A Kiss of Venom by Beena Khan

⭐⭐⭐💫

The second and final book I read for the Mafia Romance Readathon was A Kiss of Venom by Beena Khan. This is the first book in her Black Widow series. This covered the prompts Bratva mafia, new to you author, tattooed hero and outsider to the mafia. I also applied this to the Love Has Sprung board 2 prompt kiss in the title and the Taylor Swift Quarterly Challenge prompt Out of the Woods (set in an urban city).

Ghislaine is awoken from a three-year coma by a beautiful "prince." He is Alexander, the leader of the Bratva in New York. When she awakens, Ghislaine has a lot of things to work through since not only has she lost three years of her and her daughter's life, but the car accident that put her in a coma took her husband's life. When she gets back to her job as an FBI Agent, she is reassigned the case she was working on with her husband. It turns out that the stranger that kissed her awake isn't a stranger at all, but the man behind the Bratva that they've been trying to take down. When Alexander saves Ghislaine from an assault by the new FBI Director, they become partners and just can't seem to stay away from each other.

So, I was very intrigued by this due to the blurb and seeing that it was a Sleeping Beauty retelling and a romance between a Bratva boss and an FBI Agent. While there were a lot of those points that were intriguing about the story, I was left feeling a little bored and even skimmed/sped read about 35% of the middle of the book. I liked Ghislaine and it was really cool to read a romance where the heroine was Moroccan and still in touch with her culture. I can think of a couple Arab main characters in romance that I've read before, but they were either mixed races or very westernized. Here it was really fun to get a lot more of the cultural nuances in the more day to day feel.

What I wasn't expecting was so much of the beginning was for Ghislaine to be dealing with re-entering society. There were quite a few small time jumps throughout the book, I think I would've preferred having a longer time jump in the beginning and coming back to Ghislaine more re-established in her life but still having small PTSD or issues from her coma. My biggest issue I feel like with the book was though that it was just so long and the writing style was a little long-winded and over descriptive. I just found myself a lot of the times thinking "Okay, let's get to the action." I also really didn't like how back and forth that Ghislaine was about her relationship with Alexander. There were also times where she just really felt dumber than she was telling the reader she was. It just was super weird. 

Even though I said a lot of detractors I found with the book, I was intrigued by the overall plot to keep going. I don't know if I'll pick up more in this series, but I certainly want to try some of her other works to see how the style might differ. I'll have to keep an eye out for any newer releases in a different sub-genre or trope.

Have you read A Kiss of Venom?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: A Kiss of Venom, Beena Khan, 3.5-stars, 1 day, eBook, 498 pages, published in 2021, indie published

Savage Hearts by J.T. Geissinger

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The first book I picked up for the Mafia Romance Readathon was Savage Hearts by J.T. Geissinger! This is the third book in her Queens and Monsters series. I was able to use this for the prompts Bratva mafia, tattooed hero, captor/captive, next in a series, Irish mafia and outsider to the mafia. I was also able to use this for my other reading challenges and applied it to the prompts tattooed cover model for Love Has Sprung board 2 and Champagne Problems (book with alcohol in the story) for the Taylor Swift Quarterly Challenge.

Riley suddenly receives a call from her older sister Sloane and is invited to reconnect with her and meet her new fiance Declan. When she arrives at his secret location in Bermuda, she is also seen by Malek. Malek is an assassin from the Bratva and takes pity on the "poor prostitute" being played with by Declan and his woman. He sneaks in to help her "get out of the business" and finds himself drawn to her. When Malek finds out that Riley is actually the future sister-in-law, things quickly change. When Riley accidentally gets shot, he rescues her by whisking her away to the wilds of Russia to recuperate and get revenge for his brother's death.

Wow. Just wow. I absolutely adored Malek and Riley. I have to say, going into this one I was a little nervous since I was left feeling let down by Carnal Urges. Riley had some of the characteristics that I like about Sloane, but also so much more nerdiness and adaptability. I just really found myself connecting to her and loved all of the moments when Malek kept sneaking into the different safehouses to visit her. Malek is probably my new favorite hero of the series, but I think the book takes a close second to Ruthless Creatures. I also do have to say, I did not like Sloane in the beginning of the book and really didn't like the decisions she was making and forcing upon Riley. I understood why it was like that so Riley could be in the position she was to meet Malek, but I didn't like it. I also could've had less POVs from Declan and Sloane. I do have to say she got a little better in her attitude towards Riley near the end, but I still wasn't happy since I felt like she didn't take as much accountability as needed for her actions.

