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The Girl Who Can't Be Kissed
What if your one ambition is to kiss the girl who can't be kissed?
A Mafia lesbian BDSM romance about desiring the things you can never have. Gracie Lynch has no job, no home, no money, and a mentally ill younger brother to keep safe. All she has left is her fierce will to survive…and a strange, lucrative offer from a mysterious woman for exclusive rights to Gracie's body.
Icy Mafia lawyer Evelyn Voss wants her new toy to feel pleasures she's never imagined. To live out her fantasies. And to never, ever ask what's behind the mask that Evelyn always wears.
The one thing Evelyn doesn't ask for is her heart. But that's the one thing Gracie isn't sure she can keep.
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Content Warning: This novel contains mature themes including BDSM, explorations of trauma, violence, and potentially challenging character dynamics. For more information see the publisher's website.
A Mafia lesbian BDSM romance about desiring the things you can never have. Gracie Lynch has no job, no home, no money, and a mentally ill younger brother to keep safe. All she has left is her fierce will to survive…and a strange, lucrative offer from a mysterious woman for exclusive rights to Gracie's body.
Icy Mafia lawyer Evelyn Voss wants her new toy to feel pleasures she's never imagined. To live out her fantasies. And to never, ever ask what's behind the mask that Evelyn always wears.
The one thing Evelyn doesn't ask for is her heart. But that's the one thing Gracie isn't sure she can keep.
###################
Content Warning: This novel contains mature themes including BDSM, explorations of trauma, violence, and potentially challenging character dynamics. For more information see the publisher's website.
224 pages, Paperback
Published October 7, 2025
6 people are currently reading
30 people want to read
About the author
Georgette Kaplan
17 books131 followersGeorgette Kaplan was born in Shirebrook, Derbyshire, to Eileen, a dancer, and Barry, a street merchant and lounge singer. She was a Diver on the British National Diving Team and finished twelfth in the World Championships in 1992. She has also been a fashion model, black market salesman and finally of course, actor. She received the audition for her debut role as Bacon in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) through French Connection, for whom she was modeling. They became a major investor in the film and introduced her to Guy Ritchie, who invited her to audition for a part in the film by challenging her to impersonate an illegal street vendor and convince him to purchase fake jewelry.
Wait a minute, that's Jason Statham. Shit! Is there any more room?
Okay, I'm a writer, I've published a few books, I'm looking for an artist to go halfsies with me on a webcomic and an agent because, let's be honest, that paragraph up there is my idea of marketing myself, so I may need some help with that. Otherwise, what do you need to know about me? It's not like I'm running for President.
Wait a minute, that's Jason Statham. Shit! Is there any more room?
Okay, I'm a writer, I've published a few books, I'm looking for an artist to go halfsies with me on a webcomic and an agent because, let's be honest, that paragraph up there is my idea of marketing myself, so I may need some help with that. Otherwise, what do you need to know about me? It's not like I'm running for President.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 13, 2025
I went into this book with high hopes, but unfortunately it didn’t quite deliver. The spicy scenes were well done, but for an erotica I found myself surprisingly unsatisfied with everything else.
What threw me off the most was the heavy focus on side characters and their individual storylines. While this can work beautifully in many genres (including sapphic ones), it felt out of place here. More than once, a sapphic BDSM scene suddenly cut away to the brother beating someone up or blowing money on gambling. The shift was jarring and pulled me completely out of the story.
On top of that, I never felt like the central relationship had the time or attention it needed to develop. The connection between the leads felt underexplored, which left the romance and emotional stakes flat. Combined with the distracting side plots, there wasn’t enough space for the main couple’s relationship to truly grow or shine.
The side plots themselves weren’t uninteresting, but I think they would have worked better if filtered through the perspectives of the main characters and their relationships with those side characters. Keeping the POVs centered on the leads would have naturally strengthened both the intrigue and the character development.
By the end, I was left underwhelmed and disappointed.
