Not So Innocent

Shattered Glass #2

by Dani Alexander

Some secrets are worth dying for. Others are worth killing for.

Nikolaj “Cai” Strakosha lives in contradictions—ruthless killer and shy artist, calculated criminal and lovesick teenager. Two years ago, he left Denver with a broken heart and a scheme to take down a state senator. Now he’s back, but his plan is spiraling out of control, and the only option left is to ask for help from the man who rejected him again and again.

FBI Agent Riley Cordova has built his adult life on following the rules and staying in control. But Cai’s return shatters his carefully structured world. The teenager he once easily resisted is now a dangerous young man who makes his heart race—and the forbidden kiss they shared haunts his memories. Riley should stay away, but he’s soon drawn into a conspiracy with deadly consequences. When the bodies start piling up, Riley finds himself breaking every rule to keep Cai safe.

As Cai walks a tightrope of lies and deception, he will face an impossible choice between the promise he made or the promise of a future. And when it turns out that Cai isn’t the innocent victim he appears to be, Riley will have to choose between betraying the Bureau or betraying Cai.

Genres: M M Romance, Romance, Contemporary, Mystery, LGBT, Crime, Contemporary Romance

ebook

First published January 28, 2025

About the author

I love hearing from people, so please, if you want me to respond or comment, send me a message. I'll happily answer any questions or comments, rants or even if you throw a tomato at my head. Be warned, I'm a chatterbox (and that I make a mean tomato basil soup) =D.

Reviews

[Baba]

I exchanged two gifs because I prefer them in black & white. :P ** Still thinking about the bunny slippers…<333

[Blacky *Romance Addict*]

OMG this one is about Cai!!! OMG I can't wait, this is gonna be so goood <3

[Rosalinda *KRASNORADA*]

UPDATE!!! We have something!!! <3

https://docs.google.com/document/d/15...#


***CAN NOT WAIT FOR CAI'S STORY***





http://slashfiction.org/not-so-innocent/

[Sully Smutty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a really long review planned, not just for the fun twisty plot, and the all-around fantastic rep, but I also have lots of positive thoughts about the bipolar disorder rep, and that requires more focus than I currently have. 😄

I enjoyed this one a lot, but I am not one of the readers that read book 1 twelve years ago and spent all those years impatiently waiting for this one, so my review and rating is based on a standalone reading. (Will be based on that, let's not get ahead of myself.)

Short version for now:

I'm not sure what I was expecting since I haven't read book 1 (Shattered Glass), but the UST, the angst, the trauma, the mental health rep, the casual religion rep (Sunni Muslim, atheist, Roman Catholic), diversity rep (Albanian heritage, Black MC - Somali-Brit, Latino rep, POC rep), and the witty banter between all of the characters was top notch.

The story begins with scenes from the past, 11, 8, and 1 year ago scenes. Bit of a slow start for me, but that was deceiving, because holy shit after that it was nonstop twists and turns!

I'm not always a fan of hesitant pining/I shouldn't with age-gaps, but this was done well. Lots of angst, anger, and emotions.

Bonus points for:
• adding mostly realistic life events into the plot
• Sunni Muslim mother with a hijab
• dynamic side characters
• strong and very well-written women
• casual and true-to-life diversity and religion rep
• bipolar disorder rep that wasn't sensationalized or demonized
• Catholic priest best friend making jokes, this guy is hilarious!
• Latino rep, Latino family • blatant pushback on categorizing/pseudo-diagnosing someone as a psychopath (I need more of this, sick of the ridiculous "psychopath" garbage takes)
• realistic new-to-kink, Dom/sadist hesitation

Tags (this book really needs CWs, it has very heavy topics and graphic on-page situations):
Darkish CR, romantic suspense, standalone (but does contain spoilers for book 1), shy artist & ruthless killer/FBI agent pairing, second chance, nipple piercings, tattoos, lies & more lies (everyone is lying!), deception, trauma, action, thriller, UST, pet Beagle - Fuzzbutt, age-gap (10-11 years), Denver (Colorado), subterfuge, bipolar rep, Muslim family, Black side character (Somali-Brit), POC MC, casual religion rep, a couple D/s scenes, Sir, spanking, bruising/marking, CWs for on-page murder, references to past SA, graphic violence, references to self-harm & scars from it, delusions, torture, blood, injuries, hospitalizations
MC Names: Nikolaj (Cai) & Riley

[♥Laddie♥ (Lee Lee)]

ETA 10/30/14: This is out?!! It's got almost 50 ratings. Did I miss something?


Waiting patiently...no, really...so patiently.

