Romancing the Mafia

It's summer reading time! This June I'm going to be sharing some of my new loves and all time favs, from every genre.

One of my favorite genres is Mafia Romance. There's something about falling in love with a man heavily involved in organized crime that gets me. The heroes are usually anti-heroes. Ruthless criminals with dark, twisted codes of honor, and a very set system of how things are ran.

It's bad boy meets Marie Kondo.

That's what's up.

Lee Savino and Stasia Black have an awesome new mafia book out, Innocence, that will be one of three.

I’m king of the criminal underworld.
I always get what I want.
And she’s my obsession.
Cora is new to the city of sin.
Her innocent blue eyes beg for me to claim her.
But I’m not the billionaire she thinks I am.
There’s a darkness within me.
And Cora is a shining light.
She’s beautiful. A virgin.
I’m ruthless. A beast.
She found me for a reason.
She’ll be my queen.
I’ll give her everything that her heart desires.
Except for one thing.
Her freedom.
She’s mine to keep, and I’m never letting her go.

Buy or Read on KU

Jane Henry also just released a Russian mafia book in her Wicked Dom series. Book one is The Bratva's Baby. Book 2 is the new release, The Bratva's Bride.

Bratva life is simple: 
You steal from the brotherhood, you pay with your life.

But the thief is a woman, and she’s too beautiful to die. 

My wedding band will be her collar. 
Our vows will be her shackles. 

She will be my captive bride.

Buy or Read on KU

Either of those new series are guaranteed to be smoking hot summer reads, sizzling enough to have you fanning yourself under the a/c.

One of my all-time fav mafia series is a bit unconventional. While it's on the twisted and bleak side, it's not super-duper dark. There's plenty of humor woven in with savage moments. Not to mention the characters, heroines and heroes alike, are easy to love.

That's just some of why I tend to binge this series on repeat.

I've read and re-read AND listened to the Hitman series by Jessica Clare and Jen Fredrick, so many times, you'd think I was channeling my inner five year old.

The Last Hit

The Last Breath

The Last Kiss

These books start out with the hitman for the Russian Bratva, falling in love with an uber sheltered, twisted young innocent woman who is out in the world for the first time.

Book 2 isn't a solid mafia book, but is still full of mafia ties. This book follows the two main secondary characters of book one, as they try to escape South America, and find the heroes sister.

Book 3 dives all the way back into the Bratva with the new head of the Petrovich family. A cold man who has killed and scarified to rise from the ashes of servitude within the "family". This book is easily my favorite in the series.

The heroine has Apsergers. The hero has many issues and quirks from a lifetime of trauma, Together, they just fit. They're awkward. They don't understand each other. They have so many bumps in the road. But then they begin to learn one another. Depend on one another. Need one another.

And Jen Fredrick and Jessica Clare have some how managed to make the book with the two characters who hate touch, the hottest book in the series. IMO.

There is a fourth book, The Last Hope, which delves into the South American gangs, and follows a secondary character from The Last Breath. I enjoyed it. Am glad to have read it. Yet, I didn't feel as tied to it as the rest of the series.

Do you have a favorite Mafia Romance you've read and reread? Do you prefer Italian Mafia to Russian? Do you prefer uber dark to the jaded, yet sweet books of the genre?

Let me know in the comments!

Happy Reading!