Rating: 5 ‘Anthony’ Stars

Publisher: Cora Rose

Genre: Gay Erotic Romance

Tags: Contemporary, Age Gap, Dark, Mob/Mafia, *On Page Torture/Violence, Opposites Attract, Romance, Series

TW from the author – ‘This book is a dark rom-com with these trigger warnings: Violence/physical assault, drugs, exhibitionism, bondage, kidnapping, detailed torture, dub-con and blood

Length: 304 Pages

Reviewer: Cindi

Purchase At: Amazon

 Blurb –

When a little harmless flirting at a biker bar suddenly takes a turn for the worse and I find myself at odds with the dangerous Fallen Aces gang, I call on the only man I know who can save me.
Anthony Costello may be a vicious mafia boss with a penchant for violence and torture, but he’s also my best friend’s father and the sexiest man I’ve ever laid eyes on. His buttoned-up demeanor and grumpy attitude only fuel my desire to take him apart. I live to push all his buttons. And though he says he’s straight, it seems Anthony may have a soft spot and possessive streak for this smart-mouthed twink. Because as war between rival gangs escalates, things between Anthony and I start to heat up. And I think I’d rather like to sit on the king’s lap to watch it all burn.

The Unexpectedly Twisted series is a rom-com mafia spin-off of the Unexpected series. It contains dark themes and triggers, please see content warnings at the beginning of each book.

Review –

The first thing I’m going to say is if you plan to read this, read the trigger warnings above. If ever there was a book that needs them, it’s this one. It’s extremely violent, with most of the violence being on page in graphic detail. This is a romance, but it’s not a sappy and sweet romance. It’s more of an obsession. It’s dark, it’s bloody, and it’s even a little gory in a few places.

With that being said…

99% of the books I read these days are sweet romance books. I want sappy and sweet and happily-ever-after. If there’s little to no angst, even better. I want books that make me smile, that maybe give me a few Aww! moments. It’s rare that I step outside of that little reading box unless it’s a Rick R. Reed horror or thriller, or I’m rereading a book by the late (and very missed) Eric Arvin. There’s nothing sappy and sweet about The Silencer. I normally don’t read mafia books, super dark books, or any books with a lot of on page violence. I do enjoy horror, but right now I need happy stories. The dark books are more my blog partner’s style, not mine. Even so, I’ve enjoyed this author in the past, so I took a chance. I’m glad I did, though my review will probably be all over the place. If so, my apologies in advance.

Twenty-one-year-old Tatum is in a really bad spot. He went to the wrong bar, flirted with the wrong bartender, and now his life is in danger. He’s hiding in the bathroom, but it’s only a matter of minutes before the men pounding on the door make entry. They don’t want to just beat him up. They want him dead. He calls his best friend, Angel, who tells his father that Tatum is in trouble.

These guys picked the wrong man to beat up for being gay. Anthony Costello is a mafia boss who won’t hesitate to do whatever it takes to protect those he cares about, including his son’s friend. Killing is the norm for Anthony and those who work for him, but he doesn’t kill quickly. He takes his time and drags it out, making whoever it is beg to die long before they’re allowed to.

Anthony and his men are able to rescue Tatum moments before it would be too late. Each person who hurt him pays. Anthony makes sure of it.

Tatum is quite aware of who Anthony is, and he’s not the least bit intimidated by him. He should be, but he’s not. He has a major crush on his best friend’s dad, and he doesn’t think twice about flirting with the much older man. Anthony didn’t get where he is by showing emotion, so he’s always in control. He describes it as a switch in his brain that keeps him focused, keeps him from getting emotional. He’s also straight so Tatum doesn’t see his flirting going anywhere.

Until one day it does.

Tatum is still recovering from the attack. He thankfully doesn’t have broken bones, but he’s cut and bruised all over his body. This is when Anthony’s obsession with him starts to show a little. While helping Tatum, he starts losing a little bit of control, but only with him, not anybody else.

I enjoyed watching Tatum pull Anthony out of his shell. Anthony had never been with a man before, but he doesn’t hesitate when it comes to Tatum, and he damn sure doesn’t hide it. If anything, he shows Tatum off, even doing sexual things in front of others while daring anybody else to come near his man.

There’s quite a bit of exhibitionism in this book, which was totally hot.

From not-so-secret blowjobs with Tatum under his desk while Anthony’s handling business with others in his office, to them not bothering to stop when people walk into the bedroom, Anthony makes a point in letting everybody know that Tatum is his. At one point Tatum interrupts a meeting with several people, a meeting that Anthony had made it clear that there were to be no interruptions. Well, Tatum thought the meeting had lasted too long and he was wanting to play around; and play around they did… right in front of everybody in that room.

