Books like Tempted By The Devil

This is the mafia romance that upended all my beliefs about what the genre could be. I vividly remember opening this book for the very first time, reading the prologue and the first few pages, and saying out loud, “Oh!” And then settling into the chair because I’d realized I wouldn’t be going anywhere for a while.

Yes, there’s a great hero and heroine, yes, there’s heat, but what I love about this book is the mystery. I just had so many questions and they were the right sort of questions: I was intrigued, not bewildered. I just wanted to sink into the book until I’d devoured every page, which is exactly what I did.

A good mafia romance is all about family, and that’s what this one delivers in spades: two dysfunctional, squabbling, but ultimately loving mafia families who collide head-on when two of their number are forced to marry.

I loved both of them, even though they were very different: the cool, even cold Irish Mafia Griffins and the chaotic, passionate Italian Mafia Gallos. This is a forced marriage romance with real crackling enemies-to-lovers heat between Callum and Aida, which is exactly how I like it.

And between an election race, the wedding, and enemies vying for power, the plot races along. What I love most about this book is how two mortal enemies change and grow and become a couple you can genuinely see working.

I’ve never come across a book that mixes mafia romance’s sumptuous luxury and knife-edge danger as well as this one. It almost feels like a billionaire romance: the hard-working assistant ignored by her cold, arrogant boss, the lavish cars and apartments, the way money is life-or-death for the struggling heroine but an irrelevance for the hero.

But Ruslan, the hero, isn’t just a CEO: he’s a Russian Mafia boss, and that brutal danger runs through the book like a vein of silver. I loved the way the heroine, Emma—who’s wonderfully self-reliant and has a BIG heart—stood up to him. I adored Ruslan’s cold exterior and secret warm heart, but it was the way he bonded with Emma’s adopted family that melted me.

Dante is the mafia romance that most made me want to throw my arms around the heroine and give her a huge hug. Kat is such a strong character with a traumatic past that made me want to weep. At first, I was worried she’d entered a new circle of hell when she became Dante’s captive. But the escalating dance these two weave turns into something wonderful, and once they fight through their problems, they become an unstoppable couple I rooted for.

This book is raw and sometimes dark, with plenty of heat, and you should check the trigger warnings before reading. But if it falls within your boundaries, it’s a fantastic, all-consuming journey.

Over the years a legend was built up around Meyer Lansky. A succession of books with questionable sourcing described him as the “chairman of the board” of organized crime, and made him out to be a great deal more than he actually was.

This book strips away the false hype that has surrounded Lansky and debunks many of the myths that have surrounded him. It also debunks a lot of the bad journalism that distorted his image in his later life. It shocked and astounded me, and I thought I knew all about Lansky.

The Canadian Connection is an expose of the mafia in Canada and its implications for international crime operations. It was first published in French in the mid-1970s and immediately went on to become a national bestseller. There was a time in Quebec when you couldn’t turn the page of a newspaper without seeing an ad with an order form urging you to buy this “Shocking! Chilling!” book that revealed “Names! Dates! Locations!” Jean-Pierre Charbonneau is today considered one of the godfathers of Quebec writings on organized crime. The Canadian Connection is largely forgotten in English-speaking Canada and widely unknown to the rest of the world. It is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the history of the mafia, and connections to the New York Five Families of organized crime. 

This mafia story pulled me right in with its intense mix of danger, passion, and vulnerability. The story follows Damiano, a feared mafia boss, and Gabriella, a resilient woman drawn into his deadly world.

What really got me were the characters—Damiano’s ruthless exterior hides a fiercely protective side, while Gabriella’s strength and courage make her so easy to root for. Their chemistry is electric, and watching their relationship grow from wary strangers to something deeper was both thrilling and emotional.

With just the right balance of suspense, action, and steamy romance, God of Vengeance kept me turning pages late into the night—and I loved every second of it!

This book intrigued me from the start, as it has an arranged marriage trope involving the Bratva and the Cosa Nostra mafia. As soon as I read the blurb, I was like, ‘Won’t they just kill each other and be done with it?’ But alas, no. The main character is a pawn between the two entities and the author intertwines the plot beautifully, creating one amazing book.

I’m a fan of gangster books and movies, but there’s nothing quite like learning about the real brutality and power of the original Sicilian mafia.

Dickie’s book takes a historical view, showing why that kind of organization developed in Sicily of all places, and how the Sicilians have protected it, and fought against it. The anecdotes are sometimes funny and sometimes truly chilling.

If you’re as interested in the history of organized crime as I am, this is a must read.

This is a different story about a different kind of woman. And no, it's not about the Mafia; that's only a peripheral theme.

The typical novels written in English about Sicily by women are built around themes like a foreign girl going to Italy to find love. This one breaks that mould into a thousand pieces, dealing with familial history and tradition in the context of Sicilian and American society. It actually held my interest.

Leigh Esposito's complex story eclipses most of what came before.