Verdict: A steamy, angst-heavy forbidden sapphic romance with a light mafia backdrop — strong on tension and heat, but it ends on a hard cliffhanger and its taboo age-gap premise will not be for everyone.
Best for: Readers who love age-gap, forbidden-desire, protector-turned-lover dynamics and slow-burning sexual tension, and who do not mind a two-book split.
Heat: 🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶 (5/5) — a scorching, erotica-leaning read where the tension is the whole engine of the story.
Rating: ★★★★ (4.3 average across 451 ratings — popular with fans of the author, though divisive on premise and structure).
Tropes: Age gap · Forbidden romance · Step-aunt / step-niece · Protector turned lover · Forced proximity · The Ways We Burn Series
This sits at the taboo, high-heat end of the spectrum in our dark sapphic romance guide. A. Goswami is a bestselling age-gap romance author, and The Ways She Makes Me Sin leans fully into forbidden desire between two adult women — a premise that is central to the appeal for its fans and a dealbreaker for others.
What Is The Ways She Makes Me Sin About?
The Ways She Makes Me Sin is the first book in A. Goswami’s duology The Ways We Burn. It follows Evelyn Lockhart, who returns to keep a promise to her late brother: protect his daughters. The complication is Sophia — the step-niece Evelyn once left behind, now grown into a bold, confident adult woman, and the one person Evelyn knows she should never want.
Forced under the same roof at Evelyn’s Montana estate while hiding from a mafia threat tied to the murder of Sophia’s parents, the two women circle a mutual attraction neither is supposed to act on. Told in dual first-person perspective, it is a story of forbidden longing, old obsession reignited, and a bond that teeters between protection and something far more dangerous.
What Makes This Dark Mafia Romance Work
This is a tension-first romance, and it plays to A. Goswami’s strengths as an age-gap specialist:
- Slow-burning forbidden tension: The push-pull between duty and desire is the beating heart of the book, and it simmers effectively.
- Dual perspective: Alternating between Evelyn and Sophia lets you feel both the guilt and the longing on each side.
- A protector dynamic: The bodyguard-under-one-roof setup keeps the two women in constant, charged proximity.
- Real emotional weight: Grief, trauma, and abandonment give the romance more angst than a pure heat read.
- A looming mafia threat: The danger over the parents’ murder provides an external plot engine beyond the romance.
Book Synopsis
Evelyn Lockhart’s brother left her with a plea rather than a request: protect his daughters. She intends to keep that promise — but she never anticipated how Sophia would grow up. The shy teenager she left behind is now a bold, self-possessed adult woman, and being under the same roof, hiding from a mafia threat that could destroy them all, tests every rule Evelyn has ever lived by.
Sophia, for her part, once idolized the untouchable step-aunt who vanished from her life. Now Evelyn is back — harder, colder, and impossible to ignore — and the old obsession returns stronger than ever. No longer a kid, Sophia wants Evelyn to see her as the woman she has become. Evelyn believes she is there to be a protector; Sophia is determined to make her lose control. It is a dark, steamy romance driven by forbidden desire and a love that borders on obsession.
My Review
Let me be upfront: this is a book you will feel strongly about one way or the other, largely because of its premise. It is an age-gap, forbidden romance between two adult women who are step-aunt and step-niece — no blood relation, both consenting adults, but a dynamic that some readers found genuinely uncomfortable while others found the taboo tension irresistible. Where you land on that will decide a lot. What is not in dispute is that A. Goswami knows how to build sexual tension: the slow-burn push-pull between Evelyn and Sophia is charged, the dual perspective works well, and the steam is intense.
The emotional layer is stronger than I expected. There is real grief and trauma underneath the heat — the murder of Sophia’s parents, the abandonment Sophia never got over — and it gives the romance more weight than a pure spice read. When the book leans into its thriller elements, it is at its most gripping.
My honest caveats are significant. First, it ends on a hard cliffhanger — this is Book 1 of 2, and several reviewers felt pushed into buying the sequel to get any resolution. Second, a few readers flagged repetitive phrasing and noted the mafia-thriller plot is fairly thin, with more sex than suspense. Go in knowing it is a two-part story and a heat-forward one, and set your expectations accordingly.
| Element | In The Ways She Makes Me Sin |
|---|---|
| Central relationship | Evelyn Lockhart & Sophia (adult step-aunt & step-niece) |
| Core tropes | Age gap, forbidden romance, protector turned lover, forced proximity |
| Setting | A remote Montana estate under a mafia threat |
| Heat level | 5/5 — erotica-leaning, very explicit |
| Series | Book 1 of 2, The Ways We Burn (ends on a cliffhanger) |
| Content notes | Taboo age-gap premise, grief/trauma, violence, explicit content; adults only |
My honest note: This is an adult, erotica-leaning forbidden romance — both leads are consenting adults, but the step-aunt/step-niece framing is deliberately taboo and will be a dealbreaker for some. It is also only the first half of a two-book story and ends on a cliffhanger, so factor that in before starting.
How Spicy Is The Ways She Makes Me Sin?
