Greer Rivers’ Frayed Satin series takes classic ballets and reimagines them in a gritty, dark mafia world in a collection of interconnected standalones. Dishearten, an arranged marriage mafia retelling of Alice in Wonderland, is the second in the series, but the first I’ve read. It’s an unexpected take on a story we all know well, and it’s certainly a vibe.
Many years ago, Lucy McKennon’s father lost a bet. Now she’s engaged to Hatton Fury, a dangerous man she’s never met. To keep her family safe, she does the only thing she can think to do. She runs.
For six months, Hatton has been following Lucy, trying to track her down. He has no intention of revealing himself, just making sure she’s safe.
He finally finds his shy, sweet fiancée…working as a stripper at The Rabbit Hole. He follows her in, just to make sure she’s not in trouble, but Hatton quickly learns there’s so much more to the Rabbit Hole than it appears.
Lucy and Hatton quickly find themselves too deep in a tale of warring families, devastating secrets, and true love.
Hatton’s character is the highlight of this book, but it’s been a few days since I finished reading Dishearten, and nothing specific about any of the characters has stuck in my mind.
They embody classic mafia romance tropes, but there’s nothing particularly unique about them. They feel shallow. Sure, Hatton has pretty severe allergies, and that’s a quality that gives his character something a little different, but it’s entirely surface level. And Lucy, despite her tragic backstory, is just bland.
Dishearten has a pacing issue. There’s a very slow beginning, and some seriously unnecessary detail. The first half is boring. Things pick up in the second half, but the damage was done, and I struggled to get invested.
This might be a better book if you’ve read the rest of the series. It felt like I was missing things, that connections were being drawn that I couldn’t see. As a result, it didn’t connect the way I thought it would.
Dishearten is atmospheric and vibey, albeit a little lackluster. It had an exciting ending; I’ll give it that, and a premise with potential, but the execution was off. I loved the idea of reimagining ballets. It seemed right up my alley, but ultimately, I was bored.
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