Angelic Vengeance

by Cristina Russo

She trusted no one before him. A mistake that could cost her life.

Nicknamed The Angel of Death for her lethal beauty, an ex-assassin cannot seem to escape her past.

DEADLY. COLD. STOICAL.

MARIA PÉREZ has survived the criminal underworld by following one simple rule: trust no one. Raising herself on the streets of New York City has taught her everything she knows, from believing the worst in people, to destroying anything and anybody standing in her way.

However, after escaping a world where the only way to leave safely is in a casket, she is constantly looking over her shoulder.

She is a heartless killer incapable of emotions. The last thing on her mind is love.

That is until she meets her match, The Devil, who sets her whole world on fire. He is the first to make her cold eyes burn. And she hates him for it.

RUTHLESS. FATAL. TEMPTING.

ZACHARY DI’ABLO, a notorious yet faceless gangster, sees straight through the cracks of Maria’s icy heart.

After an unfortunate incident leaves him fixated for years on a pair of emerald eyes, he vows to avenge his honor by taking away their life. Though, once he realizes his grudge has been one-sided, his priorities shift.

Once they meet, their lives unwillingly intertwine.

Or so she thinks.

Maybe she was right about not trusting people, after all.

Genres: Dark Romance, Mafia Romance, Romance, Enemies To Lovers, Dark, Contemporary, Adult

445 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 21, 2024

Reviews

[Marianna Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh she’s so back in her dark mafia romance erasaaa!! There was crack in this I couldn’t put it down. The storyline had me gripped from the start and Maria and Zach stole my whole heart. I inhaled this. Giggled and kicked my feet. Zach….. you toxic psychopath you. He should have groveled so much harder but this was right book right time and I simply did not care. I could see people hating some plot points though… not me. Nope.

[Iqra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was sooo good. The way it gripped me from start to finish.

I almost cried at one point. The fmc, Maria 😩 I love herrrr she’s sharp tongued and prickly but when she lets someone in she’s sooo soft and sweet ugh I litch teared up when anyone hurt her especially a certain someone 😾

Zach was a rlly good mmc. He was rlly hot my goodness 😮‍💨🪭 the mouth on this man had me sweatinnnn and the way he doted on Maria had me melting for himmm

This is one of the dark romances I like where the romance is soft and not only one sided with the guy doing all the work or the opposite with them both bottling it all up till the last second. I like my fair share of watching mmc’s doing the work don’t get me wrong but it gets tiring sometimes which made this refreshing to see. When the fmc loves and dotes on the mmc right back rlly cements a lasting relationship for me especially bc in dark romance it’s a rare occasion.

Something that really surprised me was the fact that I enjoyed myself even thru the past present time jumps which is smth I’m usually very picky about. The author integrated the plot and mystery rlly well and created the right amount of interest to keep me hooked and the chapters weren’t choppy and stunted but had a nice flow. It’s rare and I rlly appreciated it.

Also about the Nico allegations, they’re very much not true lol. no one can outdo the doer and I stand by what I said. It was very obvious it took inspiration from the made series. The author took lots of phrases/scenes and actual sentences out of TSO lol. As someone who knows TSO like the back of my eyelids I could litch feel the similarities the way you would if u got slammed by a brick. Very on the nose but at the same time It really didn’t worsen the experience for me (let’s be real i’ll take anything that resembles Nico atp) but it was a shock that took me out of the story for a couple seconds before I dived right back in.

I’ll be really honest tho, I stayed for the fmc, Maria. Her story her character her personality and complexity was so refreshing and new I literally love her so much. She’s easily become a favourite of mine.


⋆⋅☆⋅⋆

The playlist is EATING
this author has tasteeeee

⋆⋅☆⋅⋆

When my girl Ro and I see anyone say our petty king, Nico, is similar to another mmc we have to investigate the truth for ourselves 🔐 so here we are 💋

[destiny · Rating 5 out of 5]

WHEN I TELL Y’ALL I ATE THIS THE FUCK UP

first of all, i literally can’t believe this is cristina’s debut ?!? like HELLO ?!
from the very beginning i was HOOKED 😍 i first heard about this on cristina’s instagram when she was announcing the release date and posting teasers … i literally couldn’t wait to finally read it. but then life happened 😭 long story short, im so glad i finally picked it up and read it because oh. my. god.

