Plot Summary
Tarot and Murder Nights
The story begins on Halloween in Las Vegas, where Willow Vale, tarot reader and secret vigilante, prepares for her next kill. Beneath her kitten costume and sugar-slicked charm, Willow stalks Travis Bell—a high-powered lawyer and unreformed predator—reading his fate at her tarot table before pinning him brutally and silencing him with a plastic bag. This single, ugly act of retribution is ritual for Willow, who has spent years avenging women failed by the system. The city's neon swallows another secret, but tonight, someone else is watching—her grave act witnessed from the shadows.
Online Obsessions Revealed
Dual lives thrum online: Willow, with her razor-sharp tarot readings, obsesses over the mysterious Saint Shade, Vegas's acrobatic magician who never unmasks. Their digital flirtation—her biting comments, his cryptic responses—hint at mutual fascination and growing tension. Willow's tarot insight edges closer to Saint Shade's real identity, unsettling the boundary between online fantasy and flesh. Meanwhile, beneath the mask, Lucky ("Saint Shade") watches Willow with an obsession of his own, circling her TikToks—and, more than once, her actual home.
A Deal of Blackmail
After the murder, Willow's world stutters: Lucky, maskless, confronts her, having witnessed everything. Each leverages their dangerous secret—she snaps a photo of his face, he threatens exposure for her crime—sparking a blackmail détente. Their mutual knowledge locks them together, forging a pact on "mutual assured destruction." Yet as they circle each other, their dynamic veers from hostility to fascination. Trust and threat become twisted foreplay; they recognize, in the other, a kindred darkness.
The Stalker Behind the Mask
Lucky's fixation grows—monitoring Willow, digging into her life. Rather than recoiling from her violence, he admires her twisted justice, helping her cover her tracks, even following her to the grocery store to catch glimpses of her real, mundane life. His own past—shadowed by secrets—makes him uniquely suited to both her danger and her loneliness. Lines blur between protection and predation; instead of mutual destruction, their secrets become shared armor, forging a lethal partnership.
Neon Vegas Justice
Willow continues her vigilante work, targeting yet another predator at her tarot shop, only for Lucky to barge in mid-ritual. The two become partners in violence as Lucky pins her quarry and she delivers justice. Their collaboration is hot, messy, alive with dangerous chemistry, and tinged with dark humor. They celebrate their successful kill with unhinged banter, covering up the crime and disposing of the body together—a murder duet that cements their new allegiance.
Mutual Destruction Pact
The stakes deepen, but so does intimacy. Instead of exposing each other, Willow and Lucky grow tethered by the weight of their secrets. They trade confessions: childhood traumas, hurts at the hands of abusers, and the complicated ways those scars shaped them. Willow's family—her sisters, her cat "Grandma," and witchy traditions—become part of Lucky's world, strange and healing in their own way. What began as a chess game of leverage becomes something like love—a sanctuary found in shared danger.
Cults, Sisters & Childhood Scars
Willow's history unspools: born into a cult, nearly married as a child, then manipulated by a predatory professor, she channels her trauma into exacting justice on men who abuse power. Her sisters, Opal and Iris, are her family, each weird and wild in their own right—supportive yet innocent of Willow's darker side. Lucky, in turn, reveals his own legacy: a family of Brooklyn "cleaners," mob-adjacent organ traders who forced him to fake his death for a new life. Their vulnerabilities, once shielded, are now threads tying them deeper together.
Showdown at the Vale Table
As Willow and Lucky solidify their partnership, Phoenix Marrow—a malevolent "healer" and cult leader—comes into focus as the ultimate target. Phoenix, king of manipulation, preys on the desperate and the sick, crossing every boundary under the guise of spiritual healing. Willow's vendetta is personal: her best friend was among Phoenix's many victims. The couple stake him out, enduring a series of close calls—and a memorable run-in with a tarantula—before finally getting their hands bloody in the most twisted of kill rituals.
Killer's Ritual Unmasked
Phoenix is brought to Willow's tarot table, bound and broken. There's no longer any veneer of healing, only desperate pleading and the raw certainty of doom. Willow, with Lucky beside her, performs her execution ritual—cards drawn, daggers slammed through flesh, plastic bag cinched tight. Phoenix chokes, denied salvation or forgiveness, and becomes another X in Willow's private deck of bloody trophies. Justice—personal, primal, necessary—has its own kind of sanctity.
Attempted Murder, Tangled Fates
In the lead-up to the Phoenix showdown, the characters are tested. Willow attempts to kill him in a parking garage, fails, and is nearly killed herself. Their enemies circle closer, each pursuit tinged with real risk—and, each time, Willow and Lucky only plunge deeper into each other's arms. Adrenaline, fear, and erotic obsession tangle until not even violence can keep them apart. Their bond, forged in blood and danger, proves harder to break than any vow.
