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A Beauty So Cruel: Dark Hostage Mafia Romance: A Modern Day Beauty & The Beast Billionaire Fairytale Paperback – January 31, 2021

by Beena Khan (Author)

4.1 631 ratings

Book 1 of 4: Beauty & The Beast

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I was a beauty, a stray orphan who witnessed a murder and the beast took me as his hostage.

Amazon Top Bestseller in Fairytales, Gothic Romance, and Vigilante Justice.

Once upon a time...
Vlad Vitalli ruled New York, the leader of one of the five ruling Families, La Cosa Nostra. He's a monster, a trained murderer, and a silent gentleman killer. Tall, mysterious, with icy gray eyes, he rarely smiles, and he's going to murder me.

I was the wrong person at the wrong time.

An innocent at the masquerade ball but I witnessed a murder, and I become a target to the mob who have a rule of no witnesses left behind. To save my life, I made a deal with the ruthless beast by handing myself to the cruelest man in the kingdom.

Just as Don Vlad was about to order the hit, I threw off my masquerade mask, revealing my face, and offered myself to him. One look and I was doomed. He took me as his hostage. His captive. He didn't know that by taking me, Dahlia, he sealed his own fate.

Welcome to New York’s Underworld.

Loosely based on the fairytale Beauty & The Beast.

This is not a standalone and part of a duet. This dark romance series is completed.

Editorial Reviews

Review

OMG, what did I just read?! It ruined me! I loved this book. It's a 5 stars kind of book without a doubt! - Christine, Goodreads Book Review

If you are familiar with Beena's writing you know how awesome she is at creating chemistry between the characters, and bringing them to life on the page. - Bianca, Goodreads Review.

What an exceptional dark romance! A gripping and exciting read. - Author Julia Firlotte.

This is a well written and in-depth captivating story, that has you guessing till the end! that's well paced through out. With violence, action, suspense, twists, desires, and hot scenes. - Jenni, Goodreads Review.

"I cannot begin to express the world this author has created in her story. From the beginning to the end, I was so hooked to the book that it was hard for me to place it down." - Hafsa, Goodreads Review.

"I didn't stop reading since I grabbed the book. I was mesmerized." - Emma, Goodreads Review.

"This is such a dark, bold, sexy, charming retelling of a classic story. Their love story was unexpected and tragically beautiful. Beena Khan will be the new voice of our generation and I'm here for it.- Katy, Amazon Review.

"Nothing is as it seems and this dark, edgy and suspenseful mafia goodness it's truly so deliciously decadent it will leave the readers speechless and guessing till the very end!" - Ana Elena, Amazon Review.

"A beautiful, captivating, re-imagined telling of beloved story. The story line had slight similarities that made me smile, however it was different enough to be unique." - Christina, Amazon Review.

"Finally, a mafia romance that focuses on the main characters and not unrelated meandering, boring mafia sub plot!!" - Keli, Amazon Review.

"Khan makes her mark on this genre with this novel. This is one of those stories you can't put down!" - M.E.A, Amazon Review.

"The chemistry is sexy sexy SEXY!! Oh it was great." - Jennifer Rose, Amazon review.

"I absolutely loved it. Devoured it in only a couple of hours. It completely exceeded my expectations." - Vlada, Amazon Review.

"And my dear Beena your talent blew me away. Just go get yourself a copy of this book everyone. It's so good!" - Lola, Goodreads Review.

"This book, however, completely blew me away! Like, had my mouth open in shock when I was done blew me away." - Romance Recs, Goodreads Review.

"The smut was IMPECCABLE. There are times when I just skim through the smut because of used to I am of them but in this book, I was holding on to every word. " - Rochelle, Amazon Review.

"Ms. Khan wrote a very unique mafia beauty and the beast story. I love mafia romance. This book was so good! It kept my attention from beginning to end. I did not know what would happen next." - Vicki, Amazon Review.

From the Author

Her website is beenakhan.com.

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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08VFTWPK5
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Independently published (January 31, 2021)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 318 pages
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8702728247
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.06 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,578,268 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3,893 in Heist Thrillers
- #5,593 in Assassination Thrillers (Books)
- #5,822 in Vigilante Justice Thrillers

Customer Reviews:
4.1 631 ratings

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About the author

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Beena Khan

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Beena Khan is a storyteller based in New York that brings grim fairytales, myths, and legends to life. She writes crime and contemporary books. Her books are thrilling, dangerous, emotional, and raw. She has a masters degree in psychology and a minor in Arabic studies. Come say hi at beenaxkhan@gmail.com or her Instagram @beenaxkhan.