this is set in new york city aka MY CITY !! so you know damn well i knew exactly what i was picturing in my head, i knew the streets, the neighborhood, QUEENS/BRONX IN THIS BITCH 🥰

zachary mother fucking rafael di’ablo … i want this man and i want him NOW 💥💳 mans got me real good in part one. i was fucking SWOONINGGGGG 😮‍💨 he is the faceless cartel drug lord. he is ruthless, he is a stalker, he is filthy, he is fucking MINE 🥵 i’m so down bad for him it’s actually insane. this man literally stopped at nothing to get maria to go on a date with him. although he had his own plans in mind, he couldn’t help but fall in deep with the girl he planned to kill 🫢 when he spoke in his native language … my panties were suddenly launched into space and i saw the god damn galaxy. the way he fell for maria absolutely had me melting. but when he fucked up and didn’t give her a chance to explain, i damn near wanted to rip his head off 😭 this man put poor maria through the ringer omg. but when he dropped to his knees and begged her to stay, i never folded so fast in my life. i literally love this man and i don’t think i’ll be able to get over him.

my beautiful stabby assassin maria angela pérez, code name angel 🖤 good lord do i love a fiesty and shoot first ask questions later fmc !! she went through the absolute MOST 😭 i literally just want to run around midtown and shoot random things with this baddie. from going through the foster system and then getting snatched up and trafficked, to killing everyone involved, this bitch came out the other end stronger, fiercer, and became the most hired contractor. she met a woman 🙄 ruiz and told her to join the federal agent as her assassin. maria didn’t have anywhere else to go so this was the perfect survival opportunity. maria spent years working under ruiz until she went rogue and ended up at her friend’s front door. from here shit takes off when she “meets” zach 🫣 i love how she kept telling him to go fuck himself when he wasn’t taking no to the date for an answer. i love how she fought with him. maria was taught to be heartless, cold, and never to show emotions. she didn’t even know what love was or what it felt like … but she loves the most. she cares the most. i love this girl so much. i related to her on so many levels.

although i wish she made zach grovel a bit more, i lowkey would’ve lost my shit if i witnessed what happened in that abandoned subway station. the way they both fell for each other had my heart aching 🥺 zach and maria are so perfect together. they deserve the whole damn world. not only did i love them but their friends and family !! ugh i can not wait for natalia and trevor 😳 that man has me so intrigued omg. and zane 🤭 there was literally like one or two scenes with him but i would pay top dollar for a book on him. idk something about him has me clutching my pearls 🤔

🌶️🌶️🌶️ (speak to me in another language while we fuck and i would let zach breed me repeatedly)

[naz · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was so ass. Personally, I wouldn’t have forgiven Zach. He did Maria so dirty. Just don’t understand why he wouldn’t listen to her side of the story. Maria served BADDIE but then she didn’t. So annoying. It’s like when Zach came into her life she stopped really protecting herself and showing it. Instead it was all talk no bite. The plot was boring af and badly written. I felt dyslexic reading this book. The whole part 1,2,3 was so unnecessary and confusing. Also the constant smut was nasty. 🤢 There wasn’t any romance, just lust.

[•°Dahlia ( hiatus ) · Rating 5 out of 5]

𓏲 ๋࣭  ࣪ ˖4.75 🌟
Don't ask me why or how because yes this had nothing special but how I fell so hard for Zach? yup totally deserves a 5 stars , and for anyone asking if it's worth it , IT SO IS 🥺😭

--
Yup Instagram convinced me and am so ready for it

[giulsxx · Rating 3 out of 5]

➼ 3.5★

“The girl whose siren-green eyes were my envision of death, had now become my paradise.“

i picked this book to end my slump. needless to say that it didn’t succeed. this wasn’t bad by any means, but in my opinion it was a little bit repetitive and predictable.

one thing i loved about this book was maria. such a refreshing fmc for a mafia dark romance—for once she wasn’t the classic innocent partner of a boss, she was a fucking assassin. 10/10

zach was okay i guess? i don’t dislike him but he didn’t give me enough to make me love him.

overall, it was okay🌝

“You’re my guardian angel, baby. Always have been.”
For the first time in my life, I liked being someone’s angel.”

[Scarlett · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book would have ended better if it ended with her shooting him in the head.

