The Punk's Mafia Prince

One of the strongest aspects of the story was its LGBT representation and the exploration of identity within hypermasculine environments. Max’s struggle as the gay, closeted son of an Irish mafia boss the pressure to maintain appearances felt compelling, while Oscar’s position within his biker gang added a different perspective and were woven naturally into the narrative. I found that the age gap (under 10 years) between Max and Oscar helped define their roles within the story, and I appreciated that both characters were flawed with clear potential for growth, even if I would have liked to see more of that development explored on-page (unless we’re getting a sequel??) Elise was easily my favorite side character and brought a lot of personality to the scenes she appeared in, especially in the post-diner scene with the Italians, which stood out as a fun highlight and clearly established her a boss-babe. The action and chase sequences were also a strong point and kept me engaged throughout, even if I occasionally wanted more depth from certain characters and plotlines. Overall, while this book wasn’t entirely for me, I still found several aspects genuinely enjoyable and easy to appreciate. The story will very likely resonate more with genre fans than it did with me, so I do encourage everyone who enjoys mafia romance with LGBT characters to explore this book.

I was fortunate to be able to read an advanced reader copy of this book. This book is what would happen if two of the main characters in Grand Theft Auto decided to try to date each other in the middle of all their Grand Theft Auto-ing. First, we meet Oscar, also known as Oz. A relatively small-time, but don't tell him that, car thief and member of a biker gang. Oscar has a good friend he knows as Max, who he eventually learns is actually Marcus, the only son of one of the local mafia crime bosses. Oz and Max eventually figure out that their attachment to each other is more than platonic and decide to try to see where it goes, which unfortunately brings Max and Oz into the circles they each run in. Oz very quickly learns he is a very small fish in a very big pond. Although this book contains numerous almost ridiculous outbreaks of violence, I very much appreciated that the core conflict of the book is actually pretty basic. Max doesn't think he can be attracted to and openly date a someone like Oz and be the head of the family business and is worried about Oz getting hurt. Oz doesn't want to be a house husband and doesn't want to be protected. Oz is fundamentally incapable of staying out of his own way and acts out spectacularly, but the precipitating events for the acting out are usually related to Max refusing to acknowledge their feelings for each other so although the actions are ridiculous, he kind of has a point. If I had to pick a trope for this, I would probably…

So first off, I adore GTA, like, San Andreas was the first game that got me into gaming as a kid, so when I saw this book I had to read and I am so happy to report it is incredible! The writing is well done, the story is paced well, and the characters are extremely adorable and well written. Oscar and Max are such a cute couple and you just have to root for them the entire time. I loved all the little nods to the game franchise as well which definitely made my little gamer heart happy! Such a good book and definitely would recommend for the readers and the gamers 😎.

I typically read sports or historical romances, so The Punk's Mafia Prince was outside of my comfort zone. That said, I found this book chaotic in the best way. It was like watching an action-packed romance movie. I never knew what was going to happen next and it kept me so invested in Oscar and Max's story. I loved the opposites attract romance and enjoyed seeing their relationship from both POVs. Descriptions of the city read like a video game setting, with segregated districts for the poor and the wealthy. It really does feel like you're watching someone else play GTA or Cyberpunk. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and think anyone interested in gaming and romance novels should check it out!