[Tara♥]

I'll just have to wait patiently so...

[Emma Sea]

I'm very confused. This isn't out yet, is it? How come it already has 14 ratings, which are all over the board. Did I miss the release?

[Kat]

I wish this egg would hatch already!

[Sandy Kay]

Not rating. I wish I didn't like this author's style so much, I might have saved myself the heartbreak.

Where are the heroes who actually care if the person they care about sleeps with other people? I need them. This entire opening was the older hero, Riley, telling the younger hero, Cai, to go fuck other people and experience life. Yes, I know you won't wait for me. Go.

How "romantic" and responsible of him. 🤮

And as soon as Cai comes back a year later to "see" what might happen, the first thing out of his mouth is "I fucked other people! now I'm back to see if we can try!" Not a real quote, just paraphrasing the sentiment. And Riley essentially says "oh, sorry, what I meant is, you don't have enough LIFE experience, like, I've just experienced so much more than you and you need to mature." Mind you, he says that to Cai who was 1) born and raised in the mafia, 2) murdered a man at age 8, 3) lives with bipolar neurodivergence 4) is a supremely talented artist 5) was raped as a teenager in previous book, 6) has been arrested and on trial and 7) just got back from traveling the world. Yeah. He sure needs more life experience! 😂😭. Excuse me while I gift Cai a copy of He's Just Not That Into You. What a great setup for romance.

It would have been really fun if Riley had wound up NOT being the other MC and had to spend the whole book helping with Cai's case and seeing him with a different MC hero and realizing what he missed. That I would have been into! But when I'm rooting for MCs not to get together, it's time to move on. This one lasted to 8%.

Yeah. This one's not for me. I am feeling so jaded right now. Beautiful cover though! Love it!

[Becca Finn]

For those who have complained this book is taking too long to come out: http://slashfiction.org/oh-look-anoth...

That is a pretty valid reason to put off finishing a book.

And then: http://slashfiction.org/its-over/

So hold your horses guys, okay? I really want to read it too :)

[Christina Marie]

I have got to stop reading excerpts.



It's like pure, undiluted torture (I prefer my torture watered down).

Sigh.

Excuse me while I go re-read the excerpt again. I'm going to read that shizzle until my eyes bleed because it's sooooooo good.

[Jennifer☠Pher☠ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a lot of pressure. I feel quite a bit of anxiety over this review and I’m not an anxious person, much.

Pressure all around. Pressure for the author, who finally released a book that we learned about what, ten, eleven years ago? I think the copyright in the actual book says 2012 so twelve years actually. And pressure for the reader, me, the reader.

This is Cai right? We, the lovers of Shattered Glass, are all part of the Cult of Cai. SO MUCH PRESSURE.

Quick side note, If you are reading this book without reading Shattered Glass you are doing yourself and this story a huge disservice. This is book two for a reason. This is not a standalone. Anyone claiming it is has lost their mind. Ok, back to it.

I didn’t read the blurb. Really, I didn’t even know there was a blurb. The book has been sitting on my shelf since 04/21/14 and honestly, I didn’t even know it was getting released. I saw a friend reading it on my feed. It was just off my radar.

It’s been a bit since my last re-read of Shattered Glass so I knew I had to start there. Not a hardship. I love Austin Glass. And the epilogue is where we get our first taste that there will be a book about Cai.

Alright, enough stalling. I didn’t love this. Am I still thinking about it a couple days after finishing it? Yes, yes I am. I still didn’t love it and a lot of it I don’t think I even liked. I feel bad about this. This is why I’m anxious. I can’t imagine the pressure the author felt putting this out in the wild and I wanted to be a reassuring voice out there saying hey! I loved this.

But I didn’t.

Some of it really, really disturbed me.

And, like the first book, so much of this would be SO MUCH WORSE without Austin’s money. Let’s all take a moment to think about what it would be like without his money.

I’m not a doctor and everything I know about mental illness is from the fiction I read or the movies I watch. I know that Cai can live a somewhat normal life if he lives a normal life, but I worry and so much that happened and will continue to happen worries me.

It's been a few days now since I’ve finished and I’ve lost a little steam with my thoughts. There were some tropes in this book that aren’t my sort of thing. I would have read it even if I knew because I had to read it, but they sort of ruined a bit for me.

I struggled with how the story was told. I felt thrown in and I know secrets had to be kept but they were being kept from me, the reader in a way that I struggled to keep up.

And most of all, I’m sad. Some of it gutted me and I think what I didn’t deal with in Shattered Glass I had no chance of not dealing with in this book. It was hard. It was serious and it just hurt. But the worst part, I don’t know if I want to read this again and I feel like with all the action and the subterfuge it definitely needs a re-read. I just mostly feel like I don’t want to.

