Mafia Romance

 Promises and Pomegranates by Sav R. Miller 

This is marketed as a Hades and Persephone retelling but it's not; it's a mafia romance. There are elements that reference the myth and it was definitely influenced by it, but it's not a retelling. Also, the trigger warnings were lacking because don't nobody got time to go to your website to look up the more detailed list of warnings. I also had no idea this was an age gap romance when I started and age gap is in my top 3 most hated tropes, but I do love a fake relationship/forced proximity so this was rough for me. Kal and Elana were caught on tape in an intimate situation and are being blackmailed so her arranged marriage is called off and instead she is forced to marry Kal. He is also using this as his way out of the mafia. But, her dad doesn't tell her mom so mommy leaks to the press that she was kidnapped and now everyone is searching for her and she's falling in love with her husband. But her younger sister has a ballet recital that she wants to go to so her takes her home for that and it's a mess because when he was younger he had an affair with her mother and mommy spills the beans at dinner; she doesn't take it well. But, she also realizes that mommy has been horrible to her her whole life and while she was packing mommy admits to being jealous of her own kid so Elana slaps her and leaves. Elana and Kal finally get back together when she storms back into his house with the annulment papers in hand; he was giving her the choice of whether or not to be with him and when he explains why he didn't come after her she forgives him for everything. He goes to a meeting with the cyber company that's been investigating his blackmailer and it turns out it's the kid sister of the head of the company and she's been doing it because she needs his help. Also, we find out that the initial blackmail file wasn't from a blackmailer; he did that because he wanted Elana. I don't like that; it's yucky. After all of the everything else in this book, that was by far the worst. This was not for me, but it set up book two nicely. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Because I'm not sure I enjoyed this book, but at the same time; I'd like the set.