Mafia MM Romance Review: Unspoken

Mafia MM romance books are a popular genre within MM Romance. People tend to like mafia romances because they have all the elements of an exciting story: forbidden romance, violence, danger, and seedy underworld type stuff. The romances in these books are often forbidden. The characters are often gray, neither good nor bad. Or bad with a heart of gold. This new romance I’m reviewing is par for the course of all of those things.

Unspoken: Forbidden MM Mafia Bodyguard Romance | Review

Unspoken by N.N. Britt | Amazon | Goodreads | Bookbub | My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Blurb

Loyalties and rules are put to the ultimate test when a disgraced ex-cop and a younger sibling of a ruthless crime leader cross the line a bodyguard and his protectee aren’t allowed to cross.

A disgraced ex-cop, Logan McKenna, finds himself reluctantly taking a job as a bodyguard for Alexander “Sasha” Solovey, the spoiled younger brother of the feared Las Vegas crime boss Vlad Solovey. But as Logan fights to keep Sasha safe from escalating threats, he’s drawn into a forbidden romance that could be the much-needed spark in his life…or his last mistake in a city where betrayal means death.

Set after the events of Isaac and Dallas. Can be read as standalone. First person, alternating POV.

Unspoken: Mafia MM romance

This forbidden romance mafia story will sweep you into Sasha Solovey’s dark world. The younger brother of crime boss Vlad Solovey, and born into the Solovey crime family, Sasha seems to have grown up in London boarding schools and largely shielded from the realities of what it means to be born mafia royalty. When he’s transplanted to Las Vegas after a close call, he’s traumatized and petulant in equal measures. He needs a bodyguard, in the form of Logan McKenna, a former cop who reluctantly takes the job because he needs money.

Overall Opinion

If you are a fan of Mafia MM romance, forbidden romances, mafia typical violence, virgin MC with experienced MC, age differences, and danger/suspense, you will like this book. The plot compelled me to keep turning the page, the spice level was hot, and the characterizations of the main love interests are good, with morally gray areas that are always compelling. I wish the world and character motivations made a bit more sense, but it’s a solid story. I give it a 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure: Third Book in a Series

I haven’t read the first two Mafia MM romance books of the Light & Shadow series. I borrowed Issac from Kindle Unlimited a while ago but haven’t gotten around to reading it yet. While the blurb indicates this novel can be read as a standalone, I think the world would be more fleshed out if one reads the series in order, as more world-building would clarify parts of the story I had questions about. It is highly likely those details were established and explained in previous installments of the series.

Assassination Attempt

Haunted by the explosive assassination attempt that took the life of his best friend instead of him, Sasha is adrift. He had been months away from finishing university but now those plans are on hold as he’s confined to the family compound for safety reasons. He doesn’t want to be in Nevada. Sasha doesn’t want a bodyguard. He resents that he needs a bodyguard. Much like the Banks children running off nanny after nanny until Mary Poppins comes to help, Sasha has driven away numerous bodyguards due to his behavior. Sasha lashes out at them childishly and remains unmanageable until Logan steps into the position. Logan sticks. He’s not going anywhere.

Brotherly Love? Never Met Him

Sasha and his brother Vlad have a very distant relationship. As for Vlad, well, he’s hard to get to know in this book. And it often reads like Sasha hardly knows Vlad. There’s no brotherly camaraderie. Do they have any shared history at all? There’s no warmth or even familiarity in their interactions. Sasha acts like a brat, Vlad scowls and orders him around. It makes me wonder… Did Sasha just never see his family, like ever, since he was sent to England for school? I would question the likelihood of that. Surely even kids at expensive boarding schools are required to come home for the summers, holidays, etc?

RIP to Sasha and Vlad’s Dad

Recently, Vlad and Sasha’s father met an untimely demise under mysterious circumstances, so Vlad just came into power and now leads their family crime syndicate. Because of that, he’s too busy to get to know Sasha better.

However, even with Vlad’s hands full as he takes the wheel of the family business, it reads as if he’s mostly uninterested in getting to know Sasha.

Vlad’s personality is stark. He only shows warmer facets of his personality later in the book. Finally, the reader begins to understand that there really is a real person behind the authoritarian dictator Vlad comes across as.

For most of the book, Vlad lords over Sasha with harsh commands and directives, giving him no say over his own life. Vlad tells Sasha how things will be and what he will do. One would guess that a softer approach would work out better in the long run if he wants to have a relationship with his remaining family. Because of this, it’s almost logical that Sasha would turn toward Logan, desperate for some sort of connection, something to ground him in his new reality.

Logan

Logan’s character is stubborn, stoic, a real strong-but silent type. Logan is the disgraced cop turned bodyguard archetype to a T.

Logan’s Backstory is Wack

Logan takes the fall for a partner, getting him kicked off the force. This completely doesn’t make sense to me because his partner is a dick to him in this book.

