The story starts off when Dante and Bridget are still in
high school. They’ve sort of got a thing happening between them, but for rather
silly and immature reasons nothing happens. If you’ve read the original Mafia
Wars series, then you’ll be a bit familiar with their backstory, but in Toxic
we get everything. It turns out that while Dante was so insistent upon ruining
anything before it even really had a chance to begin with Bridget, doing so and
then Bridget finding someone else in Chicago doesn’t sit well with him either.
However, she’s already fallen head-over-heels in love with Sean by that point,
and eventually they marry and start a family. Fast forward to the present, and
Bridget’s a widow having lost Sean five years before in the most brutal way
possible. One fateful night, Bridget goes to an underground club with her
friend Cara where things happen, and Dante basically saves her from a guy getting
way too physical with Bridget. From that night forward, their relationship
changes, and they go from estranged friends to something much more. During the
course of the book, secrets come to light, and we get answers to all those
unanswered questions from the previous series where Bridget was concerned.
Oh this story! I’m not sure where to even begin. It’s all so
complex, and there’s a lot to unpack both with Bridget’s and Dante’s pasts individually
and separately. There’s always been that connection between them, though. They’ve
been in each other’s lives since forever, and their history is filled with a
lot of heartache but friendship, too. For me, this book is about fate having its
own ideas for two individuals, and the drama that surrounds them along their
journey together is nothing short of addictive and compelling.
There’s a great pain that courses through this book, but it’s
there in the Mafia Wars series, too. It all stems from Sean’s death and what
Bridget has had to endure, and that fierce ache for what’s happened to Sean dictates
so much of these characters’ actions, but no one more so than Bridget who’s
been left broken and terrified after the vicious way her husband left her
widowed. How can someone come back from such a thing intact? That’s the crux of
the matter for Bridget and her palpable pain is ever present. That pain leads
to fear, which informs every bit of Bridget’s motivations since what happened
with Sean. After everything, it’s a sort of miracle that she’s been able to
persevere. But now things are changing, and she’s going to have to change along
with it all.
Then there’s Dante, and he’s pined for Bridget all these
years. He’s a surprisingly understanding and sweet character at least where
Bridget is concerned, and he’s such a swoonworthy character. At the start of
the story, he comes off as arrogant and uncaring, but as the book develops so does
he. Something I absolutely adore about Cole’s books is that she’s able to
create these characters where she expertly weaves in these good and bad things
about them, but then as a reader you fall in love with all the parts of them. I
have literally loved everyone of her main characters, and with Toxic it’s no
different, especially where Dante’s concerned. I couldn’t get enough of him.
This is an absolute must read and a phenomenal start to this
series. I haven’t had a book hangover this bad since Cole’s last book, and I
cannot wait for Gianni and Cara’s story next.
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