The Counterpart Review (Ruby Landers): Is It Worth Reading?

Updated on October 8, 2026

Verdict: One of the best-loved sapphic mafia romances of the past year — an actor gets close to the Melbourne crime boss she plays on TV — with a magnetic ice-queen lead, a slow burn that readers stay up until 4 a.m. to finish, and a feminist anger that gives the crime plot weight. The main caveats are a slow first quarter and a large cast.

Best for: Readers who want a morally grey mob boss who melts for one woman, a high-concept premise, real chemistry and explicit heat, and who do not mind a darker book than the rest of the Gold Hill series.

Heat level: ★★★★☆ (4/5 — romance.io’s 30 readers say 4, “explicit open door”; one reader counts four spicy scenes)

Rating: ★★★★☆ (4.2/5 — a 4.49 Goodreads average from 1,937 ratings, adjusted for a slow start, a crowded cast and a crime plot some readers found only middling)

Tropes: Mafia romance, ice queen, actor and mob boss, slow burn, touch her and die, morally grey heroine, revenge, femme/femme, interconnected standalone.

The Counterpart is the second book in Ruby Landers’s Gold Hill series, a sapphic mafia romance self-published in November 2025 and a follow-up to Only Hope. Eloise “Ellie” Silver is a mid-thirties actor whose career has stalled; her biggest credit is playing the wife of a real Melbourne mob boss in a TV drama. When that wife, Estella Grant, seizes control of the city’s biggest crime syndicate, the show is renewed, Ellie gets the lead, and she decides to get close to the real woman.

It has 1,937 Goodreads ratings averaging 4.49 and 247 written reviews, 1,103 Amazon ratings averaging 4.7, and a 4.44 from 30 romance.io readers. Nearly nine in ten Goodreads readers give it four or five stars. The reviews are about as warm as this genre gets, and even the lukewarm ones mostly rate it below the author’s other books rather than below average.

What Is The Counterpart About?

The author calls it the spicy sapphic mafia romance sequel to Only Hope, in which Estella first appears. It is told in third person from both women’s points of view. Readers list mafia boss, ice queen, femme/femme, touch her and die and slow burn; romance.io’s community adds dangerous heroine, criminal heroine, fem-dom, angst and enemies to lovers, and files it as an interconnected standalone set in Australia.

The plot runs on two tracks. Ellie wants to understand Estella well enough to play her, and Estella has her own reasons to let her close — a detective is circling, and how the public sees her matters. Around them are Ellie’s sister Zara and her nephew, Estella’s people, and characters from Only Hope. Readers describe the second half in particular as a story about women, misogyny and revenge.

What Makes This Mafia Romance Work

Estella: Readers call her the reason to read: ruthless, protective, smart and, in one fan’s words, a crime boss with no idea how to deal with being in love.
Ellie: Fans like that she reads Estella’s lies from the start and refuses to become a victim, and the bond with her sister and nephew gives her stakes.
The chemistry: The slow build from teasing to scorching is the most praised part of the book, and several readers say they could not stop reading through the night.
The anger: Readers single out its focus on misogyny, rape culture and women looking after each other — “feminine rage, revenge, and redemption,” as one puts it.
The twists: Several readers say the plot kept them guessing until the end.

Book Synopsis

Ellie Silver has spent her career one step from a break: a soap opera, a run of ice-cream adverts, and one role as the wife of a real-life mob boss in a prime-time drama. Then that wife, Estella Grant, takes over Melbourne’s largest crime syndicate in a bloody coup.

The public cannot get enough of the beautiful, dangerous woman at the top, the show is renewed, and Ellie is suddenly the lead. If she is going to play Estella properly, she needs to know her — and there is only one way to do that.

Estella has plans of her own, a detective on her trail and no intention of letting an actor see more than she chooses. What neither of them expects is how much they will each be willing to risk.

My Review

The premise could have been a gimmick. An actor studying the woman she plays is a neat hook, but it lives or dies on whether the two leads feel real, and by readers’ accounts they do. Estella is the draw — an ice queen with a code, terrifying to everyone except the one person she is trying not to want — and Ellie is a match for her rather than a damsel. Landers’s banter and the slow tightening between them are what readers quote most.

What lifts it above most mafia romance is its point of view on violence. Readers repeatedly mention its anger at how men get away with abuse, and the way the second half turns into a story about women protecting one another. That gives Estella’s ruthlessness a purpose the genre often lacks, and it is why readers who usually avoid mafia books say this one won them over.

The criticisms are mild but consistent. One reader nearly gave up before the 25% mark, when the book “took off.” A four-star reader who loved the author’s earlier books spent much of this one waiting for everything to come together. Another struggled to keep track of the many characters, including several from earlier books, and one felt the mafia storyline was only OK next to the romance. The cooler reviews mostly come from fans comparing it to Ribbonwood and Only Hope.

My honest note: The strongest book in our sapphic mafia set: character-driven, sexy and angry in the right places. Give it the first quarter to get going.

