Romance Recs

Mafia & Organized Crime Romance

• Jordan, Devonnie, & Christina • Season 2 • Episode 15

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Jordan, Devonnie, & Christina share their favorite romance recommendations centered around characters that lead a life of crime. These heroines often find themselves in tricky situations with dangerous men who will do anything for them. You'll find love in the Mafia, Yakuza, Motorcycle Clubs, the Bratva, and more! If you like reading about morally grey bad boys who burn the world for their love, then we've got your next read! Because in these stories, crime really does pay.

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Christina:

Welcome to Romance Recs, where book besties explore the world of romance novels and encourage you to expand your TBR. Join us as we dive into the hottest releases and hidden gems of the genre. You can find us on Instagram and thread, so at Romance Recs Pod. Hi, I'm Christina, and I'm currently rereading Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yaros.

Jordan:

I'm Jordan and I'm currently reading Don't Let Go by Heather Long and I'm re listening to Heat of the Everflame by Penn Cole

Devonnie:

hey guys, this is Dev. I'm back. I am currently listening to and reading Salt and Broom by Sharon Lynn Fisher.

Christina:

So buckle up for some bookish banter.

Jordan:

it. Hi! Hi, we're back. First Hey, first recording of 2025. It's gonna be a good year. We have plants.

Devonnie:

Yeah, I'm excited and lots of books are coming out, this year or the first half of the year is so packed with so many books. I'm really excited.

Jordan:

Yeah, things are happening. Yeah, we've got events in the works that we can't talk about yet. We have interviews on the books.

Devonnie:

Yeah.

Jordan:

good, throughout the year. It's, this is gonna be good. Hang in here, guys. Make sure you're following us wherever you listen to your podcasts. Make sure you are following us on socials right now. When we're recording this, it's Instagram and threads and TikTok, but TikTok could be gone any moment,

Christina:

and share.

Jordan:

Yeah.

Christina:

Share us with your friends.

Jordan:

Yeah.

Devonnie:

With everyone. Yes. We really appreciate the support for those of you who've been with us from the very beginning. Thank you so much. We love you. We appreciate you. And yeah, we love hearing from you. So comment on the socials, email us if you want. We, you can find our law, all of our links in our bio on Instagram. So yeah, keep up with us. We love hearing from you guys.

Jordan:

we're going to start out with one that Christina has just been waiting on bated breath to record for a month now. We were ready to do this, It's in October and then life happened and other stuff had to get recorded and so we're finally here. We're ready to talk. Well, mafia and any organized crime, really, because what's life without the Bratva and MCs and other affiliated gang members with soft hearts.

Devonnie:

You're right. I think that's the key.

Christina:

Oh,

Jordan:

And what?

Devonnie:

Huh?

Jordan:

Say it. Say it in the mic. Say it loud and proud.

Christina:

In these books, crime does pay. Oh my

Jordan:

There. See? See? Say that proud. Don't hide behind your mic. Get in there.

Devonnie:

is very lucrative, cause I've read a couple crime families, and everybody's a billionaire, I'm just saying. Do with that information what you will, but I don't see any broke Mafia members is what I'm saying.

Jordan:

Well, only like the entry level scrubs.

Devonnie:

right and they're not the Real mean characters. We're falling over. We want the top dog

Jordan:

Let me give you an example. My quote today is from the book I'm currently reading, Don't Let Go. This man he's a criminal. He is a thief. He's a career thief, okay? Thinks like Ocean's Eleven type stuff, but he works alone. Look at me, Fallon. Look in my eyes. I know beauty and art. I know magnificent pieces from the Greeks to the Renaissance. I know beauty in all its many forms. You. You are so goddamn beautiful, you make me ache. I want to hide you away where nothing can ever touch you again. I want to give you a reason to smile every single day, even if it takes me a lifetime to discover all the ways I can. The unexpected poetry threatened to shred my heart. But the scars? Our scars, he said with a shrug, they are a symbol of what we survive, that we overcome, that they are a history of the path that we've walked. Mike.

Devonnie:

that's so sweet and romantic you wouldn't believe that they'd be thieving You know in

Jordan:

Well, I mean, he's smooth,

Devonnie:

beautiful lines. Yeah Very yeah, I really love that. That's so sweet

Jordan:

Oh,

Devonnie:

Yeah, he's using those words it's distraction meanwhile Lifting your art off the walls. That. That was really sweet

Jordan:

love him.

Devonnie:

Cute love him. I don't have a quote today but I just wanted to Prepare you guys basically to be sick of me because I'm back on my bullshit with netgalley arcs

Jordan:

Yeah.

Christina:

We could never be sick of you.

Devonnie:

I am back on my bullshit. I've requested three alcs. I am easing into it. So they aren't arcs like reader copies. They're listening And I've already gotten approved for one, which is a sequel to a book that is actually on my bookshelf that I have been dying to crack open and I haven't yet. So I'm like really excited because I'll get to read that book and then jump into it.

Jordan:

What is it?

Devonnie:

yeah it's the ALC is This Ends in Embers by Camilla Cole, which I'm pretty sure is YA. I think it's ya, but I mentioned this book or the author last season, I think briefly because the first book is actually based on Jamaican mythology or j it has like Jamaican culture in it and it's their dragons. It's fantasy. I'm it, I'm pretty sure it's ya. Although. I think they lean into a sapphic relationship in the second book. I haven't been trying to read too much about it because I want to be surprised. But yeah, so I'm really excited about that. I have that ALC, so I'm, I want to blaze through the first book, get to the ALC and yeah, y'all will be getting tons more arcs from me because I'm back to living my arc life. So no quote, but. Prepare to be sick of me.

Christina:

Okay, so I have to follow up Jordan's amazing quote and Dev's amazing news with this quote, okay?

Jordan:

Oh, did you go sexual?

Christina:

It's, no, I went like, dumb.

Jordan:

What do you mean dumb?

Devonnie:

Let's hear it. Let's have it. Lay it on us.