I only read this book because someone said it was similar to the sweetest oblivion and it’s nothing close to it.

[amena 💗 · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5⭐️

Honestly, it was a bit of a mixed bag for me. For a debut book, it was fine, but there were some things that just didn't sit right.

The premise of the book was great, but the execution... not so much. The plot felt all over the place, more like a telenovela thrown together without much thought. Some inconsistencies were explained later on (kind of), but it didn’t make up for the scattered feel of the story. The plot was just there for the sake of being there, without much substance to it.

The characters didn’t really grow throughout the story. We’re told about their backgrounds and feelings, but we never actually get to see them evolve or develop. They felt pretty flat and one-dimensional. also Zach did not hold a handle to Nico Russo. I fear no mafia man will be able to.

One thing that really got on my nerves was the main character's age. Is she 20 or 21? It kept switching, and it was super distracting and noticeable. Small details like this matter and can really pull you out of the story. Case in point: me noticing and being annoyed.

The authors writing style was okay, but it relied too much on telling rather than showing. I want to experience the characters’ emotions and backgrounds through their actions and dialogue, not just be told about them. The interactions between characters often felt forced and didn’t flow naturally.

While I enjoy telenovela-style drama sometimes, the way it was done here didn’t work for me. One "plot twist" felt randomly thrown in there and added to the disjointed feel.

Another frustrating part was how the male lead handled a major issue in their relationship. When he found out something that could make or break their relationship, instead of talking it out, he just assumed the worst. His attempt at communication was asking if she had anything to say, and when she said no, he jumped to conclusions and said some crazy things to her later on. When the truth came out, he did a little bit of apologising and was SHOWN to appear devastated, and even though she didn't take him back right away, he just showed up later to "help tie up loose ends." Like if you’re going to attempt to make the FMC have a backbone at least follow through with it. After that, because of certain things that happened, she's all like, "I can’t be without him." It wasn't THAT much of an issue, but I still wish he groveled a bit more especially post what happened.

All in all, the book has a promising concept, but it falls short in execution. With better character development and a more structured plot, the authors future works could definitely improve, which would be great since I do want to read about the other characters. This one gets a 2.5 out of 5 from me for effort and potential, but it didn’t quite hit the mark.

[Sanyah(Taylor’s Version) · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was interesting until some part was redundant. How many times does the author need to write ““Dark hair. Black suit. Tattoos” for it to be annoying?
Good plot though.

[Chewy pan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book Made me want to scoop my eyes out with a spoon ,The FMC is an imbecile and so is the MMC.
Don’t let the TikTok videos fool you ,it’s absolute shit 😃.
The book is filled, and I mean FILLED with famous TikTok audios ,for example “I USED TO BELIEVE THE devil was a red man with horns, hooves and a tail. A deformed monster, hiding in the shadows.
But I was wrong.
He was beautiful.” , honestly I’m sure the author is a good person ,but this book is pure booktok style, it’s cringy and badly written , the FMC is the usual ‘ice queen’ that is also really vulnerable and somehow obvious to everything, the MMC is the stereotypical booktok boyfriend with a pinch stupidity. I don’t even know how the publisher thought it was good idea to publish this book and what surprises me even more is how the editor approved the manuscript to be published. This book was pure torture.
Oh and I forgot to say that the amount of useless details in this book was astonishing, I don’t need to know every time they get in the car that he has a g-wagon and that he takes up place

[Xoxogirl · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was nothing like TSO, the MC had nothing conpared to Nico. Don’t listen to tiktok i had to DNF after skimming so many parts.

[Fahmida · Rating 1 out of 5]

dnf @40% because I have free will and I'm gonna use it.

Honestly, the blurb is just so ass but I saw quite a lot of ppl saying this book was bingeworthy and all so I figured this would get me out of my months long slump but nopeeeeeeeeeeee! I've been sitting w this book for almost over two weeks now and I simply cannot gather any shits to give.

The characters are so lame and bland and one dimensional, I just don't get it. The fmc is supposed to be an ice queen and while her character did have the potential, it all went to shit whenever she interacted with big, bad Zachary, who btw is the wannabe Temu version of Nico and Christian from the Made series. I never thought I could FEEL nothing but I guess he provoked that sensation in me. He really made me feel ✨nothing✨. And the found family and side characters sucked just as bad.

