I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about this book because I indifferent towards Lights Out, I liked it, it was okay, but Caught Up? Hollllllly Shit. I devoured it. 😮‍💨🔥

This sequel is one of those rare times where book two completely outshines book one in every single way. I gave Lights Out 3.5 stars, but this one? Solid 5.

This was also my first mafia romance and you know what I think I get it. It wasn’t too dark I don't think so if you're dipping a toe into the dark romance world, this is the perfect place to start.

We follow Nico “Junior” Trocci, cousin of Aly from Lights Out. He’s trying to leave the Mafia world behind and live a legit life but he’s still haunted by the girl he loved and lost as a teenager: Lauren Marchetti. Lo is now thriving, running an exclusive play club called Velvet with her chaotic, hilarious roommates Ryan and Taylor, and working as a successful camgirl. Not the innocent, quiet girl he used to know!

Lauren is everything I love in an FMC. She's feminist, independent, sex positive, and unapologetically herself. Navessa clearly did her research too and it shows. Lo’s confidence in her job, the way she advocates for others in the sex work industry, the lack of judgement etc it was all written with care and nuance and made her feel like a really well rounded character.

Also obsessed with the roommate dynamic in this book. Its not often that side characters add this much to the story but they added so much comic relief I just loved them. Ryan (who I read as non-binary) was written so naturally and respectfully, no over explaining or turning gender identity into a plot point. Just vibes and hilarious banter which I loved.

Nico is your typical posessive, bad boy FMC who wears leather and rides a motorbike, has tattoos etc etc. A mafia man who is feral, obsessed, and on his knees for Lo.

But number #1 character award goes to Nonna. The absolute queen. Her “one penis for fifty years” line lives rent free in my brain I was actually howling.

Lo owns a club called Velvet and these scenes were some of my favourite parts of the whole book. They were sexy, fun, full of tension and so much chemistry. I’m crossing everything that we get more Velvet content in book three because I never wanted to leave.

THE CONFESSION BOOTH SCENE?? Forgive me father for I have sinned and I do not regret it.

This book was such a huge step up from Lights Out for me. The plot was more cohesive and well thought out, the pacing kept me hooked, and the writing felt more polished and confident. I cannot wait for the third instalment in this trilogy. I'm assuming we’re being set up for a Stefan book… or maybe Tyler & Stella?? Either way, I’m ready.

Huge thank you to Navessa Allen & Quercus Books for this Arc. What a lucky duck I am. 🐥✨

I absolutely loved Junior’s POV!
This book was incredibly steamy from early on. It was amazing to read such a variety of spice on page, simply as we normally only see couples up close, but the details about other people in Velvet was great.
I was so happy to see a little cameo of Aly/Josh, I was laughing out loud the minute they were on page.
I enjoyed the underlying plot as well regarding Juniors hopes for his future and the way things fell into place with other elements of the story.
I’m so excited for what else might be to come in the future!

I think I enjoyed Lights Out quite a bit more than this one and I can’t quite put my finger on why. This didn’t feel very “dark romance” to me despite having the required red flags for characters. I thinks it’s a weird mix of Sara Cate’s kink club series mixed with Sophie Lark’s mafia romance books. It wasn’t bad but it seemed unsure of itself and I didn’t feel particularly attached to the main characters at any point in the story. I wanted to love it more.

I tried to like this book where the amount of violence - and it certainly wasn't little - equaled the amount of sex, but when she was convinced, that he had come to kill her, I realized it's just not my thing.

Ci ho provato a farmi piacere un libro dove la quantitá di violenza - e non era certo poca - eguagliava quella del sesso, ma quando lei era convinta, che lui fosse venuto per ucciderla, ho capito che proprio non é roba per me.

I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.

4 ⭐️
3 🌶️

𝗤𝘂𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲:

Firstly a huge thank you to NetGalley, Quercus Books and Navessa Allen for this arc - I couldn’t hold in the squeals when I saw it land in my emails! Caught Up was one of my most anticipated reads for 2025 and I can’t believe I was lucky enough to get my hands on it early 🎥❤️🏍️🪢⛪️🥵🔥

I may have rated it slightly lower than Lights Out but I still ate this up and left no crumbs. It was hot, funny, dark and empowering all wrapped up in one delicious book 👏🏻

Nic (Junior) was the definition of a man down bad for his girl… quite literally… on his knees 🧎🏻 He grovelled, was protective, possessive, morally grey, filthy as hell and had me sweating 🥵

Lauren totally stole the show for me though, what a badass she was 🙌🏻 She owned her job with pride no matter what others thought, and absolutely killed it 💰💰 The way she advocated, supported, and looked out for others in the sex industry was . What. A. Woman. 🙂‍↕️ Also adored her friendship with her roommates, everyone needs friends like Ryan and Taylor!

I also really loved the kink representation and how Nic wanted to dive in - not just in a physical way (ugh 🌶️) but also by helping out financially with the ‘play club’ and supporting the people that worked there. This part of the book was such a win! 👏🏻

To top it all off we got to reunite with Josh and Aly, Fred and Maud 🐈‍⬛ which was amazing, I miss them!

