Book Review: The Breaker

Title: The Breaker
Author: Penelope Sky
Genre: Romance, Dark Romance, Mafia

What It’s About:

Constantine lives with Aurelia in his mansion in Taormina and Aurelia notices that he’s not truly himself; she knows that he is upset about losing the Roman Republic to Darius, and doesn’t know what to do with himself. Eventually, Constantine confides in his mom that he is lost, though he knows that she doesn’t want to know about his life in crime in Rome, but he doesn’t feel like he can go tell Aurelia this because she will take this the wrong way. He tells his mom that he doesn’t think he did the wrong thing choosing Aurelia and his dog, Medusa, over the Roman Republic, but he just doesn’t have a purpose. He also visits the Cosa Nostra, where he talks to Tommaso, who tries to get Constantine to meet his twenty-five year old daughter, Gina, as Constantine had promised him to consider marrying her in exchange for his help to get his brother. Constantine tells Tommaso that he’s in a committed relationship with his woman, but Tommaso tells him that until he’s married to her, he considers that there might be a chance with Gina and Constantine, as he wouldn’t mind Constantine taking on the job of the Cosa Nostra leader in the future, and being his son-in-law. The first time, Constantine avoids the lunch date by telling Tommaso that he has elsewhere to be, and hopes that Tommaso will let it go, and forget about it.

Aurelia knows that something is off with Constantine, but she admits to him that she has been feeling burnt out with her photography work, and instead asks him if she could work in his family’s restaurant business. So Constantine and Aurelia go to speak with his mother, and Sofia accepts her right away, though Aurelia tells her that she doesn’t want to be paid. First, she begins working with Antonio, Constantine’s cousin, but Constantine’s sister, Beatrice isn’t nice to her at all, choosing to ignore her. Aurelia walks into the closet to pick up her bag and take a birth control pill only to realize that she ran out and that she hasn’t had her period. She is in disbelief, so she goes to a pharmacy and takes a pregnancy test, which shows that she is pregnant, but she is terrified to tell Constantine about the pregnancy, being unsure about how he would react about it. Constantine knows that something is wrong but he worries that it’s because of Darius, which he blames himself first. But then, during a dinner when he pushes Aurelia, she tells him that he hasn’t been sharing at all, so he tells her the truth about his feelings around the Roman Republic. He then asks her what is up with her, but she is not ready to share it with him, so she leaves. He looks at her wine glass, picking it up to drink it himself, and he realizes that she hasn’t touched it once, and becomes extremely happy. His mood seems to change the next few days, and Aurelia finds it strange considering how he had been, that he is now having sex with her all the time. She wonders about it, but when she asks him about it, he deflects. Eventually, while working in the restaurant, she breaks down in front of Sofia, and tells Constantine’s mother that she is pregnant. Sofia promises to keep it a secret until Aurelia tells Constantine herself, though she adds that Constantine will be happy about it. That night, Aurelia checks where Constantine is, seeing that he is out with his friends and family, and when he comes back, she admits to him that she is pregnant. His reaction is not what she expected, as he is overjoyed that he will be a father, and when she explains why she was afraid of telling him, he realizes that he’s the one that didn’t make her feel secure to tell him.

They make their way to have dinner at his mom’s house, and Aurelia tells him that she told his mom already, feeling guilty that she had taken that joy of announcing to his own mom that he will be a father from him. He tells her that he is glad that his mom feels like her mom, and they have a good time at dinner with her, with him telling her that Aurelia told him the news. When they return home, he tells Aurelia that they will be getting married in one of the churches as soon as possible. Aurelia tells him that she wants the whole romantic proposal and the wedding on their timeline, not because they are expecting. He eventually gives up the argument when she won’t budge, and when they go to a cousin’s wedding, he realizes that Aurelia was right—he wants the same kind of thing for them as well, so he doesn’t ask her to marry him because she is pregnant.