Jordan:

Oh

Christina:

Boyfriends are like koi fish, a time consuming and boring hobby.

Jordan:

my god. What is it from? Wait, what is it from? Quote the quote.

Christina:

J. T. Geisinger, Cardinal Urges.

Jordan:

Oh, With the organized crime, Rex today. I think that Christina should go first. This is the one she's been waiting for. She's prepared. I did the homework. it.

Devonnie:

Pick me.

Jordan:

Yep.

Christina:

Okay, so my first rec is a trilogy called The Monster Trilogy by Rina Kent. And this series follows Sasha, who enlists as a man in the Russian military on her uncle's behest to try to get close to government officials to find out why her whole family was murdered. Like, they were all taken out. She works really hard because, you know, she's dressed as a guy and she's a girl, so she's smaller and not as strong, so she's trying to work really hard. Her superior officer, his name is Kirill, and he realizes her potential. Like, he knows she's a woman, I don't know why everyone else is blind around her, but he's not, so he knows. And he's just like, okay, she's, maybe she's trans, or she's just blind. doesn't want to be dressed as a girl. Like, he doesn't give a shit and that's great. So he's just like, okay, I'll take you on as my personal protection. Fly back with me to America. And she's like, sure. She's like, I thought I'll find out more about my family's murder in America, I guess. I don't know. So she decides to go and she becomes like his personal assistant. And then he lets her know, like, yeah, I know you're a woman, and she, like, thinks he's gonna kill her. But no, he's interested in other things with her privately, so.

Devonnie:

Okay, see I was waiting for it. I was waiting for that. Cause I was like, huh?

Jordan:

Yeah, there we

Christina:

So I just want you to know that the sex scenes in this book are very, very dark. And you should really read the trigger warnings, okay? Because there's a lot of things even I was, like, shooketh about, and I was like, okay, so.

Devonnie:

Interesting.

Christina:

so check

Devonnie:

Did they come from nowhere? Was it like a surprise or were there content warnings in this

Christina:

Well, I mean. I, I listened to this, so I don't know if the content warnings

Jordan:

doesn't look at content warnings. This is Christina. She's I have no triggers and then she comes up on a trigger and is oh no, I can't believe I ran into a trigger. So that's Christine.

Christina:

I

Devonnie:

Yeah. Oops.

Christina:

what do you mean

Devonnie:

Yeah. Yeah. Transcripts provided by Transcription

Christina:

didn't know that could happen, but here we are. So, yeah, I mean, he is a Russian Bratva leader, right? So, I mean, he's dark, and he's like, really embraced that love of Bratva.

Jordan:

Pain.

Christina:

and murder and pain and misery,

Jordan:

blood play. I've read plenty of blood play. What are you talking about? Yeah, that's normal.

Christina:

Tim's face is like, is it?

Jordan:

In dark romance it is.

Devonnie:

I was listening. I was, I'm sorry. I had a meme in real life moment where you said that. And then in my head, I was playing out a visual meme where it was the the one, I think it's a Taylor Swift song where it's like everyone in the room, everyone in the

Christina:

All eyes in the room on me.

Devonnie:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Christina:

me.

Devonnie:

So sorry. That happened in real time. But in the yeah. It was good. It was like, why not? Sorry. I was memeing in real life. Crazy.

Christina:

It's some serious hate fucking, so just be aware of that, okay?

Devonnie:

Wait, do they hate each other though? Is that their relation? Are they clashing as well? Or are they like all peaches and cream?

Christina:

It's, it's definitely not all great all the time. There's definitely some hate back and forth for different reasons. But it takes like three books to really, because it's the trilogy, it takes you to the third book to really solve her family's murder. And there is some plot twists that you won't expect coming it's got like weird vibes in this book, like Goodfellas and Mulan, because you know she dresses as a guy.

Devonnie:

right. Very Mulan. Very Mulan. Yeah you said that it takes three books. I thought this series was like, you know, following different cadets or different couples, each thing, but it's the, it's them all three.

Christina:

It is,

Devonnie:

that's kind of cool. Bring back the art of a long story.

Christina:

It is, cause you have a lot going on, and then like the hate between each person. You know, like, that always happens, the third act breakup and stuff in each

Devonnie:

Yeah.

Christina:

But it's great.

Jordan:

It's great. It's really dark and it's unexpected. It's great.

Devonnie:

Good. Enjoyed it. Ate it up.

Jordan:

Couldn't sleep at night, but love it.

Devonnie:

Recommend.

Jordan:

Okay.

Christina:

out of 10.

Jordan:

My first one is called Blade of Iris by K. A. Knight. This book is a standalone within a series of six interconnected books by six different authors. I've talked about this series on at least one other episode of ours but I wanted to highlight this one because this one is one I still think about. And it's just in my brain. It's in my top two of the series. And this was the first time I read K. A. Knight and made me a fan. So female main character's name is Iris, hint, blade of Iris. Her father sold her to their enemies for a chance at peace, or at least a ceasefire. She's a Kelly from Boston. They're the Bratva of Vegas. Alexei, the car, and. Nicolay Volkovs. Three Volkov brothers are about to learn she's no innocent girl. She's not this good little Catholic girl that is coming, okay, she lived a life even her family was unaware of, because she was the daughter, she was the princess, she wasn't supposed to get her hands dirty. She found her own way to get her hands dirty in the way that she wanted to, not necessarily in the family business. She's going there and she's gonna make them pay for Everything that they've done to their family. I'm not gonna say a lot about It is dark. It is talk about blood play so much like there is a whole there is a Well, there's a torture chamber in the bottom of this casino where they live and they own it and where one of them works and She shows him her dark side and they both have dark sides and it's maybe tied me to this chair Maybe while someone's dying on the wall. I don't know things happen. Okay, like Life happens. It's, I just, I say this because it's really dark, but it's also very good. And, just have fun with it. Definitely one of the best of the series. All of the, all six books in the series are why choose. And, yes, they're all always like brothers. I think in one instance it's not a brother, but someone high up with them. Anyways yeah, so they all trade their daughters. And then once they're all of age, they do the big swap and send their daughters over to be married to the next in line, or by the time they are old enough, the ones that are in charge.

