Updated on October 9, 2026
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Verdict: A late-series family instalment that gives Zara Blackburn’s obsession its backstory and gives fans action, guns and steam, held back by family conflicts it leaves unresolved and a captive-wife dynamic even its fans call disturbing.
Best for: Readers who have followed The Blackburns from the start and want to see Emma come into her own, and who are comfortable with a forced-marriage, captor-and-captive romance in a violent crime family.
Heat level: ★★★★☆ (4/5 — our estimate; the book is not on romance.io, one reader calls the sex scenes very spicy and another rates the spice 3/5)
Rating: ★★★★☆ (3.5/5 — rests on very little reader evidence: a 4.39 Goodreads average from 64 ratings and only five written reviews there, almost all from series loyalists)
Tropes: Captor and captive, forced marriage, obsessive anti-heroine, mafia family, found and blood family, protecting the children, on the run, time jump, dual POV.
The Blackburns: Emma is the sixth of seven books in Jenna Kent’s The Blackburns series, self-published on June 13, 2024 and sold as a dark mafia lesbian romance: the story of Emma, taken captive and married against her will by crime-family leader Zara Blackburn, now five years into that marriage, raising Zara’s children and on the run from the troubles the family left behind in Detroit.
This is a book for people already inside the series. Goodreads shows 4.39 from 64 ratings and Amazon 4.5 from 73, but there are only five written reviews on Goodreads and nine on Amazon, several of them the same readers, and nearly every one of them is a Blackburns fan comparing it to the books before. The ratings are high. The reviews are more mixed than the stars, and the mix is worth understanding before you start.
What Is The Blackburns: Emma About?
This is dark mafia romance of the captor-and-captive kind, written as a long family saga. The relationship at its heart began with coercion: Emma was taken by Zara and made her wife, and the blurb is frank that she resents everything Zara represents even as she wants her. By book six the marriage is established, there are children, and the question is less whether the two women end up together than what kind of marriage they can have.
The book alternates between Emma and Zara. Emma’s chapters are about strength under pressure, protecting her children when the family is threatened. Zara’s are about obsession: she describes Emma as her reason for living and promises to burn the world down before letting her go. The story picks up after the events of an earlier Blackburns book about Zariah and a crossover with Death Bonds, and it sets up the next book, Cruel Princess.
What Makes This Dark Sapphic Mafia Saga Work
- Zara’s backstory: One reader says the book finally explains Zara, when she tells Emma how she grew up under her father after her mother died, and that this made sense of how she had treated Emma. Another says it finally gives a glimpse into the obsession.
- Emma’s growth: Two readers independently say Emma has come a long way since book one and holds the family together, especially at the end.
- Action: Readers describe fight scenes and gunfights they found thrilling and scary, and one calls it the most entertaining book in the series.
- The family: A five-year time jump brings back the whole cast and adds the next generation. Zara’s children Zerk and Anna and Zuri’s daughter Zala are singled out, and one reader wanted more of them.
- Series momentum: Several readers say the series is addictive and that this instalment pulls threads together ahead of the next book.
Book Synopsis
Five years have passed since the Blackburn family fled Detroit. Emma is still Zara’s wife, a marriage she never chose, and still the mother of children she would do anything to protect. The family is living in hiding, and the life Zara has built around them is lavish and violent in equal measure. Emma has learned to live inside it without ever quite accepting it.
Zara has not changed. She is the leader of a crime family, a killer by reputation and by practice, and her fixation on Emma is as total as it was on the day she took her. What she has never done is explain herself, least of all to the woman she married.
When the trouble the family left behind finds them, it comes for the children. Emma has to decide how far she will go to keep them safe, and what she is willing to break to do it, including the hold Zara has on her. Zara has to decide whether the only way to keep her family is to let Emma see who she was before she became the woman everyone fears. The bonds between the Blackburns are about to be tested from outside and from within.
My Review
The best thing here is that it finally lets Zara speak. Six books into a series built on her obsession, readers say this is where they get the why of it: a childhood raised by her father after her mother’s death. One reader who found Zara’s early treatment of Emma disturbing says this is what made it make sense. That is a real payoff for anyone who has stayed with the series.
The second strength is Emma herself. Two readers, writing separately, say she has come a long way since book one and that she carries her family when it matters. For a heroine who began the series as a captive, that is the arc a reader is waiting for, and on this evidence the book delivers at least part of it.
