Amanda's Pile of Books: May 2022

Friday, May 20, 2022

Shadowed Loyalty by Roseanna M. White

Who isn't fascinated by the gangs and mobsters of the 1920's? Roseanna M. White's newest release, Shadowed Loyalty, takes readers back in time to when organized crime was soaring and the mob ruled.

From the Back Cover:

Sabina Mancari never questioned her life as the daughter of Chicago’s leading mob boss until bullets tear apart her world and the man she thought she loved turned out to be an undercover Prohibition agent. Now she sees how ugly the underworld can be. Ambushes, bribes, murder, prostitution—maybe Lorenzo, her straitlaced fiancé, had it right when he said it is better to stay far removed. And maybe, if she can understand him and his baffling faith, he will give her another chance.

But Lorenzo isn’t sure he’s ready for that. All his life he has loved Sabina, only to realize she had never felt the same about him. While he’s relieved to see her pursuing God, the Prohibition agent is pursuing her father just as intently, and it falls to Enzo—and his legal skills—to keep trouble at bay. He wants to believe that Sabina can change…assuming they can stay alive until their wedding day.

Shadowed Loyalty, set amid the glitz and scandal of the Roaring Twenties, examines what love really means and how we draw lines between family and our own convictions, especially when following the one could mean losing the other.

My Thoughts:

Isn't this cover great?!! I love the retro cover for this book. It fits the story perfectly! This is one period in history that I haven't come across while reading historical fiction books. So, it was fun to take a trip back in history to the Roaring Twenties during prohibition and organized crime. I also found the point of view of this novel to be unique in that the gangster's own daughter was the main character. Often, the viewpoint is seen from the law enforcement side of the situation, and this provides another angle into the family life of a crime boss. Many subjects come up in this novel--alcohol, prostitution, brothels, and murder, to name a few. The author doesn't gloss over the awful details of organized crime.

While the beginning of this book opens with a riveting situation of guns drawn and Sabina's world crashing all around her, the rest of the book focuses mainly on Sabina's relationship with her family, the undercover Prohibition agent, and Lorenzo, the boy she's known all her life. Sabina is conflicted inside and the reader feels that as she and Lorenzo go back and forth. It's a little trying at times. I enjoyed reading the background of how things in Italy influenced how the Italian mafia operated here in America. Although, I wish the author would have played up the prominent mobster that shows up toward the end of the story. I think that element wasn't played through to its fullest potential. Overall, it was an interesting story, but not one of my favorites.

***I received a complimentary e-book from the author. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions are my own.

My Rating: ★★★

🚩 FYI for parents of teens: This book covers some situations that you may want to have a chat about with your teen. The crime boss does have a mistress on the side. Although there isn't anything directly written that is inappropriate, there is an understanding that when the crime boss leaves the house in the evening he is probably with the other woman. Also, one of the characters has a relationship with a prostitute that leaves no doubt as to what happens after the scene cuts away.