Christina:

Am intrigued. I

Devonnie:

for

Jordan:

This one's so good. I don't want to say a lot about it because I don't want to give certain things away. Definitely enemies. Enemies to lovers, like their family feud has been going on longer than any of them have been going alive

Devonnie:

I

Jordan:

It's so good and she can fight back. She's a badass

Devonnie:

love that because speaking of badasses the FMC in my book is So good. Okay. My first rec is going to be sinful vow by Asia Monique follows the, this is the first book of six. I'm pretty sure there's six in the series. And it follows different members of different crime families. And in the very first book, you get like a Prologue of basically why the next six books are going to happen or like how they come into play, especially with the first books kicking it off. It follows Lucia and Enzo. And one of the reasons I absolutely love this series So far, because I haven't finished it. But The, all the characters are black. Okay? Now,

Christina:

Nice.

Devonnie:

It's Mafia. It's Yakuza. I'm pretty sure it's Bratfa. There's different organized crime families. All kind of trying to co exist together peacefully. But they're all super violent as hell.

Jordan:

okay kind of like mine in the same vein like they're

Devonnie:

yes. Right, but then the title of the series is Mafia Misfits because they're like all black but they're like black and Japanese or they're black and Italian or black and you know Irish and basically they're the misfits of their Community, family, whatever, their traditional organized crime families don't support them because oh, the daughter went off and married a black man, oh, the son, you know, married a black woman this is horrible, and now we're gonna cast you out, so they've banded together, and now they're running the town, so it is, and it's so interesting to see because whenever I read mafia books, Or books that have the Yakuza or any of those organized crime families. I honestly truly don't picture myself, I can't see black people there unless, it's oh, there's a side character. But, you know, whenever like the main top dogs and every, when I tell you everybody's black, it's giving very black. It's giving very black. The names are like, to their respective origins or like half cultures. I guess, but it's still, it's so fun to read it and Enzo and Lucia are the first one. And when I tell you Lucia is a badass, number one, you meet her, she's in the middle of a crime. Okay. She's in a, when you meet this girl, she's in the middle of criminal activity. And I'm like, yes.

Jordan:

She's criming

Devonnie:

She's criming. And then she's getting away. I was like, I absolutely love her. And then she's just, she's very, no nonsense because she is, she's a mafia princess, right? So she understands like the work that's happening, but she also has a side gig, which is a big focus of the book. It's violent. There's violence. There's them like figuring out how to like each other because it's also arranged marriage, which I feel like you, you Typically get with organized crime like when you gotta, you know, oh we gotta marry this family to keep our power blah blah blah So you get that of them clashing like we both know that this is our duty But how are we gonna each other and do we like each other, you know?

Jordan:

Is there like a my wife moment like?

Devonnie:

It's definitely giving my wife it's giving touch her and I touch him and I it's like She's very tough. She's a badass. She's gonna blah blah blah But she also like submits to her husband only in specific Scenarios like she'll put him on his ass and remind him every minute. I can actually kill you What did you say to me? So we love that for her. But she's just really fun to Read as a character. There are dead spots in the book where i'm just like Girl, if you don't get on with this story, but I think it's really fun. And I am going to finish the rest of the series because I do want to see how the other couples come into play because we've, I feel like we've already met a handful of them. So seeing how these families navigate their pieces, you know, to take over and deal with their things. It was fun, honestly, really enjoyable. And FMC. So yeah.

Jordan:

I love that. Do you, how did you feel about, so I love this idea. I feel like we don't see this ever. I feel like this is such a fresh

Devonnie:

take on it.

Jordan:

and especially the inclusion in it. I feel like that's even more rare, but it doesn't feel like kitschy or anything like that. It is it Do you know what I mean?

Devonnie:

Yeah. No, I know what you mean. I'm trying to think if I ever felt like that

Jordan:

But if you have to think that hard about it, I feel like,

Devonnie:

I feel like it doesn't, I can't speak for the rest of the series because I haven't gone through the rest, but the first book it's not, I feel like I'm not gonna sit here and say, I know the author did all her research and made sure that everything was true to everything. You know, I can't vouch for that. But when I was reading it, I didn't have a, not, I don't, yeah, I didn't ick a lot or I don't think I icked at all. So yeah it was very heavy as far as like violence and just like the nature of Being an organized crime, but I also found like very funny moments as well, you know,

Jordan:

It's hard. It's also hard. I feel like with these big crime Romances not to get stuck in like kitschy different like stereotypes of wherever the people are from like it

Devonnie:

from, yes.

Jordan:

Yeah, just because

Devonnie:

Yeah,

Jordan:

it's organized crime and we're making it we're Romanticizing it which is totally fucked up in the real world. Let's totally own that

Devonnie:

because we would not be romanticizing organized crime. I don't care. In real life, this does not work, but in this

Jordan:

blood play No, off the table. That's a hard list. That's a, that's on my red list. That's a no, but in a book?

Devonnie:

I'll take it.

Jordan:

Okay. Okay.

Devonnie:

It's just love. Yeah, and we

Jordan:

two consenting adults.

Devonnie:

Yeah, we have to understand the difference. I beg of you, listeners, understand the difference, okay? We don't want to see these things play out in real life, but I'm going to get lost in this world of my like, Irish black mafia man, whose name is Dara. the rest of the mafias or, you know, like whatever the Irish equivalent, like his name is Dara and he's a black man. Are you joking? And the other mafia bosses teasing him because he's black and his name is Dara. So it was nice. It was fun. It was good. It was refreshing. I should say, I, like I said, I've never read a series or a book like this that incorporated, it was very inclusive yeah. Mio, the black Asian Yakuza boss, number one, she's a woman and she's running the Yakuza unheard of. Yeah, and she's a badass and she loves knives. She walked in, everyone drops guns. All the men drop guns into the basket to take away their things. She drops nine knives. She drops nine knives. Yes. And then she laughs when she sees the guns. So yes, Mio.

