Reviewed by Larissa

TITLE: Niall

SERIES: Vigilance Book 2

AUTHOR: Silvia Violet

PUBLISHER: Self-published

RELEASE DATE: October 23, 2020

LENGTH: 228 pages

BLURB:

I’m a former FBI agent. Now I’m on the opposite side of the law as part of an underground vigilante organization.

When the fight to stop a crime ring pairs me with a pawn shop owner, it’s hate at first sight.

Fun fact: Hate and desire aren’t mutually exclusive.

To further the investigation, Marcus and I must pretend to be boyfriends. Too much time spent in close proximity has me wondering if Marcus might have the power to thaw my icy heart.

REVIEW:

Niall is the second entry in the Vigilance series, a spinoff of popular The Marchesi Family series (Lucien, Angelo and Devil). You do not need to have read Giorgio to follow and enjoy Niall.  A caution, though: Having now read Giorgio Vigilance Book #1 and now Niall Book #2, I do recommend reading the entire Marchesi Family series before reading the Vigilance series. I say this not because you need to read that series to understand or enjoy Giorgio or Niall, but because some of the MCs, specifically Devil Marchesi, prominently appear in the Vigilance series and you may encounter spoilers if you haven’t read the Marchesi trilogy first.

So now back to Niall:  This is a fabulous book. Our couple in this one is Niall, former FBI agent turned vigilante member of Vigilance, and Marco, who is not a Vigilance member, but works closely with the Marchesi Family and has been working independently to take down the same human trafficking organization as Vigilance. They are paired up by the mysterious X, who owns Vigilance, to infiltrate a meeting with the key players in the trafficking ring to try to gather enough information to take them down.  Oh, did I mention that when I say “paired up”, I literally mean they have to act like they are a pair/pretend couple? Niall has to pretend to be the submissive boy-toy of Marco for the week-long meeting on a remote island retreat of one of the prime players. And did I mention that Niall and Marco hate each other? Hate at first sight in fact.  Well, hate and love are two sides of the same coin as Marco and Niall discover.

The pervasive thread thus far in the Vigilance series is control.  In Giorgio, there are all kinds of control issues, but they are different from the battle of wills between Marco and Niall.  In Niall, these two strong, powerful, angry, stubborn men wrestle for control over each other and sparks fly.  Marco and Niall have crackling chemistry and they know how to push each other’s buttons.  Niall is traumatized from a near-death experience on his final FBI mission where he was betrayed by someone he trusted.  He hasn’t been able to go undercover since and panics at the thought of trusting anyone and leaving himself vulnerable again.  He is uptight, hyper-organized, needs to be in charge, and keeps his feelings, emotions and needs locked down tight.  He’s not happy, but figures this is the way he has to live to survive.  Enter Marco, who wants nothing more than to make Niall submit.  He finds Niall’s need for control to be infuriating and his stubbornness beyond annoying, but at the same time, it stokes some inner fire, attraction and need to have him. And so the power struggle plays out, with Marco working to break Niall and Niall secretly wanting to be broken, but not willing to trust anyone enough to let his guard down and submit.

All of the hate between Marco and Niall translates to crazy sexual tension which quickly becomes hot, scorching sex.  Lots and lots of 5-alarm-fire level hate sex. But as the book goes on, the sex is no longer driven by hate … it becomes something more that neither Marco or Niall want to acknowledge.

The backbone of this story is the mission and there’s lots of action and suspense. Unfortunately, the plot had potential that wasn’t exploited, which is a shame because there was a lot there to work with. The cast of characters on the island was diverse and complex, and with perhaps one exception, you couldn’t readily tell what anyone’s true motive or role was. There was so much more suspense and action that could have been milked from that setup and the character dynamics, but it was rushed to the conclusion and we missed out on experiencing it. The sex became the primary focus and the plot felt like simply a backdrop for more sex scenes.  If the sex and suspense/action had been a little more balanced, this story would have been perfect.

Overall, this is a great book and I recommend it.  It’s well written, the characters are engaging and the push-pull dynamics between Marco and Niall are captivating. You can’t help but like them individually, and love them together as a couple. They are a pair that definitely clicks.  Additionally, despite the action, suspense and sex, the author manages to thread some subtle humor throughout, which was unexpected. I’m eager to read the next book in this series, Leo, to see what happens next in this continuing storyline.  But never fear, Niall definitely has an HEA of its own.

RATING:

BUY LINK: 

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