'Ruthless Creatures' by J. T. Geissinger

Review written on 11/06/2021

Overall Rating: 10/10

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56241268-ruthless-creatures

Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/Ruthless-Creatures-Queens-Monsters-Geissinger/dp/1733824383

Author Website: http://www.jtgeissinger.com

Five years ago, my fiancé disappeared. He left me with a wedding dress I’d never wear. Left me with the kind of scars that can’t be healed. The man I built my future on vanished like a ghost. All that remained were my broken heart and unanswered questions.

Until a mysterious stranger arrives in town. 

Tall, dark, and dangerous, Kage is as full of secrets as he is sex appeal. Though I know he’s hiding something, I’m drawn to him like a moth to flame.

The intensity of our connection is addictive, unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. Heat crackles between us with every look, desire flares into passion, and I fall hard, unable to resist.

But when I discover how he’s tied to the darkness in my past, I learn what happens when you fly recklessly into fire:

You get burned.

FTC disclaimer: I was not sent this product. I am not affiliated with the companies mentioned. All opinions are my own.

What is so special about ‘Ruthless Creatures’ is its blunt, honest narrative. You will know the protagonist within three pages. The connection this provides between reader and character is truly special. Not only did Geissinger develop her characters well (especially Natalie and Sloan), but she also gave them intense flaws. The characters make mistakes; accidents, and yet they don’t take themselves too seriously. They don’t shy away from making fun of themselves, either -so refreshing! No one is a perfect villain or hero.

Additionally, the characters often have some of the most hilarious, realistic dialogue which made me laugh out loud several times -always a bonus!

One warning is to remember that you don’t know the entire plot from Geissinger’s seemingly over revealing blurb; there is a BIG twist coming your way!

Sure, there is the odd moment in the novel that seems a touch dramatic, and there are one or two cliches, but they work. Where can you put drama, if not in a high stakes mafia romance?

Delving back into characters… No singular trait takes up an entire character, and they each have characteristics that are self-contradicting. This is impeccably refreshing, as oftentimes authors will pick out attributes as if they are trying to take a character from A to B. Believable characters have to be complex (which Geissinger definitely achieved). For example, Natalie, our first person narrator and protagonist, has a gun. Where some authors would use this to create a violent, or feminist “I’m strong and can defend myself”, one dimensional character, Geissinger did not. It was just something Natalie had. Or we could delve into how Natalie is in some ways conservative, in that she hasn’t slept with anyone in five years, but then she has a whole drawer full of sex toys. Real people contradict themselves, and these characters do too, which was great.

Going back to the sexual aspect of this book (which is a large part of it), I LOVED the fact that Natalie already pleasured herself before the relationship began. I mean, how many books do we have to where the man teaches the woman how to do it? Finally, some sexual independence!

Obviously, the romance was top tier; SOOO easy to get behind. Kage and Natalie were super ship-able, and if we’re going to do erotica, it may as well be done well, as it definitely was in this book!

Quotations I liked:

• “‘Look, why don’t you just be a good neighbor and go over and introduce yourself? Then invite him over for a tour of your house. Specifically your bedroom, where the three of us will explore our sexual fantasies while covered in Astroglide and listening to Lenny Kravitz sing ‘Let Love Rule.’”

• “If only she wasn’t so goddamn beautiful. I don’t like to break beautiful things.”

• “‘For future reference, if you see a woman wearing a wedding gown, the only acceptable thing to tell her is that she looks beautiful.’ ‘You are beautiful’, comes the hard reply. ‘But it has nothing to do with that fussy fucking dress.”

• “When she asks me how everything else is going, I say, ‘Great’. Because no mother wants to hear that her daughter’s new boyfriend is the head of the Russian mafia who was originally supposed to kill her but fell in love with her instead and recently saved her from being shot in the face by another assassin whose brain matter is now decorating the ceiling of the house she grew up in. That would be a tad much, even for her.”