Silent Promises

Dark & Silent Night #3

by Christine Michelle

He betrayed her when they were in college.

Now, he has to fight to keep her safe and win her heart again.

Logan Maddox is a loner after a so-called friend destroyed the longest, most precious relationship he ever had.

He started his business in an effort to hunt down the one woman who got away because she still owned his soul and he was tired of living without it… without her.

Aoife Quinn once put her whole heart in Logan’s hands.

The moment he shattered her trust and broke that heart, she had no choice but to run and hide. She was meant to marry a man of her father’s choosing, and that would never be Logan. She had given him her heart and he broke his promise to be there to protect her from the fate her family had in store.

When she finally resurfaces again years later, she realizes that the trouble she had been running from all those years was closer than she thought. It was wrapped around her in the guise of a new fiancé with an agenda.

The only person who can save her now is the same one who let her down years ago.

❤️ Forbidden/Unrequited love

🖤 Morally Gray Hacker

❤️ Dark secret identity

🖤 Mafia ties

❤️ Friends to Enemies to Lovers

🖤 Betrayal & Grovel

❤️ A little bit of (Christmas) holiday spirit sprinkled in.

🖤 Novella



Silent Promises is the third book in the Dark & Silent Night series—dark, emotional romances about the Maddox brothers that explore the razor-thin line between hero and villain.

Read the other books in the Dark & Silent Night series, following the lives of the Maddox brothers, written by my incredible

🖤 Silent Vow by Maya Alden

🖤 Veiled Silence by Eve Black

🖤 Silent Flames by Cate C. Wells

* This book is written in First person, dual POV

Genres: Second Chance, Friends To Lovers, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance, Romance, Dark Romance, Novella

180 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 20, 2025

About the author

Christine Michelle runs on coffee and giggles as she writes her angst-fueled romance stories (motorcycle club, rockstar, paranormal, college, & other contemporary as well as women's fiction and marriage in trouble novels).
She is a mom to four humans (2 girls, 2 boys – all grown now).
When she's not writing books, she enjoys reading, drawing, hiking, or feeding her soul with live music at concerts.
Christine is a traveler and has lived all over the USA (and other parts of the world). She currently lives in San Antonio, Texas with her two fur babies.

Reviews

[Val ⚓️ Shameless Handmaiden ⚓️ · Rating 2 out of 5]

This started off strong and then splat.

[Bookish.Midnight. and. black · Rating 1 out of 5]

12 years later the H loves the h more than he loved her when he had her.

I felt no connection between the MCs , it was all bland and shallow, it lacked substance

[Mairi Swan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting plot but it didn't really have any grovel. The hero saves the heroine from an unwanted engagement situation and she just forgives him after 11 years apart while he was the reason for hiding for so long? Uhm ok. I expected more

[Amy Garringer · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am not even sure what I just read

Explain to me how the man chooses the OW over "the love of his life," sleeps with the OW the same night he kicked out "the love of his life," nearly gets her shackled to a horrible human being, puts her life in danger, and in the end SHE APOLOGIZES.

I am reallllly surprised anyone can call this romance.

[Danny Lea · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This was just ok for me. I really didn't feel good chemistry between the MMCs. The lead up was angsty, but it's so short to feel any real emotion. As for safety. The safety gang won't like it. There's a scene with ow in the beginning of the story who he blew Aoife off for. Once they were reunited I didn't feel any fireworks sad to say.

[TJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Novellas are a challenging breed of book and take a very specific skill set for an author to be successful at writing. Many, MANY talented authors who write fabulous full length novels really struggle when trying to pen a novella. The demands of crafting a full-bodied story that encompasses character depth and growth, an engaging plot, a cohesive storyline, an understandable conflict and an acceptable resolution is a much harder challenge when it all must be done within a very few number of pages. Therefore, every sentence MUST pack a punch and drive the story and depth forward. There isn’t page time to wander.

I think that is the problem here. The idea and characters are great but the author writes like she has all the time in the world… until she doesn’t. So, the depth and understanding are lost in all the unnecessary, unimportant little stuff.

[Jac K · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was ok, from a romance standpoint I wasn’t blown away or really convinced these two were endgame, but I found it less boring than the first book, so there’s that. We’ve known for the first two books that Logan was hung up on a lost love and had been searching for years… here we get the story of Logan and Aoife.

