Like a Feral Cinnamon Roll? Humans Don’t Have Horns is available on Kindle (+KU), paperback, and audiobook.
The Plot
Kiro, was stolen, illegally adopted, abandoned to the wild, raised in a wolf pack, then caged as a science experiment. Ann, embedded as a nurse at the Fancher Institute for the Mentally Ill and Dangerous, keeps returning to the patient known only as 34. The chart is blank, the restraints are brutal, and the way he watches her says there is a person still inside. When the walls come down, he takes her on his flight to freedom.
My Breakdown
This book gave me:
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🐺 A feral, damaged hero who loves like a knife
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📰 A stubborn, curious heroine who runs toward danger
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🔥 Heat that matches the violence and stakes
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💥 A finale that pays off the trilogy’s long game
Let’s start with the obvious – this is mafia romance with the usual mafia-romance tropes. The MMC’s are very dark and possessive, the romance is dark and includes hair pulling and eyes watering. The series is a classic of the subgenre, so, you need to enjoy those elements to enjoy this book.
Having said that, this is my favorite mafia-romance series. The characters have real depth. The pacing is fast, the stakes are high, and the emotional payoff is big. Savage Mafia Prince is my favorite of the three, but I still encourage you to start at book one.
Kiro and Ann
Kiro is my favorite Dragusha. He is raw, physical, and terrifyingly loyal once he imprints on Ann. I really enjoyed the way that Martin dealt with Kiro living outside of civilization and how that affects him and even to the level of heightening his senses, which was really intriguing.
“Patient 34 has a violent halo of dark curls and a short, unruly beard. Sooty lashes line his amber eyes. His energy is… intense, wild, like he was created in some brilliant hellfire. Something about him pulls at me. He’s gorgeous in a furious way. He’s gorgeous in a stunning, suck-you-in-and-spit-you-out way.”
Ann is not a typical mafia-romance heroine. Too often the FMC in these books feels like a mirror of the MMC, the light to his darkness, the virgin to his sexual experience. Ann is smart and strong. A reporter who cannot leave a lie alone.
“I could take her for my mate. Out in the wilderness, I don’t need to trust her. She would be mine to keep. To care for. Fully and completely mine.”
The culture
I read a couple of romances with Russian or Italian characters that weren’t more than a caricature. That is a hard turnoff for me. I am not sure of Annika Martin’s background, but the immersion in Russian and Albanian culture feels thoughtful and lived-in. Whether that comes from her own history or from deep research, I felt like I got more than a mafia romance. The customs, language, cuisine, are respected. I learned things, and that is a real bonus for me as a reader.
📚Read Dangerous Royals in order:
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Dark Mafia Prince (Aleksio & Mira)
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Wicked Mafia Prince (Viktor & Tanechka)
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Savage Mafia Prince (Kiro & Ann)
