Her Wrath Review (C.M. Raven): Is It Worth Reading?

Updated on October 8, 2026

Verdict: A short, very dark sapphic mafia romance with a rare lead — a 51-year-old crime matriarch — and a sharp, funny voice that its fans love, held back by rough editing, a romance that flips from hate to love too fast, and a reader base so heavy with advance copies that the 4.05 needs a discount.

Best for: Readers who want an older-woman mafia boss, a 26-year age gap, revenge on violent men, kink and genuinely dark content, and who are already reading C.M. Raven’s Her Sins series.

Heat level: ★★★★☆ (4/5 — the author promises descriptive smut and kink; one reader counts two spicy scenes, and readers rate the spice three to four)

Rating: ★★★½☆ (3.4/5 — a 4.05 Goodreads average from 236 ratings, adjusted for a high share of advance-copy reviews, editing complaints and a rushed romance)

Tropes: Mafia romance, age gap (26 years), older woman, kidnapping, enemies to lovers, grumpy and sunshine, revenge, BDSM, dubious consent, interconnected series.

Her Wrath is the third book in C.M. Raven’s Her Sins series, a dark sapphic romance self-published in April 2026. Its leads are Rosalia Vittare, a 51-year-old woman who has spent her life taking power from the men of a Sicilian crime world, and Sophie Brooks, a young romantic travelling Europe with her best friend after finishing her studies, until she is taken in Italy.

It has 236 Goodreads ratings averaging 4.05 and 32 written reviews, and 220 Amazon ratings averaging 4.2. Romance.io has only one rating, so there is no community heat score. Read those numbers with care: a large share of the visible reviews say they came from advance copies, and the independent reviews are noticeably cooler.

What Is Her Wrath About?

The author describes it as a sapphic dark romance with a 26-year age gap in a rough mafia setting, with dubious-consent elements, descriptive smut, violence and kinky scenes, and says 45 trigger warnings apply, listed on her website. Her own trope list adds enemies to lovers, slow burn, grumpy and sunshine, hurt and comfort, torture and BDSM she labels unhealthy kink.

Rosalia is out for revenge on a man who betrayed her, and Sophie is connected to that history in ways she does not know. The book is told in first person from both women’s points of view, and characters from the earlier Her Sins books — Kat in particular — play a large role. Readers describe Sophie’s transformation inside Rosalia’s world as the book’s biggest arc.

What Makes This Dark Mafia Romance Work

Rosalia: A 51-year-old mafia matriarch as a romantic lead is rare, and fans fall hard for her — one says she could ruin their life and they would thank her.
The voice: Two readers say the bickering and inner monologue made them laugh out loud, an unexpected strength in a book this dark.
The anger: Readers praise its focus on de-centring men and on women taking power back from a violent patriarchy.
The crossover: Series readers love seeing Kat and Lilian from the earlier books again.
The pace: At around 210 pages it moves fast, and readers call it a page-turner.

Book Synopsis

Rosalia Vittare grew up in a world where women were kept away from power, and she spent decades learning to take it anyway. At 51 she is feared by the men around her, and she has no use for love.

Sophie Brooks is the opposite: a hopeless romantic who has planned her dream wedding and wants a family. After finishing her studies she sets off to travel with her best friend, Luisa, and their summer in Italy goes badly wrong when Sophie is drawn into Rosalia’s war.

What follows tests both of them — Rosalia’s certainty that she can take whatever she wants, and Sophie’s idea of who she is. The question is whether a woman who eliminates whatever does not belong can make room for someone she was ready to hate.

My Review

The strongest thing here is Rosalia. Older heroines are scarce in sapphic romance and almost absent from mafia romance, and Raven writes her as cold, funny and terrifying in roughly equal parts. Readers who loved the book talk about her first, and the darkly comic voice second. The anger that drives the book — women dismantling the men who hurt them — gives the violence a purpose, and fans single it out.

The romance is the weak point. Two readers describe the move from enemies to lovers as a snap, with little development in between, and another says some developments feel rushed. A three-star reviewer who has read the whole series says it is the author’s most focused book so far but still leaves emotional moments underexplored. Readers also note that the openly loving scenes arrive only in the final 30 to 40 pages, epilogue included.

The editing is the second problem. A one-star reviewer found spelling errors within the first lines, including a character’s name, and compares it to beta-reading a first draft; even a four-star fan mentions spelling slips. The author includes a note that she writes in English as a second or third language. The same three-star reviewer felt the BDSM and non-consent elements were surface-level rather than fully worked through.

And the evidence base needs a caveat. Of the reviews Goodreads shows first, roughly a quarter say they received an advance copy, many of them five stars. The ratings are positive, but they lean on the author’s existing readers.

My honest note: A fast, dark, sometimes very funny read for series fans and anyone hunting for an older mafia heroine. Read the trigger list first, and expect rough edges.

