Knight in the Shadows

Elm Street Mafia, Book 1

De: Ali Lyda, Alexa May

Narrado por: Mike Peterman

Serve the Family at all costs. That’s my purpose in life. No one asked me if I wanted it. Now there’s no way out.

And there’s definitely no place for Jake, a do-gooder military vet who sticks his nose in where it doesn’t belong.

He thinks he saw darkness in the Army? He hasn’t looked at the depths inside me. He’d run screaming if he knew. But he’s made something in our crumbling neighborhood I thought couldn’t exist. Something I want to be a part of. Just like I want him. But I have to walk away. No one betrays the Family and lives.

Knight in the Shadows is a full length m/m mafia romance featuring a wounded army vet trying to make the best of his neighborhood and the mafia enforcer with a dark past who never expected to fall in love!

©2020 Special Fiction Books (P)2020 Special Fiction Books

Max & Jake

Jake and Max are from two different worlds that you would never think could co-exist. Max is part of the mafia family in the neighborhood where Jake lives and has his gym. Jake is trying to clean the streets of his neighborhood and somehow he and Max become allies! Max and Jake definitely have incredible chemistry and a very strong connection that is impossible to deny. It's very interesting watching these two band together and compromise on exactly how to clean up the neighborhood and make it a better place for everyone. I am really looking forward to Sam and Cole's book next. I voluntarily reviewed a gifted copy of this audio book.

An angsty listen!

This is book 1 in the series and can be listened to as a standalone.
This was an overall angsty listen.
The character development was great and the plot was engaging.

The narration was fairly good.
I look forward to the rest of the series in this world.

My kind of Trope!

An Ex-Military and a Mob Enforcer! What a pairing and I am so in love with this trope. You can expect to read about ambiguous characters, characters who may have questionable morals, things we might be familiar with when it comes to the Mafia.

Jake wants a family. When he lost his leg during his tour and lost his Uncle Al two months after that, he was all alone, no more family. Rebuilding his Uncle's gym has given him new purpose and allowed him to form a new kind of family, community. And just like his Uncle and his Father, he thrives on it. When the local mob started pressuring them to sell their properties, he began to organize community meetings so everyone can air their grievances and they could help each other find solution. And then they started to received eviction notices. Most of these people have been living there since they were children themselves, and now they have their own families.

Max Russo is in town to find out what happened to a missing shipment of drugs. His Stepbrother Derek is pointing to one man who could have done it, Jake, who owns Elm Street Gym. But the more Max learn about Jake, the more he doesn't believe that he is the one who took the drugs. And he is becoming attached to Jake the more he spends time with him.

These two are meant for each other. Max has been wanting to get out from Ricky Russo's thumb, he wants to have his own family that thrives on helping and building each other up, a total opposite to what Ricky is imposing.

Mr. Mike Peterman was able to deliver the necessary voices for each of the characters, especially those of Max and Jake. We know how difficult it can be to voice over a few characters and to stay true to each and every inflection you have assigned to each. An avid reader could make everything he read alive through his imagination but listening to a book being narrated somehow makes it more vibrant, and it just becomes more!

I love this trope. I love the mystery, the opposites attract feeling. I love the way this tale was written and I cannot wait for the next book.

Great Listen

I enjoyed the book and dove right in for the narration. I wasn’t familiar with this narrator but it was great. I could get lost in the storyline and just enjoy it coming to life.

A Mafia M/M romance? By Ali Lyda? I'm SO there!

Once again I am reviewing the kind of book I wouldn't ordinarily reach for by writer Ali Lyda hasn't let me down yet. In 'Knight in the Shadows', we encounter a gangster with a heart and soul. What I find so memorable about this book is the affection expressed by the characters. The authors did not turn the book into a 'slaughter fest' nor was the book so focused on sexual interaction as a 'selling' feature of the book. I was pleasantly surprised that phrases like 'he reached for his hand' and 'trying not to shed tears' were used. The author described two characters, a mobster and a medically discharged soldier, as men who had and would show genuine feelings with looks and touches that weren't strictly sexual. When the couple does come together for sexual intimacy, the encounter is so much more delightful because of it. Max and Jake had a well-established relationship based on mutual respect as well as mutual need. And I love that a gym and the found family surrounding it was the focal point in a beautifully quaint neighborhood that fought off a mob takeover in the past and proved they could again! This is one of the best books I've EVER read! It left me feeling so good. The narrator did a wonderful job, too! Great work!!!