I won't put much into this though! Just wanted to make a tag guide!
I went through a lot of my posts and decided to tag everything!
#Tsumi Muses - My writings!
#Tsumi Reviews - I like to read and decided to review the books!
#Tsumi Rambles - My posts
#Tsumi Answers - Responses to asks/submissions
-> #honoured submissions - If the ask/submission was positive, I'll add this! I like saving what make me feel good/motivate me!
#Tsumi Draws - My art!
#Tsumi Writes - Ironic as I already have a tag for my writings but this one is for the book I'm slowly trying to create.
-> #untitled book - Is also the tag for anything relating to said book.
These are the main ones but ofc here are some others:
#tsu.rb - Just reblogs
#tsu.rb fandom - Reblogs pertaining to any fandom
#aesthetic - ... aesthetics pfpfpt
->#OC ♥ Tsumi - Aesthetics that make me think of my OC tsumi
->#OC ♥ V - Aesthetics that make me think of my OC V
(As well as cute, food, art, writing, dogs, and cats!)
As I've reviewed multiple series/books now this year, I figured I'd go over my rating system.
I've mentioned before my ratings are based on how they made me feel and sometimes I'm good at stating why they made me feel a type of way but!
If a book is under a 5, I won't publicly rate it.
If a book is between 5-6, It was decent/alright but don't feel much about it/don't have anything that pulls or hooks me emotionally.
If a book is between 6.5-7.5, I enjoyed it! I would probably think about reading it again. It has me, but there's something there that needs a little more.
If a book is between 8-8.5, I loved it and its a book I will talk about and or recommend to others. It made me feel and I like it so much. Nothing is missing per se but I need something specific for me personally, feeling wise.
If a book is a 9-10, which is not something I give lightly, it means I love it intensely. I will love and cherish that book series, I will yap about it and recommend it and become a little fixated on it. Only 2 series hold a rating like that and it's because of the relationships and the characters and how deep and complex it is. The story is engaging as well and they have characters outside of the couple that are also fleshed out in their own right. Literally will scream how much I love them.
And there is that!
It's currently pretty accurate given how I feel about all the books in those ratings!
For anything under 5 it means I have a serious issue with it but that is also rare.
Vitale Brothers Series by Brea Alepoú & Skyler Snow
⭐Multiple M/M Mafia Romances, 18+, Dark Romance, Dark,
Summary: Stories of these mafia brothers and their partners they end up accruing. Oh and their dad's there too.
(As always, I encourage looking at the contents and potential trigger warnings for a book before reading. Please do that to protect yourself🙏.)
Vitale Brothers series contains 6 books:
Take Me Apart: Enzo/Tex (Mafia x Rookie Cop)
Paid in Full: Giancarlo/Ash (Mafia x Sold Off Son)
Say I Do: Benito/Harlow (Mafia x Yakuza Arranged Marriage)
Never Say Never: Paul(Gianpaolo)/York (Undercover Mafia x FBI Boss)
End It All: Blake/Quincy (Pyromaniac Mafia x Yakuza Underling)
Always the Villain: Cesare/Rafael (Mafia Father x Brothel Worker(?))
My favourites in both Vitale and Partners are both 1 and 6.
So the first three books follow mainly 3 brothers and their eventual partners. Then it pivots out so I read the first three back in April 2026 and I have just finished the final three 7/13/26 so bear with me I have to dig into my memory for the first half!
I give this book 6 with daddy issues.
(actually almost all of them have daddy issues so more than 6 but YOU GET IT)
Now for my thoughts.
Keep in mind for mild-major spoilers. unfortunately they are unavoidable for me to talk about pertaining to books 4 and 5 cause talking about those themselves, are spoilers.
Unlike some other multi-M/M romances I've done, Instead of breaking it down book by book I'll be giving it as a full review with also touching on the relationship! I'm doing this as I forget a lot but I remember certain thoughts and feelings!
Every book can be read as a standalone however I feel as if the first three books share their own story and everything after is extra.
The first 3 books are solely about three brothers, Enzo, Giancarlo, and Benito, getting their respective partners with a very thin plot that ties a big event from the past together between the 3. A guy played Enzo and Benito and it caused Giancarlo to go away for a while. So Enzo and Benito have reservations when it comes to partners and it comes up in their stories. Other than that, that's about it other than seeing them all interact outside of the pairing in that book.