There’s nothing Anthony won’t do for Tatum, and that includes stopping everything at a moment’s notice because Tatum wants him to.

In the background, the Fallen Aces gang members, who owned the bar where Tatum was attacked, are coming after Anthony and his empire. He’s already dealt with the ones who were part of the attack, but now he’s going after the rest of the gang who have basically declared war. The minute they put their hands on his Tatum, it was game over for all of them anyway. They just didn’t know it yet.

I loved watching Anthony’s walls come down… little by little… with Tatum. I loved how protective he was, and how he was willing to do whatever it took to keep him safe. He was a hardened man, but he was loyal. Something I found interesting – and this may be a spoiler – was that it came out that Anthony’s obsession had started before the bar incident when Tatum had to be rescued. Up to the point of my learning that, I’d assumed that everything began when Tatum was under his roof and he was taking care of him. Honestly, that added a whole new level to the story, in my opinion.

There are other characters who are integral to the story. I already mentioned Angel, who was an absolute sweetheart. He was… pure. That’s the best way to describe him. He has a twin, Diablo, whose book was in another series. I read Colin from that series a while back. I read it out of order, something I almost never do. I now want to go back and read all of them, maybe in order this time. 😉

There are the bodyguards, one of which never says a word during the whole book but plays a big part, and Anthony’s right hand man, Luca. The jury is still out for me with Luca. He was a bit… much. And for him to be as close and loyal to Anthony as he/they claimed, he was quite careless when it came to Tatum. He was also a bit too flirty for my liking.

You can’t not adore Tatum’s parents, who make a quick appearance.

Now we get to Bane. Bane’s something else, and I don’t mean that in a good way. He’s the most violent character in the book. Hell, I think he’s the most violent character I’ve ever seen in a book outside of full-on horror. He literally gets off on cutting off body parts and inflicting pain. He has a collection of body parts, even gives some as gifts to those he cares about. You would seriously have to read the book to see what I mean. Even as sadistic as Bane was, he was almost likable. Weird, I know. He was very proud of his ‘gifts’ and Tatum being Tatum, and Angel being Angel, they thought the gifts were sweet gestures. Again, you’d have to read it to understand it.

Bane left me a kneecap. Tied with a bright red ribbon.

Angel sighs, his hands clenched to his chest. “I’ve never gotten a body part before.”

~~~

“But I can keep his bits, right? Like all the pieces when he’s all disassembled?”

Yes, Bane. Yes, you can.

Tatum is totally unbothered by what Anthony does. He gets turned on by most of it, including the bad stuff, which should seriously be concerning. But Tatum doesn’t get through the book unscathed by any means. The Fallen Aces are after Anthony’s empire, so of course, they want to hurt him in any way they can. Angel and Diablo are safe, so who better to go after than Tatum? Sure, some of the guys went after him at the bar, but that was before Anthony and Tatum got together.

Overall, this is a book I’m honestly surprised that I loved. I knew I’d enjoy it because I like the author’s writing. I just didn’t expect to love it. I don’t mind violence, but this was super graphic, including the reason that Anthony is called ‘The Silencer’. I did have a couple of issues, both of which concerned Bane and Luca separately. Loyal employees and friends or no, I can’t see Anthony allowing them to get away with certain things pertaining to Tatum. I expected Bane to be strung up on a hook somewhere after something he did, even if he didn’t know their story before then. Luca was just careless and didn’t make the right decision a couple of times.

I should also note that Tatum showed his young age a few times. Being unafraid was one thing, but he was way over the top a few times. As for Anthony, I loved him, even if he was a bit uptight throughout the book.

It was a fantastic book, and I’m eager to jump into the next one, which is Angel’s, His Prince though I may read a happy book in between. Angel, as I said, is a sweetheart. He has no problems with his best friend and dad being together. He’s actually thrilled about it. I’m iffy about his story because he is too good and his love interest didn’t appear to be good in any way. I hope it’s not one of these ‘one of the main characters is a jerk and I couldn’t get beyond that’ books. We’ll see, I guess.

~~~

This is the land of the dead. I keep their bodies here, buried deep within the earth – entombed in the catacombs.

Another scream causes goosebumps to explode across my skin.

Yes, they should feel it.

They should feel everything. 

I want them alive as long as possible. Weeks even.

I want them to regret ever touching him, ever trying to snuff out his light.

The way he looked curled up on the ground of that bathroom, the welts on his skin, the bruises. The way he bled. The way his tears slipped from his eyes, how he reached for me when I finally arrived. How he called for me when he slept…

I’m going to make them bleed for every kick, every punch, every hateful slur.

~~~