Not to mention, this book needs another round of editing for all the grammatical and spelling errors still in it.

[𝒜𝓃𝓃𝒶 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.67/5 ⭐️
This book was actually really fucking good. It was giving Wattpad, but in a good way. It reminded me of those days when I’d stay up all night reading Wattpad stories by some author living across the world, whose fifth language was English but for some reason, it was still such a fun, quick read. Am I gonna say this changed my life and made my knees weak? No, not entirely. But it was a good read, a nice palette cleanser, and perfect for getting out of a reading slump where you just want to turn your brain off and enjoy. Zach and Maria are hotties and she’s a baddie with a spine so it was refreshing and healing seeing a fmc that’s not a doormat 🤭

[ayoo · Rating 4 out of 5]

cute! the name zack piss me off bad like that is not serious? name a Latino you know named that like please

[Lina · Rating 2 out of 5]

ִֶָso you see that was definitely something
. ..𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ🪽་༘࿐
.⋆♱ ) Pre read - I really need a palette cleanser after imagine me let’s hope this delivers cause dark romance has not hit

[Nadia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Both Maria and Zach 😮‍💨

I don’t know if it was just me that’s been reading books that don’t hit, but this? This hit so good 😂 I actually can’t stop smiling at how good it was Ugh loved it.

[Luna · Rating 1 out of 5]

i usually wouldn’t rate an indie authors debut novel this low but this was genuinely horrible. and i mean so bad i wondered if ai was involved or maybe the author was just a teenager bc nothing was making sense. the smut was abysmal and somehow got worse with every chapter/interaction and the chemistry between the leads was nonexistent after a few chapters? i’m still sitting here confused and mad i wasted my time honestly.

[Kamryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

{2.5 ⭐️s} Oh my this was a rough one 😭 the writing was very rocky from the get go, but I was having fun for the first 50%. The author kept mixing up the ages and bringing up things that never happened. Like one of their deals was that if he won the fight, she’d go on a date with him, but then the deal magically changed to her doing whatever he wanted for a full day (they still went on the date).Then the next 25% was the story being retold but from his pov, which was a fucking SNOOZE FEST. I almost dnfed at this point. The only thing that added was him fighting his attraction to her bc he wanted to kill her. I didn’t need 20-30% of the book to be about that. A few scenes would have sufficed. Then the whole Ruiz situation was so anticlimactic. I don’t even fully understand what happened in that damned tunnel bc it was over in half a second. Overall, the book was semi fun but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone ever.

[lana · Rating 1 out of 5]

It’s shocking that I’ve actually written a review about this same issue before! There’s an obvious attempt to mimic Danielle Lori’s signature writing style. And let’s be HONEST no one does it like her. That kind of magic can’t be replicated. Danielle Lori, wake up! I can’t take this anymore. This one, not only copied your style but did so poorly. It’s frustrating because nothing will ever come close to the Made series. I’m sorry, but can we please move on and come up with our own ideas? Or, if we insist on drawing inspiration, at least succeed in reimagining the concept in a way that feels fresh. Nico Russo they said.. Don’t listen to them!!

This one was a disappointment, plain and simple.

[Joud · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️ It’s a good story, but I really dislike the shifting between past and present. There are also many repeated events, which made it feel boring and caused it to lose its magic. If it had been written differently, I think I would have loved it.

[zayns wife · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wasn’t the worst, also wasn’t the best. Just your usual, with a forced “emotionless, ice queen” baddie of a fmc. For the authors first book, it was alright.

[Paige · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really good!!!

I enjoyed watching Maria and Zach fall for each other. Two people who wouldn’t have normally found love.

Maria was such a badass. I loved her character so much. I loved how much she made Zach work for it. It took so long for her to give it and it made me like her even more.

I loved how much Zach wanted her. He didn’t let anything stop him. These are my thoughts for part one of the book. Part two of the book brought on a whole new thought process. I was so mad at Zach when part two came. My favorite part was how much he pursued her but to find out he did it with bad intentions just kind of tainted it for me. I was loving how badly he seemed to want her then to find out he did it with a purpose to hurt her put a bad taste in my mouth. Even though it didn’t last long and he did end up falling for her it still took away from his earlier actions that I thought were so cute at first. I was glad that she didn’t forgive him so easily. He could have groveled a bit more but you could see how devastated he was at what he had done. My girl Maria had a bit of BBS toward the end, something I hate and annoyed me. I was able to look past it because she made him work for it so much in the beginning.

