalone, you would be missing enough context to feel like the book was incomplete. And because Battle for Love ends on a cliffhanger, you absolutely have to read War of Hearts if you want the full story.

War of Hearts is told by all three main characters: Marco, Joseph and Ashlyn. I love books that are written this way because I feel like we get to know the characters better. Also, because then we don’t have to read between the lines so much or are forced to take the heroines perspective as gospel. I mean, when done right, the hero and heroine can give you more perspective and allow you to get closer to all invested parties in a story.

Julia Sykes portrays this as being an erotic, mafia romance. There is AMPLE proof of the erotic nature of the story and for that reason, I completely agree with other reviews that this book is sexy and delicious. The sizzle factor was absolutely smoking hot! The ménage was both hot and yet it almost felt forced somehow. Like the hero’s needs and wants as individuals involved in a triad were not being met. What this blurb promised as a mafia romance did not hold true for me as a reader. Mafia romance usually has all the elements of mafia fiction just heavy on the romance.  This book maintained an illusion of romance, if you’re looking for lots of sex, but felt little like a true mafia book. I honestly felt like it lacked the action, thrill and violence that readers associate with the subgenre.  The plot felt like the author was looking for a way to market the book as more then just an erotic story, and since Mafia romance is fairly popular right now, added in a minimal amount of detail to portray it as such. Furthermore, I felt like the plot was handy or convenient in some ways.  Without offering plot spoiler’s, I can’t suitably explain this but needed to say something.

I also felt the characters needed to grow more…and I only saw growth in Ashlyn. She realizes that the life she lived before this situation between Marco and Joseph, wasn’t the life she wanted to live any longer. She wanted to live a happier life then that represented to her by her parents.  And of the two men, I actually ended up liking Marco more. He stood out as the hero to me more than Joseph. But to some degree, I felt like the story didn’t lend itself to its full potential on behalf of any of the aforementioned characters.

I truly hate leaving a review that I feel is more negative than positive. I always want to give readers the good and the bad and tell them to read it for themselves to determine whether they like a book or not. As a blogger, its my “job” to give an honest review on the books I am reviewing. So, in the case of War of Hearts, I am reviewing honestly with a review of 2.5 stars. I am somewhat soured on Julia Sykes as an author after this book and that’s sad since she is a best-selling author. I usually give authors a second chance and so I may still try to do that with Julia’s back-stock, but I can’t say for sure either way.