What threw me off the most was the heavy focus on side characters and their individual storylines. While this can work beautifully in many genres (including sapphic ones), it felt out of place here. More than once, a sapphic BDSM scene suddenly cut away to the brother beating someone up or blowing money on gambling. The shift was jarring and pulled me completely out of the story.
On top of that, I never felt like the central relationship had the time or attention it needed to develop. The connection between the leads felt underexplored, which left the romance and emotional stakes flat. Combined with the distracting side plots, there wasn’t enough space for the main couple’s relationship to truly grow or shine.
The side plots themselves weren’t uninteresting, but I think they would have worked better if filtered through the perspectives of the main characters and their relationships with those side characters. Keeping the POVs centered on the leads would have naturally strengthened both the intrigue and the character development.
By the end, I was left underwhelmed and disappointed.
December 13, 2025
The Girl Who Can’t Be Kissed has some genuinely excellent spicy scenes - the chemistry is there, the tension works, and the dynamic between the leads could have been incredible. But for an erotica, I ended up surprisingly unsatisfied with everything happening around those moments.
My biggest hurdle was the sheer amount of focus on side characters and their unrelated dramas. Every time I was settling into a sapphic BDSM scene, the story would suddenly cut to the brother gambling, getting into fights, or spiralling into his own subplot. It was jarring, and it pulled me out of the main relationship completely. None of that was mentioned in the blurb, so I wasn’t expecting a near-equal mafia-adjacent storyline competing with the romance.
Because of this, the central relationship never really got the development it needed. Evelyn and Gracie had the setup for an electric dynamic, but their emotional connection felt underexplored and overshadowed. The side plots weren’t bad on their own - they just didn’t feel integrated into their story, and the ending reflected that lack of cohesion.
In short: the highs are high (the intimate scenes are genuinely great), but the book feels unbalanced overall. If you’re here for charged, well-written BDSM moments, you’ll find plenty to enjoy - just be prepared for a lot of extra plot that distracts from the romance rather than deepening it.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Ylva Publishing for a copy of this novel. ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.
My biggest hurdle was the sheer amount of focus on side characters and their unrelated dramas. Every time I was settling into a sapphic BDSM scene, the story would suddenly cut to the brother gambling, getting into fights, or spiralling into his own subplot. It was jarring, and it pulled me out of the main relationship completely. None of that was mentioned in the blurb, so I wasn’t expecting a near-equal mafia-adjacent storyline competing with the romance.
Because of this, the central relationship never really got the development it needed. Evelyn and Gracie had the setup for an electric dynamic, but their emotional connection felt underexplored and overshadowed. The side plots weren’t bad on their own - they just didn’t feel integrated into their story, and the ending reflected that lack of cohesion.
In short: the highs are high (the intimate scenes are genuinely great), but the book feels unbalanced overall. If you’re here for charged, well-written BDSM moments, you’ll find plenty to enjoy - just be prepared for a lot of extra plot that distracts from the romance rather than deepening it.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Ylva Publishing for a copy of this novel. ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.
October 28, 2025
Exquisite!
Gracie has nothing left to lose when an offer she can’t refuse is made. Her brother is mentally ill and she can’t keep him safe without the money Evelyn is offering. Evelyn is all business, keeping herself behind a mask but when Gracie starts falling for her despite their relationship being transactional, reality starts to creep up on Evelyn.
Wow, wow, wow! Georgette’s stories always blow me away. There is always an aloof woman, who would be considered strange but who I always find intriguing and fascinating. Evelyn was no exception. Mysterious and authoritative she made an impression right away, but underneath there were vulnerabilities that Gracie was the one to uncover and helped them surface for Evelyn to finally start accepting she could maybe be loved. It does contain a lot of dark themes and the description of the book has sensitivity warnings, but everything was explored with care and only to add meaning to the story and the shaping of the characters, to help us get to know them.
I was in awe of how Gracie quickly took up being a part of Evelyn’s fantasies and not because she was being paid. Almost instantly for her it was more than the transaction and the job. They had vulnerabilities in common that I felt Gracie had identified in Evelyn right from the start. Gracie knew hardship, was no stranger to struggle, and somehow she recognised neither was Evelyn. While there was a lot of focus on the mechanics of their BDSM relationship, there was a clever underlying tie to everything being completely emotional that just drove the intensity of their every interaction!
