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

A Bullet Between Us by K. Dosal

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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🍎

Peace, Blood, and Understanding by Molly Harper

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The 9th and final book I read for the Love in the Night Readathon was Peace, Blood, and Understanding. This is the 7th book in Molly Harper's Half-Moon Hollow series. I have been a huge fan of Molly Harper's books, and binged her Jane Jameson when I first stumbled across it early 2017. When I found out there was going to be a spin-off series set in the same town/universe, I immediately picked it up. This book came out in 2019 and I can't believe I never saw it's release (or the one that followed in 2020).

We pick up back in Half-Moon Hollow with the vampire council sending our hero Erik to basically audit the council building. There's been some unique changes that the elder council members don't like, but at the same time the vampire human relations are better than most of places. He's here to make and/or suggest changes that don't follow the council's rules and make things more efficient. His love pair is Meadow, a vampire on probation. She had almost a vampire type of teen rebellion and is now under Jane's watch. People make fun of her for being a hippie, but it's more that she is into tea and how doing tea and herbal infusions to blood can help treat different things in both humans and vampires. I also found it was interesting that herbs and plants would affect vampires and humans differently. I loved the enemies-to-lovers feel with this even though I'm not usually a fan of that trope. Erik comes across as the stodgy city vamp in the southern small town and is very judgmental at first.

I enjoyed how Meadow reacted throughout the book. Even when she knew something was wrong, and did act on wanting to do the wrong thing, she still had the thoughts about doing it anyway. It felt natural but yet showed how sometimes it takes work to do the right thing and control your impulses. I also enjoyed all the tea talk and wish there was more of it. I also wish that we had more of the romance between Erik and Meadow. While I enjoyed that it wasn't as insta-love paranormals can be, I did wish we got more development between Erik and Meadow. It ends as more a hfn (happy for now) with them just agreeing to try to make things work, but that they are falling in love with each other. I also like what was done with Meadow's family and past life. The only thing is that I wish it was made a little bit less of a deal since Meadow had all these issues to work through and there wasn't really anything for Erik. Just accepting that Meadow didn't want to leave her home in Half-Moon Hollow and wouldn't be happy living in a big city. 

Molly Harper's humor always hits me just right and I loved the mini-scenes with previous characters in her series. It was fun to return to one of my favorite small towns in books and favorite paranormal universes. I just wish the book was longer, but a good portion of that is due to me loving it so much and not wanting it to end. I am excited that there's another release I also missed in this series and need to get it on my kindle ASAP. I also need to jump into her other series that I haven't gotten too, even her contemporaries. It's been a while since I read Molly Harper (back in 2017 with the last Half-Moon Hollow book) and I'm glad the readathon brought me back to her books. I can't wait to get to more. I'm also starting to collect her books in paperback since in 2017 I was moving around a lot and pretty much just read exclusively in eBook format. This was also a great last read for both the readathon and the month of May!

Have you read Peace, Blood, and Understanding?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Peace, Blood, and Understanding, Molly Harper, 5-stars, 0 days, eBook, 260 pages, published in 2019