Handsome Devil

A Dark Mafia Romance (Forbidden Love, Book 3)

De: L.J. Shen

Narrado por: Troy Duran, Leila Allarie

I made a deal with the devil to save my mother…

But is it really hell if I love the way it burns

Gia

The monster from my nightmares crawled into reality, masquerading as my boss.

Tatum Blackthorn is Lucifer personified.

When he discovers my weakness, he makes me an offer I cannot refuse, and I become his wife.

I always knew he was depraved, but as his twisted vendetta unfurls, so does my darkest secret.

Now we're both the targets of very nefarious people…

They're about to find out no one matches my husband's wrath.

Tate

I am a man of few pleasures, one of which is destroying Gia Bennett.

Slowly. Patiently. Systematically.

My fixation with my secretary has an origin but no limits.

When my revenge spree sparks into an all-consuming Mafia war, I expect nothing but a good time.

After all, death cannot come too soon.

Alas, it isn't just my life that's on the line now.

In this chess game, the king protects the queen.

Even at the price of burning down his entire empire.

Handsome Devil is a mafia-themed, enemies-to-lovers standalone romance. It deals with sensitive subject matters and includes violence, gore and explicit scenes some might find disturbing. Listener discretion is advised.

©2025 Bloom Books (P)2025 LJS Publishing Inc

4.5⭐️Tate approved stars!

I knew I’d adore Tate, LJ wrote his character so well in my opinion. Even when he’d say some of the most out of pocket stuff I couldn’t help but laugh…even when I probably shouldn’t have. Troy delivers those lines so perfectly it was horrifying yet comical. I loved it. Gia was a complete spit fire that I loved! These two together were a perfect match. Gia gave Tate some of his humanity and he gave her all the love she deserved. Did he go about that in the wrong ways yeah sometimes, but Gia also knew he’d never hurt her and would protect. Even when being a complete dumbass. He loved her, even when he said he couldn’t. He just didn’t know that love is what he was expressing. I loved them!

Now these story and Wildest Dreams were both amazing, but Tate’s grey zones gave in the edge. Otherwise both were pretty evenly matched for my tastes!

Read: Audible🎧/Physical📖
MMC: Tate Blackthorne
FMC: Gia Bennett
Spice: 3🌶️
Tropes: Enemies to Lovers, Billionaire, Marriage Contract, Boss/Asst, Mafia Ties

Mamareader

This book was great from start to finish. Characters were great and the story line awesome. Book was steamy and hot. Love it !

Age gap-enemies to lovers with HEA

An all time favorite - Enemies to lovers tale weaving redemption, revenge, and an age-gap romance beautifully together.

Gia brings Tate to his knees.

I don’t know how LJ makes us love the bad boy alphaholes but she does. Always has. She writes them so well. Tate’s backstory will have you understanding him immediately. Make you like him when in the first books we despised him. You will feel for him. You will fall in love with Gia immediately especially with how she takes nothing from Tate. I loved how strong and resilient she was. How she was determined to help her mother, no matter the cost. Now Tate and Gia, loved their story. Loved how she had pinned for Tate. Loved how quickly Tate fell for Gia. Loved their chemistry. Loved how Tate protected her fiercely. This story does have some darker elements but I wouldn’t say it’s really dark. I absolutely loved the mention of Vicious and Wolf Keaton. Makes me one to do some re reading.

Morally gray mafia, immaculately cast!

Story Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ (0-5)
Narration: 🎧🎧🎧🎧🎧 (0-5)
Overall: 4.75/5
Steam: 🔥🔥🔥☄️ (0-5) I bump up for public-ish places/outdoor spaces.

What I'm Starry-Eyed Over:
🤩 Immaculately, impeccably cast with Leila Allarie & Troy Duran!! Such a DUET narration treat.
🤩 Tatum Blackthorne is 100% morally gray, alphahole boss.
🤩 I'm not sure I could handle him, but Gia Bennett is absolutely perfect for him.
🤩 That need to know how their paths are connected. It involves revenge turning to obsession.
🤩 "Life was a temporary inconvenience. Though I enjoyed good food, good liquor, and good pu$$y. I didn't fear death." This is Tate Blackthorne, plus a whole lot of childhood trauma. Like, stuff that made me gasp aloud. And mental health issues.
🤩 With Tate Blackthorne, it might not be I love you, but it's "You'd be surrprised at the sum I'm willing to pay to make sure you're immortal."
🤩 It's so well written, but I didn't know if I would be able to love it. I did. The author healed me along with them—it's executed beautifully.

What I'm Wishing/Dizzy About:
💫 I prefer my mafia blood, guts and missing eyeballs at a bit more of a distance, but Gia can handle a whole lot more than me.
💫 We feel the HEA for certain, but I also think we deserved a steamy hot (after drama) HEA scene in Jamaica. Hormonal Gia at her best would have been my kind of fun!