Guns n' Boys

He Is Poison, Book 1 (Gay Dark Romance Mafia Thriller)

De: K.A. Merikan

Narrado por: Nathan Kelly

Love like butterfly knives in the stomach.

Domenico Acerbi. The Villani Family’s best assassin. Ruthless. Vicious. With no patience for weakness.

Seth Villani. The Don’s son. Clueless. Stubborn. In dire need of someone to keep him in line.

Domenico Acerbi grew up ready to give his life for the Family. Ready to follow orders and exceed expectations. A proud man of honor.

The last thing he wants to deal with is training the Don’s son for his future role within the organization. Lazy, annoying, spoiled, and as hot as a Sicilian summer, Seth Villani is no mafia material. But a man who could never become a threat might just be what Domenico needs.

Seth Villani wants nothing to do with the mafia. Unfortunately, he doesn’t get a say when he’s pulled back into the fold. Thrown into a den of serpents otherwise known as the Villani Family, Seth has to find a way to navigate the maze of lies. But when Domenico Acerbi, the most vicious snake of them all, sinks his fangs into Seth, letting go becomes impossible.

If Seth is doomed to follow in his father's footsteps, he might as well enjoy himself with the most intoxicating man he’s ever met. Maybe he can even fool himself into believing that Domenico isn’t a handsome sociopath who kills for a living.

Possible Spoilers:

Themes: Enemies to lovers, mafia, homophobia, assassin, organized crime, forced proximity

Genre: Dark, twisted M/M romance / crime thriller

Guns n’ Boys is a gritty story containing violence, offensive language, abuse, and morally ambiguous protagonists. Behind the morbid façade, there is a splash of inappropriate dark humor, and a love story that will crawl under your skin.

©2015, 2021 K.A. Merikan (P)2024 K.A. Merikan

INCEST

Didn’t know there was incest I feel like that should be the first thing people should know about before listening but if it wasn’t for the incest this would be 5 stars all around I get that there only half brothers but still kinda weird the story it great it just that part.

Hot!

I really got into this book. I am dying to start the next one.

Seth and Dom and super steamy together. I am really enjoying their dynamics. The story is fun and I know will get to spend a long time with this pair.

highly recommend!

Loved it !!

Loved the couple and plot. I love how well rounded the characters are. Was great to listen to for my shift at work.

It’s finally on audio!!!

By the time I finished listening to this book on audio, I will have finished all the books in this series by text. So, my review for the audiobook will be slightly more forgiving than the one I had when I first read this book?

Look. I’m just going to say it. I was not a fan of the first 2 books in this series when I first read them, and I still think they are the least likable books in the series. These are books you need to read to get to know the characters, but the series overall (throughout 11 books!) gives a lot of slow character growth you normally wouldn’t see from a romance series with, say, MCs that change ever book.

Guns n’ Boys is the long game. And patience is key.

While this book is probably my least favorite, I LOVE this series overall and the fact that we’re finally getting audiobooks for these is a DREAM. I’m so happy we’re going to get these audiobooks funded and available to listen to over and over again, because I series is just *chef’s kiss*

So, what is this book about?

Seth is an Italian mafia don’s youngest son and has spent the past several years studying at a college in the US. When he's kidnapped, and eventually rescued, he's shaken up and first order of business is that his days in the US living as an openly gay man is now over. He is rescued by Domenico, or "Dom", a man who Seth grew up with as a child, but hasn't seen in a long time.

Content notes include homomisia, transmisia, violence, misogyny, death, kidnapping, threats, amputation, not quite consensual sex (and definitely comes off more like rape), and an implied incest relationship (allegedly blood related stepbrothers).

There was a breaking point between Seth and Dom when they were younger, and Dom was taken away and eventually trained to be the assassin he is today. It is alleged that Seth and Dom share the same father, and Seth and Dom have sex. A lot of sex. I say allegedly related because ******SPOILER***** they turn out not to be? But that’s a revelation in a future book and not this one. So, ymmv with how you feel about reading that here and that Seth and Dom pursue a relationship anyway while believing they are stepbrothers.

