BOOK REVIEW - SEMPRE by J.M. DARHOWER - FOREVER # 1 - GALLERY BOOKS

By: J.M. Darhower
Published By: Gallery Books
Released: Available Now
Details: Paperback from library, 516 Pages

RATING: 4.5 MAFIA STARS!

Blurb: Goodreads

THIS IS A STORY ABOUT SACRIFICE . . . DEATH . . . LOVE . . . FREEDOM. THIS IS A STORY ABOUT FOREVER.

Haven Antonelli and Carmine DeMarco grew up under vastly different circumstances. Haven, a second-generation slave, was isolated in the middle of the desert, her days full of hard work and terrifying abuse. Carmine, born into a wealthy Mafia family, lived a life of privilege and excess. Now, a twist of fate causes their worlds to collide. Entangled in a web of secrets and lies, they learn that while different on the surface, they have more in common than anyone would think. In a world full of chaos, where money and power rule, Haven and Carmine yearn to break free, but a string of events that began before either of them were born threatens to destroy them instead.

Murder and betrayal are a way of life, and nothing comes without a price-especially not freedom. But how much will they have to sacrifice? Can they escape their pasts? And, most of all, what does it mean to be free?

BOOK REVIEW by Michelle:

Sempre is a book I’ve been wanting to read for a while. I hadn’t read any reviews before I read it, I just looked at the ratings and the cover. I understood it was Mafia, but little else.

I am still unsure if this is mature YA or new adult? The main characters, Carmine and Haven are seventeen years old, Dominic is nineteen, but then you have a cast of older Mafia characters so the story is very mixed age.

I didn’t realize this was fan fiction, developed more into a series until after I read Sempre and read some of the reviews.

I really enjoyed what J.M Darhower did with her cast of characters. 

I was rather drawn to Vincent aka Dr DeMarco, as his character intrigued me throughout this first instalment. We learn more and get to understand his motives and it clears up how I was feeling about why he did what he did and his said behavior with what he did.

Vincent is always being dragged off or rather summoned, because he has a debt to pay and he always has these mood swings.

Haven is a second generation slave in this day and age.

WOW! She had it tough.

I would have really liked to have felt more depth from her character when it came to her emotions with being in a better environment and how she was raised. She certainly showed us some emotions with her flinching and nervousness, but this girl from birth was very badly abused and her mental state had to be quite affected. She saw death from a very early age, she was shown no kindness growing up.

That is my only, personal issue I have with Haven. I love how she is intelligent, and very well adjusted, considering, but there was a part of me that needed to see her more developed. She was timid and did her job in the DeMarco household. Emotionally she was shut down for a while, but she would have been very scarred, mentally. You would have had to have been. She was very accepting of Carmine. Something was missing there with her character for me. This is just my one opinion.



“There are all kinds of creatures in there,” Dominic warned. “Fish. Bugs. Snakes.”

She smiled as the mud squished between her toes. “I’m not afraid of what’s in this water.”

“I thought all chicks were afraid of snakes.”

“Not me.” She laughed. “I grew up with scorpions.”



But hey, everybody is loving this book, so that is just a personal issue of mine.

Haven is the character I think that will blossom into more than I can imagine at the moment.

I really liked Corrado’s character. He’s a solid guy underneath the Mafia suit, yet I wouldn’t mess with him.

Carmine and Dominic are such polar opposites. I loved Dominic’s friendly, brotherly attitude toward Haven. I loved how he called her ‘twinkle toes.’

Carmine is a hot head and very much his father. He loves Haven but he still has his moments. I felt sorry for him the way his own father talked to him, that can’t have been healthy.

Nicholas seemed a character to serve one purpose, I kind of saw that coming.

The book does slow down in parts, yet there is still a lot going on with all the characters, if that makes sense. It is a big book, over five hundred pages.


This is a story with violence, love, betrayal, torture, bullets are flying, shiz is going down and there is death, after all it is the Mafia.

I read that the movie rights were sold a couple years ago. I could actually see this as a movie. I look forward to seeing what happens with that bit of news.

I have Sempre Redemption in my hands and I'm keen to see where the sequel leads Carmine and Haven.

Michelle