XV (Fifteen): A Dark Mafia Romance: War of Roses Universe Kindle Edition

#justbreatheEllen Winthrop is marked as the fifteenth martyr in the blood feud. You empathize with Ellen Winthrop. She is broken but she has a strength within her that burns through and allows her to endure the cruelty she receives from both her husband as well as her captor. She is now in Mischa's clutches.Mischa Stepanov has been locked in a mafia blood feud with the Winthrop family for years. Each side taking a victim and now its his turn and he will mark them as XV.Ellen is one of the Winthrop daughters, hidden away from most of the world. She is kidnapped by the brutal Mischa, who thinks she's her sister Briar. And this is where the true fight begins. Mischa is unpredictable and violent, but he underestimates Ellen's strength. He is trying hard to break her down, but fails. Ellen shows him she has the strength the take what he gives. She after all is Robert's wife. (Briar's brother) Robert has kept her broken and ignorant. What she does know from Robert though is a secret arsenal of information that Mischa would love to have. He slowly starts getting information from Ellen. After all she complies or dies. Ellen believes Mischa is the blonde boy who had showed her mercy all those years ago they broke into her house.Will she be shown the same mercy now?Holy Hell!!! I am really not one for long reviews but this by far is my favorite read of 2019. I have read Lana Sky books and she never disappoints. This story is Dark, Twisted and Raw. So well written I literally did not stop until I finished the book. Trust me by the end of the story you will be asking yourself what the hell did I just read all while you're dying of anticipation to know more. Can not wait for book 2. Thank you Lana Sky for my new favorite book. PS I've already started to re read the book, it's that good!🔥🔥🔥🥀

I bought this book a little while back, always skipping it in favor of standalones or the newest hyped up release. Needing a book I could switch between Audible and Kindle formats, I figured it was as good of time as any to dive into this story....one I knew would be dark and depraved, I was so incredibly right.Told from the POV of the female lead, this is book 1 in the War of Roses series. It is a dark erotica (there is no "romance") with ties to the Russian criminal underworld and a war they are waging against a less powerful American family. It does end on a cliffy, with book 2 already out. It contains some very dark elements including torture, multilation, violence, blurred lines when it comes to consent, degradation, etc....so please take this as your warning if you aren't desensitized to these situations.Ellen (Little One, Elle, Rose) has lived with the Winthorp family, secret half-sister to the beautiful Briar and wife to the cruel Robert, she has lived her life without an identity of her own. She is Robert's toy, one he enjoys breaking and scarring far more than he enjoys cherishing. When she is mistakingly taken by enemies who were meant to take Briar, she soon realizes she is part of a war that started long before the was born.She is number 15 in a bloody mafia war, the 15th victim of the blood feud between the Russians and the Winthorps. She thought her husband was a monster? Mischa Stepanov is the worst monster of all. A madman who makes her feel things she never felt with her husband. A cruel torturer who uses both pleasure and pain to make her pay for the sins of her husband's family.He promises to kill her, its only a matter of time. But when secrets begin to be uncovered, Ellen will begin learn more about her true identity and the horrific truth behind Mischa's drive for vengeance. In the end she will have to make a choice with deadly consequences, her life or the life she has always known.The cliffy is a tough one, but with book 2 already out you can dive right in without a wait!The book was phenomenally written and narrated. It is haunting and emotionally impacting, it has the power to destroy you without any promises of fixing the damage.But where it goes wrong....well that's in a few places.1. This book would have done itself a HUGE favor by making it dual POV. So much is going on that we can't begin to understand because we only have the POV of a woman who is utterly clueless (and has zero drive to find out). So much happens behind the scenes that is highly impactful to the story told, yet we don't get any looks into these events.2. Ellen is a complicated character to like. On one hand, she is easy to connect to because we get a very in depth look inside her mind and what she is thinking. She is severly damaged, almost beyond repair from her time on the Winthorp property. So much so, she has little drive to survive or make smart decisions. She is like a punching bag, she takes everything that is thrown her way without an ounce of fight. I get it, Lana is gifted portraying this kind of character. However, enough is enough. I screamed so much my family thought I was crazy. She is tortured all because she can't bring herself to answer the most basic of questions....her freaking name. She "wants" to, but she can't get her mouth to work. She has no problem begging for more in bed though. And if you think your kids ask you why too much well you are in for a treat, because its Ellen's favorite spoken word. Its tragic, especially when she is asked if she loves her husband, the one that is responsible for her mental state as it is, and she responds that she does (in fact she worships him like a God). Without the reader understanding how the mind of a victim like her thinks, it appears to be quite sickening.... that is where the author failed the most. Helping the reader understand why Ellen is the way she is.Where I disagree with other critical reviewers is in terms of Mischa. He is awful, truly awful. But his reasoning behind his war with the Winthorp's is more justifiable than most stories with similar themes. He doesnt see Ellen as a love interest, he sees her as a Winthorp....deathly loyal to her husband (his enemy) and therefore a culprit to his sins. It doesn't help that she refuses to sympathetize or vocalize her disgust with her husband's actions. The way she is in bed with him is the polar opposite of how she should be as a victim, so of course he is going to be paranoid and untrusting of her motives. But in the end, you would have to be blind not to see that he wants to save the Ellen deep inside (the one that hasn't put her entire identity and purpose into her husband's sick games). His methods are unconventional but he sees more in her than she does herself, which isn't saying a lot.Overall, it was too well written to deserve less than 4 stars. Confusing? At times. Dark? It warns of that. But it is a fascinating page turner that is worth the read!

