Hot for Hostage

by Maggie Evans

Good girls don't take mafia bosses hostage... or fall in love with them.

Sadie Morris is a ball of sunshine wrapped in short pink overalls, pockets brimming with homemade dog treats, and an alarmingly passionate thirst for vengeance. Her idea of "fun" is volunteering at a rundown dog shelter.

I hate dogs. And volunteering. And fun.

But when a group of punks vandalize the shelter and steal one of Sadie's furry friends, she goes to the last person she should seek out for help getting him me. Davian Reed. Heir to the criminal empire that runs this city.

Cold, calculating, and raised by a ruthless father to own this city and everything in it—I was tied to the mafia from birth until death. Good girls knew to never come within a hundred feet of me.

That didn’t stop Sadie. When I brushed off her desperate plea for help, she didn’t even hesitate before snatching my friend’s gun and wiggling it at me like a seasoned bank robber—claiming she was taking me “hostage” until her dog was found.

She got my attention.

Her sob story might seem a little far-fetched, but few have the balls to ask me for help. Throw in her sweet curves and laughable demands, and I’m ready to see how this hostage situation plays out.



A laugh-out-loud and lighthearted take on mafia romance with a dual POV, Hot for Hostage was previously published on Kindle Vella in 2022.

Genres: Romance, Rom Com, Mafia Romance, Humor, Contemporary, Forced Proximity, Contemporary Romance

438 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 11, 2025

Reviews

[Jen ♥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yuuup, I finally freaking lost it. 🤣 What in the ever-loving crack did the author put in here? 😂 This was the most unserious book I've ever come across. Maaan, my stomach hurts from laughing like a lunatic. 🤣 I’ve never had this much fun reading a ridiculous story, and this one was the best by far. 😂

Look, my rating is solely based on the entertainment I got here—not for the plot or MCs. The sh*ts and giggles were totally worth it. Sooo, don't put too much weight on my rating. It's seriously high for a very unserious book. 🤣🤣


Book info:
- Instant-attraction
- Kidnapping (is it though? 😅)
- Age gap (the impression I got)
- No cheating, OM/OW, separation
- No V
- HFN (mos later, engaged)


Note:
- There was a mention of him getting engaged to someone else. But that was just a proposal for an alliance. He had no relationship or interest in the woman who was offered to him.


P.S. 93% of the book happened in a span of 48 hours. This is over-the-top ridiculous and unrealistic and isn't meant to be taken so seriously. 😅

[Gry ☾ · Rating 1 out of 5]

°. *࿐pre-read:

waaaait, wdym SHE kidnaps the son of a MAFIA DON. I am already laughing, this is gonna be sm fun😭

[mica · Rating 3 out of 5]

no hay forma que los personajes de este libro no sean cocainomanos

[Darlene I read WAY to many books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sadie is a innocent baker/volunteer at a dog shelter who loves her job, but has mini problems with a gang who tags the shelter she has a idea but doesn't go though with it until one of the dogs is taken. Bear she does anything for that dog, so she goes and asks for help, and the main guy to ask is Davian, the son of a Mafia man. But he overlooks her and her help until she grabs his friends gun and sorta holds him hostage 😆😆

And that catches Dav's attention, but he likes her spunk and lets her think she's in control. But it helps her anyways The banter between the two is so cute he is grumpy, but for her, she can sorta do no wrong in his eyes. Unless she tries to leave, lol. They get back bear, but drama keeps coming their way. The gang, his father, and other things.
That doesn't stop this man from claiming her. Heck, he even has a funeral for a plant. A PLANT!!!
I wish it was a little more spicy. But oh well.


Safety-there was mentioned of a ow by others, but nothing happened with that ow the mmc didn't even want her she wasn't even in the story.

No om/not really ow, no cheating, drama, sexy time, no virgins

Recommend-yes
Cover-⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Heat level-🌶


Instalove
Tiny push away from h
Praise kink
Violence
No condom
Hea
Epilogue

[Sadni · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow this book was so spectacularly bad!!!
I just don’t understand how there are only 3 other 1 star reviews. Makes me feel like I read a completely different book than all the other reviewers.

