She’s wandered into my club like an innocent gazelle. Foolish. Lost. Ripe for the taking. It’s like a sign from heaven. But I don’t believe in heaven. Let’s call it a sign from the devil, then.
Miko
Author: Sophie Lark
Genre: Enemies-to-Lovers Mafia
Series: Brutal Birthright Series
Pages: 288
Release Date: August 12, 2020
Stolen Heir is the second book in the Brutal Birthright series – enemies-to-lovers mafia romance – and compared to the first in this series, I prefer this book in the series. Where Callum in Brutal Prince (Brutal Birthright series book #1) lacks that gritty mafia boss demeanor we want to see, Mikolaj has it.
The book starts up with Miko having taken over Chicago’s Polish Braterstwo after the death of his “father,” fondly (maybe not) known as the Butcher. Enter Nessa, the youngest daughter of his Irish rivals, who is young, naïve, and totally out of touch with her family’s dealings. Nessa’s just trying to live her life as a somewhat professional(?) ballerina when Miko decides to kidnap her and use her for his revenge plans – but Miko isn’t just looking for revenge, he wants to own Chicago.
My Review
I enjoyed the growth that Nessa had in the story. While naïve, she’s smart, and she cares about the people around her – making friends with Klara, who cooks and cleans in Miko’s mansion. She makes the most of her situation, using the time to work on her dancing, and she learns Polish. What irked me though is that she never really made ANY effort to find out what was happening in the outside world, like yeah, no one is going to tell you, but damn, there wasn’t much effort. Not much fight in Nessa.
Honestly, I didn’t find Miko to be that ruthless or cruel towards Nessa. She’s just so ~ weak, delicate, breakable, so on ~ that his actions toward her make her run off to her room at every turn. For the most part Miko seemed like a fair and strategic leader, but his interest and protectiveness of Nessa was apparent from the start.
Final Thoughts
Overall, this was an easy enemies-to-lovers mafia romance read with a guaranteed Happily Ever After. I’ll definitely be picking up the next books in the Brutal Birthright series when they come out since they’ll probably focus on the Gallo family men (Italian mafia) who have that classic, tough, mafia man persona that I like to see.
p.s. Book 3 in the Brutal Birthright series focuses on Nero’s story – Savage Lover (dark mafia romance) released September 16th
You can buy this book through my link, and it’s also available on Kindle Unlimited. If you’re at all interested in Kindle Unlimited, I wholeheartedly recommend trying it out! I receive a commission from Amazon Associates if you buy through my links with no additional cost to you – win win!?
Let me know if you read this book – in the comments or over on Instagram! If you liked this quick book review, I’d love for you to share this post!
xo, Renee
p.p.s. shout out to Lovely AudioBooks for hosting a fun little book review link-up!
