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erinlantz 's review for:
Ruthless Creatures
by J.T. Geissinger
Great book! First mafia romance I’ve ever read and honestly, it was cool as hell. I could not stop reading. Their relationship was so enthralling and the plot kept pulling me in. I read the entire thing in a day and ignored all my responsibilities, which I don’t even regret.
Nat was a solid main character. She felt real. She was grieving, pissed off, sarcastic, emotionally messy, and didn’t fall for Kage immediately. She literally tried to pepper spray him when he showed up out of nowhere and honestly, good for her. Respect. And then Kage, oh man. What a character. He’s huge, terrifying, quiet, and super intense in that “I’ll kill for you without blinking” way. But also weirdly soft? The man set up an entire painting studio for her in his house like it was no big deal. I actually had to pause reading and just sit there like… wait, am I swooning over a mafia hitman?
The book was way funnier than I expected too. The banter was great and there were moments that genuinely made me laugh. Sloane is unhinged in a fun way, Nat’s inner monologue was sarcastic and relatable, and the pacing kept it all moving. Was it a little insane? Yes. But also very entertaining.
Okay spoiler time. If you haven’t read the book yet, you should probably stop here unless you enjoy chaos.
First of all, THE HAIRBRUSH SCENE. I was not prepared. I’ve never read a book where the man is the one getting spanked and it was done in a way that was actually hot and kind of emotional? I don’t know what that says about me, but I respected the hell out of Kage after that. He was confident enough to be vulnerable, which somehow made him even hotter. Like wow, this man kills people and also lets his girlfriend whack him with a hairbrush? King.
Then Nat finding Damon after five years and he’s just… married? That part had my jaw on the floor. He said he waited for her for “years” but really it was like a year and then he just gave up and married someone else? Sir. What. And the new wife just walks in like this is totally normal. That entire scene felt like a telenovela in the best possible way.
And then Kage shows up, all calm and intense, and fixes everything by basically murdering his way through the mafia world for her. He starts an actual war. He kills his boss. He becomes the head of a criminal empire just so she and her emotional support dog can live a peaceful life painting in a fancy house. That’s love. That is Shakespeare with a body count.
The only thing I didn’t really vibe with was Nat and Sloane’s whole “girl power but make it cringey” routine. The stuff like “he’s in the rear view now” just didn’t hit. It felt like something you’d hear from a girl who keeps a list of her body count in her notes app. I get that they were going for funny and empowering, but it didn’t really land for me.
Besides that though, I loved the rest. Over-the-top in the best way. Super fun. I will 100 percent be reading the next one because this mafia soap opera owns me now.
Nat was a solid main character. She felt real. She was grieving, pissed off, sarcastic, emotionally messy, and didn’t fall for Kage immediately. She literally tried to pepper spray him when he showed up out of nowhere and honestly, good for her. Respect. And then Kage, oh man. What a character. He’s huge, terrifying, quiet, and super intense in that “I’ll kill for you without blinking” way. But also weirdly soft? The man set up an entire painting studio for her in his house like it was no big deal. I actually had to pause reading and just sit there like… wait, am I swooning over a mafia hitman?
The book was way funnier than I expected too. The banter was great and there were moments that genuinely made me laugh. Sloane is unhinged in a fun way, Nat’s inner monologue was sarcastic and relatable, and the pacing kept it all moving. Was it a little insane? Yes. But also very entertaining.
Okay spoiler time. If you haven’t read the book yet, you should probably stop here unless you enjoy chaos.
First of all, THE HAIRBRUSH SCENE. I was not prepared. I’ve never read a book where the man is the one getting spanked and it was done in a way that was actually hot and kind of emotional? I don’t know what that says about me, but I respected the hell out of Kage after that. He was confident enough to be vulnerable, which somehow made him even hotter. Like wow, this man kills people and also lets his girlfriend whack him with a hairbrush? King.
Then Nat finding Damon after five years and he’s just… married? That part had my jaw on the floor. He said he waited for her for “years” but really it was like a year and then he just gave up and married someone else? Sir. What. And the new wife just walks in like this is totally normal. That entire scene felt like a telenovela in the best possible way.
And then Kage shows up, all calm and intense, and fixes everything by basically murdering his way through the mafia world for her. He starts an actual war. He kills his boss. He becomes the head of a criminal empire just so she and her emotional support dog can live a peaceful life painting in a fancy house. That’s love. That is Shakespeare with a body count.
The only thing I didn’t really vibe with was Nat and Sloane’s whole “girl power but make it cringey” routine. The stuff like “he’s in the rear view now” just didn’t hit. It felt like something you’d hear from a girl who keeps a list of her body count in her notes app. I get that they were going for funny and empowering, but it didn’t really land for me.
Besides that though, I loved the rest. Over-the-top in the best way. Super fun. I will 100 percent be reading the next one because this mafia soap opera owns me now.