Review: De Marco Empire
There’s a lot of buzz about Club La Pregheira, the new club Gianni and Antonio De Marco are opening in London. Close friends Lucy Carmichael and Katie Saunders decide to go on opening night – when they see the overwhelming crowd there, they realize they’ll never get in. Lucy comes up with a plan – they pretend like they’re there to apply for a job. Not only do they get in, but they get offered a job, starting the next night!
When Katie and Antonio see each other, there’s an instant attraction. They’re both involved with other people, but quickly end those relationships, so they can begin dating. They relationship quickly turns serious.
It turns out that the De Marco brothers have been and are involved in a lot of underhanded and illegal activities in order to obtain the huge sums of money and power that they enjoy. They are underworld figures and their family is involved in a feud with another underworld family.
Several people try to warn Katie of the De Marco’s activities, but love is blind, and she won’t listen. Her failure to do so changes her life forever and causes immense pain for her and other people she loves.
De Marco Empire by J. Lou McCartney is full of crime and romance. Even though the story line was pretty good, and the writing was adequate, I didn’t feel myself drawn to this book. The characters weren’t developed enough for me and the plot was too much like a soap opera for my taste. I felt that Katie and Antonio’s romance happened much too quickly – they were calling each other “my darling” on their first date. It bothered me that so many of the characters were evil, but maybe that’s how it is when you’re involved with a family like this. There is some language and sex in this book.
Some other bloggers enjoyed this one more than I did:
Review copy provided by the author.
I like soap opera plots and I like romance too, but I’m not sure how you can call someone My Darling on the first date. The plot looks good to me though, so I just might give it a try. Thanks for the review Kathy.
I love to read a well-done romance novel because I know it’s all going to turn out happy in the end. I can see this one is not. I’ll pass.
I’m not much for romance and although I love a good mystery/suspense…mob type books usually aren’t too interesting to me either. (Except for The Girl I Used to Be…I liked that one!)
Thanks for the review, I think I’ll pass on this one!!
I really don’t care for the “soap opera” feeling. I’ll probably pass on this one too!!
Sorry this one wasn’t a winner for you. The premise sounds okay, but I too like good character development.
Doesn’t sound like the book for me either!
I’m not much for romance, and soap operas bore me. So I guess this isn’t for me either.
I’m OK with the occasional romance, as long as it isn’t too sticky sweet. No “my darling” for me, thanks! Although, I’ve been toying with idea of grabbing a Harlequin, just for grins. J. Kaye has had a couple on her blog recently. I used to read them…wondering if my cynical, cold heart would buy it now?
The story sounds a lot like what happened to Anne Hathaway and her (as it turned out, criminal) boyfriend, except of course for working at a club instead of being an actress!
Sounds juicy! I don’t know if it’s for me, but it does sound interesting!
SOunds good – but i am not sure if I want to read this one…. ain’t this stuff the same we see in movies all the time?
I don’t know. It might be worth a shot. A little soap opera can be fun once in a while.
Sounds like a book that you need to be in the mood for. Soap opera-ey romance is nice every now and then, but I do like well developed characters that I can grow to like or even love – when that’s missing, all bets are off for me.
Thanks for the honest review. I don’t like soap operas much, and if I read a romance, it has to have some substance. I think I’ll pass on this one.
–Anna