Element	In Her Wrath
Central relationship	Rosalia Vittare (51) and Sophie Brooks — F/F, a 26-year age gap, enemies to lovers
Core tropes	Mafia, kidnapping, revenge, older woman, grumpy and sunshine, BDSM, dubious consent
Setting	Italy and the Sicilian crime world
Heat level	4/5 — explicit and kinky per the author; one reader counts two spicy scenes
Series	Her Sins book 3, with a new central couple and recurring characters; the couple ends together, with an epilogue
Content notes	45 author-listed trigger warnings, including kidnapping, torture, violence, dubious consent and unhealthy kink; readers also mention rape and organised crime

How Dark and Spicy Is Her Wrath?

A 4/5 on heat. The author promises descriptive smut and kinky scenes, and readers agree the spice is mainly BDSM. But there is less of it than an earlier version of this page suggested: one advance reader counts two spicy scenes in about 200 pages and rates the spice three of five, and another gives it four. Romance.io has no heat score yet. We have lowered our rating from 5/5 to 4/5 to match what readers describe.

On darkness, it is near the far end of this site’s range. Fans who have read the whole series call it the darkest Her Sins book so far, and the 45 trigger warnings include torture and dubious consent. One reader warns of rape and torture outright. It is considerably darker than Captive of the Crime Queen, and readers who found that book’s captivity premise difficult should not start here.

Who Should Read This Book?

You’ll likely love it if: you want an older-woman mafia boss, a large age gap, revenge on violent men, dark humour and kink, and you are reading the Her Sins series anyway.

You may want to skip it if: any of the 45 trigger warnings are hard limits, spelling errors pull you out of a book, you want enemies to lovers to take its time, or you prefer the romance front-loaded rather than saved for the end.

In short: a short, extreme dark romance with an unforgettable older heroine and visible rough edges.

What Readers Are Actually Saying (October 2026)

This is a new indie release with a loyal readership. It came out in April 2026, it is in Kindle Unlimited, and it has 236 Goodreads ratings and 32 written reviews. The distribution is 44% five stars, 29% four, 15% three, 8% two and 2% one. On Amazon, 79% of its 220 ratings are four or five stars. We found no audiobook edition on Amazon or Libro.fm, and romance.io has a single rating.

Why readers love it (according to the discourse): Rosalia, the humour and the darkness. Series readers enjoy the crossover characters and say this is the best or darkest of the books so far, and one reader new to the author calls the plot captivating and the action intense.

What readers argue about and complain about: The speed of the romance and the editing are the two criticisms that recur. A smaller group finds the kink and consent elements underdeveloped. The share of advance-copy reviews is not a complaint readers make, but it is the reason we weigh the independent reviews more heavily.

The series question everyone should ask first: Each Her Sins book follows its own couple, and this one ends with Rosalia and Sophie together, but recurring characters carry a lot of weight. One series fan strongly recommends reading Her Greed and Her Pride first; another read out of order and still enjoyed it. Amazon lists the series at seven books, and readers say later ones are still to come.

Frequently Asked Questions

How big is the age gap in Her Wrath?

Twenty-six years, in the author’s own description. Rosalia is 51; Sophie is a young woman who has just finished her studies.

Do I need to read the other Her Sins books first?

Not strictly. Her Wrath follows its own couple, but characters from Her Greed and Her Pride play a large part, and one series fan recommends reading in order.

How spicy is Her Wrath?

Explicit and kink-focused, but not constant. One reader counts two spicy scenes, and readers rate the spice three to four out of five. We rate it 4/5.

Does Her Wrath have a happy ending?

Readers describe Rosalia and Sophie ending together, with the declarations of love concentrated in the last 30 to 40 pages and an epilogue. The tone stays dark to the end.

Is Her Wrath on Kindle Unlimited?

Yes. As of October 2026 it is in Kindle Unlimited, and the paperback is also available. We found no audiobook on Amazon or Libro.fm.

If You Loved Her Wrath, Read These Next

Start the series from Her Greed if you have not already. For a gentler captive mafia romance, read our review of Captive of the Crime Queen. For more older heroines, browse lesbian romance with women over 50 and our wider mature lesbian romance guide. For more mafia and age gap, see lesbian mafia romance books, age gap lesbian romance on Kindle Unlimited and possessive and obsessive sapphic romance, or explore lesbian romance books by trope and mood.

The Bottom Line

Her Wrath puts a 51-year-old crime matriarch at the centre of a dark sapphic romance, and that alone makes it worth knowing about. It succeeds on Rosalia, on a voice that can be very funny, and on its anger at the men who run its world. It is weaker on editing, on a romance that jumps rather than builds, and on kink and consent elements that some readers found thin. With a ratings base that leans on advance readers, it is a confident recommendation for Her Sins fans and older-heroine hunters who can handle the content, and a cautious one for everyone else. Check Her Wrath on Amazon →

The Eikna Overall Ranking

On the Eikna scale, Her Wrath ranks as a distinctive but uneven dark mafia romance — memorable for its older heroine and voice, held down by editing, pacing and an evidence base that leans on advance copies.