Sadie is the fmc in this book and she acts like a 5 year old child. Even though I think shes either 21 or 23 but of course shes barely above the legal age to drink. Davian the mmc is older and I think he’s around 31 or so. Clearly a lot more experienced than fmc and more mature. But really a 10 year old would be more experienced and mature than Sadie.

I was so intrigued by the reverse kidnapping plot(she kidnaps him), that I thought I would read this all the way through to end. *BIG* mistake.
There are a total of 4 kidnapping instances in this book and all of them are cringy and extremely dumb. I had to exit out of the kindle app multiple times because of how cringy and absolutely stupid Sadie’s thoughts were or most of the time she would say the wackest thing out loud.

I kinda wish she had died in one of the kidnappings lol 😂

[brynn helena · Rating 5 out of 5]

i actually DON'T CARE that they were in love with each other after only having met two days beforehand!!!! some of y'all never heard of soulmates!!! they were fated!!! instalove my ass!!!!! this was just absolutely delightful. i loved all of the characters and was cheesin' at my kindle like a schoolgirl. FIVE STARS NO NOTES 💕

[Miki’s⚠️ Safety Reviews & Rants⚠️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Omg this was such a delight from beginning to end I wouldn’t change a thing!

♥️Animal shelter
‼️Funny, light and fun
♥️Great chemistry
‼️Fast Burn
♥️Mafia
‼️Lots of Hostaging
♥️Steamy loads of chemistry
♥️JP Hero - he was jealous of a dog even
‼️Mine
♥️Very enduring h
‼️OTT antics so be ready for fun times if a hit ridiculous but I laughed and enjoyed every minute.
♥️competition between man and dog 😅


💕This was amazingly fun and just so good. Great chemistry with our characters. The h was so freaking cute and the H was just so HOT and OTT and took everything in good humor with our h. They were never a match that should have worked but definitely where PERFECTION.
I love how down to each other they were.
‼️And yes this story took place in 48hrs and I loved it

I would read more from this author if she had more safe books like this for sure.

Safe!
Neither V
No talks about their pasts an all ♥️
The H was suppose to be engaged but never agreed to it or talked to the girl.
No manwhore vibes
No condoms
No talks about birth control
No OW
Mild OMD from a cop that’s crushing on the h

[Luci ⋆˚⟡₊⋆ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Being innocent is one thing. Being straight-up stupid is another. Unfortunately for me, our FMC fell hard into the second category. What started off as a promising romcom—I was ready to hand it a solid 5 stars—spiraled into a full-blown disaster. Honestly? Even giving it 1 star feels generous.

Reading her thought process was painful. Half the time I couldn’t tell if she was being serious or if her brain had just decided to take the day off. It’s giving child trapped in an adult body, and trust me, that’s the last vibe you want when the smut scenes roll in. Like… be for real? Can someone actually be this dumb?

And let’s not forget: 90% of this book takes place over the course of less than two days. Yet somehow, they’re already catching feelings like it’s been months. Y’all just met. Then on day three, he adopts a dog with her and asks her to move in. I wish I was kidding.

Lets break it down:
• FMC doesn’t understand what mafia means. Like… genuinely doesn’t get it.
• She wears cupcake bras—meant to be quirky, but really just proof her brain stopped developing at age 12. Add to that her way of swearing (“son of a dog biscuit?”). What are you, five?
• She never knows when to shut up, and every time she opens her mouth, something ridiculous comes out. She literally tries to rescue a man locked in a mafia compound. Girl, why do you think he’s there? For fun? Also, are we seriously not using violence against the guy WHO KIDNAPPED YOU? What now, you wanna watch movies and eat cupcakes with him?
• No survival instinct. None. Zero. She can’t tell who’s dangerous and who’s not. I don’t think she can tell left from right, to be honest. Why would you tell your kidnapper you’re not wearing underwear??? Or bring up your nipples?? What the hell was that scene? I cringed so hard I nearly folded.