So like, why? Why would he want to ruin his career for this person? MAYBE stuff that happens in previous books will make this make more sense but it does NOT make sense to me from just reading this book. No way would someone do that just because their partner has a new baby and is friends with the partner’s wife.

Nah fam, that’s not it. As previously mentioned, I have not read the first two books in this series so that might be why I am not understanding this part.

Major Plot HOLE Leaves Logan’s Motivation on Shaky Ground

Lending his character more depth, the reader learns that Logan’s mother is sick and dying. So, it’s explained that Logan needs the money for her care, especially as he has no insurance. *record scratch* Wait . . . most states give monthly benefits to surviving spouses until they die or remarry when their spouse dies in the line of duty. That’s like.. a legit thing. Logan’s father was shot by someone in the line of duty. Nevada law has this benefit, I looked it up. So his mother would still qualify for INSURANCE through her dead spouse.

In summary, Logan losing his insurance when he was fired from the force would NOT mean that his mother doesn’t have insurance. That doesn’t make sense because that’s not how it works. And at any rate, Logan would have to have, at the very minimum, insurance through the Marketplace, right? Ok ok, let the music continue… I’M IGNORING THE GIANT PLOT HOLE.

Logan needs the money. End of story.

stop thinking about the details and why this doesn’t make sense

Honestly, I hope that these unclear details are explained as part of the plot in another installment of the Light & Shadow series and when I go back and read them it will fill in the gaps in understanding I have. Because this character’s motivation doesn’t fully make sense.

Mafia MM Romance = Forbidden Romance

This book is not a case of insta-love. I hate insta-love, so I relished the amount of antagonism between the two love interests. In the beginning, Sasha acts like a child more than a grown man. His characterization is purposely immature and bratty. And he genuinely doesn’t like Logan at first, nor does Logan see Sasha as anything more than a bratty client.

There is no chemistry between the characters when they meet. They clash. It takes a few weeks if not more of book time until they are civil toward one another. In the end it’s pure adrenaline that pushes them together the first time. But after that, hormones take over and the two fall into a relationship that they both agree needs to stay secret.

Why Secret?

Sasha’s father abused him when he found him with another boy. Sasha believes he will be disowned or worse if he comes out to Vlad. And with things being so dicey with Vlad, Sasha he hasn’t seen anything to make him believe Vlad is any different than his father.

Logan similarly doesn’t believe he’ll survive Vlad finding out either, as it would seem like he is taking advantage of a younger, vulnerable person. So they sneak around for a while.

Sasha is Innocent Innocent

After Sasha and Logan kiss for the first time, the reader learns that Sasha has no sexual experience, he’s completely innocent before getting involved with Logan. He’s never even kissed another man since he was found by his father and shipped off to London. I found that element of the story in Unspoken somewhat hard to believe. From the start, the author seems to describe Sasha’s life as unhindered by the burden and danger of the mafia lifestyle while in London. It doesn’t seem like he was stopped from living as he wants. So, why wouldn’t he have done normal teenage things while at boarding school and university?

Of all things, this plot element sticks out as the most unrealistic. And yes, I stand by this that even in a book filled with mafia-typical violence and behaviors, it really doesn’t track that Sasha would have had no partners while in school. With as attractive as he’s described, with as rebellious as he is once he’s transported to Nevada, I think he’d have lived it up as a teenager just to get back at his father. Especially as the opening scene has Sasha’s friend group mentioning parties and nights out that would lend themselves to these sorts of normal, adolescent things that teenagers get up to while away from their parents, especially young and wild university students .

Of Course, Vlad Finds Out

Vlad finds out what the love interests are up to before either of them can come clean about it. That definitely makes it worse. But soon after Vlad finds out what’s going on, we are hurtled into the major climactic events of the novel. Sasha gets abducted by Vlad’s enemies, so his anger toward Logan and Sasha has to wait until things are resolved.

Logan and Vlad Work Together

To save Sasha, Logan and Vlad work together and this is the first time in the whole book the reader sees beyond Vlad’s cold façade to the real person below the surface. I wish we’d seen that side of him from the start. Before, it seemed like he was controlling Sasha to be controlling, but when Sasha is taken he seems to come unraveled a bit and we see the genuine concern and emotion that motivates him. I like that Vlad much more. He lets Logan stick around without too many threats to his life, so Vlad must see that Logan is earnest in his intentions toward Sasha.

Alls Well

After Sasha’s rescue and recovery, the book ends with a happily ever after. The ending ties up Logan and Sasha’s story well, and it left me feeling satisfied that their story had played out the way it does.

MM Romance Reviews

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review. I write reviews on my blog, Goodreads, Bookbub, Amazon, and more. If you want me to read and review your upcoming novel read my review policy and submit a contact form.