Played By The Bishop (Murdoch Mafia #1) in Books and Bitches Down Under Aussie Book Club

Feb 23, 2025 Kate Smith rated it really liked it

A great mafia tale with enough twists to give you a pretzel hankering.

“No,baby, you are a f**king prize”

Bishop is tough, enigmatic and a bit of an a**hole but we all love that right?

Kiara is a tough woman with a traumatic past and yet she’s tougher than you can imagine. Surprising everyone around her.

Loved the scenes with Bishop and Kiara. Absolutely magnetic.

Rating: 4 ⭐️
Spice: 3 🌶️

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May 11, 2025 Murphy rated it really liked it

Holy dark romance!

This book definitely is dark mafia romance, the audiobooks are AMAZING!

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May 03, 2025 Kayla Cronin rated it did not like it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Okay so I almost never review books so I’m sorry if that shows but I I need to vent about this book and potentially save someone from feeling the way I do after reading this.

Let me start out by saying this book has been on my tbr for a while. I love the cover, it’s stunning. A friend of mine recently read it so I decided to read it today and it’s a lot.

The writing is super confusing. It’s incredibly hard to follow, especially during conversations. I had to constantly decider who was speaking. Okay so I almost never review books so I’m sorry if that shows but I I need to vent about this book and potentially save someone from feeling the way I do after reading this.

Let me start out by saying this book has been on my tbr for a while. I love the cover, it’s stunning. A friend of mine recently read it so I decided to read it today and it’s a lot.

The writing is super confusing. It’s incredibly hard to follow, especially during conversations. I had to constantly decider who was speaking. The author uses the same few words over and over. The FMC says the word ‘cringe’ so many times it made me cringe.

The story itself is all over the place there is five brothers (whose names are literal chess pieces btw) Their sister goes missing and instead of trying to find her or anything they’re all more concerned with the fmc and they’re just all up in a house together waiting to hear anything about their sister. Why is he more concerned about killing a guy who fucked his ‘future wife’ who he hasn’t seen in years than his sister who is literally missing. The author is constantly introducing more characters with no explanation and I got so lost. I also feel like im starting the book half way through rather than the start. There’s a lot missing.

The fmc takes a lot of showers. Like I swear she’s taken 10 by the 5th chapter.

The only trigger warning at the start of the book was “this might make you uncomfortable” If you’re writing a book with darker themes, please add a page at the beginning of your book with a list of those triggers. With this book theres nothing, not even a “hey this has dark content please look at this website to check for a list of trigger warnings”

I had to put it down at 35% because I feel like the author is trying to romanticise abuse. (I literally cannot read certain things because of my past trauma, hence why I’m upset about the no trigger warnings)

Certain things about the MMC and FMC don’t sit right with me. Like the fact that he literally speaks to her like dirt and orders her to do things and shes into it one second but hates him the next? Also everyone else there just does nothing about his actions? Kay.

The MMC is VERY abusive and the FMC is just cool with it and literally puts her head down. He holds her up against a wall by her throat and she is scared but all of a sudden it’s sexual? It’s gross and I feel gross ...more

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May 20, 2025 Tamara (this_love_of_words) rated it it was ok

Wanted to love it, but it just didn’t hit the mark

As someone who genuinely enjoys mafia romance with all its dark themes, power dynamics, and emotional intensity, I went into Played by the Bishop excited for a gritty, angst-fuelled ride. Unfortunately, this one missed the mark for me.

While the premise had promise and I liked the idea of the complex history between Bishop and Kiara, the execution felt lacking. The writing style came across as quite elementary at times, and the plot often felt lik ...more

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Jun 22, 2025 Chantelle Bensley rated it really liked it

This book was a good read that I finished in a couple days. It is the start of a dark Mafia romance series based around the Murdoch family.

The first book follows the main female protagonist Kiara as she starts a new elite school with a scholarship. Hoping to leave her tragic past behind she runs into the Murdoch family which unravels it all again. There are a few twists and turns with truths being revealed and some nice smut scenes in. The main characters get a bit hot and cold with each other a ...more

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May 06, 2025 Eliera rated it really liked it

Played by the Bishop..Dark, addictive, and a checkmate worth reading.

“Even if you were broken, Kiara, I would find every piece of you and put you back together until you were able to see that broken things are beautiful.” That line sums up exactly why I enjoyed Played By The Bishop. This was one of my first real dives into mafia romance, and it did not disappoint. Samantha Barrett builds her world around the Murdoch brothers, named after chess pieces, each with their own role to play. In this fi ...more

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Oct 22, 2024 Just_Read_Instead rated it it was amazing

There is something so delicious about a mafia family where all the men are soooooooo bad, but so good … and the women? Broken, but BAD A$$.

And Bishop?

He is everything we want from a morally black mafia
Don.

But will the pressures of his family, his sister’s abduction, and the other crime families tear him away from the girl who has always loved him?

I listened to the audio, and OMG. Its PERFECT.

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