On the heat scale, The Ways She Makes Me Sin is a 5 out of 5 — it is categorized as sapphic erotica for a reason. The forbidden tension between Evelyn and Sophia is explicit and frequent, and reviewers repeatedly cite the steam and sexual tension as the book’s defining feature.
If explicit, tension-driven heat is what you want, this delivers in abundance. If you prefer a plot-forward story where the romance is one element among many, be aware that a couple of reviewers felt there was “too much sex and too little suspense” here.
Who Should Read This Book?
You’ll likely love it if: you enjoy age-gap and forbidden romance, protector-turned-lover dynamics, dual-POV slow burn, and very high heat, and you are comfortable with a taboo (non-blood, adults-only) premise.
You may want to skip it if: you are uncomfortable with a step-aunt/step-niece dynamic, dislike cliffhangers or multi-book stories, want a strong thriller plot, or prefer lower spice.
In short: this is a heat-first, tension-heavy forbidden romance that its target audience adores — just know the premise and the cliffhanger before you commit.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is The Ways She Makes Me Sin a standalone?
No. It is Book 1 of the two-book series The Ways We Burn and ends on a cliffhanger, so you will need The Ways She Owns My Heart to reach the full resolution.
Is The Ways She Makes Me Sin a true sapphic romance?
Yes. It centers on two women — Evelyn and Sophia — and is written by sapphic romance author A. Goswami. It is unambiguously f/f.
How steamy is The Ways She Makes Me Sin really?
Very — a full 5 out of 5. It is listed as sapphic erotica, with frequent explicit scenes and sexual tension driving the story from start to finish.
Does The Ways She Makes Me Sin have a happy ending?
Not within this book. As the first half of a duology it ends on a cliffhanger; the intended happily-ever-after arrives in the second book, The Ways She Owns My Heart.
Is the relationship in The Ways She Makes Me Sin between blood relatives?
No. Evelyn and Sophia are step-aunt and step-niece with no blood relation, and both are adults. It is a deliberately taboo, forbidden dynamic, but not incestuous by blood — still, it is a premise many readers will want to consider carefully.
If You Loved The Ways She Makes Me Sin, Read These Next
If you enjoy taboo, high-heat sapphic romance, our dark sapphic romance guide is full of forbidden-desire and morally-gray stories worth exploring.
Craving more stories like this one? The Ways She Makes Me Sin is just one pick from our full, data-backed roundup of the best WLW mafia romance books — a curated master list of sapphic mob, crime, and morally-gray romances with short reviews and links to every full breakdown. It is the perfect place to build your next dangerous-women reading list.
The Bottom Line
The Ways She Makes Me Sin is a scorching, angst-laden forbidden romance that delivers intense tension and real emotional weight — but a thin mafia plot, some repetitive writing, and a hard cliffhanger temper the payoff, and its taboo premise makes it a very know-your-tastes recommendation. Check The Ways She Makes Me Sin on Amazon →
The Eikna Overall Ranking
Within our WLW mafia romance rankings, The Ways She Makes Me Sin lands as a high-heat, niche pick — a tension-driven forbidden romance whose divisive premise, thin thriller plot, and cliffhanger ending keep it in the middle of the pack despite its scorching chemistry.
The Evidence Scorecard
Overall — ★★★★ 4.0/5
- ✓ Scorching, tension-driven forbidden romance
- ✓ Real emotional weight beneath the heat
- ✓ Thin thriller plot and a hard cliffhanger
- ✓ Taboo premise makes it a know-your-tastes pick
Romance — ★★★★ 4.0/5
- ✓ Charged slow-burn forbidden tension
- ✓ Effective dual-POV longing
- ✓ Obsession-tinged intensity
- ✓ Divisive central dynamic
Characters — ★★★½ 3.5/5
- ✓ Evelyn’s duty-versus-desire conflict compels
- ✓ Sophia’s bold pursuit drives the tension
- ✓ Under-explored age-gap dynamic for some
- ✓ Supporting cast kept thin
Writing — ★★★½ 3.5/5
- ✓ Grabby, immersive opening
- ✓ Strong at building sexual tension
- ✓ Repetitive phrasing noted by readers
- ✓ Could be tighter overall
Emotional Impact — ★★★★ 4.0/5
- ✓ Grief and trauma add real depth
- ✓ Abandonment backstory lands
- ✓ Heartbreaking moments for the sisters
- ✓ Angst-forward beyond pure spice
Heat Level — ★★★★★ 5.0/5
- ✓ Erotica-leaning, top of our scale
- ✓ Frequent explicit scenes
- ✓ Tension is the story’s engine
- ✓ Adults-only content
Ending — ★★★ 3.0/5
- ✓ Ends on a hard cliffhanger
- ✓ No resolution within Book 1
- ✓ Payoff deferred to the sequel
- ✓ A common reader frustration
Re-read Value — ★★★½ 3.5/5
- ✓ Spice fans may revisit key scenes
- ✓ Quick, immersive read
- ✓ Cliffhanger limits standalone reread appeal
- ✓ Best paired with its sequel
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