Sandra Marton’s The Real Rio D’Aquila takes readers into the glittering, high-stakes world of the über-wealthy. Rio D’Aquila has lived a life few can imagine, rising from the gutters of Italy, reinventing himself in Brazil, and turning his name into one of immense wealth and power. He is a man who thrives on control, whose reputation precedes him as ruthless in business and incomparable in bed. But when he meets Isabella Orsini, his carefully constructed world begins to unravel.

Their paths cross through Isabella’s family connections, and from the very start, their relationship is shaped by a case of mistaken identity. Isabella does not realize exactly who Rio is, and he allows her to believe otherwise. For a man who has built a life where everyone sees only the billionaire, being able to step into the role of “someone else” gives him a rare freedom. For Isabella, meeting Rio under this guise makes him feel disarmingly approachable, someone she can lean on at a time when she is the most vulnerable. It is this unusual foundation, paired with undeniable chemistry, that draws them together and sparks a passionate affair neither expects.

Rio is thirty-two, a classic Marton hero; gorgeous, commanding, and utterly commitment-phobic. He is the kind of man who has everything money can buy but nothing that truly matters. Isabella, on the other hand is not the wide-eyed innocent many of Marton’s heroines tend to be; instead, she carries her own scars and insecurities, making her someone readers can both root for and empathize with. Their chemistry is immediate, their attraction undeniable, but what makes the story stand out is how Rio finds himself smitten from the very start, even as he grapples with the lies he has allowed to stand between them.

Their relationship is complicated by a tangle of half-truths and secrets that hover between them. Rio is, in many ways, two men: the boy from the streets who knows hunger and hardship, and the man he has crafted into one of absolute dominance and success. When Isabella enters his life, she sees glimpses of both, but Rio’s reluctance to bare his entire self puts them on a collision course. Watching Isabella navigate this storm of emotions while trying to trust a man shrouded in shadows makes for much of the novel’s tension.

What I liked most about this story is Rio himself. Marton wrote him as smitten from the beginning, which meant he never strayed into the territory of a cruel or irredeemable hero. Instead, he is a man who cannot quite reconcile who he once was with who he is now, and it makes him both fascinating and enigmatic. My one gripe was that the angst didn’t run as deep as I might have preferred, which I wanted more of given Rio’s layered past and the potential for emotional clashes, I found myself wishing for more intensity at certain points.

That said, Marton knows how to weave tension, sensuality, and the push-pull of emotions into a narrative that keeps the pages turning. While not my absolute favorite of hers, it still delivered on the promise of a romance that entertained.

Recommended for: readers who enjoy mistaken identity tropes, self-made billionaire heroes, and heroines who become their undoing.

Final Verdict: The Real Rio D’Aquila delivers passion and heart, even if I longed for a touch more angst.

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | HQ