Casino King: A Dark Mafia Romance (Carfano Crime Family Book 1)

This story was a brutal look at the Mafia. A girl who is the obsession of a mafia king pen.

Casino King is the first installment in Rebecca Gannom’s Carfanno Crime Family series. In it, Ms. Gannom chronicles the romantic journey of Tessa Lyon and Alec Carfanno. She is a ballet dancer working three jobs to make ends meet. Destiny brings them together when she is selected to dance a solo and the finale routine in The Aces, owned and run by Alec. Through happenstance, Alec is there for her premier performance. As soon as he sees her it is love at first sight. The same is true for her. Soon Alec and she are in a relationship. Then she is kidnapped by a rival crime organization wanting to encroach on the Carfanno territory. Will they be successful? Will Alec rescue Tessa? Will she be safe? Will she and Alec find happiness? To discover what unfolds, you must read this book.I applaud Ms. Gannom for her outstanding writing. I appreciate her skill with literary devices such as conversation dialog and internal monologues, dual POV, and descriptive language. This plot is definitely a character driven plot as readers witness the way the lead characters grow. I appereciated the way Ms. Gannom uses suspense to heighten the rising action of her plot. Likewise, I liked how Alec is protective, and caring with Tessa. Therewere several Carfanno secondary characters of interest like Leo, the Don; Luca, the under boss; and Katrina, their sister. I am looking forward to seeing their stories in subsequent installments.

Casino King had me spellbound from the first chapter to the last. The story was so inspiring that I didn’t want to put my Kindle down. Alec fell hard for Tessa after a chance watching of her dancing in his casino. He became obsessed with her and started leaving her black roses and jewelry after her Friday night performance. She was instantly attracted to the man who was partially hid in the corner. All she knew he was always there and leave her a note a present later. Tessa was attacked on the night he had to be out of town on business and they finally met face to face. His obsession caused him to kill her bodyguard because he felt he failed to protect her. Tessa had lost her parents when they were killed when a truck driver couldn’t stop his truck. Her brother took care of her but he was killed in a drive by shooting after a hit had been put out on him by Alec. He learned later that he had killed her brother which caused issues for them and led to her kidnapping by the Triads. A beautiful story with a beautiful HEA. It is worth reading.

This is pretty much your basic mafia dark romance. The characters are written well, and the plot has some depth. If you like good girl (who finds her sexy side) that falls in love with a handsome bad guy, you'll like this series.

Alec and Tessa, he wants her, watches her, does everything he can to get and then he blows it, the ups and downs of their relationship, the things his does, the killings, the kidnapping….can’t wait to start Leo’s story in book 2

I just finished reading this amazing, gritty, captivating, and beautiful story! This is my first time reading from this author and she got me goodt! I just stumbled upon this AH-MAZING story! Tessa is a amazing dancer! She is fierce, smart, beautiful, and alone. She is doing everything she can to survive. She is sweets woman. She just couldn't help it. Tessa is brave and stands her ground. I love her! I felt every single emotion from her throughout the story. Alex is the King! Period! He is sexy, dark, mysterious, and twisted. I love every second of learning him. He a very interesting character. He is evasive and very protective of his love ones. He shows his devotion through action. Rebecca, girl you totally freaking amazing! This story is unlike anything I read so far. I love this world so much and baby you deliver it in tenfold. Amazing work Rebecca Gannon!😍

Wow! This book is something else. It has dark mafia, age gap, millionaire, OTT possessive/obsessive themes. Plus more.Alec is the second brother of the Carfano family. He runs Atlantic City and the story takes place mostly in his casino The Aces. He is a very quick to anger individual with a dark side just under the skin. He sees Tessa dancing in one of the shows in his casino and becomes obsessed with her. He tries to stay away since he knows he isn’t good for her with his lifestyle. So he becomes an admirer from afar.Tessa is a young dancer trained in ballet who works 3 jobs to exist. She was given tickets to the show at The Aces on Friday night by someone and knew immediately that she wanted to dance there. The night she started is when she saw a gentleman in the shadows watching her. Afterward she would receive black roses and a gift with a note signed ~A.Eventually an incident causes the two to meet. She is thrown for a loop at his demanding attitude. The push and pull begins. They have their ups and downs plus twists and turns in the story also causes problems. Overall, it was a good story with some action.There is definitely steamy parts. A LOT OF STEAMY PARTS! I’m not a prude and don’t mind several detailed $3x scenes, but it seemed to be all the time. It got creative but repetitive and the answer for everything.I gave the story stars ⭐️ because of the scattering of $3x scenes and because there is no epilogue. I’m a sucker for an epilogue and it seems if I want to know anything about Alec and Tessa, I should cross my fingers and read the next book.

CASINO KING gets 5 stars from me because this is my favorite type of mafia romance - hot, feared mafia leader that can’t think of anything but the beautiful girl that dances in his club. At first he just watched from the shadows…Alec Carfano is obsessed with a capital O and Tessa a ballet dancer that uses her skill dancing in his club. She has a sultry stage personality and a shy, innocent demeanor otherwise.I love this kind of book as Alec goes so far as to kill people that touch “his woman”. He’s smitten and completely doting as well as overly bossy. She is feisty enough to keep things interesting, but not so much as to be annoying.I really look forward to reading the next book in the Carfano Crime Family.

Oh my, Alex is the perfect Alpha-hole and I am in love him and Tessa. This hit all the markers for me. Strong dark characters with unbreakable devotion and an intensity that burns through the pages as you read them.

There was nothing I liked about the book.

Just happened across this when browsing KU books.It reminds me a bit of Catherine Wiltcher. Damaged dark alphas and feisty, slightly damaged leading women.A well written, interesting story with dark mafia themes. Whilst this is now a very common genre, it was done well and ticked all the right boxes.Would definitely recommend 👍

This book was intense from start to finish! I like how nothing was drawed out over multiple chapters. So much juiciness too the book and in all the right ways!! The way the book was written was amazing and just kept me going ! Can’t wait to read the authors other works !

When Alec Carfino sees Tessa dancing in his club, he is instantly enthralled by her. He sees her. His darkness seeks hers. After she's hurt he finally gets to meet her and vows to protect her.Their is an all consuming love. It's very steamy and obsessive. The only reason I didn't give this story 5 stars is that like many mafia stories the heroine though strong and fierce makes some stupid decisions that get good people hurt. I would have loved a bit more of a plotline concerning the mafia. But it us a strong beginning to this series.