WHEN SHE UNRAVELS

“Stay with me, Vale. Stay with me, and you’ll never have to fight another battle again. I’ll fight them for you. I’ll protect you. I’ll avenge you.”

Valentina Conte is the eldest daughter of the New York Mafia’s Don. And like every woman in her life, she has no say in her arranged marriage to one of her father’s capos. Her marriage is a nightmare, slowly draining the life out of her. When her husband brings home a young woman to be tortured and killed like many others before her, Valentina finally reaches her breaking point. She helps the girl escape, and together, they run 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️

This was my first book by Gabrielle, and while I didn’t like it as much as I expected, it wasn’t a disaster either 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ The story mainly focuses on Valentina’s survival, healing, and finding love again. It’s very fast-paced and easy to read in one sitting. The first half started off strong, but the second half didn’t quite live up to the premise 😔😔

Valentina was a decent character. I respected her for choosing the harder path—leaving everything behind, knowing that if she failed, the consequences would be brutal. She had no real-life experience outside the mafia world, yet she still took that risk 💯💯 What she went through was incredibly traumatic and heartbreaking. Watching her begin to heal, especially through helping Martina, was touching 😭😭 That said, I really wish we had at least a brief mention of her getting professional help. She also wasn’t the smartest at times and could’ve made better decisions, but I’m willing to overlook that considering she had zero autonomy her entire life 😅😅

I also appreciated that Valentina was the one who saved herself—it was a nice change from the usual “man saves the woman” trope. But don’t get too excited, because aside from her escape and the last event of the book, the story falls back into clichés, with Damiano stepping in to save her multiple times 🤣🤣

“You will never put yourself in danger again,” he murmurs into my ear. “No one hurts what’s mine, not even you.”

Damiano De Rossi is the love interest, and honestly, there isn’t much new about him 😝😝 He’s your typical cold, calculating mafia man who doesn’t believe in love. His relationship with Valentina developed way too fast and leaned too heavily into physical attraction. I’m not a fan of instalove or fast-burn romance—I prefer slow build-ups with tension and yearning, which this book lacked 👎👎

He does show some development by the end, much like Valentina. I really liked his bond with his sister, Martina—it was one of his better qualities. But the way he treated Valentina after learning her real identity made me furious 😠😠 It was harsh and completely undeserved. If I were her, I would’ve made him suffer for that. She forgave him way too quickly 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Also, this isn’t just about this book but I hate when characters are supposedly furious at each other but still can’t stop lusting after one another. It makes no sense to me 🤨🤨 If I actually hated someone, there’s no way I’d be thirsting over them, no matter how attractive they are. This book had that dynamic, and it frustrated me so much. Like girl… get a grip.

The side characters were good, but since they have their own books, I’ll talk about them there 😉😉 Lastly, the resolution of the mafia conflict felt a bit vague. I would’ve preferred a more solid conclusion within this book, but it’s not a major issue. Overall, if you’re looking for a fast-paced, easy-to-read dark romance, you might enjoy this. For me, it was decent—but it could have been much better. See you later 👋👋