The platforms:

Instagram➜https://www.instagram.com/beenaxkhan

Twitter➜https://twitter.com/Beenaxkhan

Facebook➜https://www.facebook.com/beenaxkhan

Beena's Beastlys➜https://www.facebook.com/groups/TNOReading

READING ORDER

Contemporary

Red Series

Forbidden series (Spin-off)

Mafia Universe

Original series (Beauty & The Beast)

Spin-off series (Black Widow or Devil's Lair or Hades and Persephone duet. Either series could be read after.)

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5

631 global ratings

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Swat

Waiting for the next book!

Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2021

Verified Purchase

This was my first book by Beena Khan and I can’t wait to read more from her! When I read the blurb and saw this was a modern spin on Beauty and the Beast fairytale, I knew I’d like it.
Vlad and Dahlia are similar in so many ways—hurt by family, distrustful of people, left to fend for themselves at a young age. But they’re instantly drawn to each other. Their chemistry sizzles and Dahlia sees that Vlad isn’t the heartless beast she’d assumed him to be. Like others, I gawked at the ending for a good while, wondering if I’d read it wrong. It completely got me and I wasn’t expecting it!
Great story, characters, monologue, and steam. Can’t wait for the next book!

One person found this helpful

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Dana Marcel McKee NOLA504NERDS

Welcome to New York's Underworld

Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2021

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I am a huge fan of fairytale retellings, especially for Beauty & The Beast. This book did not disappoint! I think Beena Khan created a great mafia world. I really enjoyed the mafia twist to this retelling, and thought it made it unique. I thought Dahlia and Vlad’s relationship was unique and very passionate and thrilling. Vlad was a total contradiction. A mafia bad boy with a heart. Swoon! Gabriele was a great secondary character. I would love to see him get his own story. It wasn’t hard to become invested in this story. I am dying because of the big cliffhanger at the end and can’t wait for book 2! Thank you to the author and Audio Bookfly for gifting me this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This audiobook was not quite what I expected, in that the narration was poor. In the end, it’s why I am giving this book 4 stars instead of 5. The tone he used for Vlad was good. But pacing, lack of emotional connection, and mispronunciations ruined it for me. There were several times that he started a sentence over, as if those parts were not edited correctly. Which I understand is not the narrator’s fault, but it didn’t help with the already poor narration. I really hope a new narrator is chosen for the second book. A great narrator can make or break or book. For me, if I hadn’t received this audiobook in exchange for an honest review it would have been a DNF for me based on narration. I highly recommend reading this book versus the audiobook version.

Story: 5 Stars
Narration: 2 Stars
NOLA504NERDS BLOG

3 people found this helpful

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Ofa

Vlad is my abs favorite

Reviewed in the United States on June 23, 2021

Verified Purchase

4.5⭐️

“I never would have let him take you from me. I always fought for you and I always will.”

I just knew that Vladimir would be my type from the start. The way that this man exuded power, control, and his alphahole ways—💳💳💳 take all my money.

I had no idea what to expect with this book, but it exceeded all of the expectations that I had. I loved Vlad’s demeanour and how he carried himself, though when he let Enzo touch Dahlia, I about smacked him in the face. But he came through when I needed him to. But I really needed more from him during this scene.

I looooooved Dahlia, but her betrayal? Ooooooh yeah, for that I wanted to slap her. I get it, but still. Trying to figure out what she was hiding was what I spent majority of the book doing lol I kept playing around with different ideas in my head and when it’s revealed I was like Daaaaaaang Doll…how you gonna do him like that?

If you love an alphahole, touch her and I will kill you, mafia man and a heroine who is stronger than she appears—this is the book for you. I cannot wait to dive in to the next book.

One person found this helpful

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Crystal S.

The twist and cliffhanger got me!

Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2022

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I have to be honest, I was pretty bored throughout most of this book. While I love a Hero who is mean to everyone but our heroine, this mafia Don seemed like he was constantly too soft with her for me to believe in his reign of terror. Besides the heroine chapters being told in first person pov and the Hero's told in third, there was something else about the writing that bugged me too, I just can't put my finger on exactly what it was. But I liked the story. And the twist at the end, that got me! Because of that, I find myself wanting to move on to book 2.

