Genre/Tags: Gay Mafia Romance, MM, Suspense, Series 

Author: Leighton Greene

Story Rating: 5 Stars

Narrator: Michael Ferraiuolo

Narrator Rating: 5 Stars

Length: 9 hours and 31 minutes

Audiobook Buy Links: Audible, amazon, Author’s Site

He’s innocent. He’s chaste. He’s promised to God.

And he’s more temptation than I can handle.

I’m supposed to guard the Boss’s husband, but I just can’t keep my eyes off his best friend, Aidan O’Leary.

Watching him.

Wanting him.

Knowing I can never have him.

Aidan is pure in body and soul. He’s about to be ordained as a priest. Me? I’m going to burn for the things I’ve done. And I can’t stop thinking about all the sinful things I want to do to him.

But when there’s an attack on Aidan’s life, I’m reassigned to protect him, and we grow closer than ever.

Someone wants Aidan dead. It’s my job to deliver him safely to the Church to take his vows, although I’d rather keep him as my own.

I’ve sworn to protect him until I can give him away to God. But it’s getting harder and harder to let him go without a fight.

And if I can’t focus on the job, how can I keep Aidan safe when our enemies are closing in?

Review: 

It’s been weeks since I read Seduced by a Sinner so I have to have to work hard on recall for this review. Because this is a favourite book of mine now, it’s not too hard to pull things together. I’ve recently commented on another review how I don’t stick with series but it seems like that’s no longer the case. I’m steadily getting through the Morelli Family series right now. This has been the standout book of the series for me thus far. I’m a sucker for a man of the cloth as an MC in romance. Just call me sacrilegious. Leighton Greene delivered beautifully here teaming him up with a Mafia bodyguard. Also, these updated covers are gorgeous. That is Teo.

Matteo Vitali is Finch D’Amato’s personal bodyguard. Finch being the husband of the Morelli Family Don, Luca D’Amato. Bit by bit, the Morelli Family are gay-ing up and I’m here for it. One book at a time, someone within the Morelli Family finds their man to have and to hold. 

There is quite a bit of Family politicking going on by this book. The Morellis and the Donovans, Luca and Finch’s respective families, have a fragile thread. Both live on the darker side of business. Both sides like to play what’s happening close to their chest. Tara, Finch’s sister, is the matriarch of the Donovan family now but there are others within that Family who want a man at the helm. Finch isn’t interested. Finch’s allegiance is to his husband, Luca D’Amato, and the Morelli’s. Then there’s the Irish Freedom Fighters who are up to something more sinister at Innisfree, taking over the Donovan’s other estate in Boston. All this when Aidan is in town to be ordained. But I leap ahead.   

There’s suspense in this book. Why is someone trying to bump off the soon-to-be Father Aidan O’Leary? Or as finch likes to call him, ‘Priest Boy.’ And as Aidan likes to correct Finch, ‘not a priest.’ Aidan works at Our Lady, a Catholic church in Manhattan and he happens to be weeks away from his ordination in Boston. The last Priest, Father Benedetti, was banished from the parish after his, uh, interesting relationship with the Mafia. Meanwhile, Aidan has questions as to what the calling to be a priest looks like. He logics that it’s always been his purpose, and he’s currently a Deacon, but lately he’s questioning what the calling actually feels like at a visceral level. Finch’s sister is a nun within the Poor Clares and she and Aidan have some discussions about why it’s important to them. Roisin definitely knows it’s her life’s work. That Aidan is gay makes it difficult when the Church’s stance is not pro LGBTQ. His mentor, Father Raphael, is always telling Aidan to put those thoughts aside. To dedicate himself wholly to God. That celibacy is part of the deal within priesthood. He has a friend, Father Mike, who runs Catholic Pride who he also makes a point of talking to. Aidan is also close to Finch D’Amato and Father Raphael wants Aidan to cut those ties as well. 

Aidan was also in the church when Sam Fuscone died, a rival mobster, and Aidan hasn’t said a word to anyone – outside those who were there. It definitely makes him uncomfortable. When a certain blond hair Mafioso saves him from being killed in Our Lady one day, and Finch insists that Teo is now Aidan’s bodyguard, close ties begin to be forged between Teo and Aidan.

But I found my mind wandering to Sam Fuscone, to the snap of his neck, the thump of his lifeless body on the floor. He had died at the hands of Luca D’Amato, and I needed to remind myself that the men under this roof, the men of the Morelli Family, were all criminals. Even Matteo Vitali, with his velvety brown eyes. And I—I was going to take my vows in one short week.

Teo likes Aidan. Likes how kind, gentle, pure he is. The more time they spend together the more Teo has lustful thoughts. However, even though Aidan knows his sexuality – hello, he’s gay – he’s never acted on it. So we have a soon-to-be-priest virgin with a made man. Quite the combo. We then get some clever forced proximity. Add in the forbidden. Stir it all together to make a delicious romance recipe, and voila! Leighton Greene serves a story that is sometimes fun, sometimes edgy, and definitely an emotional package. And it’s oh so freaking D E L I C I O U S.         

“You feel so good, baby,” I said into his neck, and I wished with my whole heart that this could be just the start of something, that he could be my baby, be mine⁠—
But Aidan could never be mine. He already belonged to God. I was stealing from God by doing this.

I loved Teo. He helps support his sister Mari and their other, younger siblings because both parents are dead. Teo also has so much respect for Aidan. It’s a big deal when he has to protect him. It’s an even bigger deal when Aidan wants Teo to help him enjoy sexual pleasure before his ordination. He feels conflicted which helps drive the emotion. Aidan has to deal with the dilemma of falling for someone or being a priest. He can’t have both. Teo doesn’t want to get in the way of something he believes is Aidan’s calling. Greene paces the sex really well. It’s hella hot. In amongst it all, there are the events happening within the Morellis. The Donovans. Someone trying to kill Aidan on multiple occasions. Love and emotion. Friendship. And we get to meet Aidan’s family. His dad made me laugh because he could hold his own, and he respected someone who would lay his life down for his son.

John pulled his shoulders back. “You’re telling me you’re willing to take a bullet for my son?”
“Yes, sir, I am.”
He held my gaze for another moment, and then nodded. “Well. Alright, then.”

As the story built, I felt like my heart was going to be broken into little pieces. I was not expecting the level of emotion in this instalment. I really, really love these MCs. In book #3 – review on Goodreads – I loved Angelo Messina from the outset whereas Baxter was okay. The pairing took a while to grow on me, meaning Bax took a while to grow on me. I had some issues with Luca’s aloofness in the beginning when it came to marrying Finch in book #1, but he totally grew on me. I enjoy seeing Luca and Finch in the different series books. The first 2 books are Luca and Finch’s and they also have another book to come. Same as Angelo and Bax have another book in the series as well because they had to get out of New York City. They’re currently with a West Coast Family. God help me, I’m probably going to read that series as well.   

If you want an addictive, well written gay romance/MM Mafia series then I highly recommend the Morelli Family. I even (more highly recommend) the Clemenza Trilogy – book #3 still to come. Also, Michael Ferraiuolo nails the characters. The audiobooks are fantastic.