ReviewsByErin

Novalise has grown up separated, an outcast from Susa's society. Her people, known as the Alphanites, have hidden in the mountains since refusing to abide by Susa's registration laws. But when Susa's new king is looking for women to join his elite bodyguards called the Protectors, Novalise is conscripted into the competition, forced to fight against nano-enhanced young women who possess super-human powers.

Zadien feels unready and unworthy to ascend to the throne after his father's murder. As he deals with anxiety, he relies heavily upon his advisors as he begins reigning over his kingdom. He needs new Protectors, and even though he has misgivings about a grand competition to sort through the candidates, he agrees to it.

As Novalise navigates the world of the Citadel and the competition among women who are not like her, she hears the voice of Alpha in her head, guiding her. She comes to surprising realizations about who are friends and who are enemies.

This retelling of the Biblical Esther story mixes a dystopian world with a little bit of American Ninja Warrior and a hint of Hunger Games. It was interesting to see different ways a story I am so familiar with translated into a completely different setting.

For me, the book was slow getting started, and I had trouble with Novalise's attitude at times. The book also used a trope that is a personal pet peeve of mine, which I realize is totally my hang-up and not the fault of the book. However, Novalise grows a lot through the course of the novel and once the story gets going there is much to draw the reader in. Action. Faith. Romance, both requited and unrequited. Though the book does come to a conclusion, there are plenty of threads left hanging for the second book in the series. I can't wait to see how everything comes together!

I received my copy of the book from the publisher. All thoughts in this review are my own.

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Come along for the tale of a mafia family—where everything, including love, is more than it seems. When the man Sabina loves turns out to be an undercover Prohibition agent charged with bringing down her father, her heart nearly shatters under another loss. She's forced to turn to the one man she'd rather not ask for help—her fiancé.

This story is full of twists and turns, wounds and mendings. Lorenzo is determined to leave the tradition of his family and forge a new, honest life for himself, but can Sabina really leave the mafia lifestyle behind? If she found love in the arms of another man, why would she agree to continue their engagement and fulfill the future they once dreamed of together?

Roseanna wrote this story a dozen years ago, and I think the youth of it shows. I didn't agree with the way physical love was portrayed, and in the same vein did not appreciate that one character visits a prostitute multiple times for her services. I just felt like those things could have been handled differently. I also wish the setting was more vibrant. I've visited Chicago several times, and I understand it looks different now than it did in the 1920s, but I wish there had been more references to historical landmarks or even Lake Michigan.

There were many things the novel did well, and my favorite aspect involved family. Both Sabina and Lorenzo love their families very much, but their families (like most families!) have issues. Fortunately, not all of our families are in the mob! However, learning to leave behind any toxic or unhealthy family traits is something I feel many readers will identify with. Are we brave enough to embrace healthier approaches to life, or will we be stuck in what we've always known?

If you're interested in reading a book about a mafia family during the Prohibition Era, make sure to add Shadowed Loyalty to your To Be Read stack.

I received my copy of the book from the author. All thoughts in this review are my own.


Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award nominated author who has long claimed that words the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she's homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books...to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary. You can learn more about her and her stories at www.RoseannaMWhite.com.


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.