But back to Riley and Malek because they are the focus here and why I gave this book 5-stars. I just absolutely loved when they were together in Russia and how much wonderful caretaking Malek was doing for Riley. I love caretaking, but having this badass Bratva assassin helping her go to the bathroom, and bathe, and change her dressings and get through the PTSD of getting shot was just so freaking swoony. I love Malek and how much he just couldn't stop himself from staying away from Riley. Even when he pushes her away "for her safety" he's secretly watching and making sure she actually is safe.

I am so happy that this book lived up to the expectations that I had about the series after reading Ruthless Creatures, especially after struggling with Carnal Urges. I can't wait to read the last book in the series and it seems like it'll but a fun story that might be my favorite trope. I'm hoping to get to it before the end of the year, but hopefully more by the end of the summer. We'll see when I can get to it, but I have left it out on my headboard to get too it soon! 

Have you read Savage Hearts?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Savage Hearts, J.T. Geissinger, 5-stars, 2 days, Paperback, 392 pages, published in 2021, indie published

Mafia Romance Readathon Wrap Up

 Happy Tuesday!

This past weekend, May 5th through the 8th was the Mafia Romance Readathon. It was once again hosted by Jenn and her friends Jessen, Jessica, Tiffany, Tori and Madison. She did a building your own bingo board once again. Below is my blank board if you missed my tbr post.

I had originally hoped to get a black out, but ended up only getting two books read. I did manage to at least pick two that gave me a bingo and only one prompt short of a black out. Below is my finished board followed my the two books I read!

🩸 Savage Hearts by J.T. Geissinger - covers Bratva mafia, tattooed hero, captor/captive, next in a series, Irish mafia and outside the mafia

🩸 A Kiss of Venom by Beena Khan - covers Bratva mafia, new to you author, tattooed hero and outside the mafia

Even though I only read two books, I read another really good one that will be at the top of my mafia favorites list! Once reviews have been posted I'll be adding links. I can't wait until the next round and definitely need to try to cycle more mafia and dark romance into my normal reading habits. I just commit myself to too many reading challenges and readathons so they don't always work for the prompts. That's okay though, I enjoy doing them!

Did you participate in the Mafia Romance Readathon?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

Mafia Romance Readathon TBR

Update: Wrap up is posted!

It's that time again for the Mafia Romance Readathon! It's once again being hosted by Jenn, Jessen, Jessica, Tiffany and Tori, but this time Madison is also joining as a host. It will run from May 5th through 8th. Jenn once again created a list of prompts that you can use to create your own bingo board! Below is the list of prompts and a copy of the blank board. She also has more templates on her instagram, so check them all out!

As you can see there are quite a few different prompts. This time when I made my board, I looked at what I most likely will be picking up and made sure to include a couple prompts that would work for those. Then I just added random ones to fill in. Below is my bingo board followed by my ideas!

🩸 My biggest want to read is to get caught up in the Queens and Monsters series by JT Geissinger. I still haven't read book 3 Savage Hearts and book 4 Brutal Vows just recent came out as well!

🩸 I also would like to continue going through Sophie Lark's backlist. I have the rest of the Underworld series to read as well as The Savage.

🩸 Another mafia series I want to continue in is the Five Points' Mob by Serena Akeroyd. 🩸🩸

🩸 I also have several new authors and series I've been intrigued by but haven't picked up. Below is my narrowed down list!
Crow by A. Zavarelli
Paying the Bratva's Debt by Jagger Cole
Raze by Tillie Cole 🩸🩸
A Kiss of Venom by Beena Khan
Bloodied Hands by Adelaide Forrest 🩸🩸

As you can see I have a lot of ideas once again. If you are looking for more options though, check out my tbr from last year as well as from the recent Dark Romance Readathon! Last year I got through 4 books, so I'm hoping I can least get through 3, but 4 would be perfect! It helps we're in the beginning of the month so I'm not set to get through a bunch of book club books.

Will you be participating in the Mafia Romance Readathon?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎 

Brutal Prince by Sophie Lark

🍎🍎🍎🍎

The last book I read for the Mafia Romance Readathon was Brutal Prince by Sophie Lark. This is the first book in her Brutal Birthright series. I mentioned this in both the tbr and wrap up for the readathon, but Jen is hosting a live interview with Sophie Lark later this month. I wanted to finally get around to trying her books after some great reviews by various booktubers and bookstagrammers. This covered the new author, Italian mob, arranged marriage, Irish mafia and title with ruthless or brutal prompts. I also used this for the part of series prompt for Summer of Swoon.