There was also a few minor characters that got a decent stay in those, not too long but still enough where you could feel that world.
In the first book specifically I think you got that more than in the other books. I might be misremembering so take it with a grain of salt but i know in the first book you got Tex, his friendship with Chelsea, you get to know his coworker a bit and his relationship with his parents you also get to see throughout with him either personally being around them, his thoughts, or through his coworkers. That builds a lot in terms of characters and their world. You also get Enzo and his relationship with his brothers and you learn about a past relationship and his own struggles a smidge. Those are great and made for a compelling story that made me want to read more.
Also the first book is the only book in the series that made me cry for a moment as Tex's relationship with his father resonated with me a lot.
In the other stories you don't get that as much. Yes, their are other characters you see and meet. Melony and Benito's body guard who's name is slipping my mind. But in terms of a bit more fleshed out relationships, it's more flat? I wish I could properly articulate why "Take Me Apart" feels different and better than the others but I can't. It's not different by a lot but still a bit that i find important. (Also Quincy's relationship with his Mother had a similar fleshed out feeling as Tex's which I really liked to see and read! If they went a bit further I think it would have been great but not sure in which way.)
I'm also not saying "Take Me Apart" is the only book to do it, you see hints here and there and I also enjoyed "Always the Villain."
This time instead of one of the brothers, you get the father himself. And I'm going to be honest Rafael was one of the most interesting love interests(Tex and at the start Harlow was interesting to me as well). You know from the start that he really just wants Cesare. You don't know exactly why but he is obsessed with and wants this man so much he would do anything for him and allow himself to be killed by him. Obsessed and devoted with a semblance of mystery as you don't completely know why until later.
Then you get Cesare who was shaped by his father and treats his sons in a way where its not just tough love but love that makes it seem like he hates/doesn't care about them and they don't love or care about him in turn. You see this lonely ass man find someone who he considers keeping around and has to accept that it would be nice to have someone.
You get to see a bit of character growth and you see why he does or says things. I just really enjoyed Raf too. Their crazies fit together pfpft.
Enzo/Tex and Cesare/Rafael were my favourite pairings. I enjoyed "Paul"/York and Blake/Quincy too. Benito/Harlow and Giancarlo/Ash were alright.
BUT. I still enjoyed the reads even if I wish some aspects were stronger and do know that in each dynamic there was something I really liked. Just cause some where my cup of tea or not wont mean they are/aren't for you.
For the second half of the series and what I mean by they are just extra is that, and this is technically a big spoiler, 4th book is a brother undercover who most didn't know was alive and 5th book is a brother who no one knew about. Then 6th you get the father. There is a very lose thread that ties books 4 and 5 into the series which is mentioned either briefly or at the ends of the previous books to mention and segway into them.
So for me there is a disconnect from the first 3 and second 3.
I'm almost done but wanted to say I loved the relationship that formed between Enzo and Tex. I love Enzo being someone who is very particular and organized and.. well... autistic LOL. I love he's the one okay with the wet work and that he's shorter than Tex. I do love a short top. I love this big man sitting on this shorter mans lap too, its cute and I love them. Also love a bit of a stalker, ngl.
Loved seeing them through out the series when they did appear together.
Also loved the "Mafia Wives" thing and wish I could read a whole story of just Tex, Ash, Harlow, York, Quincy, and Rafael bantering and hanging out and getting up to things while their mafia partners do who knows what. I believe one of their moments in either book 5 or 6 had me laughing. But I want them outside of their partners again for a bit and I enjoyed those moments even if most times it just lead to them talking about which ever mafia boy it was.
Overall despite the fact I favoured a few couples/stories and not all of them were my taste, I still enjoyed the read overall.
I debated giving this a 5.5 as i was writing actually but kept it at 6 as while I wish more could have happened like more people and story fleshed out, it did a lot better than it could have done.
Especially for a series with a different romance each book.
I may have rambled, it's possible I bounced around but i tried my best pfpfpt.
Why are... God of Ruin and God of Fury the same book almost...
