Review: Whispers in the Dark

Whispers in the Dark by Ashley Elizabeth

Series: The Alarie Heirs, #3

Synopsis: Whispers.
That’s what he offers me when he asks me to marry him,
my heart racing beneath my chest as if it’s waited its whole life for this moment.
But I’m not naïve.
I won’t let myself get swept away in the fantasy that this is anything more than it seems.
An arrangement to help me inherit what’s rightfully mine.
Even if it’s all a lie.
And to ensure things don’t get messy,
we establish rules.
Rules to remind us both that this is all an illusion.
But when those rules start unraveling and a buried secret becomes impossible to ignore,
will he prove to be my knight in shining armor,
saving me from the monsters that terrorize this world?
Or will he become the villain of my story,
shattering my beating heart?
To everyone in the darkness, he’s a dangerous weapon that many fear for all the right reasons.
To me, he’s my temporary husband.
A man I’ve quietly loved my whole life:
Mauro Alarie.

Whispers in the Dark is the third book in Ashley Elizabeth’s The Alarie Heirs series. It is an emotionally-driven mafia romance that is heavy with yearning (BRING BACK YEARNING) and tension. Mauro Alarie is the softer-underneath main male character and Alina is the woman who he is arranged to be married to in order to gain and maintain family power.

What I most enjoy about good mafia books are when they can be severely intense with both yearning for the heroine while also being intense with family/found family drama. There is something so intriguing about that dangerous side of life that I would never want IRL, but will gladly take it in my fictional one.

I loved reading about Mauro and Alina, but Mauro in particular really was a favorite character. I am a sucker for someone who will intimidate everyone except their love. When it comes to Alina, he becomes very emotionally vulnerable, and I live for that.

Sometimes I don’t know what people consider spoiler; there is a small one that I’d like to mention, but if you don’t want to read it, skip along!

• Spoilers Ahead!

  There is no third act breakup!

Although you can technically read Whispers int he Dark as a standalone, I highly recommend the previous two books, Broken in the Dark and Betrayed in the Dark. It will make the emotional payoff that much stronger.

Keep in mind, this is a mafia romance and, as tradition goes, it is sexually explicit and very much open door in the spice category. If this is your jam, you’re gonna enjoy this one, for sure.