The Price of Power
As Willow and Lucky's infamy grows, their secrets become harder to hide. A viral photo threatens to expose Lucky to a world—and family—he'd sworn off. When his dysfunctional, crime-adjacent clan shows up in Vegas, chaos—and healing—ensues. Misunderstandings, old wounds, and the bizarre warmth of family hijinks crack open even more vulnerabilities, bringing Lucky and Willow closer while the world tightens its gaze.
Healing, Lies, and Vengeance
Phoenix Marrow's cult unravels, his façade shattered by Willow's vengeance. Yet the aftermath lingers: both protagonists are battered, physically and emotionally, by what they've endured. Hospital rooms, reconciliations, and new familial bonds drive home that the only real healing comes from facing darkness, not denying it. Willow is alive, but forever changed—her justice complete, but her soul still tender. Beside her, Lucky is unshakable: devotion isn't always gentle, sometimes it's earned through surviving fire together.
Fire-Eating and Family Feuds
Lucky's family drama comes to a head; after years of estrangement, painful truths are finally voiced, forgiveness fought for (and sometimes, just tolerated). Dinner tables become battlegrounds for past resentments, but also sites of lasting connection. Willow and Lucky weather the storm, learning that chosen family—the one you build in blood and truth—can be as powerful as the one you're born into. As their love story blends joy with mayhem, the couple claim their place as each other's only sanctuary.
Predator Meets His Match
After a harrowing fight, Phoenix's true nature—killer behind the healer's mask—is revealed. The Vales and Torviks, unlikeliest of allies, help Willow and Lucky rescue each other from the desert, dispose of evidence, and clean up the psychic carnage left behind. For once, vengeance is not lonely. Justice, usually a solitary cross to bear, is buoyed by the messy love of family and the mutual belief that evil can be ended—one predator at a time.
Death in the Desert
A desperate, bullet-riddled rescue brings Willow back from the brink. Lucky's entire being narrows to holding her together in the back seat of a getaway car, begging her not to leave. The tension is raw, the stakes higher than ever. But together, they outlive the desert, Phoenix, and their own worst fears. Survival, love, and violence become irreversibly intertwined.
Poison and Redemption
Hospital beds are exchanged for showers, bruises for worship, scars for plans. Lucky and Willow share their pain and joy—sometimes wordlessly, sometimes through rituals of comfort (and sex). Their violence is always paired with tenderness, and together, they begin to build a life that can hold both. Surrounded, at last, by family, the couple learn their hardest lesson: to live is to heal, and to heal is to hold onto each other, fiercely, even when the world burns.
Return from the Edge
As Willow and Lucky put their pasts into words, they build new traditions. Tarot and murder are no longer solitary: now, laughter, ritual, and confession are shared. Lucky's family, after years of being a shadowy threat, becomes a boisterous, loving presence. Willow's sisters accept this strange new chapter. And through it all, Willow and Lucky let each other see—truly see—every flaw, every scar, every hope.
Love and Rituals Endure
Order is restored—by their own rules. Saint Shade and ValeTarot become a legend, notorious and adored, forging a love neither the online world nor old trauma can destroy. Their final ritual—a playful video, tangled in silks and kisses—reminds the world (and themselves) that, for some beautiful monsters, the real miracle is finding a match who will blackmail, worship, kill, and love you in equal measure.
Analysis
"Blackmail and Other Turn Ons" is a dark, romantic vigilante fable for the social-media age, blending thriller, black comedy, and erotic romance. It subverts both genre and gender norms: here, the female lead is the killer, the agent, and the arbiter of justice, while the male love interest casts off toxic "protector" tropes—he admires power, not weakness. Trauma for both characters isn't sanitized or resolved through standard healing narratives; instead, survival means forging identity out of damage and finding someone willing to embrace the broken pieces, no matter how sharp. The book interrogates what it means to mete out justice in a world where the powerful are protected, and courts fail victims—offering a fantasy where justice is available to the determined and dangerous, and love isn't the mother of all cures, but the reward for surviving together. In a modern world obsessed with identity (and hiding it), the novel asks: how much freedom and safety does honesty require, and what happens when your only chance at intimacy is mutual blackmail turned devotion? Ultimately, it's a story about reclaiming agency, and handing it only to someone who will worship—never control—you. For all its blood and profanity, the novel is a love letter to anyone who's been failed by the world, and dreams of someone willing (and worthy) to get their hands dirty for you.
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Characters
Willow Vale
Willow is a tarot reader by day and serial-killing vigilante by night, dedicated to punishing men who prey on women. Haunted by childhood in a cult and early sexual trauma, she transforms her pain into a deadly moral code. Her sisters—Opal and Iris—are her only family, her anchor. Smart, deeply wounded yet fiercely loving, Willow seeks control and safety in ritual, but craves the belonging she's always denied herself. Love for Lucky unlocks a new vulnerability in her; together, they forge trust in a world most dangerous when love is involved.
