Mine to Tease (Blood and Bourbon, #2) by Emily A. Myers ~ Book Review with Excerpt

 

𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞: 𝐀𝐧 𝐄𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐟𝐢𝐚 𝐑𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 is Available Now and enrolled in KU!

Book 2 in the Blood and Bourbon series, Mine to Tease, is a steamy, standalone mafia romance featuring the enemies-to-lovers trope. It takes place during the one-year time gap we see at the end of Mine to Protect.

Damon Dupont is the best protector in the Amato crime family’s ranks. But as power in the New Orleans underworld shifts and new alliances are made, he now finds himself forced to protect the one woman he couldn’t care less about—the princess of the Irish mob.

Anastasia Cross has spent her life like a prisoner in a gilded cage, sheltered and surrounded by bodyguards. The last thing she wants is another one, which is why her brother secretly hires Damon to watch after her upon her move to New Orleans.

As Damon keeps his cover by working in the tattoo shop beneath the unit Ana is renovating for her new boutique, he sets out on a personal mission to make her life miserable. But, his plan to drive her away backfires when he falls head over heels for the woman just as fiery and stubborn as him.

The Vibe: steamy, kinky, playful, protective, "you're mine," "touch her and die," "he falls first."

***All books in the Blood and Bourbon series are standalone mafia romances; however, they are best read in consecutive order due to the interconnected mafia conflict. All books in this series feature HAPPILY EVER AFTERS!

EXCERPT

©Emily A. Myers 2024

“Tonight wasn’t about me. Besides, there’s plenty of time for that if we continue this.” My eyes widen with a bit of hope. Regardless of any confusion I may have as to my feelings for Damon, I wouldn’t say no to more orgasms.

“And what exactly is this?” Damon shifts his eyes from me to the fireplace across the room as he contemplates my question, and I notice the softness leave him. He stops rubbing my back, and his body beneath mine becomes rigid.

“A mutually beneficial arrangement,” he finally says.

I nod and move out of his arms, wrapping the blanket tightly around me. “Arrangement,” I say as I sit next to him on the couch. “How very businesslike, contractual, detached.” This is the Damon I’ve come to know or loathe, as he so fittingly put it earlier.

He looks at me then. “𝐈’𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐮𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡, 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐚. 𝐈’𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐮𝐬𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞.”

My brows furrow as Damon’s words land heavy on me. Does he think I love him? His arrogance is enough to quell whatever confusing desire lingers in my blood. “Agreed. I’m not worried about falling in love with you, Damon, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious what you mean by a certain way of doing things.”

Damon shifts on the couch, positioning himself to face me. I hug my blanket tighter across my chest as a glimmer of that oh-so-intoxicating darkness returns to his eyes.

This was an interesting read because it involved two different Crime Syndicates: the Italians and the Russians. Anastasia Cross is the Russian Mafia Princess who is moving across the country to New Orleans, so her brother hires protection for her. Damon Dupont is the best protector in the Amato Crime Family, and while he knows he's the best person to protect Anastasia, he isn't happy about doing it.

Ana is young, sheltered, and slightly naive, but those features make her endearing. I liked Ana more and more as time went on. Damon is youngish, hard around the edges, it's his way or the highway attitude, covered in tats and owns a tattoo parlor. I didn't like Damon at first. He was tasked with a job, and he thought his best option would be to annoy Ana so she would return home to Boston so he wouldn't have to guard her. The things he did to annoy her were childish, seriously loud music to annoy her...that's something my kids would do if they wanted my attention.

Damon and Anastasia had lots of chemistry, and once they put away their fighting gloves and moved things along to the fun stuff, I started to like Damon more. Emily A. Myers did a fabulous job showcasing the differences between the two crime families and how they handled things. I look forward to reading more of this series. If you haven't read MINE TO PROTECT yet, I highly recommend it. 

I recommend this book to readers who enjoy STEAMY Mafia Romances, Romantic Suspense Reads, Enemies to Lovers Romances, Forced Proximity Romances, He Falls First, or Interracial Romances.

Happy Reading!!!

Emily A. Myers is an award-winning author of romantic suspense. Her first novel, The Truth About Unspeakable Things, won First Place for the Chanticleer International Book Awards (CIBA) Clue Award (2021) for suspense/ thriller fiction. The Truth About Unspeakable Things was also a finalist for the CIBA Chatelaine Award (2021) for romance and a semi-finalist for the Somerset Award (2021) for contemporary fiction.

Emily followed up her stellar debut with the sequel Bound by the Unspeakable, completing the Unspeakable duet and releasing her first mafia romance, Mine to Protect, in December of 2022.

In January of 2024, Emily released her first poetry collection, I Still Have Love to Give. The collection is like a wine night with your bestie--raw, emotional, conversational, inspirational, and helpful. The poems and personal essays discuss her struggles with overcoming heartbreak post-divorce and re-entering the dating scene. It also includes a heartbreak survival guide with tons of big-sis advice for those going through the same things.

Emily's next move is expanding her Mafia world. Mine to Protect is the first book in the new Blood and Bourbon series.

When not writing, Emily enjoys traveling, devouring the latest Netflix series, and scouring the shelves of Sephora. To keep up with her, you can find her on all social media platforms @emilymyersauthor

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