Such an intimate story, with a twisted darkness lurking but not fully dimming light. I adored this story and felt every emotion in such an overwhelming way. An amazing story!
Gracie has nothing left to lose when an offer she can’t refuse is made. Her brother is mentally ill and she can’t keep him safe without the money Evelyn is offering. Evelyn is all business, keeping herself behind a mask but when Gracie starts falling for her despite their relationship being transactional, reality starts to creep up on Evelyn.
Wow, wow, wow! Georgette’s stories always blow me away. There is always an aloof woman, who would be considered strange but who I always find intriguing and fascinating. Evelyn was no exception. Mysterious and authoritative she made an impression right away, but underneath there were vulnerabilities that Gracie was the one to uncover and helped them surface for Evelyn to finally start accepting she could maybe be loved. It does contain a lot of dark themes and the description of the book has sensitivity warnings, but everything was explored with care and only to add meaning to the story and the shaping of the characters, to help us get to know them.
I was in awe of how Gracie quickly took up being a part of Evelyn’s fantasies and not because she was being paid. Almost instantly for her it was more than the transaction and the job. They had vulnerabilities in common that I felt Gracie had identified in Evelyn right from the start. Gracie knew hardship, was no stranger to struggle, and somehow she recognised neither was Evelyn. While there was a lot of focus on the mechanics of their BDSM relationship, there was a clever underlying tie to everything being completely emotional that just drove the intensity of their every interaction!
Such an intimate story, with a twisted darkness lurking but not fully dimming light. I adored this story and felt every emotion in such an overwhelming way. An amazing story!
October 15, 2025
3.25 stars.
If this was a simple, as it were, erotica novella, this would hit the high notes you’d expect an accomplished writer like Ms. Kaplan, together with the solid reliability of Ylva Publishing, to come up with.
I knew what I was hoping to get here, and by and large, I got it. The story features some really good scenes between the MCs, with enough backstory sprinkled in and oodles of sexy chemistry. The setup allows for a great dynamic, and the author knows how to develop intense physical scenes to create believable emotional resonance.
What lets the story down is two things: first, there is too much weighting on the mafia plot without it really being integrated into the relationship between Evelyn and Gracie. Sure, it heavily informs Evelyn’s character and thus her actions, but that’s as far as it goes … That is, until we get to Gracie’s brother, Wayne, who provides an indirect connection, one that steers the book away from what you might expect. No brother is mentioned in the blurb, and thus I had no expectation of this major story strand, one that has a major contribution to the ending. The ending, such as it is … That’s my second issue. You’ll need to be prepared to enjoy the journey and the good parts of the story (Evelyn and Gracie’s charged scenes together) and have few expectations for the destination.
What’s good here is really good. Everything else puts the story out of balance, I believe. For me, those pages need to be reduced, or additional character arc progression between the main characters should be added to create a more cohesive story.
If you’re ready to enjoy some really good, charged (but not too heavy and not kinky) BDSM scenes that move the MCs towards each other emotionally, there are plenty of pages here to enjoy.
Georgette Kaplan can do better, though, than what’s presented. I’m ready to blame her editor, who really should have highlighted these issues well before a publication date was set, since I enjoyed the author’s Scissor Link and I have more of her books on my TBR.
Thank you to the author and (the amazing and usually very reliable) Ylva Publishing and to NetGalley for the chance to enjoy much of this ARC.
If this was a simple, as it were, erotica novella, this would hit the high notes you’d expect an accomplished writer like Ms. Kaplan, together with the solid reliability of Ylva Publishing, to come up with.
I knew what I was hoping to get here, and by and large, I got it. The story features some really good scenes between the MCs, with enough backstory sprinkled in and oodles of sexy chemistry. The setup allows for a great dynamic, and the author knows how to develop intense physical scenes to create believable emotional resonance.
