RUBIES AND REVENGE: Book One in the Cardinal Families Series

Lexie A. Lynn's debut novel, Rubies and Revenge, is a lesbian mafia romance featuring grit and glamour as it subverts the tropes inherent to the genre. Discover the criminal underworld of Louredo, a city full of dirty hands grasping for power, as you follow the two lesbian leads and their queer, found family, as they carve out a seat at the table and re-draw the map in this four book series featuring different queer pairings in each installment.

ZARINA GALLO

I've spent my whole life being a good princess to my mafioso parents, helping them amass more power and money however they ask. But when they ask -- no, tell -- me to marry Marcus Accardi, I put my foot down.

First of all, he's a man (ew). Second of all, he's a brutal, violent man.

I don't care what kind of trouble we're in. There must be a way to solve our problems that doesn't involve sacrificing myself to the altar of familial duty. And I'm going to find it.

Except I need time. So I run to the only queer gangster in town who (probably) won't surrender me to the Accardi family or my own -- Andrea Tamayo -- and propose a deal. We claim we're engaged, she protects me from my parents and the Accardis, and I use the time to figure out how to get me and my family out of this mess. In exchange, she gets more money, more power, more territory.

I expect her to accept. I don't expect her to force me to my knees. Even more, I don't expect to like it.

ANDREA TAMAYO

For years, I've sought one thing -- revenge on the Cardinal Family that betrayed me and left me for dead. Every move I've made to build up my family, to expand our territory, to create a reputation, has been in service of that goal. I thought it'd take another decade or more to achieve.

But then their only heir and princess, Zarina Gallo, marches into my club and asks for help.

More like demands. A princess through-and-through. She wants three months of asylum and my family's safety laid on the line for her freedom from the Accardi prince in exchange for territory and an open-ended favor.

I accept. But not before I make her beg.

And I won't let her go until I ruin her as well as her family ruined me.

* Rubies & Revenge ends on a cliffhanger. The Cardinal Families Series is meant for adult readers. Find a full list of content warnings at lexiealynnbooks.com.

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• Literature & FictionContemporary FictionRomance

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• Print Length: 274 Pages
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