Jordan:

Like you're overcompensating.

Devonnie:

Yes, exactly. That's how she felt. She was like, Oh, guns. I could kill you all with my knives before you even reach for your gun. Cute, cute. So yeah, I love it. I can't wait to get to her book. If she has one, I'm not sure if she gets one, but cause she's already married when you meet her. But I would definitely love to see her book. Although they do mention she has a daughter. So I'm curious about that. If her daughter gets a book. I'll let you know.

Jordan:

stand by.

Devonnie:

Yeah.

Christina:

My next book is already gonna throw Jordan off. I'm gonna start off by telling you it has a pregnancy trope in it. Okay, Jordan.

Devonnie:

Give it to me. Give me 14. It's spectacular. Give me 14 of them right

Jordan:

back here. I'm going to check my reels real quick. We're

Devonnie:

Yeah. You're talking to me. Now you're speaking my language.

Jordan:

If you need to skip this rec, you can go ahead and look at the chapter markers on whatever device you're listening on and

Devonnie:

If you skip this, I will disown you. Not kidding. Let's hear it.

Christina:

I feel like this book is divisive because I was reading the Goodreads and there's like one star, five star, one star,

Jordan:

But that's the brilliant thing about our podcast because we all are different readers and there is something for everyone and that's what I love about us.

Devonnie:

Jordan's the one star. I'm the five star. Let's have it.

Jordan:

let's hear it. Let's hear this. I'd love this for you.

Christina:

so Technically this book starts off page. So off page before this book even starts The main female main character, her brother, goes to the mafia to borrow money, right, for his gambling addiction, right? Okay, start of the book, our girl Kat is a nurse, she's hanging out at home, her brother who was, like, couch surfing on her couch, like, up and left and left a big mess at her house, left without saying goodbye even, and she's like, that's just typical, you know, he's a kind of here again, gone again guy, right, like, can't depend on him. Bam, opens her front door and it's the fucking mafia, they're coming for her brother, they need their money back, right, like, you borrow money, gotta pay it back, right? Brother's not there. So, what are they gonna do? They're gonna take Cat as collateral.

Devonnie:

Yeah, we saw that coming. Poor cat.

Christina:

Yeah, I know. Cat is not happy about this at first. She's like, Look, I don't even know my brother. He stole money from me too. Like, took my last thousand dollars and ran. What do you want me to do about this? I can't pay you your million dollars back. And then, they're like, We'll keep you around. Your brother's gonna come for you. She's like, Fat chance of that happening. So, the leader of the mafia, Dante, the book by the way is Dante by Sadie Kincaid, because I don't think I said that,

Devonnie:

Thank you

Jordan:

You didn't. You

Devonnie:

did it, but thank you. Dante, Sadie Kincaid.

Christina:

So Dante decides,

Jordan:

the beginning.

Christina:

Dante decides, you know what, your brother's not paying me back, you're the payment, I'm keeping you girl. You're gonna earn your keep as a nurse here, providing for all my mafia guys who are getting shot in the streets and can't go to the hospital, right?

Devonnie:

That's good actually. That's not what I thought you meant when you said he would keep her, so I'm glad to know that he's thinking

Christina:

Part of what he meant.

Jordan:

Her outfit was really small though.

Devonnie:

Okay. All

Jordan:

her uniform was tiny.

Devonnie:

Yeah, I'll keep listening.

Christina:

He basically is like, I'm gonna sleep by you every night. Doesn't really give her a choice, so that's questionable.

Jordan:

There's the

Christina:

Anywho. Yes this is fiction, okay? Lo and behold, he wears her down. Then next thing you know, she's pregnant. Okay, all right.

Devonnie:

Okay, all right, we missed a couple steps here.

Christina:

Not really.

Jordan:

so when I hear you say he wore her down, it makes me think she was coerced. So I just need to be very clear. Is this like CNC, like consensual non consent for those who are listening, or is it like she gives into her feelings?

Christina:

I would say there's both in this book. Okay?

Jordan:

Okay, but like the first time. I just need to know like the first time. Is she like reluctant?

Christina:

for

Jordan:

Okay, so so it is like her. Okay.

Christina:

but she has,

Jordan:

always need to know that first time like

Christina:

It's like those female main characters. She's like, Oh, but he's so hot. And I wonder what it would be like. And I'm thinking about him and then, and then,

Jordan:

I should hate him, but look at those arms

Christina:

Yes, exactly.

Devonnie:

the itch but then you get trapped

Christina:

Yes, she gets trapped alright, and she's like, Oh good god, I'm pregnant, and I need to run away because I don't want my child born into the mafia. Dante finds out about this, and shit goes sideways real fast for this girl. Like, she gets locked up. Like, in a tower locked up kind of thing. Like, Locked up.

Jordan:

because

Christina:

He is not letting his kid go nowhere from him, kay?

Devonnie:

Oh no,

Christina:

Like, for a week, he leaves her in a room and, like, delivers food, but, like, no one talks to her, so she, like, has no human contact and goes frickin crazy.

Jordan:

While

Christina:

gets dark. Yes, it gets dark, right? Yeah. So, I

Jordan:

There's your five star dev.

Devonnie:

you know, I'm going to actually pull that rating back. I'm not going to lie to you. The way I'm feeling right now is I thought this was going to be a cute little mafioso story. This is giving Rapunzel. To the worst degree. I

Jordan:

Mother Gothel got her knocked up and locked her in the

Devonnie:

and then, I don't love it, I fear. And no human connection for a week, and you're pregnant, and the hormones are raging, you're hungry, you need, like

Jordan:

But I think Christina really liked this one. So let's hear her the rest of

Devonnie:

gonna skip! Please, redeem, redeem Dante for me, okay? Cause I've never met a Dante I didn't like. He might be the first.

