Vendetta by Catherine Doyle

When it comes to revenge, love is a dangerous complication.With a fierce rivalry raging between two warring families, falling in love is the deadliest thing Sophie could do. An epic debut set outside modern-day Chicago.

When five brothers move into the abandoned mansion in her neighbourhood, Sophie Gracewell's life changes forever. Irresistibly drawn to bad boy Nicoli, Sophie finds herself falling into a criminal underworld governed by powerful families. As the boys' dark secrets begin to come to light, Sophie is confronted with stinging truths about her own family, too. She must choose between two warring dynasties - the one she was born into, and the one she is falling in love with. When she does, blood will spill and hearts will break. 

This is a modern re-telling of Romeo and Juliet, but with the Mafia. Do you need anything else?

Doyle's debut told of Sophie and her quiet life at her summer job at her dad's diner. All she wants to do is save up money to get out of town, where everyone points at her because her dad is in prison. But then something exciting: a family of five brothers move into the permanently empty house at the end of the road. An instant hit with the town gossip, the boys are mysterious, not to mention hot. But there is more to them than meets the eye and as Sophie gets closer, she is in more danger than she thought.

The story was full of feuds, revenge, blood oaths and dark secrets. Sophie is left in the dark for a lot of it, which was incredibly frustrating because we are given no apparent reason to fear the boys apart from her uncle's paranoia. But then as we get to know them, we see how strange they act, how secretive they are and I at least began to fear for Sophie and her involvement.

Nic was, in a word, amazing; he was surprisingly sweet and very protective of his family and later Sophie. To a point, he was scary too and understandably Sophie was terrified of how far he could hurt someone. This was when the dark underbelly of his family secrets came out and it was really interesting seeing it from Nic's perspective, who saw what they did as honourable and necessary. 

I absolutely loved this, it had everything from forbidden romance to violence in abandoned warehouses. It was scaring and thrilling and surprisingly romantic; I cannot wait to read the sequel and see how far Sophie is willing to go for Nic. 

Published 1st January 2015 by Chicken House. Thank you to the publisher for my copy in exchange for an honest review.