The Good
🍀The beginning was great. I was anxiously awaiting with Aoife to see what Logan was doing.
🍀There was quite a lot of action going on that moved the plot along in the second half.
🍀 Maddox Bro code
🍀 I HATE having to chase down the extended epilogue but this one was kind of sweet, (They had a bunch of kids) but FYI it’s much shorter than it appears page 1 @ 18% and end @ 42%.

The Not-So Good
🕳️ We needed to see the scene of him rushing and finding her gone. IMO info dumping with like 3 other life events made it seem insignificant. It should have been life changing if we are expected to believe he cared. Seeing him DEVASTATED, remorseful, and beating himself up for his decisions would’ve gone a long way.
🕳️ The separation was way too long (12 years) and they spent way too much page time apart. (until 50%)
🕳️ The chemistry wasn’t believable. If these two loved each other so much, why would they never actually date? They’re visiting each other as adults in college with the plan to marry, but never take the step to move the relationship along, why? It made me feel like Logan wasn’t really into her because people have long distance college relationships all the time. It didn’t flow how he treated her with how he burned a candle for years.
🕳️ Their betrayal discussions killed all my romance vibes because … yes I would’ve chosen her and abandoned being your “escape plan” because I was lonely, but I still would have honored my promise… doesn’t scream I love you I love you. And the “Two things can be true at once. I was in love with you. I was also lonely and wanted something that didn’t seem possible at the time. Didn’t fly because the love should keep the lonely in line… Unless it’s friendship love which is what it felt like.
🕳️ I wanted to follow up with Grace. I would think Logan the computer hacker wouldn’t have left things with MIT, so where are things? I mean look what Adrian did with Delaney.

* I know they weren’t in a relationship but for my labels I’m adding it as emotional cheating & cheating-ish for tracking purposes.

Bottom Line- This was alright because the pace moved with action, so I wasn’t bored, but I thought it was a miss as a romance, so if that’s what you’re in the mood for… it might disappoint. I was never convinced Logan felt anything beyond friendship before, so how did that grow to romantic love over 12 years without any contact?

[VoraciousReader · Rating 1 out of 5]

This wasn’t just a situation where Logan believed the lies that Grace told him about Aoife mistreating her. Logan was already having an emotional affair with Grace and trying to find an excuse to break his promise to be with Aoife because he wanted to be with Grace instead. The only reason that Logan even started looking for Aoife was because Grace betrayed him and stole his work.

[Kathy Gortney · Rating 2 out of 5]

forgave wayyyyy to easily!

I understand this was someone she loves since she was a child but in my opinion SHE did all the groveling and he slid right on in. Sure he apologized & regretted’ in his thoughts and some words to her but for this author whom I’ve read often this was weak! She slid right on in as nothing happened after TWELVE years! He DID HER DIRTY FREAKING DIRTY and SHE holds the brighter candle after all this time! He didn’t grovel this was pathetic and no wondering except when he cheated it was in detail and made me feel but fast forward and it fell weak and he got a pass! I’m so upset I had high hope not in this series but in this book specifically because this writer knows how to write betrayal and grovel and this was just NO ABSOLUTELY NO! He does the betraying and she does the groveling? Never in any world will that fly!

[Izzie d]

At the start when they are children they make promises to each other. Then another later when they are a bit older but still not finished education. They are in different areas so the long distance takes its toll.
The Hero has a ONS after his graduation then decides to focus on his promise to the heroine.

Some time later the other woman tells him lies and he believes her without asking or giving the heroine a chance to explain.
He eviserates her and tells her to leave without even worrying how the heroine will travel safely back, he then gets into a fight and on pain meds he spends a long weekend in bed with the other woman (some on page details).
This also ends in disaster as the other woman had an agenda.
He signs up to the military for 8 years while the heroine hides from her father and the future he wants for her.








Trigger Warnings author's note.

Violence Strong language Sexual situations Harassment Deception Bullying (mild) Arranged marriages Mobster/Mafia Mayhem Invasion of Privacy Cheating (not by main characters) Death/Disappearances of family members Cancer (side characters) There may be other triggers not mentioned here. If you are a sensitive reader, this story is probably not for you. Read at your own risk.