Lucky ("Saint Shade") Torvik
Lucky is the man behind the legend of Saint Shade—a Vegas magician whose slick act hides a dark, mob-adjacent past. Raised in a family of criminals who cleaned up bodies and sold black market organs, Lucky faked his death to make his own fate. His obsession with Willow starts as digital lust but evolves into something deeper, darker, and more transformative—a need to protect, worship, and match her blow for blow. Though theatrical and cocky on stage, Lucky is intensely loyal, traumatized, and selfless in love—risking everything to keep Willow safe and known.
Opal Vale
Willow's youngest sister, Opal, is a luminous, unfiltered soul with a penchant for ritual and psychedelics. Grounded in love, ever hopeful, she is the opposite of Willow—open, trusting, constantly seeking transcendence (and causing a little chaos). Opal helps Willow remember joy when things grow too dark, her innocence and acceptance providing a counterbalance to Willow's drive for vengeance.
Iris Vale
The middle Vale sister, Iris, is a modern alchemist—her focus is healing, science, and keeping her family functioning. Cool-headed and skeptical, she's Willow's confidant and moral checkpoint, always ready to offer help (legal or not) yet refusing to enable her sister's most self-destructive habits. Deeply protective, Iris provides the calming rationality and expertise that the Vale chaos needs.
Phoenix Marrow
Phoenix is the anti-healer, a charismatic, deeply evil wellness guru who preys on vulnerable women while amassing followers and wealth. His power is built on spiritual gaslighting and sexual exploitation, cloaked in new-age rhetoric and fake benevolence. Phoenix is both Willow's nemesis and a symbol of every abuser she's ever known—a target whose death is necessary, personal, and cathartic.
Marit & Anders Torvik
Once the heart of Lucky's old life, the Torvik parents represent both peril and redemption. Marit is fierce, pragmatic, and not without humor; Anders is a stern but surprisingly flexible patriarch. Their reunion with Lucky cracks old wounds open, but ultimately they accept his new life and love, extending their loyalty (and some criminal expertise) to Willow.
Aunt Vivi, Henrik, Einar (Torvik clan)
The rest of Lucky's kin bring color and madness. Vivi is unfiltered, inappropriate, and deeply loving; Henrik and Einar are criminally competent but emotionally stunted men whose presence turns every situation into a circus—one that, once, terrified Lucky, but now offers real belonging.
Grandma (the cat)
The Vale sisters' beloved cat, "Grandma," is more than a pet—she's a symbolic reincarnation of their grandmother, serving as protector and barometer for the family's hearts. Her approval signals acceptance; her disdain spells trouble.
Jules
Willow's lost best friend, Jules, embodies innocent faith in healing turned to tragedy at Phoenix Marrow's hands. Her memory drives Willow's mission and underlines the personal stakes of every bloody ritual.
Travis Bell, Dusty Crowley, other victims
These are the men who fill Willow's kill list—her targets, each a stand-in for the countless women failed by the world. Their deaths, bloody and necessary, punctuate the story's dark comedy and provide object lessons in what justice looks like when courts refuse to act.
Plot Devices
Mutual blackmail and shared secrets
The central device is the mutual exposure of Willow and Lucky—blackmail turned into trust, then intimacy, then love. From this foundation springs both the danger and healing in their relationship. The escalation of their secrets mirrors their increasing vulnerability, allowing for true connection even as the risk deepens.
Tarot rituals and kill trophies
Willow's tarot readings aren't just atmospheric; they drive both plot and psychology. Each ritual before a kill is both a performance and an invocation of justice, with the cards offering chilling, uncanny insight. After each murder, Willow takes a blood-marked tarot card as a trophy—a dark inversion of fate's hand.
Online personas and duality
Both protagonists project online avatars—tarot witch, masked magician—whose boundaries bleed into their reality. Their public and private selves are in constant tension; as real names, faces, and scars are revealed, the narrative explodes with both new threats and new forms of intimacy.
Family and found family
Lucky's estranged, criminal extended family, and Willow's fiercely loyal but blissfully ignorant sisters, serve as mirrors and motivations. Healing family ties (or building new ones) drives emotional growth, and both literal and symbolic homecomings shape the story's resolution.
Humor as survival, dark romantic banter
Black comedy—often bordering on the deranged—is laced through even the darkest moments. For both Willow and Lucky, banter is not just flirting, but armor and relief, confirming that love, even at its wildest, is better than loneliness.
Healing by violence
Unlike many thrillers, here, true healing and liberation come not from forgiveness or turning the cheek, but from meeting violence with justice. Willow's vengeance is not just for herself but for everyone who's ever been ignored, her ritual cleansing the world with every plastic bag.
Masks-off narrative structure
The plot is built in increments of revelation. Each cycle—a new secret, confession, or mask removed—pushes the story deeper into vulnerability. The emotional beats rise and fall on what the characters are willing to reveal to each other, their audience, and themselves.