Hell, I’m not sure if I even want Dare’s book.

I’m glad we finally got the story, I really am. Riley just sort of ended up being different than I had him in my head. How he introduced Cai into his “real” self is almost unforgiveable. Aren’t there rules? Care? It was traumatizing. I’m also a little confused over a statement Cai made toward the end, about falling in love with someone who was in love with a dead man. That whole part of the story also was confusing and was just not my thing. I didn’t expect him to have someone like that and maybe that is just my idealism and weird romantic self, I just was not a fan, at all.

But yeah, it may be 50/50 now that I’ve settled. So, I guess it fell somewhere in the middle of like and dislike.

I probably do have to re-read it.

Not a bunny slipper in sight. Sigh.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't describe my surprise when I realized what this was when I saw the author's name on this book! I read Shattered Glass many years ago and over the years would check in to see if the 2nd book had been released... with no luck. So, yes... this was an anticipated surprise that I was glad to have come across!

Cai gives new meaning to the word "complex" and Riley didn't come without his own baggage. If I could give a bit of advice... grab a box of tissues, some snacks and a strong beverage! This story won't be for everyone, but if you are in a good place, this will be one of the best stories that you will ever read. But, be prepared... it was a hard read, but worth it... IMHO!!!

And, don't worry, we get to catch up with Peter and Austin, also!!! 🥰

I will hold out hope that we will see Shatterproof sometime in the not-so-far future because I would love to read Julian and Dare's story!

[Bronwyn]

DNF @ 33%

I’ve decided that this book is not for me. I’m bored and the story just keeps circling back around. Cai is sleeping with Julian but professing his love for Riley. Riley is pushing Cai away but jealous of Julian. Cai is making poor choices about everything he does. I’m semi-interested in the crime, but not enough to want to finish.

[Ayanna]

How the heck does this have ratings if the word count is apparently at 3?

[Light]

It's 2018. Is this book out? *shakes head* After years of waiting, I will say this: if you have writer's block or whatever the issue really is, then say anything except that the book is "coming soon". That's lying, plain and simple.
And I don't care about reading excerpts and loose chapters. I want the whole thing.

[Sara]

Ack! It's finally happening. We're getting this January 2025! I'm on my phone but there's a link: https://slashfiction.org/not-so-innoc...


Cai and Riley? Really? My God!

[Mare SLiTsReaD Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book for me was sooo long awaited, I couldn’t wait to read it.
I liked it but I also did not.
Ugh I hate tht for me lol
I truly felt like I was reading Die Hard ughhhhhhhh

I wish I felt more umfffffff

I hope we get Dare’s book sooner than 12 years is all I can say

Mare~Slitsread

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclosure: While I haven’t been in communication with Dani in a while, he was a part of my core GR friend group way back when. I usually avoid rating or reviewing books by authors I actually know for all sorts of reasons, but I already let on that I read it, and I’ve only seen one review of it in my feed, (how much has GR destroying interactivity by killing notifications hurt authors, I wonder?) so I’m just gonna post this anyway.

NSI is a fun, propulsive, m/m crime thriller. It didn’t work as well for me as Shattered Glass, (the kink is VERY much not my thing) and I never quite had a grasp on Riley as a character, but the plot was a blast, and I enjoyed spending time with these characters again.

Unlike Shattered Glass, which gives us Austin’s first person pov, this one alternates between Cai and Riley in third. My quibbles with the book are related to this. Occasionally, pov did get kind of murky, there’s a scene in chapter twenty where it felt like we’d drifted in to Riley’s FBI partner and I had to backtrack and reread a few times to figure out whose head we were in.

Some other long winded thoughts about pov in the spoiler box:



This had me thinking about when and what the pov character can withhold from the reader, and while I don’t think I can articulate my feelings about that into a reliable set of guidelines at this point, it did help them crystallize a bit.

Partly it comes down to a realization of how much pov matters to this issue.

It’s not that I thought of first person and close third person as essentially a matter of pronouns. No. I think first person is harder to do well than it seems. I think a lot of bad first person comes from the fact it feels easier to write than third, and that feeling is deceptive. There’s a difference in the way and the extent to which the reader will fill in the gaps in a narrative depending on pov.

But I think the key here is awareness of the reader.

Now there’s a whole spectrum of unreliable narrators and of information that’s withheld from the reader. But in this instance I’m considering only information which the pov character is consciously aware of (no repressed emotions or anything) and that is relevant to the current moment in the narrative.

