Synopsis
Nero is the king of Legacy Prep, living a life of power.
Elle is the school’s punching bag, living a life of fear.
The only good girls Nero knows jump in his bed when he tells them to.
The closest Elle has come to a bad boy like him is in the cafeteria line.
The mob boss gave him orders to find out what she knows.
Her mouth is sealed.
Review
Reading books and reviewing them for a blog is a fun job. It combines a few of my favorite things, and one of those is helping out new authors. I was treated to the cover and a very enthusiastic encouragement to read this new book, Nero. I looked into it, thankful that we have so many loyal fans that pimp those new authors on our page. Luckily, I was able to squeeze into the tour and was given my ARC. Now I have to admit, I was a little weary at first. I mean, reading about high school kids, it’s really not something that I do. But something about this one just hit me right. The story begins introducing us to Elle and Chloe. They are best friends, on the second semester of their senior year of high school and they are dealing with bullying. That’s truly an understatement. They have been bullied since their freshman year and no one, NO ONE, stands up for them. It’s sickening.
Elle is a beautiful girl, working hard to pay her tuition to Legacy Prep as a waitress. This of course, is used as ammunition for the disgusting cretins who torment her at school. However, Elle will do anything to stay at school with Chloe, her best friend, and get them through their senior year so they can get the hell out of St. Louis, MO. So she works as a waitress, downtown, right next door to a casino. Little does she know, her life will be forever changed by her proximity to that casino and the simple act of taking out the trash late one night after work. She witnesses a murder, and unfortunately is caught on surveillance cameras by the BOSS MAN. The big mafia boss of St. Louis. He sets his youngest son, Nero, on a job; making sure Elle can’t identify him. It’s simple really, get to know her, get her to trust him, and then make sure that she can’t identify him.
Nero understands fully well that he must complete this job for the family. He is a charmer, a manipulator and thinks he will easily be able to get Elle on her knees singing in no time flat. She, of course doesn’t respond as he wishes and makes him work for it. Thus begins the dance, the dance Elle takes with the devil, not fully sure why she likes Nero, and yet is pulled in his direction. Nero and his crew help her with the bullying at school and soon all is right in their little world. Chloe and Elle have protection, Nero is getting closer to finding out the truth, and soon he will be a made man.
The cast of characters in this expertly weaved story are so rich, so full of contradictions that it makes for such an interesting read. I loved how each character was introduced and how little tidbits of the past were interwoven into the present to show that depth of character. This story grabbed me from the beginning. I lost hours just totally submersed into the lives of these young kids. The danger, suspense, and intrigue that is portrayed through Nero’s older brother Lucca and his father, Dante is really quite chilling. They are on the fringes of this story, and yet you are always quite aware of them.
It must be said, it was really quite strange to be so infatuated with a BABYMAN. I mean, Nero is eighteen, but he is such a hot ALPHA. The things that come out of his mouth…oh my heavens. And that’s just it, I read to be swept away, to live in a different world and Sarah did such an amazing job in this first novel of hers doing just that. She created a world of underground menace, high school bullying that I’ll never quite understand, and first love that blossoms into something much more. I cannot wait for more from this series. Each of Nero’s crew, Amo and Vincent, and his brother Leo, as well as his older brother Lucca, and sister Maria promise to be amazing stories. This is just the beginning of Elle and Nero. Great things are to come since now he is a Made Man. This amazing book is in my top 5 of 2014!
5 ENORMOUS SMOOCHES
~Nicole
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