Where it struggles is everything around the couple. The most detailed review, the only one below four stars on Goodreads, calls the book a setback for the family: a character, Zoe, who never forgives Emma on the page, a rift between Zariah and Zara that is never talked through, and a marriage that goes backwards until close to the end. Another reader says Emma got on their nerves, and a third, while giving five stars, calls Emma foolish and bullied into submission. Those are not small complaints for a book whose title is her name.
The expectation to reset is what “romance” means here. This is not a book about two women falling in love; that happened, under duress, several books ago. It is a family saga with a captor-and-captive marriage at its centre, and even readers who love it describe Zara’s treatment of Emma as disturbing. If the dark label is what drew you, the darkness is in the relationship itself as much as the gunfights. If it is what worried you, this is not the book to start with, and possibly not the series.
The evidence is also thin and one-sided. Fourteen written reviews across two sites, most from readers who have bought every Blackburns book, tell you the series has a devoted core. They do not tell you how this book reads to anyone else, and the 17% of Goodreads raters at three stars or lower left no reasons.
My honest note: A payoff instalment for series loyalists, with Zara’s backstory and Emma’s growth as the reasons to read it. If you have not read books one to five, start there; if the captive-wife premise bothers you, the series will not change your mind.
| Element | In The Blackburns: Emma |
|---|---|
| Central relationship | Emma & Zara Blackburn — a captive bride and the crime-family leader who married her |
| Core tropes | Captor and captive, forced marriage, obsessive anti-heroine, mafia family, protecting the children, on the run |
| Setting | In hiding, five years after the Blackburns fled Detroit |
| Heat level | 4/5 — our estimate; one reader rates it 3/5 |
| Series | The Blackburns book 6 of 7; follows Zariah’s book and a Death Bonds crossover, and leads into Cruel Princess |
| Content notes | Captivity and forced marriage, coercive control, gun violence and fight scenes, threats against children, parental death in backstory |
How Dark and Spicy Is The Blackburns: Emma?
We estimate a 4 out of 5 for heat, with a caveat. The book is not on romance.io, and the series opener, Zara, is listed there with a 2.89 average from nine ratings and no steam band. Among readers, one calls the sex scenes very spicy, another lists steamy moments among the series’ strengths, and the one reviewer who gives a number rates the spice 3 out of 5. Somewhere between open door and explicit is the honest answer.
Darkness is the bigger question, and it is high. The marriage began as a kidnapping, readers describe Zara’s early treatment of Emma as disturbing and Emma as bullied into submission, and the plot includes gunfights and threats to children. No reviewer flags anything beyond that. For explicit mafia romance outside a long series, Broken Vows sits at the top of the heat scale, and My Mafia Princess offers obsession with a lighter body count.
Who Should Read This Book?
You’ll likely love it if: you have read the first five Blackburns books, you want Zara’s backstory and Emma’s growth, you like your mafia romance full of action and family, and a coercive, obsessive marriage is a fantasy you enjoy on the page.
You may want to skip it if: you have not read the series, forced marriage and captivity are hard limits, you want the family conflicts properly resolved, or you need a romance where both women chose each other freely.
In short: a payoff for fans, not a way in.
What Readers Are Actually Saying (October 2026)
The Blackburns: Emma lives entirely inside its series’ readership. It has 64 Goodreads ratings and 73 on Amazon, no romance.io listing, no Reddit discussion and no trade or blog coverage that we could find. Its Amazon rank sat beyond 600,000 in the Kindle store when we checked. The people reviewing it are people who have read every Blackburns book and are waiting for the next one, and their reviews read that way: comparisons to earlier instalments, favourite characters, impatience for the sequel.
Why readers love it (according to the discourse): Investment, first of all. Readers describe the series as addictive and say they could not stop. Zara is the recurring favourite, and this book’s glimpse into her obsession and her childhood is the most praised element. Emma’s growth is next, named by two readers. The action, the fight and gun scenes and the family-under-siege plot, come third, and one reader calls it the most entertaining book in the series. Steam and emotional swings round it out.
What readers argue about and complain about: First, the family threads. The one three-star Goodreads review is a series loyalist’s complaint that Zoe never forgives Emma and Zara and Zariah never talk through their rift on the page, and that the couple’s relationship goes backwards until near the end. Second, Emma. Readers who rate the book highly still call her bratty, foolish or irritating. Third, the premise: one five-star reviewer says plainly that Zara’s early treatment of Emma is disturbing. These complaints come from fans, which makes them more telling rather than less.