Aurelia continues to work at the restaurant, where Isabella shows up after Beatrice comes in to work in the back. Isabella glares at her in anger, and when Aurelia extends an olive branch, Isabella tells her that she doesn’t want to speak to her, and calls her a bitch. At first, Aurelia doesn’t tell Constantine anything about it, but then admits to it. He goes to see Isabella and tells her off—that they are done, and that he blames her for Edric’s death, though it wasn’t ever her fault, he sees that now. He just doesn’t want anything to do with her, and he’s not exactly nice to her, so she breaks down crying. Later, he’s hanging out with his friends at the club, when Isabella and her friends show up, including Beatrice. Constantine is a bit mad about how Beatrice has no loyalty like their mother to him, but he asks his friends and family to leave before Isabella notices them. Unfortunately, Isabella has seen him, and follows him up the stairs. She tries to stop him twice, trying to convince him that they’re meant to be together, and then tries to kiss him. That is the last straw for him and he yells at her that he hates her and wants nothing to do with her. He’s also in a foul mood because he had already been forced to have lunch with Gina, Tommaso’s daughter, despite his protests that he is in a committed relationship. He had gone to Tommaso to announce to him that he will be opening up a restaurant and wants nothing to do with the mafia world.

The next morning, he drops Aurelia off at the restaurant, and his mother calls him, so he heads back. Sofia comes out to chastise him for treating Isabella like shit, to which he explains the whole situation—she had tried to kiss him, and had been mean to Aurelia. When Sofia hears this, she apologizes to him, and tells him that she’s going to lay into Isabella, though she tells him that she is glad that he never ended up with Isabella now that she sees her real character. Aurelia is understanding of the whole situation, and so Constantine decides to tell her about Tommaso’s daughter, but she definitely gets angry about it, pointing out to him that he would feel the same way about her going on a date because she was obligated to do so. That night, she stays home with Sofia, so Constantine comes over to beg her to come home with him, but Aurelia tells him that she wants some space. Sofia ends up showing her the pictures of Constantine as a kid, which Aurelia appreciates.

Constantine is waiting for Aurelia to return home after staying the night at his mom’s and working, when he gets told that President Barsetti has come to see him. President Barsetti tells him that he needs him back in Rome to take control of the Roman Republic and fight back against Darius. Constantine tells him that it’s not his problem anymore because he chose his wife over the city and he would do it again, plus he had told them all that Darius needs to be killed though no one wanted him to go to war. He tells the President to figure it out, and that he wants nothing to do with it despite the fact it’s gotten really bad with people disappearing in broad daylight and gangs running amok. Aurelia walks in on them talking, but when she returns after showering, President Barsetti is gone. She tries to get Constantine to open up about what happened with Rocco, but he refuses to do so, though Constantine receives a text from Rocco congratulating him on becoming a father. Eventually, Rocco shows up to speak with Constantine about everything that is going on in Rome, though Constantine doesn’t know that Aurelia had texted Rocco for him to talk to Constantine and figure out what went wrong between. Rocco tries to convince Constantine to come back with him to fight for Rome, but Constantine tells him absolutely not. When Aurelia finds Constantine that day after work, he is not himself, and he stays that way for a while.

They go to a family dinner at Sofia’s, and Aurelia watches a tired Beatrice, who watches Constantine play with her sons. Aurelia tries to talk to Beatrice and patch things over, because she genuinely doesn’t understand why Beatrice doesn’t like her. Beatrice tells her that it has nothing to do with Isabella being with her brother, but rather with Sofia, her mother. She tells her that Sofia has clearly showing that Constantine is her favorite because she’s excited about her grandkid through Constantine, but doesn’t help out at all with her two sons, and that Sofia treats Aurelia like a daughter, with more love and care than she does Beatrice. Aurelia surprises Beatrice and tells her that she will happily watch the two boys along with Constantine, and they start again. Later that night, she tells Constantine what she learnt from Beatrice, and Constantine goes to his mom to talk some sense into her about the whole situation—she had been going hard on Beatrice mostly because she herself had to raise her three kids on her own without any support, and she believes that Beatrice had made mistakes that lead her this situation so she too should survive the way that Sofia did. But she ends up making up with Beatrice and things get better for them all, including Aurelia becoming fast friends with Beatrice.

Constantine and Aurelia spend a day by the beach, and she falls asleep on top of him in the lounger—when she wakes up, he has put a ring on her finger, and asks her to marry him, to which she says yes. They plan the wedding for eight week out. But things take a dark turn one morning, when Sofia comes into the restaurant and tells everyone that they will be closed for the day—there was a terrorist attack on Rome. Aurelia comes home and knows that Constantine is planning on getting involved. She realizes that there might be a chance he won’t come back home, but she tells him that he should do it for Rocco, as Rocco has gone missing. Constantine does find out that Rocco ended up in the hospital, and decides to do something about it. He packs a bag, and promises her that he will be back in time to marry her, before driving over to Cosa Nostra, where he doesn’t ask, but tells Tommaso that the Cosa Nostra is helping them take Rome back. They take a ferry to Rome from Taormina, and Constantine goes straight to the hospital, where he finds Rocco awake and alive. They decide to use Rocco as bait, and they find Darius at the Parthenon, where he is trying to bully President Barsetti into resigning as President. Rocco gets Darius’s focus, and Constantine shoots him, which Rocco later tells him that he had shot Darius in the head so he must be dead. A fight breaks out, but quickly they get it under control with the help of the French Emperor, Luca, and his men. When the criminals realize that they are outmanned, they start giving up and Constantine kills them all. He promises Luca that the Roman Republic will always work with the Fifth Republic of France as a partnership, which Luca finds interesting. Unfortunately, they are not able to find Darius’s body, and Rocco returns to the hospital. Constantine takes care of things, telling President Barsetti that he will work to clean it up but once that’s done, he’s done, and he knows a better individual to be fit as the Emperor. He visits Rocco, and the two of them work it out; then he returns to Taormina with Edric’s body and Tommaso and his men help Constantine bury him in the coffin that originally was buried without Edric’s body. Constantine tries his best to make it seem like nothing has been disturbed, but he knows that his mother will notice.

He returns to Aurelia, who is happy to see him, and tells him that she doesn’t want to be separated again. The date gets closer to their wedding, and the night before his wedding, his mother asks him to stay the night with her not only because it’s bad luck to spend the night before the wedding with his bride, but also to be just the two of them for one last time before he marries Aurelia. He agrees to it, though his request is that Rocco stay with them and that she cooks them food. His mom brings up Edric’s grave, and he tells her the truth because he has no choice and doesn’t like lying. She is heartbroken, and Rocco arrives while she is in her room, so Constantine tells him what has happened and that he had told her. The next day, they have their wedding, and it goes off without a hitch, until the reception, where Sofia makes a speech about the two of them, only to be met with a sarcastic clapping from a figure on the balcony. Constantine realizes that it’s Darius, but there’s nothing they can do about it, and Darius tells Constantine that he will have to choose between his mom or his wife. Constantine tries to tell Darius to not do it and begs him, but Darius chooses Sofia. Unfortunately, he also revealed that he was the one who killed Edric and did horrible things to his body, which causes Sofia to stab him several times with a steak knife. He knocks her out, but ends up dying himself, and all hell breaks loose as the Cosa Nostra battles Darius’s men, subduing them. Unfortunately, they lose a whole family who had been at the reception, and Sofia ends up stabbing Darius in fury despite the fact that he is dead. Constantine checks in with Aurelia and she tells him that their wedding was perfect because it was in church.

Several years later, Constantine teaches his daughter, Julia, how to handle a hot pot and serve a table at their restaurant that he has built with Aurelia as they had planned. Julia brings bread rolls to the wrong table, and Rocco shows up, gifting Julia a necklace. Then Rocco and Constantine go to talk over food, and Julia brings the bottle of wine and glasses, but forgets to bring the corkscrew, which Aurelia does bring as she takes down their order. The two talk, and Rocco doesn’t believe Constantine about finding a woman that he cannot let go of, though Constantine tells him that once he finds one, he will not be able to let her go.

My Thoughts:

I loved Aurelia and Constantine together; the way that their relationship has begun growing, and changing since the first book. And even now, how it changed with the pregnancy and even the war that had to happen in Rome to come full circle with where they started, as Constantine realizes that he prefers to be on Taormina, to raise his child. I was surprised that he “guessed” (obviously the author planned it) that he would have a daughter and so he would name her Julia, and that is indeed what happened.

Overall, I did find that this book was a bit different than Penelope’s usual tropes in her dark romance series, and I have no qualms about it. I enjoyed it, quite a bit.