[LaBlue]

45% in and this couple has only been together on page for a total of maybe five pages, and I’m being generous with that count. Once when they were six years old and first met each other and then for the five minute betrayal scene when they were in college. Now I’ve reached the point where the MMC is on his way to get the FMC back after having lost her for twelve years. Honestly, this book is too short for so much set up and wasted years apart. They weren’t even together much as kids as he was in another country for boarding school then immediately four hours away from her at another college. I really won’t believe these characters have any real chemistry at this point because the MMC talked so much about everything he liked about the OW and has only expressed that he was childhood best friends with the FMC as the only defining characteristic to his feelings for her. Considering how easily he was swayed away from her and how egregiously he dumped her by wishing her a miserable life with an old mobster, I feel like his supposed love of his childhood best friend was more a hated burden for him. He claims now she’s the one that got away but he truthfully and quite eagerly threw her away once she was inconvenient to him. Let’s see how this ends up.

FINAL UPDATE

I was correct. This book is too short to give any real emotional impact or connection between these characters. The author explained everything away quite believably but it still never gave a romantic feel to the relationship. The characters got together immediately upon the MMC’s rescue of the FMC. Their conversation happened in two parts. They went to his penthouse for the night. He explained his youth, horniness, a long distance relationship being why he behaved the way he did. He later points out that the OW’s availability and her adaptation of the FMC’s behavior is what drew his attention to her. He also states that while he was always going to marry the FMC and keep his word he had already decided that same night that he was going to pursue the OW anyway because he was tired of being alone. This put the end of my belief in this being a romance. He had more connection written on page in the entirety of this book for the OW and here goes the author writing his admission that he chose her over the FMC again.

He chose her during the phone call, during the party scene and now we find out that he had chose her regardless of both situations. He wanted her more.

Then they have the second conversation after her father and ex fiance are taken out of the picture where the FMC states that she understands everything that happened between them. That they were never really together. That her desperate situation would have ruined any relationship or marriage they would have had, along with them being too young to have worked out in the long run. She was so ridiculously understanding that it irked me. It again showed how they had no real emotional connection to each other. No tears were shed for anything that has happened in this book except for the party betrayal scene. I felt like she should have felt hurt by his repeated choice of the OW, but no. She is so freaking understanding it’s unreal. Not one iota of emotion other than understanding is expressed between them. They kiss when she reveals her name change to him but it comes off as a thank you instead of passionate. For their first kiss it should have had more steam and power. It should have had more emotional impact. But to me it didn’t. Smdh.

So then they end up in bed in the most dry ass first time sex scene I have ever read from this author. It was so blah and unappealing it might as well have been fade to black for what it was worth. It was so fast that I get the author might have been trying to convey desperation for each other but it just came off as rushed to end the book under a certain word cut. It was ridiculously lacking. Then the lamest HEA Christmas wedding I’ve ever seen. Followed by what I hoped wouldn’t happen here. There was indeed a bonus chapter I had to chase down for this book too. This author is not known for doing this so I had hoped she’d stay true to form, but she didn’t. What did surprise me though was that I FINALLY got some emotions and romance between these characters in the bonus epilogue. It was so good that I wished I had read only that instead. They were so sweet together, I loved it. The sex was still lame but it was more believable than the one scene in the main book was. So in this case, I can say this story ended satisfactorily enough for me. Unfortunately, I will never read it again because it’s entirely forgettable and the best part is in a whole separate document which I’m never going to remember if I ever wanted to reread it again to find. A practice I also HATE with more passion than this whole story has at all! Had it been included in the book I PAID for then I might have added it to my reread roster. But as it stands I will never come back to it.

Now I’ll read the other books as they are my least favorite authors but for different reasons. Not because they aren’t good writers but because they each do something with their stories that I don’t care for. I am almost always left disappointed and or DNF’ing their books because I’m bored with how they play out. MA holds my interests in the beginning but loses me with her phony redemption arch’s and EB is hit or miss for me as her MMC are TSTL or the storyline is incomprehensible. Either way, I’ll get to them when I get to them. Good luck.

[Lucky · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I understood Logan s behavior as in thinking with his other head in college, but I can't get my mind around how much a 30 plus old woman fold so easily......Logan don't have to work hard to convince her, she is already forgotten n forgave...it felt not a love story rather their surrounding situation made her choose him.....a doormat female lead....whole time reading book I'm cringing inside....also I would have liked to see any form of consequences to the almighty Grace...but no nothing nadda...how come all these brother didn't do anything who caused their little brother so much harm..one more plothol is Aoife's father,,,I felt he is genuine in his last moment that he really loved his daughter but no everyone just dismissed him...

