Off the Record brings Kristen Proby’s Martinelli Mafia trilogy to an end

The third installment of Kristen Proby’s Martinelli Mafia trilogy arrives with Off the Record, the long-awaited story of Martinelli brother Rafe and his longtime love Annika.

Though they were once told that their love would never be allowed thanks to their family history, they were always destined to be together and when Annika needs help dealing with a dangerous blackmail situation, Rafe is there for her.

At the end of the day, Rafe Martinelli will always be there for the woman he has never stopped loving.

Off the Record is the thrilling conclusion to the Martinelli Mafia trilogy

Thanks to her Tarenkov blood, Annika is a member of a powerful mafia family whether she wants to be in the business or not. Despite her success as a doctor with her own clinic in Colorado, trouble found her when her new husband turned out to be a fraud who put her in danger. Now that he’s dead (the story plays out in Underboss and Headhunter), Annika is putting her life back in order.

As Carmine Martinelli celebrates his wedding to Nadia Tarenkov, Annika receives a threatening note with pictures that frighten her to the core. Her husband might be dead but his crimes are still alive and well. Rafe sees the photos and won’t stop until Annika is safe.

Not only does Proby tie together all of the loose ends with Off the Record, but she’s saved one of the greatest love stories for last. Carmine and Nadia are newlyweds and Shane and Ivie are very happy together, but Rafe has been burning for Annika since she was pulled away from him by her family while they were in college. He never stopped loving her, and it’s nice seeing that the toughest Martinelli brother is man enough to be very open about his feelings while he’s working hard to protect the woman he loves.

One of the things that really works in the book is the easy familiarity that Rafe and Annika have for each other. Second chance romances are always fun, but when you throw in the deaths of mafia families across the country and familiar faces from Proby’s ever-expanding universe of characters, it makes for an entertaining read.

If you’re like me and you’ve never read a mafia romance before, be forewarned that it can be a little gut wrenching if you’re not used to mob violence. Proby, however, is very dedicated to the principle that mafia men never hurt their women, so the good guys are very easy to discern from the bad guys and the bad guys always get what’s coming to them in the end.

Proby, who is known as a very prolific author, is working on more stories that will be out in the coming months. Until then, now is a great time to catch up on Proby’s With Me In Seattle series and her Easy Love series. The first books of both series are headed to Passionflix in the future.