Erin Under_Covers_Smut_Lover's Reviews > Oh, Hell No

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Spice: 🌶🌶🌶

I can not express enough how much I love the Mississippi Branch in this southern Mafia series. I've loved these books she's been writing since the beginning in the Florida branch, but they are getting darker and darker the more she writes the different branches. The Mississippi branch, this branch being the darkest so far.

You've got stalking at its finest in this book, and that's after he kidnapped her, starved her, held a 🔫 on her, and choked her to the point she became scared of him (a little bit), then let her go. Only to think about her like crazy and stalk her, break in her house while she's sleeping and doing some other questionable things. I was obsessed with this book!

Tropes:
🖤 Southern Mafia Romance
🩷 Stalking/Spying
🖤 Touch Her & ☠️
🩷 Kidnapping
🖤 Obsessed/Possessive MMC
🩷 Traumatic Past
🖤 Twist & Turns
🩷 Slow Burn
🖤 Jealousy

This book started with Oz finding out he was screwed over by counterfeit money in his illegal betting ring. The big bosses in the mafia convenienced him to kidnap the sister of the guy who screwed him over. That his sister must know something and use all these methods to get her to talk.

I was baffled at first because their whole thing on the other books was, "We don't hurt women." So this book was showing a different light on the big bosses. They were screwed out of a lot of money, though. Four million, to be exact.

We've met Oz in the last two books in the Mississippi branch. He's best friends with Bane, whose book was Tore Up. Oz is the quiet type who handled the gambling ring. I was always curious about Oz and wanted to know more. Well, we get to know him better in this book. How's he doesn't really want to hurt a woman, but was just doing a job. He didn't really do that job like he was supposed to, but there were moments where I was like, "No, what are you thinking Oz?"

Then you have Winslet, or Winzey, who is innocent in all of this. The only crime she committed was being the sister of this crazy genius that got over in the mafia for 4 million. She couldn't even believe her brother did any of this. Thinking they had the wrong guy, it was thinking about the wrong guy.

Winslet was the protector of her brother, Perry, his whole life. They came from a horrible home life, and Winslet protected her brother, always. She always believed the best in him, and he could do no wrong. Even after he was caught and everything, she still had a hard time accepting things even though they were brought to life. Boy, was that a whole twist at the end.

Oz took one look at Winslet and was hooked, sunk. Like all the men in this series, he became obsessed. Oz had a job to do, though, and had to show his mean side to her even though it really bothered him. He was kind of sick between a rock and a hard place. Having a job that he was told to do, daily, and not wanting to do it or hurt her, because he truly believed she didn't know anything. Can I just throw in there that I was shocked at Linc!! Even recommending what he did was a shocker. Made me see him in a new light.

After Winslet was let go, both of these characters couldn't get the other one off their mind. She was attracted to Oz big time, but thought he passed red flags and jumped to black ones. Oz became obsessed and decided that stalking was what he needed to do. Breaking in, setting up cameras, and watching her sleep. I know, hot, right? All the darkness in one hot guy with slate gray eyes. Can I also say that I loved what she named her s3x toy!

These two coming together took a while. You don't have a book filled with spicy scenes between the two. It is a slow burn with a lot of angst. You do have scenes of them playing with themselves, but it was a book more about the plot. Then, about a man that would do anything to make sure the woman he was stalking didn't get hurt and would do anything to fix her problems.

Now, I did not like the ending. Like most of the books in the Mississippi branch, I wanted more, needed more. It just seemed to have ended abruptly. There was a huge twist and turn scene that I really didn't see coming, and then bam, she's back with Oz. I wanted more of these two together. Yes, we know how crazy Oz could be over Winslet. We know how strong-willed Winslet could be when it came to Oz. But it didn't have a lot of these two together as an actual thing. It didn't have how she dealt with learning about her brother, then to moving in with Oz. It like skipped a bunch in between. I just wanted more of these two and felt the book lacked because of it.

I still recommend this book and every book in this series. This can be read as a standalone, but I would definitely start all the way back at the beginning with the Florida branch in book one, Smokeshow. You will hear about "The Boss" in every book you read in her mafia series, and that is Blaise Hughes. His book is books 1 & 2 in the Smoke Series. It doesn't matter what branch you read, whether it's Georgia or Mississippi. I'm sure Louisiana and Alabama are coming soon, but Florida is the main headquarters for the boss and his crew. That series is amazing.

I would recommend all of these books to anyone who is looking for mafia based romance with spicy, obsessed men who will do anything for the woman they love. Plus, all her mafia men are dirty talkers and very vocal 😉😉