Christina:

I fear he might be, okay? I'm so sorry. I don't know if I can save him for you. She gives in eventually to his crazy being a mafia crazy asshole? I don't

Devonnie:

Yeah.

Christina:

yes. Alphaholeness. She eventually ends up loving him and his family and happy ever after for her in the mafia life, right?

Jordan:

And that's the whole book, end scene.

Devonnie:

End scene. Okay. It's given Stockholm.

Christina:

Oh, it does.

Devonnie:

Is that the one? Is that the one? Am I right with my syndrome?

Christina:

Stockholm for sure. And you find out that she has, like, this tragic, horrible backstory. And then he

Jordan:

have trauma?

Christina:

Yes, and then he finds the men who gave her trauma. Okay?

Jordan:

And gives her more by

Christina:

No, what he does to these guys, I didn't think I could read legally in a book. It was there, okay? I didn't know. I never, I can't go further. Let's just stop it. This is a good book. You should read it.

Jordan:

See I read So listeners, we all know if you've been with us for any time, you know that I love my dark romance I do have A grayscale and there is something that there are things that are too dark for me And those seem to be the only dark romances that Christina ever picks up

Christina:

I'm so sorry.

Jordan:

and then she comes at me like I don't think I Can read dark romance. I'm like bitch. You are not reading the right ones

Devonnie:

You're actually reading Pitch Black Romance.

Jordan:

kidding. I'm just kidding. You liked it. I'm not gonna yuck your yum. Glad you enjoyed it And obviously a lot of people love that book. I know it's

Christina:

Yeah, it's back and forth. I, like I said, it's very polarizing. I feel like I was reading the comments and I mean, I'm not gonna say it was the best mafia book I ever read. You know, I liked it. I think for some people, they would enjoy it. You know, for some others, I wouldn't suggest it. Go read the comments. Read the

Jordan:

don't read the

Christina:

Decide for you.

Jordan:

No, read the tropes and think if that's for you. Don't look at other

Christina:

read the trigger warnings in this book,

Jordan:

Unless it's ours. Only look at our opinions, please. We are the ones you can trust. Not Goodreads comments. Unless they're ours, because I do review. I'm just full of

Christina:

but read mine.

Jordan:

worry. Speaking of Goodreqs, thank you so much, Christina. I'm gonna turn us over to My next rec, the Kings of Kearney by Nevessa Allen. Okay. Nevessa Allen. Yes. That author, the one that wrote Lights Out. Lights Out was not her first book, people. She has a whole backlog. Go read them. I am. They're good. And she has a lot of different things. I'm currently also in the middle of, I had just put it away to read some other things for projects, but she's also written a Like a historical romance and a in a, yeah, and a cutesy, a very cutesy, hallmarky contemporary

Christina:

Aw. Ooh.

Jordan:

And this Kings of Kearney, I've mentioned it in passing in another episode, but I wanted to put a spotlight on it. Cause this is an MC motorcycle club for you, those of you that are not in the know I had to teach Christina earlier before we started. So this is. It follows Jacob Larson. He is the chief enforcer for the local motorcycle club in the small town where Krista just moved to. She's trying to stay out of trouble. She's done with her time in the military. Both of them happen to be ex military. Everyone in this MC is ex military.

Christina:

Oh, I love that.

Jordan:

So everyone has served something. She doesn't have much experience with keeping herself out of trouble, but she is determined. She works for one of their bars. She's a bartender in one of the bars, but she refuses to become a part of the MC, right? She's so bad ass though. She has, through her time, she does have a messed up leg. So she has some physical limitations and it flares up and stuff. So she deals with that throughout, but it's like the one thing that kind of forces her to become vulnerable. And it just works really well. They have to end up, they end up having to work together to help her grandma and the shady business going down in the assisted living home. Now that sounds so silly. It sounds silly, but it's not because he wants to use her to get into the, Assisted living home because the, their rival mc in the next town is trying to bring drugs into their, sit into their small town. And they are big on not letting that happen. And they've been doing that through the assisted living home and like somehow they think they're swapping out medications from the elderly and all this stuff. So she's concerned about her grandma who has dementia and there's just there's all these serious levels happening and. So that's how she kind of gets entangled with him. And

Devonnie:

like the FBI should, I mean,

Jordan:

so the FBI might come into play

Devonnie:

But I mean in real life. In real life, they should be checking. Because that seems like good crime. You know, I was

Jordan:

I'm sure it actually happens. If I was criming, ah, This is the adjective of the whole

Christina:

They're all criming.

Jordan:

We're criming everywhere. I'm

Devonnie:

Clearly I am not

Jordan:

all over this

Devonnie:

crime.

Christina:

She's not criming.

Devonnie:

was criming, I'd crime there. Seems smart. I'm not gonna

Jordan:

a lot. People do a lot. Assisted living homes are scary places. Anyways,

Devonnie:

Yeah.

Jordan:

They're But yeah, there's,

Devonnie:

together.

Jordan:

their work, they have to work together. And this changed I fell in love with a beefy ex military long haired blonde.

Devonnie:

Oh,

Jordan:

never thought I would say that about, no offense, ex military. Or about long hair, long blonde hair. I'm sorry, but not once did I think Tamlin in any of this. It was, he was perfect. He was perfectly moody and stoic, but he had amazing lines and his banter was so good in his dirty talk. And their banter together, perfect. Off the charts. One of my favorites.

Christina:

Oh.

Devonnie:

I do love about Nevesa Allen as a writer. So that's, I was actually gonna ask you about that because she has a very specific writing style and her character dialogue is some of the best I've like I Her and Bryn Weaver with their characters banters and the way they feed off of each other So funny like the comedic relief and comedy is like a skill Like not everyone has it and then also to write it the timing has to be perfect So I was gonna ask about that and i'm also curious to see how that plays Up in the historical

Jordan:

So that's actually ends up being I think it ends up being a throuple there's And

Christina:

Oh my god, I'm

Jordan:

it's queer like

Christina:

I

Devonnie:

I love that.

