I'm in the middle of book three and I am furious because I don't understand why the FMC isn't furious.

These guys have been lying to her since book one. >!Then they hid the bonds from her, so that she didn't know who her mate is. They even briefly contemplate killing her to get rid of the bond. Even once she finds out that they're her mates, they're still keeping secrets from her. I kept expecting her to call them out for hiding the bonds from her, while she's getting sick the whole time, but nope, never happens. !<

>!She's outright suffering from being half-bonded. All the guys are acting as if she can just live like that for the rest of her life. Meanwhile, she keeps saying she doesn't want to bond with them, for hand-wavy r-e-a-s-o-n-s that don't make any sense. !<

>!Now, I just read a dub-con scene in which two of the guys rough her up in a closet, and she has to apologize to them because she ran away and therefore denied them their right to give her aftercare. !<I know that she's a Sigma and that her whole personality is doormat, but the apology scene is just next level victim blaming. What the fuckity fuck fuck fuck.

I have a feeling I'm not going to like any of this Stone Dahlia shit that's being introduced either....

Okay, I just finished book two of {The Bonds That Tie series by J Bree}, and I still have no idea what the hell is going on with the Resistance. It's pretty annoying, especially since they're the central antagonists of the series. Who are they? What are they resisting? Why the heck is J Bree playing this so close to the vest?

Y'all, after all the criticism of the Volik cover for being cheesy, SJ Tilly is doubling down for the second book in the series. Not only is she going for the same general hokey vibe, but it seems to be the same exact male model, this time in a terrible wig and Hugh Hefner-style cloak. 😂😂😂

Respect for committing to the bit.

https://preview.redd.it/5llin5ep3kmh1.png?width=500&format=png&auto=webp&s=0c28e6fc680e4c9ad7a5b14514ccf07a7d32a03c

Is anyone a fan of RJ Lewis's books? I see people talking a lot about {Sex, Lies, and Nikolai by RJ Lewis} and {Captive by RJ Lewis}, but never her other books. It appears that she has a lot of them. I'd like to branch out, but I'm not sure where to start. Thoughts?

I've been seeing {Kotik by Alina Dobrova} recommended in the last few weeks, and I decided to give it a go. Well, kids, the hype is real. The first half is a slow-burn mafia romance, and the second half is a dark romance downward spiral. Be aware that the MMC is morally black. There's a HEA, but it's a gray one. There's a lot of violence, though nothing I wouldn't expect as a frequent reader of mafia and dark romance, but you do you and read the content warnings.

The book is set right after the fall of the Soviet Union during the rise of the bratvas. The FMC is a 23-year-old office worker with a humdrum life, living with her mom and little brother. They're barely getting by in the economic chaos of the early 90s. She's groped on a public bus, and the MMC intervenes by breaking the groper's hand.

Here's what I like about this book:

It has nuanced characterization. The FMC and MMC will be familiar to mafia readers, but they are unique enough to not be stock characters. More importantly, they change as the book goes on because their thoughts and actions are impacted by the events of the novel. It's not just the leads that grow and change. The side characters do too, while remaining consistent with their characterization. In other words, these characters have arcs! And development! And it makes sense! That may not seem like much, but I think it's surprisingly hard to find in a lot of romance novels these days, when so many characters are static and cliché.

The setting is unusual. I haven't encountered many set in the 1990s, and I haven't encountered any set in Russia right after the collapse of the Soviet Union. There's great worldbuilding here with lots of cultural and social texture. You see how different characters navigate the extreme economic precarity of the moment. If you're looking for a mafia romance with realism, this is it.

It's a slow burn that nonetheless has a well-paced plot. It seems like many writers think that, for a relationship to be slow burn, nothing else needs to happen besides a lot of introspection and pining. Not so! The plot keeps moving here as the relationship grows. Some of that plot is familiar if you've read a lot of mafia romance, like a big nightclub scene (every mafia novel seems to have a nightclub scene right now, which is fine by me). But the author puts her own spin on the familiar, and there are plot twists that are plausible and foreshadowed, while still being surprising. Also, the sex scenes contribute to the plot development. Imagine that.

The writing quality is high. It's descriptive without being too verbose. I didn't spot any typos or grammatical errors. The prose is unobtrusive. That might seem like a weird thing to say, but I mean it as a compliment, because I am fed up with clunky or baroque writing in which the style gets in the way of the story. The writing here flows well. It seems like this isn't this author's first rodeo, you know what I mean? Yet it's her only novel on Kindle. I am eager to see what she does next.

It's pretty unique because of its setting in early 90s Russia, and the writer has her own unique writing style, so it's not identical to any of the books below, but in terms of vibes and writing quality, I'd compare it to the following:

{Second Son by Mallory Hart}

{Sinners Condemned by Somme Sketcher}

{The Predator by Runyx}

{Menace by J.M. Darhower}

5 stars matryoshka dolls, would recommend to strangers on the internet

How to Dark Romance as a Lifestyle:

1. Change your name to Constantine
2. Remember: you can never have too many skull tattoos
3. Practice your stone face in the mirror for at least an hour a day
4. Buy custom cologne that smells like whiskey, sin, and cedar
5. Grey joggers are crucial, but should never be worn outside your penthouse

[inspired by a removed thread]

The final book in Neva Altaj's Perfectly Imperfect series came out today. It's Adriano and Iris' story. I'm about a third of the way through it. You all, it is not going well.

Adriano is supposed to be a mafioso disguised as a mild-mannered businessman, except he's been acting angry and erratic the whole time. Iris seems like an idiot. Apparently, Zara and Massimo pay their staff so poorly that their cook, Iris, needs to supplement her income with four side hustles and quasi-sex work "hostessing." Zara and Iris are supposed to be friends, or at least friendly, yet they don't have any conversations other than Zara ordering Iris to bring refreshments to the conference room.

The writing is...oof. Not good. I'm 166 pages in, and nothing is happening. I just read three pages of dialogue about some sort of German corporate finance nonsense that's not even tied to the plot. There's no chemistry or tension between the leads.

Why is it so hard to find a well-written mafia romance?

Second-generation series are so ridiculous. The lead characters are often very young, like 18-20. Their parents are the MMCs and FMCs from previous books, and readers presumably love them. So they can't be aged up too much, because they need to stay vital and cute while making lots of unnecessary cameos showing PDA and having long, heartfelt talks with their progeny. The second generation can't be too traumatized, because we know those parents from previous books are perfect couples who dote on their kids.

I'm reading a Sonja Grey Melnikov Legacy book right now, and the leads are making declarations about how she's always been single, he can't have casual flings, and they can never open their hearts. Y'all are nineteen-year-old BABIES. Of course, you've always been single. Of course, you've never been in love. Stop talking like world-weary forty-year-olds.