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.

Reyna
If this arrogant Irish mobster my brother sold my niece to thinks I’m going to play nice over this arranged marriage BS, he should think again. I don’t care if this match with the Mob will make my brother capo of the Five Families. I don’t care how much money, territory, or power it will gain us. I especially don’t care that the Irishman is the sexiest man I’ve ever seen. I won’t allow my innocent niece to suffer the same way I did. Even if I have to kill him.

Spider
I’m supposed to marry sweet, beautiful Lili. So why can’t I stop thinking about her swamp witch of an aunt? Reyna who hates me. Reyna who challenges me. Reyna with the guts of a Viking, the body of a fertility goddess, and the attitude of a feral cat. Nothing good can come of what I’m feeling for a woman who’s not the one in the wedding contract I signed. A woman I want so much, I’ll have to burn the whole world down to get. If she doesn’t kill me first.

Avery’s Thoughts About the Book

An arranged marriage that
tosses the trope on its head.

I LOVED THIS GAWDDAMN BOOK!!!!! I mentioned in my review for Carnal Urges that the Irish mobsters were my favorites in the series and this book belongs to Homer ‘Spider’ Quinn. As the second in command to the Irish mob, Quinn to an arranged marriage for strategic advantages. He’s coming off of a painful failure in book three (spoilers) and it’s his version of a Hail Mary to do something he cant fuck up. Except it gets fucked up. lol

Reyna is the ranking female of the Cosa Nostra, the American branch of the Italian mafia. Just a quick note for my fellow mafia romance aficionados: do yourself a solid and DO NOT Google the current ranking mafia men in the Cosa Nostra. They are not the tatted up walls of muscle that we’re all lusty over. It’s really quite disappointing. lol Okay, back to the book. Reyna and Quinn meet when her brother makes arrangements for her niece to marry Quinn. The attraction between the Quinn and Reyna is instant and they both deal with what they’re feeling by being downright nasty to one another. The result is some truly funny banter. Through a couple of twists and turns, the arrangement goes sideways and Reyna ends up taking her niece’s place at the alter (this is not a spoiler as it’s in the blurb).

I love Reyna. I vibe with this woman so hard. She’s a widow suspected by literally everybody of killing her husband to get out from under his brutality (you’ll have to read it to find out the truth). She’s smart, fearless, and a perfect match for Spider. And speaking of her husband’s brutality, she survived some crazy violence at the hands of her late husband and the first time Quinn sees the evidence of what she went through…… TEARS, PEOPLE! Sooooooo many tears. It’s heartbreaking and seeing it nearly shatters him.

Then Reyna, the bad bitch that she is, puts him in his place:

It’s like looking at tombstones in a graveyard. I’ve never cried in my adult life, but I think I’m about to break that record.

Watching my face with shining eyes, she says softly, “Don’t you dare look at me with pity. I’m not a victim. I’m a survivor. I’m alive. There are millions of other women just like me who weren’t so lucky.”

I exhale a disbelieving breath. “Lucky.”

“Yes,” she says vehemently. “And grateful. And determined I’ll never waste another second of this life I won. So get your Irish ass over here and fuck me, or I’ll divorce you so fast, it’ll make your head spin.”

Later on, I’ll look back and realize this is the exact moment I fell in love with her.
Brutal Vows, 2022 © J.T. Geissinger

I have way too many favorite moments in this book to pick just one but that moment is near the top of the list. I loved these two together so much.

SIDE CHARACTER SPOTLIGHT: We need to throw and honorable mention up for Reyna’s mom. That bitch is hilarious. Any time she comes up, pay attention. She’s got something to say and it’s always a perfectly timed comedy bomb. I love her so hard and I hope to be her when I’m older.

There is no end to the list of dark romance books that feature a female main character with a praise kink. In a fabulous twist, this book gives us a male main character with a praise kink and omg I love it. That was a twist I did not see coming and that should be in a lot more steamy stories.

This might be my favorite book in the Queens & Monsters series. It’s a neck-and-neck race between Brutal Vows and Carnal Urges. What can I say? I‘m an absolute sucker for listening to Troy Duran read in an Irish accent. This series will be one that I re-listen to many times in the future. It’s entertaining through all four books with an action-packed series story arc. The four couples are each captivating in their own way. The supporting cast is spectacular and there are soooo many characters she could spin off into their own books. PLUS, this series sees a visit from a character from another Geissinger series, the Beautifully Cruel series.

Another story line knocked out of the park by J.T. Geissinger. She’s a one-click author, for sure!

Heat Level
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Avery’s Rating
🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

Tropes Used
Dark Mafia Romance
Badass Heroine
Alphahole Antihero
Arranged Marriage
Physical & Emotional Abuse Scars