Christina:

you

Jordan:

Yeah which we are gonna do a historical romance episode sometime this season so that's one of the reasons, actually, I think all of my historicals are gonna be queer representation. But anyways, that's a whole nother thing. Kings of Kearney by Nevessa Allen. Definitely read it if you're in the mood for some like badassery

Devonnie:

Yeah

Jordan:

And I normally don't just because of my own personal interactions in the past and relationships, I don't typically like to read things with ex military. like MC clubs, motorcycle clubs. I have no association with them. I have no, there's it to me. That's a totally fictional world. So I can read it but it didn't give me any kind of feelings reading it. It just more gave the sense of the camaraderie that they got from that and that kind of stuff. So yeah, it was great. Yeah.

Devonnie:

I love that. Okay. The next series I have so here's the thing. This was tricky for me. I really debated whether or not I should even add this because to be fair, like it's probably a reach to include it in a life of organized crime, but I am going to include it. I don't know if you know this author, Gina L. Maxwell. She has a series. It's I'm trying to the deviant kings and I've read the first two books the third one I've been waiting to come out, but I think it might have released that I missed it the first one is the dark king second is the rebel king and then the last one I think is the vicious king the reason I had trouble or didn't know if I wanted to include these books is because They're also paranormal and

Jordan:

Yes. At

Devonnie:

Okay, so I think yeah You Okay, it follows three brothers and the they're fae they are fae but they're basically trapped in Vegas Okay, the city of sin Disconnected from their fae roots because of some witchy witch who basically cursed their families and in the first book We kind of get into the breaking of that curse and the them being able to like Go back to their home world and also access their magic and all these other things. First of all anything said in vegas. I already think you live in a life of crime if you tell me you are writing a small time romance Yeah, small town romance and you put these people in vegas. I already think there's crime and criminal activity happening because it's vegas It's the city of sin. There are way too many lights in that place. Yeah

Jordan:

Okay. Okay. Just checking. I was like,

Devonnie:

I've actually been there once when I recorded a little show. You may know the next level chef, but that's really the only time I've been there and I really didn't, I didn't get to see too much criminal activity. So next time, maybe anyway,

Christina:

she knew it was happening.

Devonnie:

I knew

Jordan:

what happened, besides some of the mood, the decisions made on that show by

Devonnie:

yeah, very criminal, Gordon Ramsay. Okay, very criminal of you. Anyway So this series, Their Fate is Paranormal. There's a, there's definitely a lot of killing. I don't know if it's super gruesome, but that first book, oh, he was killing for his woman. He was killing everybody for his woman. The third book is my most excited. The second one was okay. I don't think it had that much The third one I'm excited for because mates start to come into play. And the third brother, he's the baby, but I think he's also the biggest one of the family. He realizes that his mate might be a vampire. Now the vampire family, maybe they running all up and through crime. I don't know what it is about a vampire family that always has their hands in criminal activity.

Jordan:

Because

Christina:

Not the

Jordan:

blood. Because they steal blood to survive. So they're all

Devonnie:

they've been here for years. At this point, what else is there to do? The first 3, 000 years you're here, you're you know, figuring stuff out. By year 5, 000, you're ready to start criminalizing yourself. I don't know. That family is very They're very, like In the crime world the vampire family. And so the third book, I'm actually super excited to read about it because I want to see how the mates things happen, but also just having that vampire influence where before it was just like Faye and like witches and other paranormal stuff. So I think that'll be really good. So yeah, it's by Gina L. Maxwell. It's the deviant King series. And I guess I will include it in my organized crime because it is very organized because they own casinos. So

Christina:

crime. Cause it's Vegas.

Devonnie:

But we're in vegas. So

Jordan:

I assume that if you are at a certain level of wealth, you are also doing crime.

Devonnie:

for sure. You're doing legal crime. Is there a legal crime?

Christina:

Yes.

Devonnie:

crime, it's illegal.

Jordan:

I mean, let's just talk about the fact that you can be convicted and not allowed to vote, but you can still be elected to the President of the United States. I mean, I'm, yeah, I think at this point there is legal crime. I think there's justified cri I, anyways.

Devonnie:

if you start making a lot of money i'm looking you're a criminal because who are you stealing from? You're stealing from someone, okay? You're a criminal. You're you can't talk about crime without politics.

Jordan:

Politics and smut.

Devonnie:

Do. Okay. That's my little

Christina:

That's our new intro song.

Devonnie:

Yeah. Politics and smi i Politics and crime La da do. You're welcome, listeners. You're so welcome for that.

Christina:

You have just been serenaded.

Devonnie:

Yeah, we love that for you.

Jordan:

Raw. Next question.

Devonnie:

yes.

Jordan:

question.

Devonnie:

Serenaded by the Romance Recs podcast host? Raw, next question.

Jordan:

Crime.

Devonnie:

That's my series.

Christina:

You came for the

Devonnie:

Let me know if y'all pick those up.

Christina:

vampires and the fae.

Devonnie:

Yes. Yes. I love that. But yeah, my little fantasy crime

Christina:

I have one more series to recommend. It is Queens and Monsters series by JT Geisinger. That is the one that I quoted earlier. I have mentioned this series before, but I really wanted to bring it back because it is my favorite mafia books I have ever read.

Devonnie:

What? I love that.

Christina:

It's four books that follows different characters and different mafias, but they're all intertwined.

Devonnie:

Oh, yeah.

Christina:

It's really fun to see how the characters interact with each other. Like, you have two sisters that are married into enemy mafias and have to bring them together for a wedding, and it's chaos.

Devonnie:

Love that. Yeah, sign me up. That sounds like fun. I

Christina:

These books have literally the best banter I've read in any book ever. Like, the second book, I've never read a book quite like it. It's literally my favorite book probably ever. So the first book is Ruthless Creatures and it follows Cage, who's a Russian Bratva assassin. And he's sent to kill his Mark, Natalie, who's a middle school art teacher. Just because her ex fiancee who left her had stolen money. So they think she's connected. So he's going to take her out. So he moves the next door to kind of like find out what she knows, see if she has any details, and then he's supposed to kill her and leave. But he ends

Jordan:

an ex fiancée?

