Audiobook ARC Review: A Hateful Negotiation by Tijan. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A Hateful Negotiation by Tijan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In a slow-burn mafia romance from New York Times bestselling author Tijan, a dangerous psychopath—and deadly crime boss—drops his defenses for the one girl he’s vowed to protect.

Creighton was a dangerous crime boss with a growing empire. And he’s a psychopath.

He’s also obsessed with Blake.

She wanted a normal life. That meant new friends and a life without Creighton.

Except when Blake moves to New York for her senior year of college, Creighton follows because he knows that danger is close behind. He has always protected Blake, and he always will protect her, even if Blake hates how ruthless Creighton has become for her.

However, once they’re in New York, the dynamics between the two begin to change. Tensions heat up, and soon their chemistry is sizzling beyond what Blake can handle.

That means that their usual back-and-forth has to change, with new rules and a new agreement.

Perhaps this negotiation could be for their happily ever after?

They’ll just need to survive each other first…

The Anti‑Hero of My Dreams and Nightmares

The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💙💜💚❤️🩷
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥
Chemistry: 🧪🧪🧪🧪🧪
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙📔
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌏🌍
Character development: 😋😀😍🤯🥰
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration Type: Dual Narration

🎧 Audiobook Review: A Hateful Negotiation

Author: Tijan
Genre: Mafia romance
Narrators: Mia Madison and Benjamin Sands

🦸🏼‍♀️ The Heroine: Blake Green

Blake grew up bouncing through the foster system, surviving several abusive homes before a social worker intervened at age eight. Bruised and terrified, she was placed with Miss Marci — one of the rare foster parents who actually cared. Her new home was full of other kids, including Creighton, the older boy Miss Marci had all but given up on. He was volatile, feared, and already hardened by life, yet he made Blake one promise: he would never hurt her.

Now twenty‑two and in her final year of college as a psychology major, Blake is still trying to build a life that belongs to her. After being kidnapped from her previous dorm by someone who pretended to be a friend, she’s moved into graduate housing — a change Creighton insisted on for her safety. Even from a distance, he’s still the shadow in her life she can’t quite escape.

🦸🏻‍♂️ The Hero: Creighton Lane

Creighton has been labeled with psychopathic tendencies since childhood. He doesn’t process emotions the way most people do, and he reads others with unnerving precision. He’s convinced he’s incapable of love — but if he were ever going to love anyone, it would be Blake.

Even so, he lives far outside the law, surrounded by former foster brothers who now work for him. Miss Marci hates the path he’s chosen, but Creighton has always been a creature shaped by violence, loyalty, and survival. Blake is the one soft spot he’s never been able to sever.

📚 The Plot

Blake and Creighton have a long‑standing agreement: he stays out of her life except for ensuring her safety, and she doesn’t run from him. But when Blake moves to New York, Creighton follows — opening a nightclub, shifting his mafia operations to Manhattan, and stepping directly into the territory of two of the “Kings” from Tijan’s Kings of New York series.

The third King, recently revealed as Creighton’s cousin, has already handed over his power and holdings. What follows is a three‑way war for Manhattan, with Blake caught between the life she wants and the man who refuses to let her go.

🌟 Strengths

• A slow‑burn reveal of their shared past.
The story doesn’t dump the backstory upfront. Instead, it unfolds through flashbacks that deepen the emotional stakes and show how Blake and Creighton evolved from wary foster siblings to something far more complicated. Even as someone who usually dislikes flashbacks, I found them effective and engaging.
• A truly compelling anti‑hero.
Creighton is a stalker with psychotic tendencies who genuinely believes he can’t love — and that’s exactly what makes his unraveling so addictive. He’s one of the most fascinating, morally gray mafia heroes I’ve read: dangerous, obsessive, and yet strangely vulnerable.
• A fun crossover with Tijan’s universe.
Blake’s job at Octavia, owned by Cole Mauricio from Cole, adds a great layer of continuity. Cole’s neutral‑territory club is a perfect backdrop for the tension swirling around Blake.
• Exceptional character development.
Creighton is both the best and worst kind of anti‑hero — violent, unapologetic, and sometimes disturbingly comfortable with what he does. But the more the book reveals about him, the harder it becomes not to root for him. His complexity is the beating heart of the story.

💔 Limitations

• The Kings as antagonists.
West and Ashton, two of the Kings of New York, serve as Creighton’s enemies here — and their antagonism toward Blake and Creighton didn’t always sit well with me. Fans of their books may find the dynamic jarring.

🎙️ Narration

The dual POV narration by Mia Madison and Benjamin Sands works well for this story.

• Mia Madison’s slightly lower‑range voice fits Blake’s maturity and emotional depth.
• Benjamin Sands doesn’t have the deep, gravelly tone I usually prefer for a mafia anti‑hero, but he delivers a solid performance and captures Creighton’s intensity effectively.

💬 Final Assessment

This audiobook delivers one of the most gripping, character‑driven mafia romances I’ve listened to. The emotional tension between Blake and Creighton is electric, unsettling, and impossible to look away from. Creighton, in particular, is a standout — a beautifully crafted anti‑hero whose darkness never overshadows the strange, fierce loyalty he feels for Blake.

While the conflict with the Kings didn’t fully work for me, the strength of the central relationship, the layered backstory, and the immersive worldbuilding more than made up for it.

Overall, this is a bold, addictive, and emotionally charged mafia romance that stands out in the genre — especially for readers who love their heroes morally gray, obsessive, and unforgettable.

💭 Quotes

“I hated him, but f*ck him, I couldn’t kill him, I couldn’t walk away from him. What did I do? He was torturing me. I was so tired of the destruction that came along with Creighton. I was doomed.”

“She could do anything, she could be anyone. she could get anyone to love her. I just hoped she never did because if she truly decided to leave me, I don’t think the world would survive my desolation.”