I’ve read plenty of mafia romances—some spicy, some gritty, some totally absurd..but this? This was a torture dressed up in forced banter and delusional instalove. I don’t care how many good reviews it has, this was a total waste of my time. By the end, I swear I could hear my brain cells packing their bags and leaving.

[jess.manora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seriously this was so unserious and I loved every hilarious second in this book! 😮‍💨

[jenny reads a lot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really cute concept.

I definitely picked this one up for the dog and the idea that she's the one holding him hostage!

I wanted to love this but it didn't really work for me - I think its a bit of a me problem though.

This will work for ppl who enjoy...
- age gap, she's a college student and sweet and innocent and he's the big scary bad mafia guy
- tiny FMC and big strong MMC
- dogs! Bear is adorable!
- insta-attraction and lots of focus on that physical attraction
- fast-burn
- he's obsessed and possessive

What didn't work for me...
- a lot of the above items aren't my favorite but I can usually get around them when they aren't too heavy handed. The big part that didn't work for me was how immature/young the FMC acted/her inner thoughts.

Audio Narration: 3.5/5
Inflection & pausing were great. Sounds a bit slowed at 1x. Character voice variations we fine. Overall I felt like the FMC was made to sound even more young/immature with the narration and the MMC narrator really cranked up the "gruff" - I may have actually enjoyed this more had I read the print.

| IG | TikTok |

Thank you Libro.fm & the publisher for the gifted ALC. All opinions are my own.

[Giulia ❀ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Have you ever read a mafia rom com? This was silly but so funny! Basically she accidentally kidnapped a mafia leader and of course it’s unrealistic (and a little cringe) but who cares? Also the cover is gorgeous and full of accurate details

[Lucy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I know this is not a popular opinion based on the other reviews, but this was not good. This took the idea of rom-com and ramped up the "comedy" so much that it stopped being funny (it never really was) and started being more like a bad SNL script. Sadie was so annoying naive and ditzy that she just came across as insufferable. Davian could have been a good character if he wasn't in love with Sadie right off the bat. At that point, he became just as annoying.

I wanted to like it. But it became clear that this started as a pay-per-chapter book almost immediately. Everything moved way too fast and dragged all at the same time. This was just the Kindle version of a Galatea book. I'm glad others could enjoy it but I was definitely not one of them.

[A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Star Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Spice Rating: 🌶
HEA: 🌟🌟🌟/3
❗️Safety and Small Spoilers Below❗️


📌 Triggers: Violence (on-page) Kidnapping (on-page)

📌 No Cheating/Sharing

📌 No OMD

📌 No OWD: There's a mafia princess named Daniella, that MMCs father wants him to marry. She's never introduced into the story and MMC has only briefly met her. There's never been romantically involved.

📌 No Third-act Breakup

📌 Notes: All-in-all this was a really fun read. Yes, there are some crazy, over-the-top moments. And a lot goes down in only 48 hours. But, I enjoyed it and laughed out loud a couple of times.

[Kat · Rating 1 out of 5]

Honestly, this one is on me. I have no idea why I read this.

[akacya ❦ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

2025 reads: 240/300

i received a complimentary audio copy as part of libro.fm’s influencer program. i am leaving this review voluntarily.

when a group of punks vandalize the animal shelter sadie morris works at—and steal one of the dogs—she gets desperate. desperate enough to seek help from davian reed, heir to the criminal empire that runs the city…and desperate enough to hold davian hostage when he turns down her ask for help. as the two search for sadie’s kidnapped dog, she starts to realize she just might be hot for her hostage.

this was a rom-com that i think actually earned the “com” part of its genre. obviously, several aspects of this required a suspension of disbelief, but this is a pretty fun book if you don’t take it too seriously. that said, i didn’t really love the “rom” part of this book. this book takes place over just about two days (not counting the epilogue), and they overtly expressed attraction toward each other not too far in, so it was hard to be sold on the romance. still, this was a decent book. i enjoyed lance greenfield and cassandra king’s narrations, as this had dual points of view from sadie and davian.

[Teresa]

DNF @ 43% - he was a hostage for 5 minutes

[suonnahbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hot for hostage by Maggie Evans
ARC from LibroFM
This was hilarious, cute and a little dark but I like it. Sadie’s hostage situation had me dying but would be me I’d suck too but her doing it for the dog is adorable. Their connection had me giddy and laughing. They are DEFINITION of grumpy x sunshine. Her hostage steps are too funny like girl please you don’t know what you’re doing lol but also a little repetitive. Davian is so hot he has a cold exterior but truly is a teddy bear inside when it comes to Sadie🥰. This was a fun read 🫶🏾📚
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[samantha ఌ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Did the story took place in just two days? Yes. Did the h spend half of the book without underwear while she was hostage? Yes. Do I recommend this book? Absolutely.

Maybe I need more mafia romcoms.

[anslee ♡⋆｡° · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m sorry… all of that in the span of two days?

[JennyWithThe📚 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious great!!

This book was hilariously bat sh<% crazy. I loved it! I loved the FMC and the craziness that seems to follow her because of her decisions. It’s a fun, comedic, very slow burn book.

[AnotherRomanceReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book Name/Series: Hot for Hostage
Author: Maggie Evans
Standalone?: Can be read as a standalone.

4 Stars

My Opinion: This was just a fun romance with very little angst, some great main characters, and some interesting secondary characters. I also absolutely loved Bear and his antics as well as his penchant for chewing on the hero’s shoes.

However, I would have liked some more background on both the main characters, and I did feel like the drama with the hero’s father was a bit anti-climactic.

Hero: 5/5. I really liked Davian. He was possessive, protective and completely gone for Sadie which I loved. I also really liked that he was so supportive and encouraging of her.
Heroine: 5/5. Sadie was incredibly innocent and naïve, and I think it could have easily been too much or too ridiculous, but I think it actually worked in this book. I also loved how much she cared about the dogs at the shelter she volunteered at, and I really enjoyed how she reacted to some of the things that happened.

POV: 1st person POV (Davian and Sadie).

Push/Pull: Not really.

Sadness: 0/5.

Explicit Sex and Spice Level: Yes. 1/5.

OW (Other Woman)/OM (Other Man) Drama: Yes, but it’s minor. Sadie is told that the hero is supposed to marry another woman to create an alliance, so she decides to escape his compound. However, the hero has no intention of marrying the woman and he never had. It’s also mentioned that he’s had maybe one conversation with her and has zero feelings for her.

Separation: Not really.

Cheating: No.

Closure/Ending: HEA. There’s an epilogue 8 months into the future where they get engaged.

Possible Triggers: Violence, killing, kidnapping.

[Nicole Hambleton · Rating 1 out of 5]

i know this is supposed to be silly funny but it reads like she’s 5 years old. fmc couldn’t form a thought if she tried.

[Ashley Abboud · Rating 2 out of 5]

After DNF-ing 3 books in a week I made myself finish this.
Some parts did have me smiling not going to lie. The author wanted a cute quirky FMC and was maybe going for a young Rose from golden girls, and sometimes we got that. But we mostly got an infantilized woman. Please tell me when a woman has ever been unaware/forget that when wearing a wet white t-shirt in a pool with no bra was sticking to her chest and would cause someone to see everything when she was out of the pool? Not in a million years. She’s like unaware of her body. She occasionally acted like a child. Other times she was a goofy woman and it worked. But the other times I was getting the ick.

[Natasha Niezgoda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Utterly ridiculous. But scratched every itch I needed it to. The perfect companion whilst Christmas crafting.

I can’t wait for my reverse hostage mafia meet cute!

[Belle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really love Maggie’s writing! This is a cute, fun read. It is instalove and i do wish there had been a few more days before they were in love with another, but it was nice for a quick read.

[netty · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ridiculous naive heroine and blah blah plot

[rj · Rating 5 out of 5]

the cutest, most unserious, and hilarious mafia book ever

100% safe

[jineen · Rating 1 out of 5]

what in the hell did i read bruh..

[kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

the plot? RIDICULOUS!

the characters? OUTRAGIOUS!

the spice? LUDICROUS!

and yet? I HAD THE BEST TIME LISTENING TO THIS!!

[Nikolett Ungor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tba