I really enjoyed this read. We meet Aida, our heroine. She's a little crazy and constantly getting into trouble. She is the daughter of an Italian mafia family. They are having family dinner and they all see fireworks going off. It's for the birthday party of Nessa, the daughter of the head of the Irish mafia. Aida and her brothers decide to crash the party, mainly to sneak a peek at their house, partake in the buffet and watch Demi Lovato perform. Things quickly take a turn and as Aida is exploring their library, she hides from someone coming in. Nessa's older brother Callum has entered the library for a bit of peace and quiet. Aida wants to leave and tries to cause a diversion. Thinking that it'd just smoke a little bit, she pushes one of the curtains near the fireplace. Instead of a little spark, the curtain catches in a flash and things escalate very quickly. She accidentally steals Callum's grandfather's watch when she runs. 

Things take a drastic turn, with her younger brother Sebastian losing his basketball career, and Aida and Callum end up in an arraigned marriage. I really enjoyed the writing and the set up of the different mafia families in Chicago. Once Callum and Aida stopped constantly trying to one-up and antagonize each other I really got into the story. It just felt too immature at times between them, especially in the beginning. The steam was great and I really enjoyed the banter between them after they started really connecting. When we were in Aida's POV and there was some issues she was dealing with, I do wish that they were addressed more. She's been dealing with not having a mother/mother-figure, being seen as lesser as a woman in mafia dealings and also now feeling alone since being thrust into living with what was days before the enemy without any support. I did like the evolution of the relationship between them and how the hate-to-love line was eventually crossed. I'm not usually a big fan of the enemies-to-lovers trope, but I feel like it was well done here. I just wanted more communication between the two about why they were acting out the way they were once they hit that point or some sort of reconciliation about their actions. It didn't need to be too much, but I wanted Callum to realize that she wasn't just acting out to act out. There were good and valid reasons why. 

I absolutely loved the writing style and am very excited to read more from Sophie. I'll be getting through as much as I can before the live show (linked above). I've also heard from those that have read her books that each one has a different feel, so if one doesn't hit right to try to keep reading. I'm super happy that I enjoyed it after hearing such great reviews about her books. This series is definitely getting added to my "want to own" list even though I've only read the first book so far.

Have you read Brutal Prince?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Brutal Prince, Sophie Lark, 4-stars, 1 day, eBook, 376 pages, published in 2020

Ruthless Creatures by JT Geissinger

🍎🍎🍎🍎🍎 

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

A Bullet Between Us by K. Dosal

🍎🍎🍎🍎🍎

A Bullet Between Us by K. Dosal was the second book I read for the Mafia Romance Readathon. This is the first book in her Moretti Crime Family series. This is also her first adult novel, her previous publications being young adult contemporaries. This is also a new release, coming out May 26th; just in time for the readathon! I used this book for the new author and Italian mob prompts. I also was able to cover the HEA prompt for the Ripped Bodice Summer Bingo, new author prompt for Summer of Swoon and published in 2021 prompt for the Romancing Summer Challenge.

I loved this book! It is one of my favorite mafia romances so far. I just loved how different it was from others I've read. We start off in New York with our heroine Davina witnessing a murder by the mafia. She ends up almost dying and with the help of the stranger that called for the ambulance. After some slightly terrifying encounters, she ends up running to Florida. She's received some mysterious texts from the Miami police chief and he's putting her in a safe house. He tasks our hero Ilias to be one of her two guards. Unbeknownst to the the chief, Ilias's brothers are apart of the Florida grouping of the same mafia. Ilias is not a made man, just a police officer that can offer inside information (which let's be honest, is pretty smart).

Ilias starts to get intrigued by Devina and decides to help her through her trauma and start living again. I love how well the trauma aspect was written and how he tries to help give her tips on self-defense and how to survive. Ilias also trains dogs and brings his Doberman Boris to come stay with Devina. I loved Boris, he was such a sweetheart. Like I mentioned, I loved how Devina and Ilias both worked through her trauma. It felt very realistic, and while I haven't been through a trauma that extreme, it felt realistic. I could understand where both of them were coming from and wasn't frustrated at all by the conflicting feelings Devina was feeling. It was just written so well. Eventually the mafia catches up to Devina and there are some crazy twists and turns. I loved the way the story evolved and that when Devina said she loved Ilias for who he was at his core, it didn't matter as much how his role in his family changed. It was so beautiful. I also love how it's a mix of found and blood family ties that connects the brothers. I'm intrigued to see the other brothers get their HEAs (assuming they each get a book).