When I read this book i went through all the emotions I felt sad I felt strange I cried I felt relieved there was so much excitement in this book I loved it

Overall, I liked the book. It definitely lives up to the dark romance. It kept my attention and has plenty of plot twists. It made me mad when it ended. I wasn't ready for it to be over that's for sure and at such a critical point. I can't wait for the next book... I need more!

More then 15 Stars!!! What did I just read?! This is a dark, twisted, brutal, crazy, angsty, suspense, mysterious, twists and turns, no lovey dovey book. I was drawn into the book the first page. The mystery kept me on my toes. I didn't see that ending at all! Got me by surprise. It's dark but so beautifully written. I need book 2 ASAP!!!Mischa and Ellen, they both have their own scars. .... The first book that I read and the hero is seriously the anti-hero! Mischa is so mysterious that makes him really intriguing. When it looks like he soften up a little, something happens and he's cruel again. Mischa is so brutal towards Ellen. He would physically hurt her. The way how he hurts her, always threatening to kill her makes me pity Ellen so much. But I feel like she's so weak at times. There are some parts where she stands her ground, and I love it. I'm so proud of her whenever she steps up to Mischa. I can't wait to see how her character will develop more in book 2. I hope she'll rise and topple everyone.There's NO love between Mischa and Ellen at all! However, what they felt between them, they have never felt it with anyone else. I would have to say the steamy scenes are hate sex. They are rough and forced. I can't wait to see how their relationship is going to end up. That cliffhanger...😳😳😳!!!Pick this one up!!! Highly, highly recommend it!!!

Bien escrito, buen desarrollo de la historia, sin embargo no es mi estilo, pero eso no quiere decir que sea mal libro

I am truly sad to say this book was absolutely terrible.I knew I was going to get a dark romance, except that there wasn't any romance whatsoever. This story had no point other than to show abuse and try to cover it as dark romance.The main character was naive, and stupid but we were supposed to think she was completely clueless for 23 years? Her pov was awful to read, just jumbled thoughts, no point to anything. She made comments about her past, making us think that we'd get to know to understand but we'd just be left in the dark, not understanding her or her reactions. I thought there'd be some kind of growth in the end, where she does take back her life, just so the story actually had something going. But no. We just had to read over 200 pages of a victim locked in a hell of abuse.As for the, if we can even call him that, "love interest", what even was his personality? His goal? He supposedly killed Robert, the one thing pushing him throughout this book, and we're just told "oh yeah btw I killed him"? So completely anticlimactic. We also don't understand his feelings for Elen. Sure he hates her cause she's associated but why is he "struggling" to get rid of her? Nothing in their "relationship" developed for him to have those feelings.And that bleep of a plot with Sergei and her mother? What was that even for? Nothing was explored.And Briar at the end? Useless.The description gives a completely false expectation of this story. This is just trauma over and over and over again with no end goal. And no conclusion.Very saddened by how much I despised this book and I cannot for the life of me understand how it's even above 3 stars.Leena - Leena.reader review - @leena.reader on tiktok and instagram

Loved this book, it's mysterious, sexual, and dark with some craziness just all my favourite things in a book I like to read. I can't wait to read the rest of them!

this review involves all 3 booksthis series is maybe too long for my liking however is worth reading. A compelling tale about how history have a way of repeating itself and yet it never the same.love LS writing

WHAT in the holy hell did I just read!! I stayed up the whole night reading this in one sitting. I am just completely blown away!!This dark romance has just pushed every limit this genre had and I am completely astonished and breathless!! This is a dark beyond dark read so of you are sensitive to triggers such as abuse, threats of rape and violence then you have been warned. But if you share in being fascinated by the twisted realities of worlds so far removed from ours then BUY THIS BOOK!This is my first book by this author and her writing skill and characterisation has consumed me. My pet hate in romance books is when the author does not write their anti-hero with conviction and always seek to redeem him in a way that derives from his dark nature. Let me tell you that Lana has written Mischa in a way that completely renders him the darkest anti hero I have ever read as he stays true to his character throughout the ENTIRE BOOK. He does not suddenly become the good guy. He oozes evil and seduction and I am in LUST with his complex yet alluring character.‘Fascinating’ is putting this book lightly. You will be at war with your own mind in a way that you will think about this story for days after you have devoured it. The ending has literally tortured me!! I adored it!! I cannot wait for the next instalments in this raw and stunning series to see how Mischa and Ellen will battle battle their demons... and each other... once and for all.