~

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁:

♡ Stalker dark rom-com
♡ Touch her and die
♡ Second chance romance
♡ Mafia / Biker MMC
♡ Cam girl FMC
♡ Voyeurism
♡ Play/BDSM club

~

𝗠𝘆 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝘁𝘀:

“𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘱 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴, 𝘓𝘰. 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘭𝘺.”

💻 Nic as NT95, Lauren’s most loyal sub
⛪️ Seeing each other at the church for the first time in 10 years…Nic pinning Lauren against the wall
🏍️ Nic riding his motorbike past Lauren when she didn’t know it was him - 𝘐 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘥, 𝘸𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺, 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘥𝘳𝘺, 𝘮𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 . . . 𝘯𝘰𝘵. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘨𝘶𝘺 𝘬𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘺𝘤𝘭𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯-𝘰𝘯?
🪙 Nic slipping the tracker into Lo’s bag
⛓️ The kink club review on Reddit - “𝘓𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘍𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘺, 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘐’𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯. 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴. 10/10.”
😏 Nic telling the man chatting to Lo to move
😆 Their banter together - Lo: “𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚?” Nic: “𝙁𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙮 𝙩𝙖𝙭𝙚𝙨, 𝙮𝙤𝙪?” Lo: “𝙁𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙧.”
⏪ The backstory, how Nic had to pretend he didn’t know Lauren after they’d been together. What he did to the people that taunted her for it - YESSSSSS
🥵 Nic and Lauren front row watching the show, Nic getting hottttttt - 𝘔𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘤 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴. 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘧 𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘥𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵, 𝘐’𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘱 𝘫𝘪𝘻𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧.
🧎🏻 Nic dropping to his knees for Lo to grovel UGH
📸 Lauren finding out Nic was NT95, him paying her to go to the photo booth like she’d written about in her diary - “𝙐𝙝-𝙪𝙝. 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙞𝙩. 𝙄 𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙡.”
😍 Nic and Josh’s friendship
😖 The men breaking into the club and Nic ‘handling’ them and Lauren being mad at him
🙂‍↕️ Lauren’s grandma, what a legend - “𝙊𝙣𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙨. 𝙁𝙤𝙧 𝙛𝙞𝙛𝙩𝙮 𝙮𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙨, 𝙇𝙖𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙣. 𝙇𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙣 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙢𝙮 𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨. 𝘽𝙚 𝙖 𝙨𝙡𝙪𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙘𝙖𝙣.”
⛪️ THE CONFESSION BOOTH RAAAAH
👀 heheheeh. Nic: “𝙒𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙖𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙠𝙚𝙙.” Josh: “𝙈𝙝𝙢𝙢, 𝙢𝙝𝙢𝙢,” Nic: “𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩?” Josh: “𝙉𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜.”
🍗 Lauren going to Josh and Aly’s engagement party. Her talking openly about her job (yes girl) and her and Aly’s friendship
👆🏻 Nic cutting off douche bag’s finger
😢 Lauren tasering Nic, him grabbing her by the throat, telling her about her dad
📄 Nic buying the Velvet
🍽️ The family dinner, Nic telling Nico that he was going out on his own. Nico being VILE to Lauren and everyone sticking up for her. Josh 👏🏻 - “𝙏𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙥 𝙩𝙤𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧, 𝙉𝙞𝙘𝙤. 𝙄 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪.”
💔 Nico strangling Nic
🥵 Nic and Lauren doing their own show at Velvet

~

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗜 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻’𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲:

I think because Lights Out was so unique, fresh and hilarious, I was expecting more of the same from Caught Up. I did laugh out loud a few times, but the ‘comedy’ aspect wasn’t there so much in this book and I was really looking forward to that 😌

I felt like the spice was good when we got it (the confessions booth ugh yes) but for me it lacked slightly! Nic and Lauren didn’t fully hook up until 88% in, which okay… fine, they did explore other things but I just didn’t really feel the TENSION, which would’ve made the wait so much better! 🫣

~

𝗠𝘆 𝗳𝗮𝘃𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀:

💬 𝘐𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦: 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬, 𝘴𝘮𝘰𝘬𝘺, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘮.

💬 𝘉𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘓𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘐’𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦.

💬 “𝘖𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘓𝘰.” 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘺 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘴.

💬 “𝘙𝘶𝘯, 𝘓𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘯, 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘴.”

💬 𝘈𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘮𝘦, 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥.

💬 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘹 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘳𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘩, 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦, 𝘐 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴.

💬 “𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘦, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘑𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘳. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘦𝘴, 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘶𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦, 𝘴𝘰 𝘤𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘶𝘵, 𝘓𝘰.”

💬 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘵𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘯, 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵.

💬 “𝘋𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵, 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵?” “𝘉𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦.” “𝘐’𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦.”

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𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀:

I don’t think Navessa could write something that I wouldn’t enjoy, her writing is so easy, so funny and makes you want to stay up until 4am to finish the book in one sitting. I loved it and I can’t wait for book three… Tyler 👀🤔