Brutal Vows, by JT Geissinger

Synopsis: An Irish mobster with a brutal grudge. An Italian mafia princess with a dark secret. Two enemy empires joined in sacred marriage vows. Let the hating games begin.

Rating: 5 stars (and then some!)

Review: This is the fourth (and final) book in the Queens & Monsters mafia series, which features some ruthless men (and one badass woman) from the Irish Mob, Russian Bratva, and Italian Mafia who are brought to their knees not by each other but by all-consuming L-O-V-E. This entire series has been one of my favorite reads of all time. With that being said, I was a little worried about this final book because I was spitting-fire mad at Spider after the trouble he caused Malek and Riley in the previous book. I am Team Mal through and through, so while I had liked Spider in Carnal Urges, I was sure he would not win me over again after his buttheadedness in Savage Hearts. So I started reading Brutal Vows with a raised eyebrow and a grudge, thinking I knew exactly how it would all play out and wanting to read it anyway so that I could hopefully get a glimpse of Mal, Declan, Kage, and their feisty women. And then the unexpected began to happen. First, this arranged marriage trope didn't go in the direction I expected; nope, it took a left turn at Albuquerque and went a much more interesting route. Second, I fell in absolute love with Reyna, to the point that she is now my favorite heroine in this series, a feat I believed impossible going in. Finally, Quinn/Spider turned out to be a completely different person than I thought, one whose actions in the previous book were influenced by a dark past that we knew nothing of, and in no time at all, I was indeed won over and rooting for him.

Kudos, Ms. Geissinger, for your amazing ability to surprise your readers book after book. You have an amazing gift, and we readers are lucky that you allow us to be part of the fictional worlds you've conjured up.

If you haven't read this series yet, start binging. You won't be sorry. This is by far one of the best mafia series you'll ever read. In fact, it will ruin you for all others.

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Webster's defines resting book face as follows: (a) the look a person gets when someone interrupts them while they're reading a really good book; and (b) the vacant stare of a reader who is mentally lost in their book world when reading isn't possible. Okay, fine. It's not in Webster's. But it should be.

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Resting Book Face

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