[Lexi · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was so poorly written that it couldn't have been above two stars based on that alone, so I don't even need to get into the nonsense plot, the way he not only fucks around but wants a relationship with another woman instead of her, or the way no one makes anything up to her in any way. Get out, girl.

[Reading · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nah.
If nothing else I admire this author's skill at taking an interesting, although overused, premise and turning it into an impressive hot mess of melodrama

[Serialbookstarter:Marla · Rating 2 out of 5]

This pales in comparison to to the CCW book. There was just no connection between the mcs. They were kept apart for about 3/4 of the book. Warning this book ends at 80% on KU. There was a good angsty scene at the beginning but then it’s swept over as we fast forward 12 years and the fmc forgives him right away. Another cardboard couple.

[Pinky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trigger Warnings:Parent infidelity, alcoholic and drug addict parent, abusive parent, child abandonment, child neglect, child exposed to sex (walking in on their dad having sex with OW), death of sister from Leukemia, death of parent suicide, loss of loved ones, manipulation with drugs (OW tells MMC to take extra meds when they were disoriented), forced marriages, sexism, misogyny, vulgar sexual threats and insults, murder, violence, MMC was in army, parent with pancreatic and lung cancer, guns

This is the third book in the Dark & Silent Night series. The first book is Silent Vow by Maya Alden, and the second is Veiled Silence by Eve Black. This series follows the Maddox brothers. I recommend you read the books in order since one book may spoil the other. I started this since I wanted to read the last book in the series, by Cate C. Wells. This wasn’t bad, it just got boring in the second half. The way the characters accepted each other right away after a long time jump was crazy. The MMC, Logan, was kinda sweet until he became an idiot. And the FMC, Aoife, was okay, they both weren’t memorable. The storyline was interesting at first since it was angsty. But the second half was boring.

“You’re going to be my husband one day, Logan.”
“Yep, and I’ll always be there to rescue you.”

Logan promised to marry Aoife when he was 6. But in college, Logan doesn’t know if that’s what he wants to do anymore. But he doesn’t want to abandon Aoife, since her father might force her to marry anyone in the mafia. After Logan makes a mistake, he loses Aoife for good. But he will never stop looking for her.

Now for spoilers


When Logan’s mom and dad are fighting, Gideon takes everyone to the rooftop. Logan is 6 and he is with his older brothers Lucian, Adrian, and Gideon. Their dad constantly cheats on their mom and it hurts her. He is an alcoholic, a drug addict, and a gambler. Logan walked in on him having sex with another woman. His dad finds it amusing to hurt their mom like this. So when their mom leaves, all the Maddox brothers wonder if she will ever come back. Logan sees a girl near the ledge of the roof. He screams at her to get away, but when she moves closer to the ledge, so he runs after her. She is crying, and he hugs her, holding her in his lap. Gideon offers to take her home, but Logan says he will take care of this. The girl’s name is Aoife, and she says that her sister died. Her sister had Leukemia, and they gave birth to Aoife to find a cure (I don’t understand how Aoife would help find a cure, but that’s on me). When Logan asks if she is sad about that, she says no. Her sister always treated her poorly and her mom always ignored her. But her dad planned to marry her sister off to an old creep in the mafia. Since her sister is dead, Aoife is next in line. Logan promises that he won’t let it happen, saying he will marry her someday. He says his brothers can help her disappear if anything.

“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you. You lost your sister and we lost our mom. We can stick together and then we’ll always have each other. I promise to never stop being your friend, ever.”

Aoife is from the Sweeney mafia family and her dad wants her to get married eventually. Everyone in her life is a spy that works for her dad. Except her friend Aimee, she’s the only real friend Aoife has. It’s been years, both Aoife and Logan are in college, but he is two years ahead. Aimee tells Aoife that she can’t just rely on Logan. She asks how long it’s been since Logan has paid a visit, and Aoife realizes it’s been months. Logan is Aoife’s best friend, and even though they promised to marry when they were kids, and again when they were in high school, they never actually dated. She is fine with Logan dating or sleeping around if he needs to, since she knows they will end up together (which is stupid). I really liked how Aimee was looking out for her and telling Aoife not to just rely on Logan. Aoife noticed that Logan has a new girl named Grace in his life. 2 weeks ago, when Aoife called Logan, Grace picked up. Then Grace lied to Logan that Aoife was being rude to her and Logan yelled at Aoife. He didn’t even question Grace. Aoife was the one who made an effort to visit Logan. So Aimee tells Aoife that Logan may have moved on, that he might not want to marry her anymore. We find out that Aoife worked hard to graduate early so that she can be with Logan. Their plan was to marry after college. Aimee says to figure out where Logan’s head is at. Aoife wrote romance books and used pen pal names, she used the last name Maddox cuz of Logan.