I also love that they were so open about their communication about how they were feeling with each other. While they both hid things, when they were revealed there was no overreaction and big fight. I just loved how much these two went through and really feel like no matter what life sends their way in the future, they'll get through it for the ultimate HEA. I'm sure you can tell, but I just love this book so much. The next book is listed on goodreads as A War Around Us, but that's all it says outside of "coming soon." I'm assuming it'll be about the arranged marriage that was set up at the end of A Bullet Between Us, but who knows. I'm definitely going to continue the series and love the different feel of this. At the end of the readathon I actually purchased the paperback version of this book because I just had to have it on my shelves.

Have you read A Bullet Between Us?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: A Bullet Between Us, K. Dosal, 5-stars, 0 days, eBook, 387 pages, published in 2021

Mercenary Princess by Setta Jay

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The first book I read for the Mafia Romance Readathon was Mercenary Princess by Setta Jay. This is the first book in her Mercenary Socialites series. This covered the new author and Bratva prompts for the Mafia Romance Readathon. I also applied this read to the revenge quest prompt for the Ripped Bodice Summer Bingo, on tbr 6+ months prompt for Summer of Swoon and indie author for the Romancing Summer Challenge. 

I really loved the uniqueness of this plot. We have Sophia, the princess of a small European country. We find out quickly that not only has she been "molded" to be the perfect princess persona, but she's also a founding member of a secret group. They go after politicians and rich people that are able to hide their crimes and get retribution. It started when she was in boarding school and a Saudi prince killed a boy from a local restaurant when trying to save his younger sister from his advances. Sophia and her friends are the ones that found this young boy's body and since then have made it a mission to get revenge against the Saudi Prince and others like him. Our hero is the older brother of one of their school mates, Viktor. He is older, but the age gap didn't feel like one with Sophia being so mature for her 24 years. There are rumors that he's connected to the Bratva, but he's more known as a ruthless billionaire. Sophia has been crushing and fantasizing about Viktor since she first saw him at the boarding school.

Sophia is on a mission at a night club in Paris and finds Viktor staring at her from across the way. She is instantly turned on and so in tune with Viktor. His staring causes her to panic internally and she has trouble keeping her composure. Later that night, they are staying at the same hotel, and Viktor watches Sophia climb out her window and down the building. So starts the intrigue and breaking of the tension between them.

Oh boy was this spicy. Viktor is very alpha and I love how he's the only one that can make Sophia break her composure and read her. Their connection is very visceral and there were times where I was voraciously reading to see if they would finally break the tension between them. Once they break the seal of feelings and lust between them, they just can't keep away from each other. I also really liked that though Sophia still kept a lot of secrets from Viktor about her double life, she still felt bad about not being upfront with him. She smartly knows that it's not just her life she could put at stake. I also loved the protectiveness of Viktor and loved how he had to fight being too alpha with her. The only part I was disappointed about was the ties to the mafia. There wasn't really much outside of Viktor's family formerly being apart of it and him pretty much murdering everyone that expected him to take over. He's still mafia-esque in his business, but he tries to keep most everything on the up and up. I also really enjoyed that when it came down to it, Sophia was the one that saved herself. It was such a great scene when she tells one of her friends to follow her plan and not just try to rescue her himself. 

I am intrigued for the setup of the next book which should be out later this year. It's mentioned kind of early on in the book that Sophia's friend Irina keeps getting "saved" by an ex-smuggler during her missions. There's other little tid-bits we learn about them both and so I'm guessing that'll be book 2. No release date has been set that I could find, just in 2021. I'll definitely be reading more and I certainly want to finally try her paranormal series as well. I enjoyed the writing style a lot.

Have you read Mercenary Princess?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Mercenary Princess, Setta Jay, 4-stars, 1 day, eBook, 269 pages, published in2018

Mafia Romance Readathon Wrap Up

 This past weekend was the Mafia Romance Readathon hosted by Jen, Jessen, Tori, Jess and Tiffany! Thanks to watching Jen's videos (and her influence on other booktubers and bookstagrammers), earlier this year I read my first mafia romances. At least with mafia members being the heroes and heroines of the story. I had a lot of fun and decided last minute to only read new authors this weekend to expand my mafia reads. Unfortunately I didn't get as much time as I wanted to read. I ended up not being able to read at all Friday and was so exhausted I ended up crashing during the Avalanche post game shows. Despite all that, I ended up reading 4 books and at least got a bingo. I didn't make the black out though. Maybe next time. Below is my board and the books I read (in order read)! As always, reviews will be linked once posted.

