Sam Mariano - Morelli Family series - serious spoilers included.
Oct 12, 2018 10:46:18 GMT -7
Banana Boat, Rhea, and 1 more like this
Post by diane on Oct 12, 2018 10:46:18 GMT -7
I read this last night. These are all KU.
Surviving Mateo
I had read the first book in the series but didn't like Mia (h) much so dropped it. Then on my desperate search for something to hit the spot, I decided mafia story, so bad he's good H, smart h, how can this be bad?
It wasn't. In fact I was fully prepared to come on here and offer it up with 4 stars. Mateo and Meg end up engaged and pregnant. I still don't like Mia but everything else was excellent. So excellent in fact that I went on KU to see if this particular h and H had any follow up stories. Which they do.
Resisting Mateo
Oooh, I thought. I should read what this is about only to find that there is no blurb to avoid spoiling who the book is about. That doesn't fly. I want to know what is going to happen and generally don't read if I don't know what is going on. So I went to the reviews. Wow, awful lot of 1 stars. Hmm. You bet your a** I am going to read them. Suffice to say that in Surviving Mateo, Mateo makes a joke, actually what Meg (h) and I thought was a joke, about her and Mia being his sister wives.
He was not joking.
There is no way in the world that the H (Mateo) and h (Meg) in Surviving Mateo would do what appears to have been done. Mateo was in love with Meg and showed no interest in Mia at all. Meg was not a doormat and would not have accepted being a sister wife. Not to mention Mia had her own H from the first book! This one turns that all around and sh**s on Meg.
And it turns out there is another book. Last Words
Again no blurb. Off I go to the reviews and what do you know, a few 1 stars. I have not read this one but just based on the reviews I read, the actual H and h of the whole series are Mateo and Mia. Mateo now hates Meg and wants to kill her. Mia and her H have split and half the book is about him and his new h. Mateo and Mia appear to be the Steve and Ginny of this century. Rosemary Rogers
And maybe I could accept that if there was any indication whatsoever in either of their two books with their other H and h but there absolutely was not. I am really surprised that I have not read more about this series since this seems to be such a huge slap to fans of the first two books. If you have read them and were happy with the final pairings, do not read on!! I am tempted to read the last one just to find out how it is possible the so in love with Meg H now wants to kill her and to see if he actually does but that would mean reading more of Mia and she is just not appealing in any way and the reviews don't make her sound any better. I wish I had stopped with Surviving Mateo. So I will still give Surviving Mateo 4 stars but with the caveat that you don't read any more of the series. My rating would change to a half star if I were to read on as I don't like my HEA's to be screwed with so badly. I am really disappointed. Sam Mariano is off my read list.
Edited to add: I went on goodreads and read a couple of reviews of Last Words. According to those, Sam Mariano intended for Meg to be a throw away and in Mateo's view he only kept her around because she looked like Mia and since she and Mia were friends, Mia would come around more and the whole sister wives thing was his plan all along so he could phase Meg out over time. Mateo was never in love with Meg and was just waiting for Mia to get rid of her H so he could have her. Which I could buy if there was any indication in any way at all in Surviving Mateo that this was the case. There was not. In fact, if I hadn't read the first book Mia would not have registered as anything more than an annoying side character with little to no relationship to Mateo at all. If this was SM's real intention I have to say it failed miserably.
Case in point: Mateo rapes Mia in the first book and in Surviving Mateo he pays Mia off with expensive bags, etc to lie to Meg about it so that Meg doesn't hate him. Why would he bother doing that if he never wanted Meg at all? If he never cared about Meg, then what was all the angst about when he thought she cheated on him? If she was just a place holder, why didn't he kill her then, it's not like he has any morals whatsoever. It just doesn't make any sense.
Surviving Mateo
I had read the first book in the series but didn't like Mia (h) much so dropped it. Then on my desperate search for something to hit the spot, I decided mafia story, so bad he's good H, smart h, how can this be bad?
It wasn't. In fact I was fully prepared to come on here and offer it up with 4 stars. Mateo and Meg end up engaged and pregnant. I still don't like Mia but everything else was excellent. So excellent in fact that I went on KU to see if this particular h and H had any follow up stories. Which they do.
Resisting Mateo
Oooh, I thought. I should read what this is about only to find that there is no blurb to avoid spoiling who the book is about. That doesn't fly. I want to know what is going to happen and generally don't read if I don't know what is going on. So I went to the reviews. Wow, awful lot of 1 stars. Hmm. You bet your a** I am going to read them. Suffice to say that in Surviving Mateo, Mateo makes a joke, actually what Meg (h) and I thought was a joke, about her and Mia being his sister wives.
He was not joking.
There is no way in the world that the H (Mateo) and h (Meg) in Surviving Mateo would do what appears to have been done. Mateo was in love with Meg and showed no interest in Mia at all. Meg was not a doormat and would not have accepted being a sister wife. Not to mention Mia had her own H from the first book! This one turns that all around and sh**s on Meg.
And it turns out there is another book. Last Words
Again no blurb. Off I go to the reviews and what do you know, a few 1 stars. I have not read this one but just based on the reviews I read, the actual H and h of the whole series are Mateo and Mia. Mateo now hates Meg and wants to kill her. Mia and her H have split and half the book is about him and his new h. Mateo and Mia appear to be the Steve and Ginny of this century. Rosemary Rogers
And maybe I could accept that if there was any indication whatsoever in either of their two books with their other H and h but there absolutely was not. I am really surprised that I have not read more about this series since this seems to be such a huge slap to fans of the first two books. If you have read them and were happy with the final pairings, do not read on!! I am tempted to read the last one just to find out how it is possible the so in love with Meg H now wants to kill her and to see if he actually does but that would mean reading more of Mia and she is just not appealing in any way and the reviews don't make her sound any better. I wish I had stopped with Surviving Mateo. So I will still give Surviving Mateo 4 stars but with the caveat that you don't read any more of the series. My rating would change to a half star if I were to read on as I don't like my HEA's to be screwed with so badly. I am really disappointed. Sam Mariano is off my read list.
Edited to add: I went on goodreads and read a couple of reviews of Last Words. According to those, Sam Mariano intended for Meg to be a throw away and in Mateo's view he only kept her around because she looked like Mia and since she and Mia were friends, Mia would come around more and the whole sister wives thing was his plan all along so he could phase Meg out over time. Mateo was never in love with Meg and was just waiting for Mia to get rid of her H so he could have her. Which I could buy if there was any indication in any way at all in Surviving Mateo that this was the case. There was not. In fact, if I hadn't read the first book Mia would not have registered as anything more than an annoying side character with little to no relationship to Mateo at all. If this was SM's real intention I have to say it failed miserably.
Case in point: Mateo rapes Mia in the first book and in Surviving Mateo he pays Mia off with expensive bags, etc to lie to Meg about it so that Meg doesn't hate him. Why would he bother doing that if he never wanted Meg at all? If he never cared about Meg, then what was all the angst about when he thought she cheated on him? If she was just a place holder, why didn't he kill her then, it's not like he has any morals whatsoever. It just doesn't make any sense.
