Ruthless Creatures by JT Geissinger

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The third book I read for the Mafia Romance Readathon is Ruthless Creatures by JT Geissinger. This is the first book in her Queens & Monsters series. Fun note, the second book actually comes out later this month on the 30th! I can't wait after the teaser in the epilogue! This covered the prompts new author, Bratva, tattooed hero and title with ruthless or brutal prompts. I also applied Ruthless Creatures to the Ripped Bodice Summer Bingo tattoos prompt and Summer of Swoon cover love prompt.

This started off with a super intriguing premise. We meet Natalie the night before what would've been her wedding anniversary. It's not however since 5 years ago her fiancé disappeared the morning of the rehearsal dinner while hiking. As it has now reached 5 years with nothing new in the case, he's now considered legally dead. Natalie gets pushed by her friend Sloane (who I absolutely adore) to go out to the bar instead of moping at home. There she meets Kage. He's new to town and has been the number one subject of town gossip. He turns Sloane down, but seems drawn to Natalie. He's also her new neighbor!

I loved how all-in Kage was for Natalie. I don't want to go too much into it since it'll be major spoilers, but obviously Kage is a part of the mafia. He's actually the #2 in the Bratva (Russian mafia), but since the head dude is in prison Kage is acting as the defacto leader. He has a few encounters with Natalie, but she doesn't want to move forward with Kage. He leaves and comes back a few months later. He just can't stay away. Another thing I want to mention is the way JT wrote about grief in the beginning of the book. It just really hit a cord with me and was one of the best ways I've seen it described in fiction. I also loved that Natalie said she would punch (or something similar) anyone that told her time heals all wounds. It was so apt. I loved the humor of this too. While it was definitely dark at points, it also had a lightness that was unexpected. The banter between Natalie and Sloane was on point. I also loved all the modern references that made it feel current. It might not age well though. We'll have to see.

This book was also very steamy. Kage is definitely on the more dominant side, but I loved that he made it clear on multiple occasions that all Natalie had to do was say no and he'd stop. I didn't really enjoy the whole spanking thing that was woven through, but that's just not my jam. And the ending was just perfect. Throughout all the craziness, Kage still stood firm in that he only wanted Natalie. I also love it when the hero goes all mafioso for the heroine. It was just perfect. We also got an epilogue that set ups the next book Carnal Urges that focuses on Sloane. Thank goodness it comes out soon. I can't wait. There's also a 3rd book listed, Savage Hearts, that I'm excited by as well. There isn't a description yet, but I'm hoping that it (or a future book) will be with the Italian mafia boss that we met briefly. It look likes it's due to be out October 29th of this year. I'll definitely be picking up the next book in early July and the 3rd in early November. I've had some of JT's other series on my tbr for a couple years now, so I might have to move those up on my list since I enjoyed this so much. She's definitely in my authors to keep up on and I'm excited to dig into her backlist. We might have a new favorite author. We'll see! I also purchased this with my late night Sunday shopping after the readathon (where I also bought A Bullet Between Us).

Have you read Ruthless Creatures?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Ruthless Creatures, JT Geissinger, 5-stars, 0 days, eBook, 376 pages, published in 2021