A first person narrator may lie or omit information freely, because they have awareness of the reader.

But I don’t read close third this way. (Think any third person where we get the pov character’s thoughts, or things filtered through their perspective.)

I’ve always given the side-eye to claims that ALL STORIES have an implied narrator. Many clearly do. Many (including all first person) have an explicit one. But that’s not how I experience a lot of third person, and I think it comes down to this. I don’t read the pov character as being conscious of the reader in a third person stories. And for many there’s no sense of an intermediary consciousness between me and the story. It’s more like an invisible telepathic camera is following the character around and picking up thoughts and emotions and translating them to words, and it can’t lie or edit because it doesn’t know there’s anyone to lie to or edit for.

The way Cai withholds both his plans and guilty knowledge here feels off to me. He’s withholding in a way that would be fine for a first person narrator, but isn’t for a third.

Which isn’t to say there has to be an info dump the second something becomes relevant, but there should be an acknowledgement of the gap. Like with Riley’s brother. It’s ok not to give the whole story the first time Riley’s on page, but you gotta acknowledge that it’s a thing when it’s relevant, even if the full reveal is delayed.

I’m not entirely sure it’s possible to signpost all the stuff Cai’s withholding sufficiently in third person to not feel like a cheat, or an authorial intrusion when it’s revealed. Maybe it could be. I’m sure some of it could be.

But the gaps here and the eventual reveals felt off to me in a way that took me out of the story at times.



None of that was significant enough to derail my enjoyment of the book overall though.

Ratings wise, this is in that hard to decide space between 4 and 5 to me, (where 3 is I feel nothing, 4 is something I really enjoyed, and 5 for stuff I liked so much I think I’ll want to read it again.) Guess I’ll round up?

Oh FYI, any content warning you can think of probably applies to this series, but SA most of all.

I definitely advise refreshing your memory of Shattered Glass before you dive into this one, as, despite the internal time gap, events here tie directly to the events of that book.

I’m glad to see Dani’s finally back at it. I hope we won’t have to wait 13 years for his next one. :)

[JJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is the longest I've ever had to wait for a sequel (12 years!!), and I was worried that it would be a letdown after all that anticipation, especially since I loved the first book so much. I'm relieved to have been wrong! This was so well written and delved so deeply into both Cai and Riley's psyches, showing how both affected their relationship. The plot kept me hooked the whole way through, and by the end, I felt like I knew them both intimately. There was a healthy mix of gut wrenching emotional pain, light-hearted moments that had me giggling, suspense, sweet romance, and heat. I really hope I don't have to wait so long for Julian and Dare's book!

[Ibrahim Mwaura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow wow WOW! Shattered Glass was the first MM book I ever read and I had given up hope of ever getting Cai's story but Not So Innocent was WORTH THE WAIT. Would give this more than 5 stars if I could.

Cai and Riley's relationship is messed up but I loved it.

[Jax · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unclear/confusing at times, needed a good editor. (What *was* Cai+Julian’s plan??)
Riley being into kink was a turnoff.
Cai trauma redux was a turnoff.
Melodrama on steroids.
I was a fan of the first book, but this was bad.

[Ari]

Cai!
Love the cover!
----------
plis somebody tell me when the exact date is ><

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story

Having read Dani Alexander’s first book. Shattered Glass, about Peter and Austin, I went looking for any more books written by him. Sadly my search was empty and I was placed in a holding pattern, hoping the future would produce more eventually. Finally, Not So Innocent arrived.

Oh My. My waiting was rewarded with an exceptional story, as usual superb dialog, fascinating characters and brutal story telling. Mr. Alexander writes flawed characters that tugs you towards empathy and hope. His descriptive writing style hits every detail so as the reader, I am transported to his world. Few authors are able to accomplish that not only once with the first book, but now twice with Not So Innocent.

I hope to encourage Mr. Alexander to continue to write and share his brilliance by buying his books, as well as buying them in audio book format as well. Please keep writing. And for all you readers, buy this one. You won’t be disappointed.

[Keya Bear · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. More than I expected and thoroughly enjoyed.

[E]

Will this book ever be published?

[Anna D.]

I need this book NOW!

[Tammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took 12 years to write, but it's worth it.

I you loved Shattered Glass (bunny ears slippers) you will love this one too. The gang is all back together.

[Kristin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worth the wait.

[Debbora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not what I imagined. But I’m so glad I got the opportunity to read Cai’s story.
There is a lot going on in this one. Cai’s mental illness is a huge part of their relationship. I’m looking forward to book 3.