Hate Me: A Dark Crime Syndicate Romance (The Fox Family Crime Syndicate) Paperback – February 23, 2023

I read book 1 , loved it …..but this one, book 2, well it was great. Superb , heartfelt characters and story. Already ordered book 3 !A must read! 🌶️❤️🥵💔🌶️

"Finneas Fox is not a good man, but he is my man." Effie, I may fight you for him.Hate Me is the second installment of the Fox Family Crime Syndicate, and can be read as a standalone. If you want a little more background on the Fox family, start with Make Me. This is a dark mafia romance; tropes include:*Childhood Friends to Enemies to Lovers*Arranged marriage*Marriage of convenience*Mafia romance*"My wife"Where to begin? Let's start with my girl, Effie...I loved her character development in this book. She starts off as a dutiful mafia princess, feeling undervalued because she is a daughter and will be married off to whoever her father wants. She is abused by her parents emotionally and physically, and resigns herself to thinking this is the way of the world she grew up in. But at the end of this book she turns into a stronger woman and leans into the power she had under the surface all along, with the support she gets from Finn. Summer O'Toole does a good job of letting us know that Effie had the power and strength within her, she just needed the confidence to bring it out and Finn was the one to provide her with that confidence.Oh, and let's not gloss over Finneas Fox...my latest book boyfriend. Sorry Cash Fox, but Finn has surpassed you on the book boyfriend scale by miles. Where Cash was psychotic and unhinged, Finneas is calculating, depraved, but a gooey cinnamon roll on the inside. And when it comes to Effie, readers really get to see his deepest desires come to the surface. I love a redemption arc, and Finn's attempts to get back in Effie's good graces after the shit he pulled, chef's kiss. I think one of my biggest pet peeves with the redemption arc is when a character doesn't seem to work for it, when they keep repeating old behaviors and the author allows them to still be "redeemed." Not the case here! The kind gestures, words, devotion that Finn shows Effie feel real, so in my mind, he's the ultimate catch.4/5 stars and the only reason I'm knocking one off is that the plot was a little too predictable for my taste, but personal preference is that I love a good twist.Cannot wait to read all about Roan in Keep Me!

Wow, they are so twisted and so sweet. Lol. I love the way these Fox men love 😍. I love they the novels are as dark as they are light. Finn and Effie are definitely the light! Onto Roan!

This book was short and sweet. A little redundant in some places but still a good story. Not as good as book one , but solid story.

I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR FINN’S BOOK SINCE I MET HIM IN MAKE ME. (Sorry Cash, I still love you too)Hate me has SO many great tropes included in here, we’ve got:- Forced/arranged marriage- Rival crime families, with a very shaky truce- Childhood friends (crushes), to enemies to lovers- Touch her and you die (also touch her and you lose a limb 👀)- THATS MY WIFE- (This is a sub plot but I love them too much not to include them here) an all woman led crime heist trio I AM BEGGING, SUMMER PLEASE GIVE US MORE ON LAS ARNAQUEUSES I LOVE THEMThe overall plot was pretty predictable, but that did not take from the enjoyment of this book. There were at times that the subplots (because obviously the romance was the driver here) was kind of all over the place, it felt like there was one plot line that was happening then abruptly ended for another to take its place, and then repeat. Overall a 3.5 rating, rounded up for Finn and Effie.The spicy scenes are perfectly scattered so there’s not too much plot or spice in between the spice and the plot if you know what I mean.Summer has a way of writing characters that are so unique in their own voice and almost like mannerisms. While Cash and Finn had very similar upbringings, they are very different in their own POVs.I am very excited to learn more about Roan and Lochlan in their books, so I am patiently waiting for them…Anyways so far I have enjoyed all the books I have read from Summer, and will definitely continue to pick up her work!!

This book was fire and surprised me from the start. It made me laugh, made me cry and made me fall in love with these two. Finn is the best mafia boyfriend, evvverrrr. Yes, puleeze.

If you love mafia romances, this is the series for you. I binged read/listened to all these consecutively. Wonderful narrators and great writing. These brothers are the book boyfriends we all want.

I thoroughly enjoyed Finn & Effie's story. There were a few things I would change, which is why I couldn't quite give it 5 starts.