The Lone Family series (His Playmate, His Bodyguard, His Challenger) by Ace Fawn

The Lone Family is a series of three novellas from Ace Fawn featuring members of the yakuza clan run by Wolf Lone. All of them a little dark and a little steamy. Get a taste of some underworld pairings that fit together in a violent criminal family.

From the blurb:

The Lone Family is a dark and gritty M/M mafia romance. This steamy trilogy collection features the enemies-to-lovers trope between dangerous men in the criminal underworld.

Books included:

His Playmate

One mistake has twisted Diego Montosa’s world into darkness.

He kidnapped Wolf Lone’s only son, and the same thing has now happened to him.

Diego has been taken captive by an irresistible yakuza boss, broken down, and turned into his personal plaything …

Wolf is ruthless, subjecting his new pet to painful punishments and addictive pleasures. But Diego is a vicious young gang leader and will rebel at every chance he gets … even if it means sleeping with the enemy.

His Bodyguard

Levi never wanted a bodyguard, but when he has a run-in with the police, his father hires a bodyguard to keep him out of trouble. Nick is handsome and protective, and Levi develops a crush on him. But Levi isn’t allowed to date his bodyguard, let alone sleep with him.

Nick isn’t supposed to be attracted to the boss’s son. They have to keep their relationship professional, and Nick can’t let his feelings get in the way of his duties. But when Levi kisses him, Nick doesn’t want to hold back anymore.

One thing leads to another, and Levi gets Nick into his bed. They must keep their forbidden affair a secret, but that’s not easy to do when Levi has already let Nick into his heart and isn’t willing to let him go … even if they get caught.

His Challenger

Trained to be a lethal assassin since he was a child, Mathew is assigned one final test from his boss: to kill his brother, Diego. But when Mathew fails the mission and is caught, he is held captive by the enemy for questioning.

All Rex needs to do is make sure Mathew doesn’t escape. But Mathew fights back and proves he is a force to be reckoned with. Rex is consumed by a strong desire to dominate Mathew and to make the enemy his own. Rex must stay in control, but the longer he and Mathew are alone together, the harder it is for Rex to resist the sexy assassin.

Dangerous men, especially killers, are not supposed to love each other. Mathew knows he shouldn’t be attracted to the enemy, but he develops a hunger for his captor that he hasn’t experienced before … and Mathew can’t deny himself any longer.

Trigger Warning: The books in this collection contain the following: BDSM, spanking, age-gap relationships, kidnapping, drug use, dubious consent, self-harm/attempted suicide, and violence. Reader discretion is advised.

SNik's Review:

Three quick reads. Dual POV's. Criminal characters in violent surroundings.

His Playmate is an age gap enemies to lovers story featuring Wolf Lone, head of a yakuza clan and Diego the local gangster that confronts him, but finds he might have bitten off more than he can chew. Wolf finds a partner in the strong-willed gang leader, if he can get Diego to bend to his will.

His Bodyguard features Wolf's son Levi who is rebellious and finds himself guarded by Nick, a man that helps Levi see all his possibilities as the boss's heir. Their attraction could be problematic if anyone ever finds out.

His Challenger is another age gap enemies to lovers featuring a young assassin Mathew sent to kill his own brother but is stopped by the loyal guard Rex. When Rex is ordered to guard the killer, he can't help but be drawn to someone just as skilled and violent as he is and sees a possible partner for life.

Acknowledging that these are very short stories so are not as developed as some might like, they were still entertaining with interesting characters. Overall a 4 rating for the series.

Rating: 4 Stars

The Lone Family is available to buy as an ebook, paperback, or to read with Kindle Unlimited subscription.