One person found this helpful

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Bookish Barbi

The ending saved it!!

Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2021

Verified Purchase

3.5 Stars

I wanted so bad for this to be a 5 star read for me. But I listened to the audio book and I need to consider that in my rating and experience.

The story follows Delilah who witnesses a murder and is kidnaped by the Mafia Don, Vlad, who also has Bratva ties hence his name. I'm not really sure what the plot is after that. There are some scenes with the two MCs, there are flash backs for both of them. There are some parts that weren't needed because they didn't help further the plot I was still too unsure about.

The story is written in Dual POV which I love but it's confusing because Delilah's was written in 1st person and Vlad's was written in 3rd person. I don't think I've ever read a book like that before.

The audiobook needed some editing due to repeating lines. Also, it needed a male and female narrator. Having a male narrator only really took from the experience in my opinion.

But wait, I am not just going to tell you what I didn't enjoy or what didn't do it for me.

Let me tell you what Beena Khan did to me. She finished off this book with a big old fat BAM!!!!! The ending saved it for me. Oh my goodness!! Yes it's a cliffy, but if you want someone to be hype and buy your next book, your ending has to do that for them. And that is what Beena did, she guaranteed that I would continue the series because I need to know what happens next. I just NEED to!!!

So thank you for providing me with the audio so I could listen as I read and thank you for showing me a totally different writing style than I am used to and last but no least, thank you for now making me sit here twiddling my thumbs waiting for the next one to drop.

*The book isn't Dark, not in how I would define it b/c I read some pretty dark books, but it does have events that could be triggering to some.

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Top reviews from other countries

Maddy

This book was wow just wow.

Reviewed in Canada on March 24, 2021

Verified Purchase

This book was so brilliantly written it had me on the edge of my seat from the very beginning. 100% recommend.. will definitely be reading the next books in the series.

Claire

Another outstanding Novel by Beena!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 7, 2021

Verified Purchase

'A Beauty So Cruel' By Beena Khan.
Genre: Dark Suspense Romance Fiction.

About the Book: "I was a beauty who witnessed a murder and the beast took me as his hostage. I was the wrong person at the wrong time. He took me as his hostage. His captive. He didn't know that by taking me, Dahlia Hadid, he sealed his own fate."

My Review: Beena has written another outstanding novel! I was hooked within the first few pages. The intensity and suspense is electric, you will be sitting on the edge of your seat wanting to know more!
Both protagonist's are three dimensional. The author shows you their psychological makeup and background throughout.
The passion between the protagonist's is sexy and erotic without being sleezy. There are certain scenes which took my breath away.
This story is full of exciting twists and turns. I never guessed the ending, I actually gasped out loud when the conclusion was revealed. I am hungry for the next installment to know more about these fascinating protagonists.

Triggers - Sex Trafficking, Abuse and Rape (Backstory not main plot). Murder and Violence.

This is part one of the four part 'Beauty and the Beast Series'. I can't wait to read the remaining novels. Highly Recommended for anyone who enjoys similar genres.

Bats

Review to Come

Reviewed in Canada on February 6, 2022

Verified Purchase

3.15/5 + 1⭐ for Lebanese FMC

Review to come. I'm on a book high right now and I need some time to consolidate my thoughts.

In short, I wasn't planning on giving this book more than two stars until the last ten percent when everything fell into place.

Cee cee

4.5 stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 14, 2022

Verified Purchase

Dahlia and Vlad…
What a great book by a very talented author.. It’s my first Beena Khan but it certainly won’t be my last.
This book has everything, a plot that draws you in from the first chapter, tension, danger, a great ‘third act conflict’, a surprise twist and a cliffhanger!!!!
Come on people what more can I say to get you to give this one a go …..

Courtney Small

Beauty & The Beast Mafia Style

Reviewed in Australia on August 23, 2021

Verified Purchase

This was a solid read, at first I wasn't sure where this was headed, given The Beauty And The Beast vibe but I liked the plot. I knew there was a twist coming but I just didn't quite expect that! BUT given the book's title I should of realised sooner how thus would end. My only criticism is some of language needed to be stronger/bolder given the subject matter. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for book two as I am curious as to where this is headed

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