Not judging too critically, still good, still like the world, but... are the rest like that too or no? I'll never know cause while I listened to God of Ruin specifically to see Landon change and to see his relationship with not only Mia but with Brandon specifically it unfortunately hits some boxes of mine that make me go 'eugh' and why I don't read straight romances much anymore.
But no they are literally so similar in format I was like 'did we copy and paste and put it in our own words' type deal.
⭐M/M Romance, YA, Queer, Psychological Horror, Fantasy, Botanical Body Horror
Summary: 3 rules, a death, a family with secrets and a boy he's not suppose to be alone with especially not after he tried to kill him years ago. What's stopping him now?
(As always, I encourage looking at the contents and potential trigger warnings for a book before reading. Please do that to protect yourself🙏.)
"Hazelthorn" is a standalone, however!
It exist in the same world as "Don't Let The Forest In" and there is a short story cross over called "Laurie" free on CG Drews Patreon!
Unlike DLTFI, Hazelthorn was not one on my radar as when it was recommended to me as it had been out for only 3 months so I did not catch wind of it like i did DLTFI. But again, bless my one friend who was like 'I think you'd like these' as it pushed me to buy and read them and do not regret it and I'm so glad I have them in my physical collection!
I also absolutely try to get people to read them so I can gush with them >>. Hehe.
I give this book 8 mouthfuls of dirt.
Now my thoughts. w/screenshots
(Keep in mind any possible mild spoilers! also bare with me, I read this back in the start of May)
Once again, absolutely stellar fuckin book from CG Drews.
Twisted, dark, macabre, delicious.
This book is really good at quickly establishing a tone. At the start you kinda get the feeling that something is off. One of the biggest things is they lock Evander in his room every night and most of the time as a way to 'protect him' and give him medication.
There are also other things that Evander does very early on that makes you tilt your head as your brain tries to puzzle piece together why he does certain thing. Is it because of the medication, is it because he's not socialized, is it something else? and so on.
These books make you constantly wonder about the characters, what they are thinking, why they are doing what they are doing and I love it. Especially when the book unravels all the thing you might have been wondering or even snagging on something you might have missed. Same with DLTFI.
I can't go into too much as It could spoil a lot but I love the ravenous hunger and yearning, the body horror, the horror of the forest but also the caress of it. I love how it breathes. I love the giving in to wants. I love the depth of Laurie and Evander.
and with that... Laurie.... LAURIE !!!🫵🫵🫵
I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE LOL
It's so fuckin good man. And Evander going from kinda skitish, quiet, ext, to playing along with Laurie and teasing him back a bit RAHHH MY HEART ;w;
Any time they had a back and forth where Evander just came out of his forced molding to deliver something back, it always made me smile and kick my feet lol.
I wish I had better words to describe the relationship between them but I just adored it and so recommend others to give this a whirl if they're into the genre's above.
OH! and the dinner scene with the Lennox-Hall family was so.... EUGH. So fucking good. I will never get Evander's line out of my head. All of that was just perfection to me. Reading it filled me with a thrill and an excitement. Like I was the forest smiling in pride and satisfaction.
Again, highly recommended and I am incredibly excited for Scorpion Deep by CG Drews, also in the same universe that's coming out in Oct. I've preordered it already cause Eldritch Sea God who becomes obsessed and is murderous??? Sign me the fuck up. Like the sea, this book calls to me specifically. ANYWAYS. That's a future review but I'm just so excited to get it in my hands.
I think that's all I got for this review but yea! Thank you and take care ♥
[Upcoming Reviews: IMMERSED & ENTANGLED]
[Currently Reading/On Pause: The Vitale Brother's Series #4]
Address situations that have hurt you with that one person
Tell that other person (or same) clear boundaries of what you will not tolerate and what will happen if that's crossed.
Do it all respectfully. Listen to them as well in turn.
If you are not met with the same respect, understanding and decorum, leave. Or fuck shit up, dealers choice. Just do it.
Life is too short to live in fear and worry.
Don't regret living.
anon in my inbox said fanfic writers who wrote about dark and taboo topics were not “real writers” because of what they wrote about.
reblog if you believe anon is wrong and writers are writers, no matter what they write about. no matter how they portray these taboo topics.
reblog if you believe art can be about topics that are controversial, taboo or outright disturbing, and artists who create controversial, taboo or outright disturbing art are as valid as artists who create art of conservative values.