Logan was in coding class and he likes Grace. Grace comes to his place and understands his coding, she’s in his class too. He likes Aoife, but feels responsible to marry her because of the promise they made as kids and teenagers. But he can’t help but feel attracted to Grace. He only had one one-night stand, I think in high school. But after that, he and Aoife said that they would focus on each other. He had a feeling Aoife wasn’t with anyone and is jealous of the idea of her getting with another guy. But he knows it's hypocritical since he is considering getting with Grace, even picturing her giving him oral. He claims he never crossed the line with Grace, even if she’s extra touchy. They’ve cuddled in bed, but they never kissed or had sex. He clearly liked Grace emotionally. Grace has hinted that she wants to take things further, but Logan stops her. Grace sits in Logan’s lap and asks why he is so hung up on Aoife. She says it's a stupid promise that Logan made as kids. Logan was okay with her sitting in his lap until she started insulting Aoife. He says that it's between him and Aoife. Grace says she heard from Logan’s best friend, Miles. So Logan says he won’t be telling Miles anything anymore. He was best friends with Aoife his whole life. Grace convinces Logan to go to a party, so Logan goes. While he is there, Aoife came to surprise him. She wanted to figure out where they were in their relationship. If she thinks he is with Grace, she will leave. If not, she will tell him that she graduated early so they can be together.

Once Aoife gets to Logan’s dorm and can’t find him, she is disappointed. Then she runs into Miles, who knows who she is. He offers to take her to the party. He says that Logan is with Grace and Aoife might not like what she sees. But Aoife says she needs to see Logan crossing the line to move on. Miles says he will take her there and wait for her if things are bad. I really loved how Miles was a real one in this. I was scared he was a bad guy, but nah, he was a good friend and good person. Miles tells Aoife that Grace seems to be a bad person. At the party, Grace and Logan are slow dancing like a couple, Logan looks happy. Miles asks if Aoife wants to leave, but Aoife says she needs to talk to Logan before she does. When she tries to get to Logan, Grace gets to her first. She calls Aoife a bitch and is fucking vile. Grace says that Logan doesn’t want Aoife, that he only wants Grace. She says that even if she lies, Logan will side with her. She says she will prove it and trips herself and a girl accidentally drops her drink on Grace. Logan appears and Grace cries, saying Aoife pushed her cuz she was jealous of Logan and her. Logan yells at Aoife without even questioning Grace.

“It was bad enough that you had to be a complete bitch to Grace, and she finally told me about all the other times you were mean to her during your visits here, but this is going above and beyond, Aoife. I thought you were better than this! I didn’t think you’d ever be so fucking cruel to another person, but here you are, behaving just like your dad and his fucked-up goon squad. You know what? It’s good that he plans to marry you off to some mobster because that’s exactly the life you deserve. Go back to New York because you’re not wanted here, certainly not by me anymore.”


Aoife tries to explain herself, but nope
“Nope. Don’t want to hear it. If you’re still willing to believe that bitch after what I showed you, then I’ll leave right now. I’ve seen enough to know that you treated your oldest, best friend like absolute shit and didn’t believe her. I guess I’m next in line.”

When Aoife is gonna leave, the girl who dropped her drink asks if Aoife wants her to tell Logan the truth. Aoife says no, and I’m like GIRL COME ON. Miles feels bad and Aoife asks where he was. At first, I thought Miles was doing something shady. But nah, the guy was a genius. He was filming the interaction since he predicted this would happen. Aoife says she wants to leave, so Miles takes her home. Meanwhile, Logan was dealing with Grace crying. What I loved? The girl who offered to tell the truth tried to go to Logan anyway, despite Aoife saying it was fine. This girl is a real one, okay. But Logan pushes her since he is annoyed, his priority is Grace. So the girl’s boyfriend takes a bottle and hits Logan near his mouth. Logan is taken to the hospital and gets stitches. When he gets to his room, Grace sleeps with him. Grace says she wants to make him feel good. Logan is on drugs, and she gave him more than he needed, even when he questioned if he took those pills already. Then Grace has sex with Logan nonstop and Logan doesn’t care. He is ready to make things official with Grace, since he is done with Aoife.