While I loved the romance and even the plot there were just some things that bugged me and had me scratching my head. Like the fact that the head of the Mexican Cartel, who is unconvincingly only 24, lived in New York?! Like I’m sorry but that didn’t make sense to me at all. Why the hell would be in New York? Talking about “this is my territory”. We see him in Mexico for a flash back which seemed to be where his family business was but he never goes there or talks about it in the present. Also I’m having a hard time with the head of the Mexican Cartel being named Zach?!! Like really there wasn’t any other name you could give him…the head..of the Mexican Cartel? Obviously that’s just a personal opinion. In part one of the book we see the events from Maria’s POV and then part two we see them from Zach’s. There were several events that didn’t line up to what we had seen from Maria’s POV and I get maybe the author didn’t want them to be exactly the same but it was confusing because there were things being said in Maria’s POV and then something said different in Zach’s POV even though it was the same scene. Also from Maria’s POV Zach didn’t seem like a manwhore but when we get his POV we see that he most likely was before she came along. Which you know is ehh, super annoying seeing as Maria was a virgin and hadn’t done anything before.

Anyway I want to read the rest of the series so bad but the 500+ pages for the rest of the books is giving me anxiety. Idk if I can do it. This one already felt too long to me. Also please do not give Antonio a book. The biggest manwhore to ever live? Who only thinks about sex and doing cocaine? Yeah that doesn’t sound appealing at all. We see that Trevor and Natalia are next, we find out in this book that they have been in a secret relationship for years, going all the way back to college. But in the description of their book it states that while they were apart Trevor earned the name of New Yorks biggest play boy?! Yeah now I have no interest in reading that unless reviews tell me otherwise.

NO CHEATING
NO TRUE OP DRAMA (they get jealous)
THIRD ACT BREAK UP (a couple weeks, neither with anyone else)
VIGRIN FMC (with I think was a manwhore in the past MMC)
POSSESSIVE MMC
VIOLENCE
MURDER
KIDNAPPING

[Nora · Rating 1 out of 5]

Never disrespect my man Nico like that.

Author tried so hard to rewrite him but no one beats the original.

[Thai ☾ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

was this trash? yes , did i also eat it UP? also yes.

[sof · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book NEEDS to be more known. it was so good i was surprised when i found out it wasn’t more popular

[readbydj 🧺 · Rating 3 out of 5]

a bit of a clusterfuck i’m so sorry 😅

[sarah ୨୧ · Rating 1 out of 5]

“nico russo”! they said. don’t EVER lie to me again u freaks!!

[Alondra Salcido · Rating 1 out of 5]

No. Absolutely no.

AGAIN WHY DO THEY ALWAYS HAVE TO BE VIRGINS????

[Readwithri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh she's back in her mafia era, mmhmm, mmhmm, mmhmm.

This had me giggling right from the beginning.

Maria is an ex CIA assassin and Zach's the Head of the Mafia, and they HATE each other which makes for some delicious tension, making the forced proximity feel like foreplay 🤭🤭🤭

She's a take no shit bitch that doesn't need a man to fight her battle.
I freaking love this fmc. She literally punches a dude on the face because he was hitting his girlfriend?? in an alleyway. And she hit him a second time because he didn't fall over after the first punch 🥹🥹 She makes me so proud.
And then there's Zach. There is something about a mafia man, with a filthy mouth, with a vulnerable side intended for her eyes only, that makes me bark like a feral dog. And this man is no exception. I was crawling for this man. He's so obsessed with her. He literally puts a bullet in the head of one of his employees because he walked into an empty room with her. And then walks away from the body like he was a fly on wall that he just squished.

The storyline is split into three parts -
Part 1 - Maria's POV alternates between her past and present
Part 2 - Zach's POV his perspective on Maria's POV from the time they first met
Part 3 - Back to the present with both Maria and Zach's POVs

My heart went out to Maria. She was a victim of really shitty parents and circumstances but she never allowed for it to define her. This girl deserves to be nurtured and loved in all the right ways.

The found family aspect is gonna be chefs kiss, I can sense it. So I'm absolutely staring book 2 because I need to read book 3 because second chance romance of course.