Seth is, at heart, a soft soul who just wants to create new recipes and cook all day. He’s really not cut out for the life his family expects him to live. He's not the oldest, and when his father names Seth as his successor, it comes as a shock to everyone. Not to say Seth's older brother is particularly suitable to be the next don, but he definitely seems more ready for a life of crime than Seth.

Dom is the assassin for their mafia family and comes across as very abusive in this book. It’s how he was raised and all he’s been molded to be. He resorts to violence a lot and keeps pushing Seth to have sex even when Seth tells him no. Dom keeps hounding Seth to bottom even when Seth struggles to get away or repeatedly tells Dom to stop. It's beyond me that Dom says he would never rape anyone unless ordered to by the don, AND YET, what does he call what he's doing to Seth? Dom also hits and punches Seth when Seth doesn't agree with something he says, and Dom never shows remorse for doing so. Dom unnecessarily goes out of his way to intimidate Seth at every turn and he even says in his POV chapters that he's “grooming” Seth to be more responsive to Dom.

Dom may be the younger one, and shorter, and lean where Seth is the taller and bigger guy with more muscles. But Dom has an intensity about him that makes him a man not to be trifled with. Sometimes, I just want Seth to punch Dom in the face and for Dom to actually apologize.

I want to say my feelings on Seth and Dom’s relationship does get addressed throughout the series and amends are made, but it doesn’t make the first book less harder to read. It’s still violent. It’s still not okay.

The thing about Dom is that he never apologizes and, sure, he needs to train Seth to be the new don, but Dom's blasé and uncaring attitude makes him very hard to like here. Seth expresses PTSD from his kidnapping and Dom straight-up does not care.

Most of this book is sex scenes and with very little focus on scenes involving their training or doing whatever their Berlin job is to “observe” the woman who helped kidnap Seth. This book is definitely more sex heavy than future books of the series, and I had forgotten that until I relistened to it in this book.

Also, I have nothing against having a m/m/m scene, but the one in this book felt very random and it was more a way to introduce a character from a series by another author? There didn't really seem to be a reason to introduce Silvio other than to say that all mafia leaders might be queer. Silvio is an interesting character for sure, but was it enough to push me to read Silvio's books? No. I mean, I did eventually try to read his book, but winded up shelving it under DNF anyways because Silvio outside of the Guns n’ Boys series wasn’t as interesting to me.

So, I guess I just found the Silvio scenes pointless and could have done without them when Dom is clearly capable of taking care of dead bodies by himself and the threesome scene adds nothing.

The audiobook narration is great. Wyatt Baker already does the narration for the authors motorcycle club, Sex & Mayhem, and the Four Mercenaries series, among others. I’m a big fan. I liked the clips he did for the authors Patreon over the years for this series so seeing him getting to perform the whole book does not come as a surprise. I really liked his Italian accents for Seth and Dom. I do feel like Seth sounds maybe a bit too whiny at times, but I could attribute that to his character in book 1 versus the Seth I just finished reading in book 11.

Wyatt Baker’s British accent for the slight second that Dom slipped into it? Give me more of that. Has Wyatt Baker narrated any characters with British accents? I must find out.

I think it’s great he didn’t go for any accent for the Chinese characters who captured Seth, who were only described in the books as having a “Mandarin” accent, whatever that means. That could’ve been been offensive and I’m glad he just skipped right over that.

I’m happy with Wyatt Baker performing these audiobooks. Will he also narrated the m/f novella (like a narration with a female narrator?? sign up Elena Wolfe, PLEASE. I need to listen to Lucrezia and Santo on audio) or will the f/f crossover with Sex & Mayhem be turned into audiobooks too? I want all the audiobooks!! I can’t wait to listen to the rest of this series in audio. Like I said, I really love this series overall even if this first book is not high on my list of favorites.

Loved It a Lot

I loved this book so much I wish i can give it more stars. Great story with all my favorite tropes, enemies to lovers, forced proximity, hot and very steamy scenes and romance with an edge. And for my personal enjoyment a little amazing cameo by a favorite character from another series. Narrator did a great job with voices and accents. I am looking forward to the next book in this series. Highly recommend for all readers who enjoy mafia romance.