But when Logan wakes up, he hears Miles banging on his door, Miles was doing this for a while. He realizes that Grace overdosed him. Grace is no longer in his room, and Logan is confused. Miles tells Logan that Grace is a liar. Miles was disgusted that Logan had sex with Grace and fucked things up with Aoife. He shows Logan the video of what really happened. Logan feels bad, so Miles tells Logan that Aoife also told him that Grace lied about Aoife yelling at her on the phone. Logan is a dumbass, saying that he doesn’t know what truly happened. I loved that Miles said he doesn’t want to be friends with Logan if he thinks this way. Cuz he is prioritizing Grace over all his long-term friends, so he will be next in line to be treated like this. Especially cuz Miles gave him proof of what Grace is capable of. Seriously, there were some good friends in this book. Then Logan realizes that the time is late, he had an appointment to give coding in to his professor. He remembered putting multiple alarms. But when he checked his phone, the alarms were turned off. Miles tells Logan that it was weird that Grace was even in his room the time she answered the phone to Aoife. Grace had told Aoife that Logan was showering, kinda to imply they were together. But Logan never gave Grace the keys to his dorm and never questioned her being there, what a dumbass. So Logan says he needs to go to his professor to submit his codes. Then he will go find Aoife to make things right. Miles says Aoife graduated early and came to tell Logan that. But it might be too late, she made her decision of what to do after seeing Logan with Grace. When Logan goes to his professor, his professor says his code is exactly like what Grace submitted. Logan says that Grace stole his code, but the professor says that Grace already complained about him. So Logan goes with Miles to look for Aoife, but she is gone. When he tries to get an investigation done at the university, it’s too late once they find out Grace is guilty. He didn’t get to graduate cuz of that. Since he is upset, Logan enlists in the army for 8 years.

Aoife was returned home by Miles, he was so sweet. He listened to everything she had to say. Aoife kisses Miles’ cheek and says a good woman will come into his life. Then Grace’s grandma surprises her at her door. Aoife’s grandma, Aine, says that she was forced to marry. Then her daughter, Aoife’s mom, was forced to marry. Aoife’s mom killed herself, from what Aine said, after Aoife’s sister died (Aoife’s mom died when Aoife was in high school). So Aine takes Aoife to Greece, she says she didn’t keep in touch since her father would’ve suspected her. Then she wouldn’t have been able to save Aoife. She gives Aoife a new identity and says that Aoife can hide here.

12 years later, Logan has his own security company and is a hacker. This starts off when Lucian’s book started. He is asking Logan to look into Calista, Lucian’s future wife. Then Logan finds a post about Aoife. I loved that he never stopped looking for her. He regrets hurting Aoife and hates all the wasted time they had. I loved that Logan and Miles were still close. Miles worked for Logan, so Logan tells Miles what he found. It was a post from Aoife’s friend, saying she is engaged. Aoife’s fake name is Miranda, and she has an engagement ring. It gets deleted in seconds, but it gives Logan a lead of where she is. So Logan and Miles start to track Aoife. Aoife is proposed to by Drew, a guy she’s only seen for a couple of months. Both Logan and Aoife were not celibate during their separation. Drew was very shady, he looked pissed cuz Aoife didn’t look happy with his proposal. He says to act happy and takes her aside. He asks Aoife to visit his mom in New York. Aoife did not want to get married, Drew didn’t even know her real name. And every time she looked at him, she can sense violence. Instead of saying it, she agrees to go with Drew. The problem is, New York is where her dad and everyone else is. She knows she needs to visit some time to see if they’re still keeping track of her. It’s also stupid that she was still in love with Logan after all this time. When they get there, Logan and Miles find out there is an engagement party. Gideon, Lucian, and Adrian are ready to help Logan since they know Aoife. But both Gideon and Adrian are dealing with trouble with their wives. So Lucian goes with Logan to the party. Aoife had no idea there was a party, and she is pissed off that Drew is doing this. She keeps everything lowkey cuz she is in hiding. Drew forces her to go, and she remembers that her dad treated her like this. I don’t know why she was going along with everything.


