WINNIE'S REVIEW:
With a setting in Chicago in 1922, Shadowed Loyalty takes us to a time when the Mafia ruled parts of the city and the Roaring Twenties was beginning. It was fascinating for me to learn more of this slice of history while reading an intriguing story. Roseanna M. White is a master at creating colorful, carefully-crafted, realistically-flawed characters and plopping them into compelling situations and circumstances and then proceeding to wrap the story around them and bring them out the other side changed for the better. Her careful historical research shines through each of her books.
“She was more aware than ever of how small her spark of life was in the darkness of the world. But she was also more aware that it only took one spark to dispel the darkness.” “The job of a candle was to shine despite the fact that the darkness could never comprehend it.”
Although it took me a while to warm up to Sabina Mancari, I was empathetic to her dilemma of family loyalty to her mob boss father while trying to live a different type of life. Lawyer Lorenzo Capecce is engaged to Sabina and is also trying to distance himself from Mafia involvement in his family.
“. . . forgiveness isn’t a ticket you buy, a one-time thing bought and paid for. Forgiveness is the train you choose to ride through life’s journey.”
Action, intrigue, suspense, romance, and dashes of inspiration fill this book and make it a riveting read. With themes of forgiveness, family, and trusting in God, this story is an eye-opening peek into the era of the 1920s. 4.5 stars
*I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
PAULA'S REVIEW:
In a departure from her usual historical, Ms. White delves into a different part of history. This story is set in 1920s Chicago, steeped in the shadowy, old world Mafia and their families, just as Al Capone is making inroads into organized crime. I appreciate the extensive research that went into this story. This is an intriguing, complex tale that probes the disreputable times, where the characters wrestle with unsettling choices between loyalty to family and doing what is morally right.
Lorenzo is trying to break the mold by being an honest lawyer and separating himself from the Mob. But he finds it difficult not to get caught up when his fiancée, Sabina, needs his help. Sabina has attended Church her whole life, but wrong decisions and certain revelations find her torn and questioning her reality. Will faith sustain them or break them apart?
Come along as Ms. White weaves her magic and takes us back to a dark time and still manages to give us a romantic happy ending along with themes of loyalty, betrayal, forgiveness and mercy.
* I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author. I was not required to give a favorable review. All opinions are my own.* 5 stars and a strong faith thread.
BackCover Blurb:
Sabina Mancari never questioned her life as the daughter of Chicago’s leading mob boss until bullets tear apart her world and the man she thought she loved turns out to be an undercover Prohibition agent. Ambushes, bribes, murder, prostitution—all her life, her father sheltered her from his crimes, but now she can no longer turn away from the truth. Maybe Lorenzo, the fiancé who barely paid her any attention in the last two years, has the right idea by planning to escape their world. But can she truly turn her back on her family?
All his life, Lorenzo’s family assumed he would become a priest, but he has different ideas—marrying Sabina and pursuing a career in the law. Despite his morals, he knows at the core he isn’t so unlike his mafiosi father and brothers. Has he, in trying to protect Sabina, forced her into the arms of the Prohibition agent bent on tearing her family apart? How can they rebuild what has so long been neglected and do it in the shadow of the dark empire of the Mafia?
Shadowed Loyalty, set amid the glitz and scandal of the Roaring Twenties, examines what love really means and how we draw lines between family and our own convictions, especially when following one could mean losing the other.
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