Just a Bit Ruthless

Book 6. James's friend Like, who is gay, gets kidnapped after trying to impress his father in Russia. James is so busy mopping about Ryan he doesn't actually notice Like going missing. The kidnapper is a straight Russian mafioso with a grudge against Luke's father, a wealthy scumbag. At first, Like is subjected to beatings and starvation, but Roman realises that he can use Luke to get to his father so moves him to his room. This is not a book I'd put in the angst category, not after reading Sloane's stuff. Roman is surpringly open minded for a homophobic Russian mafioso and encourages Luke to stop thinking about who he should be to please his father. I loved the way Roman and Luke blossom in this book, Roman allows Luke to express his flamboyant side and Luke makes Roman care. However, if dub con is not your thing, or you object to Like looking like a teenager (although he's 23) then this won't be for you.

Alessandra is back in Rutledge territory with Roman Demidov and that's a good thing.
Sure this is yet another story of otherwise heterosexual men falling for gay men and that whole GFY category is utterly ridiculous (though I do have a shelf for that category). I choose to look at it as someone who had not yet met the person who brought out their latent homosexuality meeting them and a switch going off. ;-)

Here we have Luke & Roman who fall for each other after Roman kidnaps Luke because of things the his father has done. We are firmly in Hazard territory here and thus in good hands.

I like how Roman allows Luke to be comfortable in his true self without becoming some touchy-feely sweetheart but rather his own badass, semi Russian-gangster self. As I said: good stuff.

This series is unapologetically what it is and made to be enjoyed as the fantasy that it is. It doesn't hurt that Roman is hot, just the right amount of domineering and very clear that Luke is his.

The spanner in all of this is that Alessandra has told us the next book will be the last in the series so that kind of sucks. I'm still hoping for a Rutledge short story told from his POV. fingers crossed