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If you missed my last KU review on Hooked, you can find it here.
Hi guys, I am back with yet another offering, Silent Vows by Jill Ramsower. It’s book two in the Byrne Brothers series. This book comes up a lot on my FYP on TikTok so I thought I would give it a try. The whole Byrne Brothers series is all over it. Ms. Ramsower has three series and two duets. It’s a mafia romance which seems to be a specialty of Ms. Ramsower. This one is a dual POV book but the FMC POV outweighs the MMC POV.
In Silent Vows, we meet the FMC Noemi Mancini (I am not sure it is pronounced No-em-mi or Nay-o-mi) six months after the death of her mother. She was in the car the day of the wreck that killed her. Noemi says that her father killed her mother, but not to anyone. The day of the accident she quit talking as a way to keep herself alive and so no harm comes to her younger brother, Sante. She doesn’t speak. At all. Not even in the privacy of her own room because she isn’t sure her father hasn’t bugged her room. Her father monitors everything about her now. He knows where she goes, if she sees anyone, what she watches, and what’s on her phone, including her messages. She has a “bodyguard” who is loyal to her father, Fausto Mancini, and hates Noemi.
Connor Reid is the MMC and the adopted son of Seamus and Mirren Reid. Mirren is the sister of Brody Byrne, the current head of the Irish mafia, meaning, Brody is Connor’s uncle making Connor one of the Byrne boys. He was given up by his Italian mafia birth mother, Mia Genovese. Who his mother is was a recent revelation for him. The mafia was going to be Connor’s way of life no matter what family he was in. However, because he is from one of the Italian mafia families in power and in the family of the head Irish mafia family, he is perfect for an alliance marriage between the Italians and the Irish. I fail to see the logic in that thinking but, hey, maybe it’s just me.
The reason Noemi and Connor come together is because of the alliance marriage I was talking about. A list of eligible prospective wives is drawn up and Noemi is on that list. The fact that she is mute should have kept him off of it from what is said but that is what draws Connor to her. Not because he wants to help her, but because then he doesn’t have to listen to her, so he chooses her. He doesn’t really want to marry, he just wants to prove his loyalty to the Byrnes. When Noemi is formally introduced to Connor she is shocked to find out that she is supposed to marry him. Technically, she has the option to say no but her father flat out threatened her so if she wants to keep breathing so she can keep her brother safe, she doesn’t have that choice.
I like Connor and not just because he is sex on a stick. He has depth. I don’t know if it is because he had fewer chapters of POV so more of him had to be packed into them whereas Noemi could be developed over more chapters, but I enjoyed his chapters more than Noemi’s. I enjoyed the way Connor fell for Noemi. He certainly fell first but he was in denial about it as much as he could be until suddenly he was not. Connor is a man of action. When he has his direction, be it his own or that was given to him, he gets it done. When he noticed Noemi in danger he acted. He doesn’t whine about being adopted, it is just a part of him. He wishes he was a Byrne, not just by adoption but otherwise doesn’t care about the circumstances of his birth. Noemi, on the other hand, is more of a handwringer. She wants to do something, but she doesn’t know what she should do. Noemi can’t form a plan in the same way Connor can. He forms a few at a time but I think Noemi only plans a few through the whole book. Connor acts, and Noemi reacts. It’s a big difference and not one I always enjoyed.
Overall, the book was ok. This isn’t one of the KU reads I will reread or buy like Detour or Bittersweet Memories. I will probably try more from Jill though. She is very popular on TikTok.
Have you let TikTok pick any books for you? How did it go? Have you read Silent Vows or anything else by Jill Ramsower? What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments below. Until next time, have fun storming the castle!