1. Mercenary Princess by Setta Jay 🍎🍎🍎🍎 - New author and bratva prompts

2. A Bullet Between Us by K. Dosal 🍎🍎🍎🍎🍎 - New author and Italian mob prompts

3. Ruthless Creatures by JT Geissinger 🍎🍎🍎🍎🍎 - New author, Bratva, tattooed hero and title with ruthless or brutal prompts

4. Brutal Prince by Sophie Lark 🍎🍎🍎🍎 - New author, Italian mob, arranged marriage, Irish mafia and title with ruthless or brutal prompts

I enjoyed all of my reads. My goal was to read books that weren't a part of a long running series first since I knew I could easily go on a binge. Now that I've read my first Sophie Lark, that was a good choice. I was debating between Brutal Prince and a last minute tbr addition of Ruthless Stranger, but ended up going with Sophie Lark. Jen has a live show with her later this month, so I wanted to at least get her started so I have some references for the live. I'm hoping to get through a couple more of her books before then, but I do have some book club books I'll need to get to before then. We'll see what happens.

My favorite read was either A Bullet Between Us or Ruthless Creatures. It's hard to pick between the two since they are so different in tone. I actually ended up ordering the paperback copies of both late Sunday night. If I were to pick a disappointing book it'd have to be Mercenary Princess, but only because I wish there was more mafia in it. I still loved it though! I'm very intrigued to read the next books in all of these series. JT Geissinger's comes out later this month and I know that Setta Jay's and K. Dosal's is also supposed to come out this year. Sophie Lark is currently publishing her spin-off series, so at least all of the Brutal Birthright series is out for me to binge! I'll definitely continue reading mafia and am happy to get more authors in the sub-genre on my tbr. It's also exciting that I had a lot of great reads this weekend. The live wrap-up was also a lot of fun!

Did you participate in the Mafia Romance Readathon? If so, how did your reading go?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

Mafia Romance Readathon TBR

Wrap up is posted!!

 Another Readathon announcement, this time over a weekend!

We are starting off June dark with the Mafia Romance Readathon. It's hosted by Jen, Jessen, Tori, Tiffany and Jess. The readathon will run from June 4th to 6th with a live wrap up Sunday evening. There are templates available on instagram and Jen has done another build your own bingo board! I have posted the blank board and prompt list below and well as my bingo board. I started really reading mafia romances a few months ago and went on a mafia binge over a weekend. I haven't quite gotten back to it since then, but have added quite a few mafia books to my tbr since. 

All of the hosts have read mafia and have several videos and instagram posts with recs. Jen specifically has read a lot of mafia the past couple months and recently uploaded another rec video. A lot of mafia books will cover multiple prompts, so it should be pretty easy to make them. Jen also put in her story that she's going to have a google form again for prizes if you get a bingo!

This is a shorter readathon, but I have done a mafia binge weekend with 6 books before so I'm confident to get at least one bingo. Like I mentioned above, a lot of mafia romances will fit various prompts with one book. Below I'll list some ideas I have and what I've been interested in reading since my first foray into mafia!

🩸 My previous binge consisted mostly of Cora Reilly's Born in Blood Mafia Chronicles. I have two books left as well as the novellas. I have at least one more in reading order before jumping over to the Camorra Chronicles, which I really need to read.

🩸 Another series that Jen has been talking a lot about is Brutal Birthright and the other connection series by Sophie Lark. She actually will have a live with Sophie June 19th. A few of the books have really intrigued me, especially the second, Stolen Heir.

🩸 A newer release that also sounds very unique from other mafia's I've heard about is A Bullet Between Us by K. Dosal. It just came out on Wednesday, May 26th and I'm super excited to find a new author. She is also a newer author, so it's always fun to support a newer author.

🩸 Also read during my previous mafia binge was the Filthy by Serena Akeroyd. I've been meaning to continue the Five Points' Mob series and have heard a lot of great things about the rest of the series.

🩸 Another recent add to my tbr is Scarred Souls by Tillie Cole. Jess mentioned Raze, book 1, in a video recently as a dark romance or romance that she loves but doesn't talk about much. It definitely intrigued me, especially with the fight club aspects.

🩸 A couple 1st books in series, that haven't been expanded yet, are Ruthless Creatures by JT Geissinger (published earlier this year) and Mercenary Princess by Setta Jay (published in 2018).

🩸 Another idea is Breaking Point by Pamela Clare. This is the 5th book in her I-team series (that can be read as standalone). I've read a few random books of the series that I randomly received copies of back when I was really into Romantic Suspense in late high school.. I know for sure this one has mafia plot notes, but not all of them do. (On another note, I absolutely adore her Colorado High Country series, but it's not mafia related.)

If you have any ideas or recommendations, please pop them into the comments. I'm super excited to try a lot more mafia romances and am aiming to read one book by a few authors instead of bingeing one or two authors (like I did before). We'll see how it goes though since I am a mood reader.

Are you participating in the Mafia Romance Readathon?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