Synopsis from Goodreads:

When Gianna watched her sister Aria getting married to a man she barely knew, she promised herself she wouldn’t let the same thing happen to her.

Matteo – The Blade – Vitiello set his eyes on Gianna the moment he saw her on his brother Luca’s wedding, and Rocco Scuderi is more than willing to give his daughter to him, but Gianna has no intention of marrying for any other reason than love. A few months before the wedding, Gianna escapes her bodyguards and runs away. She has enough money to flee to Europe and begin a new life. But staying undetected when the mob is searching for her is a challenge that takes everything, especially as one of their best hunters and assassins is after her: Matteo Vitiello.

After six months on the run, Gianna finally settles into a tentative routine in Munich, but then Matteo and a couple of her father’s soldiers find her with another man.

Despite her pleads they kill her boyfriend, and Gianna is forced to marry Matteo. Her emotions alternating between guilt over having dragged an innocent into her world and hatred toward Matteo, Gianna is determined to make life hell for her husband. But Matteo is a master at mind games and their struggle for power soon turns into hate-fueled nights of passion.

My review:

“Love is when you feel safe in someone’s arms, when he’s the first thing you want to see in the morning. Love is surrendering. You risk getting hurt but you don’t care. You are willing to give someone the power to break your heart. Love means seeing someone at their worst and still seeing the good in them; love means someone is perfect for you despite their imperfections.”

Here we go again! There’s no doubt that Gianna is very different from Aria and Valentina, so of course her story will differ greatly from theirs. She wants nothing to do with Matteo. She’s repulsed by him, by her father, and most importantly, this life she has been born into.

I appreciate her perspective because it explores what happens when you actually do something about a situation that you don’t want to be in. This is a girl who knows what she wants–or doesn’t want–and leaves before someone else can decide her fate for her. Unfortunately, leaving doesn’t always result in the best consequences.

This book shows that hatred can fuel sex just as much, if not more, than love. In most ways, Gianna and Matteo’s relationship is the least realistic of the bunch, but it does provide some great drama. There’s nothing more entertaining than a love/hate relationship. Emphasis on the hate.

★★★ (3.5 stars) for a different kind of hatred.