This is a spoiler-free review! The Devil I Don't Know is currently available for free on iBooks and Kindle.
Brenna and Jacob are forced to marry in effort to strengthen their families and their forces against the Russians in a union between the Irish and Italian mafias. I was in the mood for an arranged marriage read and this book certainly delivered -- my jaw was dropping left and right. The tension between Brenna and Jacob is so thick you could literally feel it between the pages of the book, and I was literally on the edge of my seat reading every chapter.
With Jacob and Brenna's family lives and relationships so drastically different from one another, they already have so much to learn about one another after they marry. Brenna's family has kept her far removed from their business and left her in the dark, whereas Jacob's family has him heavily involved in nearly every business matter they conduct.
The dynamic between Brenna and her family was wholesome compared to the other things happening in the book. Her little sister was able to provide some type of comedic relief to the story, while her mother was there to show that she had a support system. Jacob's father was dying, but he was still loyal to his son and did try to do the best that he could, at least for as far as I could see.
Looking at the evolution of Jacob and Brenna's relationship once they are married, it does go a bit fast, but I think that it was because they both realized that they wanted similar things out of the marriage and understand that their marriage was more than just the two of them. "Where is my wife?" is said multiple times and I was loving it every time.
Glad to see actual mafia business taking place in this book compared to a lot of mafia romance books that just say the male lead is in the mafia and then follows with everything mafia related happening off screen. Jacob is very involved in his family affairs, and that was definitely reflected in their story. I wish that we spent more time on the aftermath of a lot of the issues caused by the Russians and internal familial issues that Jacob was dealing with. There was a lot of action going on in the third act and I would have loved to see how Brenna and Jacob dealt with everything after it happened.
I sped through this book so much faster than I expected -- forty minutes of reading put me nearly two thirds of the way through. The Devil I Don't Know is the perfect gateway mafia romance if you are looking into getting the genre without being overwhelmed. A great beginning to the series and I will definitely be continuing on with the author's works. Fans of Keep by Kaye Blue looking for something similar will definitely enjoy Brenna and Jacob's story.
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