Deviant: The Firm, Book 2

The Firm follows a group of brothers who were raised by a deeply abusive mob boss father. After his death, they inherited control of the family crime syndicate and now run it themselves, quietly using their power and resources to help people who need protection. This book gives us Ansel and Cade, and their dynamic is honestly one of my favorites. Ansel is an orphan hacker who gets forced into a situation way over his head. He is tasked with kidnapping someone, something completely out of character for him. He still sees himself as a good person, which makes the whole situation feel even more chaotic and slightly unhinged from the start. And then there is Cade. Except Ansel does not realize who he actually kidnapped. Cade is part of The Firm, and instead of escaping… he decides to stay. He leans all the way into the situation, flirting, teasing, and basically turning the entire kidnapping into his own personal game. Watching Cade give kidnapping advice while tied up and fully enjoying himself was hilarious. Meanwhile Ansel is spiraling, trying to figure out how everything got so out of control. Their dynamic is pure chaos in the best way. You get golden retriever energy from Ansel mixed with Cade’s slightly unhinged black cat energy, and it just works so well. Underneath the humor, there is also a really sweet relationship developing. Cade sees something in Ansel immediately and wants to protect him, while Ansel is just trying to survive the situation without losing…

This was completely unhinged. I loved Covenant so I had high expectations for book 2 and it lived up to them! Cade and Ansel had me laughing from how ridiculous they both were when dealing with their “kidnapping”. We meet Ansel on the hunt for ‘Brad’ in a local bar because he needs to kidnap him as a way to pay off a debt and get a crime syndicate off his back. He meets Cade (only he doesn’t know he’s Cade) - because Cade gives a fake name of ‘Brad’. Ansel attempts to kidnap “Brad” - poorly, mind you - with Cade helping him along because Cade is instantly smitten with Ansel and wants to see where this is going. Cade wears Ansel down and eventually they hookup. Only during their tryst, it becomes very clear that Ansel is real danger and Cade and The Firm are the only ones who can potentially protect him. These two were an interesting pairing. I really enjoyed the back and forth between these two - how Ansel never stood down to Cade and how Cade caved to Ansel’s every request, when you’d expect the opposite. These boys fell fast and it was extremely evident in how hard they fought to protect each other from danger. I love the dynamics between the brothers and I find some of my favorite moments with these books are the family interactions. This book sets up nicely for book 3 and I can’t wait to see more of the Buckinghams! What you’re getting: Kidnapping gone wrong Forced proximity One bed Touch him and die Secret society Found family HEA Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️