Element	In The Counterpart
Central relationship	Ellie Silver, an actor, and Estella Grant, the mob boss she plays on TV — F/F, slow burn
Core tropes	Mafia, ice queen, morally grey heroine, touch her and die, revenge, femme/femme
Setting	Melbourne, Australia — a TV set and the city’s largest crime syndicate
Heat level	4/5 — romance.io says 4, “explicit open door”; one reader counts four spicy scenes
Series	Gold Hill book 2 — an interconnected standalone; Estella first appears in Only Hope
Content notes	Graphic violence, human trafficking, third-party sexual assault, past abuse, death and grief, drug abuse, torture of side characters, misogyny (romance.io reader tags)

How Dark and Spicy Is The Counterpart?

A 4/5 on heat, and the sources agree. Romance.io’s 30 raters give it four of five, “explicit open door,” one reader counts four spicy scenes, and readers describe the chemistry as building slowly before turning scorching. It is spicier than Only Hope — the author bills it as the spicy entry in the series — without being wall-to-wall.

On darkness, readers call it the darker side of Gold Hill, and the content warnings back that up: human trafficking, graphic violence, third-party sexual assault and torture of side characters. One reader with “the comfort zone of a marshmallow bunny” says it pushed them to their limits and was worth it. It is less brutal on the page than Her Wrath and has none of the captivity dynamics of Captive of the Crime Queen.

Who Should Read This Book?

You’ll likely love it if: you want an ice-queen mob boss who is protective to a fault, a heroine who can see through her, a slow burn with real heat, plot twists and a book that is angry about how women are treated.

You may want to skip it if: you need a book to grip you from page one, large casts are hard to follow, human trafficking or sexual violence against side characters are hard limits, or you want a light romance.

In short: a character-first mafia romance that most readers rate among the best in the subgenre.

What Readers Are Actually Saying (October 2026)

This is a breakout indie title. It came out in November 2025, it is in Kindle Unlimited, and it has 1,937 Goodreads ratings and 247 written reviews. The distribution is 61% five stars, 28% four, 8% three, 1% two and less than 1% one. On Amazon, 96% of its 1,103 ratings are four or five stars. We found no edition on Libro.fm.

There is an audiobook narrated by Katherine Littrell, and one reader who reread it on audio liked the narration enough to raise their rating to a full five stars. You can listen with Audible.

Why readers love it (according to the discourse): Estella, Ellie and the chemistry, then the twists and the book’s anger. Readers describe staying up until the small hours to finish, and several who do not normally read mafia romance say this one changed their minds. Many already count Landers as an auto-read author.

What readers argue about and complain about: The slow opening is the most common complaint, followed by the size of the cast and a crime plot that a few readers found less gripping than the romance. These complaints come mostly from four-star reviews; low ratings are rare.

The series question everyone should ask first: You do not need to read Only Hope first — romance.io files this as an interconnected standalone, and one reader says it works on its own — but Estella’s story starts there, and characters from book one return. One reader who read both calls the crossover clever.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to read Only Hope first?

No. The Counterpart works as a standalone with its own couple, but Estella first appears in Only Hope, and readers who read both enjoy the crossover.

How spicy is The Counterpart?

Explicit. Romance.io’s 30 raters give it 4/5, “explicit open door,” and one reader counts four spicy scenes after a slow build. We rate it 4/5.

Is The Counterpart a dark romance?

It is the darker book in the Gold Hill series, with violence, human trafficking and sexual assault involving side characters, but the leads’ relationship is not built on captivity or coercion.

Where is The Counterpart set?

Melbourne, Australia, between a TV production and the city’s largest crime syndicate.

Is The Counterpart on Kindle Unlimited?

Yes. As of October 2026 it is in Kindle Unlimited, and there is an Audible audiobook narrated by Katherine Littrell. We found no edition on Libro.fm.

If You Loved The Counterpart, Read These Next

Go back to Only Hope for Estella’s first appearance. For more Ruby Landers, read our reviews of Ribbonwood and Falls From Grace. For a darker mafia romance with an older crime boss, try Her Wrath. Browse our lesbian mafia romance books, mafia lesbian romance on Kindle Unlimited and spicy slow-burn lesbian romance, or explore lesbian romance books by trope and mood.

The Bottom Line

The Counterpart takes a playful premise and builds a serious, sexy mafia romance on it. It succeeds on Estella, on Ellie, on a slow burn that pays off, and on an anger at violence against women that gives the crime plot meaning. It is weaker on a slow first quarter and a cast big enough to lose track of. In Kindle Unlimited and on audio, it is an easy recommendation for anyone curious about sapphic mafia romance, including readers who think the subgenre is not for them. Check The Counterpart on Amazon →

The Eikna Overall Ranking

On the Eikna scale, The Counterpart ranks at the top of our sapphic mafia shelf — the most complete combination of character, chemistry and purpose in the set, held just short of the very top by its slow start.