What lets the story down is two things: first, there is too much weighting on the mafia plot without it really being integrated into the relationship between Evelyn and Gracie. Sure, it heavily informs Evelyn’s character and thus her actions, but that’s as far as it goes … That is, until we get to Gracie’s brother, Wayne, who provides an indirect connection, one that steers the book away from what you might expect. No brother is mentioned in the blurb, and thus I had no expectation of this major story strand, one that has a major contribution to the ending. The ending, such as it is … That’s my second issue. You’ll need to be prepared to enjoy the journey and the good parts of the story (Evelyn and Gracie’s charged scenes together) and have few expectations for the destination.
What’s good here is really good. Everything else puts the story out of balance, I believe. For me, those pages need to be reduced, or additional character arc progression between the main characters should be added to create a more cohesive story.
If you’re ready to enjoy some really good, charged (but not too heavy and not kinky) BDSM scenes that move the MCs towards each other emotionally, there are plenty of pages here to enjoy.
Georgette Kaplan can do better, though, than what’s presented. I’m ready to blame her editor, who really should have highlighted these issues well before a publication date was set, since I enjoyed the author’s Scissor Link and I have more of her books on my TBR.
Thank you to the author and (the amazing and usually very reliable) Ylva Publishing and to NetGalley for the chance to enjoy much of this ARC.
October 8, 2025
Heed the reader discretion warnings
This story will have you squirming (emotionally and/or physically), from arousal and/or discomfort. It's not a beach read and definitely not a church read but it's bound to have you turning pages driven by curiosity about what will happen next. You may think you know what's going to happen at times but also be unsure because the characters are not always predictable even when you've gotten to know them (or think you have) on the page.
The romance is unconventional and erotic, the power dynamics may not be everyone's cup of tea, and the story overall unsettling at times, but I started reading - just one chapter was the idea to get it started - and next thing I knew the battery on my e-reader was circling the dead zone and I had to stop for the night (morning? It was in the wee hours) so I could recharge the device's battery not because I wanted to. It wasn't always easy reading but it was compelling which I wasn't expecting since my reading experience with Georgette Kaplan's work has been hit and miss in terms of personal appeal of the content, not a reflection of her writing or storytelling ability. I had expected the story to expand in one respect based on main characters' Gracie and Evelyn's arrangement and was a bit disappointed when it didn't happen but I suspect that there was no space for it in the end.
If you want a break from the norm in wlw romance stories and crave some grit and dark and naughty (the real stuff not the air brushed version of those things), then consider this book and check out the author's other books as well if you like this one.
This story will have you squirming (emotionally and/or physically), from arousal and/or discomfort. It's not a beach read and definitely not a church read but it's bound to have you turning pages driven by curiosity about what will happen next. You may think you know what's going to happen at times but also be unsure because the characters are not always predictable even when you've gotten to know them (or think you have) on the page.
The romance is unconventional and erotic, the power dynamics may not be everyone's cup of tea, and the story overall unsettling at times, but I started reading - just one chapter was the idea to get it started - and next thing I knew the battery on my e-reader was circling the dead zone and I had to stop for the night (morning? It was in the wee hours) so I could recharge the device's battery not because I wanted to. It wasn't always easy reading but it was compelling which I wasn't expecting since my reading experience with Georgette Kaplan's work has been hit and miss in terms of personal appeal of the content, not a reflection of her writing or storytelling ability. I had expected the story to expand in one respect based on main characters' Gracie and Evelyn's arrangement and was a bit disappointed when it didn't happen but I suspect that there was no space for it in the end.
If you want a break from the norm in wlw romance stories and crave some grit and dark and naughty (the real stuff not the air brushed version of those things), then consider this book and check out the author's other books as well if you like this one.