Christina:

Yeah, her fiancé left her at the off, at the night of her wedding. Just up and left, because he had stolen money from the mafia. And she had no idea what was going on, right? And so she's like, got all these trust issues. She didn't even like talk to a guy for five years because of all this. And then this hot guy moves in next door and is chatting her up. And she's just like, okay. And then, yeah, they fall in love. And it's so sweet. It's just great. And there's some hot sex cause it's the Russian Bratva. And then you start with the second book, okay? Cardinal Urges, who follows Natalie, the main character, her best friend. Her name is Sloane. Well, she gets kidnapped by the Irish Mafia to get back at the Russian Bratva for his new wife. And it's like, what?

Devonnie:

Really like that. I like that connection. Yeah.

Christina:

But Sloane is like, A man hater. Like, she goes through men, like, she's like, gonna fuck him and leave him. That's all, like, that's all they're good for. Dick and go. Dick and dip. Like, that's all she's gonna

Devonnie:

Ticket tip!

Christina:

She does.

Jordan:

I know that playbook. Yes.

Christina:

So

Devonnie:

I've read this before.

Christina:

she's in for a good time, not a long time, right? So, she's just going through the men. Next, next, next, right? And then, You know, here comes the Irish Mafia and a new, new leader named Declan and he takes her and kidnaps her, thinking he could hold it against the Bratfa, and she gives him a run for his money, let me tell you. He had no idea what he was in for.

Devonnie:

Yeah, I feel like he probably kidnapped her and then wanted to return her. Can we drop her back?

Jordan:

It's us girls. It's us girls with the unisex names where it's, where you hear our names that are mostly used for men.

Devonnie:

Return her.

Jordan:

ahead.

Christina:

No, yeah, Declan was done with this woman. The banter between them is the funniest thing I've literally ever read. She, like, matches him point for point and then takes over, like, basically. She, like, turns all his men against him with her, like, love and stuff, and he gets so mad.

Jordan:

I love her already. Now I

Christina:

Yeah.

Devonnie:

yeah, I think so too. I really, I like it slowed.

Christina:

Yeah, she makes him just so mad. Okay, so and then she's still best friends with the leader of the Russian Bratva, and they're messaging and, like, chatting, and these men hate each other, and it's just hilarious. Just,

Devonnie:

Crazy.

Christina:

trying to keep in plaintice. Okay, so then you go into the third book and that one is Savage Hearts, and it follows Sloane's sister, Riley. Riley is visiting her sister Sloane, and then The Irish mafia gets attacked by the Russians and Riley gets shot. And so this Russian, he, she like jumped in front of him and saved his life. So he feels like he needs to take her and like, give, owe her his life. Yeah. Right. So he takes him back to his little, one little room shack in the middle of nowhere, Russia, in the middle of the woods, and like teaches her how to like shoot and chop

Devonnie:

Oh, I love this.

Christina:

Little, like, wallflower.

Devonnie:

I like this.

Christina:

She's, like, a little book reader and wallflower, never, like, even been with a guy and never done anything. They're quiet, reserved, and then they have this huge, hulking, Russian bratfa guy in his little cabin out off grid. And it's so sweet just to see them, their relationship. I know.

Jordan:

that sounds so good. The whole series, and you know what I realized as you were saying this? I feel like we each identify with a different book. I feel like Christina, you are very book one. Where you're like, dealing with this just then shut yourself out after something happens and be like, screw all of you, forget you, and then someone comes in and you're like, oh, but you're kinda hot. And then you have me, who's just Do it and leave it until you get someone who like forces you to stay there and you're like, I'm gonna I'm gonna be mean to you until you love me and then you have dev who's like Just being a good samaritan who's just a girl and he's let me take care of you But also help you take care of yourself like this is all very us coded

Devonnie:

Yes.

Christina:

that third book also has a pregnancy trope, so.

Devonnie:

Spectacular. Spectacular. I will be. Yes. Thank you. And can I, you know, I was really, I was just about to ask if I could just skip and read that one, but the way this author has chosen to weave them together, I feel like you have to start at one to kind of see it progress. So yeah, I feel like if I start this series,

Christina:

other characters, yes,

Devonnie:

right. And know where they're coming from,

Christina:

Because

Devonnie:

but yeah, well, I want to get

Christina:

and she's with the Russian, and her sister is married, is now with an Italian, and his best friend is Russian, so like you have all these people in the room, and she's like, There's not gonna be any guns in our wedding, and they're all like staring at each other, and you know they all have guns. Like,

Devonnie:

Right. Everybody's back. Are you kidding me? Yeah.

Christina:

so

Jordan:

I like how it's connected through the women

Christina:

Yes,

Jordan:

positivity because I feel like it's the men And I like this a lot.

Devonnie:

Did you say it was four books?

Christina:

Yes, there is one more book and it follows a henchman from the Irish Mafia and he gets forced engaged to someone from the Italian mob to try to get their warring parties to stop. And But the problem is he's in love with his fiancee's aunt in the, in the mafia, so.

Jordan:

And?

Christina:

figure this out. Yes.

Devonnie:

Huh?

Jordan:

this one? Have you read this one?

Christina:

Yes, so she's barely like 18, 19, he's like 30s, you know, but they're trying to stop the families from warring so they get engaged. But he's in love with her aunt who's like in her 40s, like a mature woman.

Jordan:

Oh.

Christina:

Oh

Devonnie:

I actually this author like very

Christina:

JT

Devonnie:

is it? Okay, yeah, Geisinger, yeah, either way, I,

Jordan:

like we're just sitting on this oh.

Devonnie:

yeah, no, I'm really intrigued. I'm very excited to possibly read this. This just sounds really fun.

Christina:

Because tell me if you read it, Jordan, you would literally love Sloane and her banter, because she's a badass.

Jordan:

I bet I would. She just. Sounds like she's written for people like me. I just love it.

Christina:

We

Jordan:

Oh, well, speaking of badass women my last rec is I've mentioned it again. This is one I've mentioned before, but I really wanted to highlight this one. I'll just do a quick seventh circle by Tate James is the, and this is the Hades series. And this is book one is seventh circle. This is an organized crime. So The Timberwolves, it's led by the notorious Hades, okay? Hades, you think, tall, dark hair, brooding man. No, this is a badass, red headed woman who wears stilettos every day and rides her motherfucking motorcycle around. And she will eat you alive. Shoot your ass if you're going to try to fuck her over. She slaughtered her whole family to save her little sister from being sold on the black market. And slaughtered them all, because her father ran it. Her father ran the Timberwolves, and she slaughtered everyone in the entire organization throughout the state that was loyal to him. And she took over. And hasn't looked back.

Christina:

Damn.

Jordan:

People in her, yes. People in her organization refer to her as sir, or at least one of them does. Which is so

Christina:

Ooh, I

Jordan:

Her right hand she's, and this is another why choose shocker, I know. It's so fun. So there's Cass is older. So there's actually two age gaps in this. She is a mature woman. I'd say like thirties. I think she's thirties. He is older. So there's an age gap there. Then there's Zed. Yeah, Zed is about her age, so there's no real weird age gap there. And then, I actually forget his name, they call him Pretty Boy. He is 18. 18 and

Christina:

Oh my god, girl.

Devonnie:

Huh?

Jordan:

Yeah, and I have to actually, I forget his name. I'm going to be honest because they call him pretty boy and it's so funny. Okay. I'm just going to, I'm going to do a little spoiler because it's in the very beginning of the first book, but she meets him, this younger, very attractive man at one of her clubs, her strip club that she owns. It's a classy joint too. Just let's let you know. It's run by a woman. So of course it is. And so anyways, she ends up fucking him in a supply closet before a meeting that she has and he like, right? And then he leaves then she goes back to her office and she just, and then she realizes that he's there for an interview to be one of the dancers.

Devonnie:

Oh,

Christina:

Oh my god.

Jordan:

And not only that, but one of her employees, the one that she has like chemistry with, not only that, but he watched it because there was a camera in there.

Christina:

I love that.

Jordan:

And then later she finds out no, get this later. She finds out that was his first time and that's how she took his virginity.

Christina:

Oh my god.

Devonnie:

That is sick. That poor young man.

Jordan:

He There's no poor him. There's no poor him in this. I'm sorry. I know if it was a woman and she was 18, we'd be saying poor girl, but he was a fully consenting, and I mean he was there to strip. Not that justifies sex, but

Devonnie:

getting screwed in a cult closet.

Jordan:

To be fair, he was doing the screwing because he had her up against so I mean he still had control

Christina:

Okay, here's a

Devonnie:

This man was looking for a job.

Jordan:

I really like it when you read about experienced women being a man's first. That's like a little trope that I don't hardly ever see. So when this came about, I was like

Christina:

Here's how we'll know it's fiction. It was his first time. Did he make her orgasm?

Jordan:

Yeah, I know. That's

Christina:

Okay, so it's fiction.

Devonnie:

Fake. Yeah, totally fake.

Christina:

Gone. Next.

Devonnie:

deal.

Jordan:

I mean out of all the things we've read that's the most far fetched

Devonnie:

Yeah.

Christina:

sure. Orgasm, no.

Devonnie:

Yeah. Get that? That's fake.

Jordan:

Hot blonde? Okay. No

Devonnie:

Yeah,

Christina:

An 18 year old knowing how to make a woman orgasm? Probably

Devonnie:

No way, buddy. No one believes that.

Jordan:

But later there are group chats where they're like, hey pretty boy Like, come learn this and then there's like group learning

Devonnie:

Oh,

Jordan:

of the

Christina:

He's taking notes.

Jordan:

because there's not only there's daddy cast There's Zedd and then there's pretty boy. Like I mean, I just

Christina:

She's got it all.

Jordan:

She is Fucking badass. And so if you're not familiar with Tate James There's usually this big hidden dark secrets or plots that they're unraveling throughout series and new things come up and it's just so good. It's so good.

Devonnie:

How many books in this series? Because Tate James could have a series can go forever.

Jordan:

I think there's four.

Devonnie:

oh, okay, not bad.

Jordan:

There's four. Yeah, please hold Tate James

Christina:

It would take him four books to learn how

Jordan:

One, two, three, four. Yeah, because there's usually one for each character in the why choose situation seventh Circle, Anarchy, Club 22, and Timber. Names of her clubs.

Christina:

Mmm.

Jordan:

And when I say she is the star, she really is.

Christina:

I love that.

Jordan:

I want to be her when I grow up. Without all the murder.

Devonnie:

of course.

Christina:

little less murder.

Devonnie:

will say, yeah, Tate James knows how to write a badass female main character, so I'm sure Hades doesn't disappoint.

Jordan:

And so that's that. There's also, I thought about doing Vicious Kings by Eva Ashwood it's the Dark Elite series. She's a mafia princess and it's another Why Choose, but I just, seven Hades series has a bigger spot in my heart in the fact that it's, the female is in charge. I wanted to. Rep that.

Christina:

Badass women. Gettin shit.

Jordan:

Yeah. And,

Devonnie:

We love it.

Jordan:

Stick with us. This is gonna be a very exciting year big things Thanks for listening to us ramble about romance in organized crime. If you're looking for more romance books, please be sure to follow us on Instagram and threads at Romance Recs Pod. You can find our favorite book Recs from our episodes, as well as behind the scenes content, again, at Romance Recs Pod. Also make sure to Follow us and subscribe wherever you're listening. That really helps us. And we'll be back with the next episode in a couple of weeks.

Christina:

Yay.

Jordan:

Bye.

Devonnie:

then. Bye.