The series question everyone should ask first: This is book six of seven, and it is not a standalone in any sense. It picks up after Zariah’s book and a crossover with the Death Bonds books and leads directly into Cruel Princess. Start with book one, Zara. Be aware that the opener is the weakest-rated book we could find in the series on romance.io, with a 2.89 average from nine ratings, so the series asks for some patience.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is The Blackburns: Emma a standalone?
No. It is book six of seven in Jenna Kent’s The Blackburns series and depends on the earlier books, including a crossover with Death Bonds. Start with Zara.
How spicy is The Blackburns: Emma?
Our estimate is 4 out of 5. It is not on romance.io; one reader calls the sex scenes very spicy, and another rates the spice 3 out of 5.
Is The Blackburns: Emma a dark romance?
Yes. Emma was taken captive and married against her will, readers describe Zara’s treatment of her as disturbing, and the plot includes gun violence and threats to children.
Does The Blackburns: Emma have a happy ending?
Unverified. The couple is still together and one reader says things come together near the end, but family conflicts are left open and the series continues with Cruel Princess.
What order should I read The Blackburns in?
In publication order, starting with Zara. Emma is book six and assumes you know the family, the children and the events after the move from Detroit.
If You Loved The Blackburns: Emma, Read These Next
For obsession without a six-book commitment, read My Mafia Princess, a standalone with a possessive mafia heir and a guaranteed HEA. For a crime boss’s daughter held captive by her own family, try A Guard for the Princess. For an explicit mafia romance with an heir on the run, Broken Vows. More in our possessive and obsessive sapphic romance list, our sapphic mafia romance list and across our book reviews.
The Bottom Line
The Blackburns: Emma sets out to deepen a captor-and-captive marriage six books in, and for its fans it largely succeeds. Zara’s backstory lands, Emma grows, and the action keeps the family on edge. But the family rifts stay open, Emma still frustrates readers who love the series, and the relationship at the centre began as a kidnapping that even devoted readers call disturbing. It is worth it for Blackburns readers who want the next chapter. Check The Blackburns: Emma on Amazon →
The Eikna Overall Ranking
On the Eikna scale, The Blackburns: Emma ranks as a late-series dark mafia family saga — rewarding for loyal readers, limited by unresolved family threads and a coercive core, and best approached as book six of seven rather than a first taste of Jenna Kent.
The Evidence Scorecard
Overall ★★★★☆ 3.5/5
- ✓ 4.39 average across 64 Goodreads ratings
- ✓ 4.5 stars from 73 Amazon ratings
- ✓ Reviews come almost entirely from series fans
- ✓ Only five written Goodreads reviews; very low evidence
Romance ★★★☆☆ 3.2/5
- ✓ Zara’s obsession finally explained
- ✓ Readers love Zara’s devotion
- ✓ Marriage recovers near the end
- ✓ Built on captivity even fans call disturbing
Characters ★★★☆☆ 3.4/5
- ✓ Zara is the recurring favourite
- ✓ Emma’s growth named by two readers
- ✓ Children and family cast praised
- ✓ Emma called bratty or irritating by fans
Writing ★★★☆☆ 3.3/5
- ✓ One reader calls it well written
- ✓ Action scenes described as thrilling
- ✓ 196 pages, moves quickly
- ✓ Too few reviews to judge the prose
Emotional Impact ★★★★☆ 3.6/5
- ✓ Threats to the children raise the stakes
- ✓ Zara’s backstory reframes her for readers
- ✓ Readers describe an emotional rollercoaster
- ✓ Family rifts left hanging hurt one fan
Heat Level ★★★★☆ 4/5
- ✓ Our estimate, not a catalogued band
- ✓ One reader calls the sex scenes very spicy
- ✓ Steamy moments cited as a series strength
- ✓ One reviewer rates the spice 3/5
Ending ★★★☆☆ 3.2/5
- ✓ Emma strongest at the end, readers say
- ✓ Things come together, says one reader
- ✓ Leads into Cruel Princess
- ✓ Family conflicts left unresolved
Re-read Value ★★★☆☆ 3.4/5
- ✓ Fans call the series addictive
- ✓ Rewards a full series reread
- ✓ Seventh book continues the saga
- ✓ No audiobook found
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