October 14, 2025
A curious story that, between being told in a veiled manner and dealing with a slightly atypical subject, was quite interesting to me. It's about a woman who, as a last resort, intends to sell her body to survive, and in that attempt, she is somehow recruited or captured so that Evelyn, a powerful and mysterious woman, buys her services That makes it sound a bit sordid, and in some ways it is. Because Evelyn is also a dom who is going to initiate Gracie into the world of BDSM sex, which she has no experience with, just as she's never been with a woman either.What initially leads to a relationship of apparent power abuse soon becomes an experience that Gracie begins to desire, regardless of the financial benefits it brings her. Intertwined with all of this is the world of the mafia, in which Evelyn is an important piece, as is Gracie's brother, who is also going through difficulties. All of this has created an atmosphere with some violence but composes a rather interesting story as a whole.
Ylva Publishing was kind enough to send me a copy via NetGalley for an honest review
Ylva Publishing was kind enough to send me a copy via NetGalley for an honest review
October 14, 2025
The potential was there, the story about Gracie feeling her only way out is to sell her body and she ends up with Evelyn and all her demons. Gracie was abused by her father and was saved by her brother Wayne that now has his own issues and entanglements with the mafia, thus in a way all alone with no safety net. Evelyn on the other hand has obviously been through some trauma and the whole deal with hiring Gracie is to try to get over some of that. Unfortunately the way the story is delivered and all the side characters involved the story so strange and almost unreadable. I also never felt that much for the MC's so overall a very disappointing reading experience with one of the least clarifying epilogues I have ever read.
Gracie and Evelyn together is pure BDSM erotica and if you like that this is perhaps a book for you.
I received a free ARC via NetGalley and leave a review voluntarily.
Gracie and Evelyn together is pure BDSM erotica and if you like that this is perhaps a book for you.
I received a free ARC via NetGalley and leave a review voluntarily.
October 20, 2025
Although this story topic is not usually a draw for me, I try and select reads that are different for me every now and then. Gracie Lynch, in need of money, encouragement and to be appreciated. When an interesting offer comes in from an icy mafia lawyer, Evelyn Voss, Gracie thinks why not. Not only is Gracie concerned about herself but her younger brother, Wayne (adds an interesting and unique branch to the story). The power dynamic between Evelyn and Gracie was difficult to read at times but I hung in there cheering for Gracie to get a positive/good outcome for herself and her brother.
ARC provided by Ylva Publishing via NetGalley
ARC provided by Ylva Publishing via NetGalley
October 29, 2025
This was much more than just a spicy read. Evelyn’s struggles with her past and Gracie’s financial struggles were a perfect catalyst to bring these two together in an unconventional way. The story shows that pain transcends social status and wealth and provides hope for relationships that begin without such extreme baggage.
Georgette Kaplan remains one of my “pre-order - no need to read the blurb” authors. And if like me you can’t wait for her next offering I highly recommend her Goodreads book reviews.
Georgette Kaplan remains one of my “pre-order - no need to read the blurb” authors. And if like me you can’t wait for her next offering I highly recommend her Goodreads book reviews.
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October 20, 2025I love the cover and was really intrigued by the blurb, but I just couldn’t finish this book. Mainly because the characters are just… odd. Especially Gracie—she’s bratty, but not in a fun way, more in an annoying and ungrateful way(you know what I mean if you had read the first few chapters). And the supposedly “icy” mafia lawyer, Evelyn Voss, isn’t icy at all. The way they interacted made me cringe more than once.
October 15, 2025
Firstly, I read this book as ‘an experiment’ re BDSM in a relationship as part of my romance reading and I have to say it is not for me hence the rating.
Having said that the book is well written and deals with a lot of emotions, manipulation and complex relationships.
Thanks to Ylva and NetGalley for the ARC. This review is my personal opinion.
Having said that the book is well written and deals with a lot of emotions, manipulation and complex relationships.
Thanks to Ylva and NetGalley for the ARC. This review is my personal opinion.
December 24, 2025
A mask wearing consiglieri with a pension for domming and a troubled past AND a chaotic family life!? Yes pleases and thank yous. The first few pages had me side-eying the book but DAMN once it got going- good lord. The Pretty Woman we all wondered about, signed, sealed and delivered.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews