Deadly Hands

The House of Matvei #1

by Elaina Loughty

One risky game was all it took to change Reuben Hoyt's life forever. Now he's the personal poker player for the notorious Matvei crime syndicate, using his extraordinary talent for reading people to help them outmaneuver their rivals. The only problem? He's falling hard for his dangerous employer, Nikon Matvei.

Nikon has spent years building his gambling empire through calculated violence and iron control. He never expected a brilliant young poker player to breach his carefully constructed walls. But as Reuben proves himself essential to the organization, Nikon finds himself breaking his own rules to claim what's his.

When enemies within and without threaten everything they've built, Reuben and Nikon must decide if their dangerous romance is worth risking it all. In a world where love is the deadliest game in town, sometimes the only winning move is to go all in.

Authors note:
“Deadly Hands” is a dark MM mafia romance that explores what happens when a brilliant poker player catches the eye of a powerful Russian crime boss. This high-stakes romance combines the dangerous allure of underground poker rooms with a forbidden love story between two men from very different worlds.

Inside “Deadly Hands” I wanted to write about characters who felt real despite their extraordinary circumstances. Whether you enjoy slow-burn romance, morally gray characters, or dark MM crime romance, you'll find yourself drawn into a world where love becomes the biggest gamble of all.

Please note that "Deadly Hands" contains mature themes. This is Book 1 of The House of Matvei series.

Genres: M M Romance, Dark, Dark Romance, Crime, Contemporary, Queer, Gay

114 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 27, 2025

Reviews

[Ariel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delicious. And I'm interested to see where the rest of the series goes.

[Olga Matskevich · Rating 5 out of 5]

May be book about Grigorii in plans? That will be quite a story, he is my fav 🥰

[Laina Gruver · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

With his ever growing number of employment rejections, Reuben needs money or he’ll end up homeless. An old classmate offers to front him the buy-in money if Reuben agrees to enter a high stakes poker game and use his powers of observation to win.

Nikon is very interested in the young man who is surreptitiously winning against professional poker players. When the game ends Nikon discovers that Reuben’s friend stole his family’s money and used it for the buy-in. Nobody steals from the Matvei family. Reuben says he didn’t know, Nikon tells him he can either use his observation skills to work for the family or they can find a more pleasurable way for him to work off the debt. Reuben ends up working for the Matvei family but, not all of the brothers like the idea. Reuben is tested (several times). Nikon develops feelings for Reuben and the feelings are mutual.

There are a couple of hot, sexy scenes and some violence. Since it’s a novella, there was a bit of ‘time jumping’ and a few unanswered questions but nothing major so, not a cliffhanger.

*****

POV… third person

Standalone or series… book 1 in series can be read as standalone

Hangover… slight

Recommend… sure

Reread… sure

[Becki Graves · Rating 3 out of 5]

A balance of good and bad.

The story itself is a short and surprisingly charming story with just enough action to keep it interesting.

Though I was surprised with how short it was I'm glad the author kept enough time jumps so that the men weren't jumping to 'I love yous' right away.

The downside is that it definitely reads like the author rushed things.
There's continuity errors, moments where the characters are in one location and then suddenly in another, moments when it seems like Nikon must have three or more hands to be doing some of the things he was doing...

Over all I like the writing but the author definitely needs to revise more, get some beta readers and pay more attention to details and continuity in the scenes.

[Maureen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, I wasn't too sure about this when I decided to give it a go, I like Mafia/mobster tales but I don't know a single thing about poker. Luckily the author does and this was an amazing story full thrills, daring and mobsters mafiaring. This is the first of a planned series and it left us on a bit of a cliffhanger, crafty move there by the author, but it worked with me, can't wait to read the next one.

[Crex · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love how Reuben is crazy, Nikon is crazy, even me am crazy because why was I looking for reads on people I can't see, I enjoyed this book, there was something about nikon making sure he was all in before they slept together and the fact he was the first to say the three words made it better, Reuben didn't need to say it back but it showed, Aubrey should respect himself, I love the storyline, had a good time

[Navi · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was interesting but I wish the relationship devlopement and character development was not rushed...and also the story continues with the same couple over three books...
I lose interest if the couple gets together in book one itself...the story and plot gives no incentive to pick book 2. I picked book 2 thinking it would be focused on a different couple.

[Latty|The Creative · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh

Truth be told I expected more from Deadly Hands, but I get the title, Reuben is not just a talented poker player but deadly observant and precise, which is key in Nikon's world. This was just the start though and I've already gotten the entirety of the series so let's see what's in store with book 2.

[Leon · Rating 2 out of 5]

the second i read “manhood” i was mentally checked out and only kept going because the plot was mildly interesting. i would’ve liked it better if the plot of this novella had been spread out over more pages, with more details, because quite frankly, this was like the sloppy ending of GoT.

[JILL Stock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting

Interesting intriguing and thoroughly worth of reading. New author to me but I will definitely be on the look out for more books. Hope that the second book book in this series is not too far away.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️

Not enough romance for me, honestly. And for some reason, every book on my Kindle app feels meh, but on Apple Books? I’ll binge a whole novel in 4 hours like it’s nothing. Something’s definitely wrong with my brain hahah

[Regenia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay

While interesting enough to finish, this book didn't make me want to read the next one. Not even for free as part of KU. This title was like a Harlequin Romance version of the "dark mafia" trope.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can’t wait to read the next book!

[Lucie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

[Katie Clausen · Rating 5 out of 5]

😍😍😍😍

I love mafia crime stories so much. This one piqued my interest and it didn't disappoint!! I loved the storyline. Look forward to reading more!!

[May-Lene Nilsen · Rating 2 out of 5]

meh, could be better. also hard to take series when the last name means "food road" in Norwegian

[Sara Wolfe · Rating 3 out of 5]

loved the start to this novella series. didn't realize it was a cliffhanger though

[lovingnyc · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, the tension between the four Matvei brothers is far more compelling than the romance part.

[Anne]

3.5*