Run Posy Run by Cate C. Wells is perhaps the most unusual romance I’ve ever read. It is a dark Mafia romance available on Kindle Unlimited. I was having a video chat with Emmalita and of course our conversation turned to books for a while. She was recommending this author specifically for her writing, and then mentioned this book with a description that had me intrigued, puzzled and repulsed all at once. In addition, she said it was basically living rent free in her head, but she couldn’t figure out how to review it for CBR. Of course I had to read it immediately.
The leads in this romance are not your usual romantic leads. Both have some pretty serious issues and/or challenges. Dario Volpe is a sociopath or psychopath. He knows this about himself and just doesn’t care. He also manages a stock portfolio for an organized crime family. Posy is a sweet doormat of a person with so much trauma in her background that she will do just about anything to be accepted and loved. She also happens to be brilliant and the one person who can beat Dario at games of strategy.
Not to give the plot away, but something happens between Dario and Posy in the first chapter that is so awful, I’m not sure the author will be able to write her way out of that corner. And then she does. It is truly a master class. Totally worth the read.
I don’t feel like that is a spoiler since romances by definition have happy endings. I do feel like I need to insert some trigger warnings here related to this type of romance novel. It should also be noted that it is never mentioned in the book, but I honestly wondered if Dario doesn’t fall somewhere on the autism spectrum.