That’s when Aoife finds her father, this whole thing was a set-up. Drew is actually Andrew, and her father wanted her to marry him. Aoife says she didn’t want to marry Drew, she didn’t have her engagement ring on. She planned to tell Drew later, I was like girl, how much later did you wanna tell him? Before they can do anything, Logan appears. He says that the wedding isn’t happening and grabs Aoife. When Drew tries to grab her, Lucian has a gun pointed at him. They take Aoife away, and Aoife accepts Logan instantly. Logan says he was looking for her this whole time, and he says he will marry her. Aoife says that they don’t even know each other, but Logan doesn’t care. This was where I was like dafaqqqq. Aoife says that she legally changed her name, so her dad must’ve tracked her. We find out she changed it to Maddox, with her name Aoife and middle name. She admits that she uses this name for writing books, and Logan kisses her. He says this makes things easier since she doesn’t have to change her name once they’re married. All the Maddox brothers are happy to see Aoife. Logan and Aoife sleep together, doing nothing more than holding each other. Logan says he has slept around but he’s never seriously dated anyone since Aoife. Then, Logan asks if Aoife wants him to kill her father. He would’ve killed her father earlier, but he knew Aoife still loved him. Aoife says no, but Logan says he will kill Drew. So Logan and Lucian leave and kill Drew. But Aoife gets an email from her father saying he has video proof of Logan killing Drew, and we see the video. Logan shoots Drew after Drew makes nasty comments about fucking Aoife and planning to send her to his men to use, ew. Aoife’s dad threatens to send the video out if she doesn’t go visit him.

So Aoife leaves, but Logan knows she left the building. When she visits her dad, he says that he is at stage 4 of pancreatic and lung cancer. He did this since he wanted to see Aoife again. He says that her mom had an affair and her sister, was an illegitimate baby. Aoife’s dad killed Aoife’s mother’s lover, so her mom had no choice but to have a kid with him to find a cure to their daughter’s Leukemia (I still don’t get how this would be possible, but whatever, maybe I’m misunderstanding). Anyway, her dad says that he never wanted to force her to marry. He let her go to college, when most mafia daughters don’t get to do that. He says he blesses her marriage with Logan and knows Logan will be there to kill him. Then Logan shoots him and he dies. He planned this whole thing and even gave Aoife the last hard drive copy of the video of Logan. He knew Logan and his team could wipe the video from the internet. Aine is there, and she says she will have her family take over the Sweeney mafia family. She says she wants a proper relationship with Aoife since her dad is dead. Logan takes her away and drives her to their dream house. He built it three years ago since he wanted to bring Aoife here. Aoife asks what he would’ve done if she married someone else. Logan says he would’ve burned it down. Then Aoife and Logan have sex in their room and plan to have kids together, they want a big family. Aoife says she wants to get to know him more first, this was all going so fast. Then on Christmas, Logan proposes to Aoife in front of everyone. They get married right away, since Miles can marry them. Aoife reveals that she is pregnant. It was cute, but the instant connection between Logan and Aoife threw me off. And Aoife was a lil dumb to agree to everything with Drew. Still pretty entertaining though. Off to Adrian’s book!

Stay safe folks!

[Sinead · Rating 1 out of 5]

This may be the worst written book I’ve read this year. There’s no prose, just boring, clunky writing that not even an editor could save. This feels like a tween wrote it. The author’s endless run on sentences go nowhere. The story is written in dual POV but both characters feel like the exact same cardboard cut outs. There’s no chemistry or love between them. They’re both 33 years old in the second half of the book but still feel and act like teenagers. They have no emotional depth or maturity. The one sex scene between the MCs is really cringe and it feels like more effort was made writing the earlier sex scene with the other woman! The plot is melodramatic but with zero tension. There’s zero grovel.

[Prizm · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 50%. I think a 12 year old wrote this.

[Cee · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF @ 64%

I had maybe 4 chapters left I just couldn’t do it. I have absolutely no idea why they like each other— in fact I thought Logan was going along with things out of obligation? There is no chemistry. Also they’ve rarely spent any time together in this book!

So dramatic and done in a not great way. Rolled my eyes so hard at the fmc’s last action (plus the email from the dad was lol) that I gave myself a headache.

[Kathleen Lemke (Kathy Page) · Rating 3 out of 5]

My rating: 3 stars

What I liked: I liked how Aoife(h) was able to have a relationship with her grandmother at the end. I also liked how she was able to talk to her dad and get his side. Lastly, I love the relationship Logan(H) has with his brothers

What I didn’t like: I needed Aoife to make Logan suffer more. He believed ow over her. He knew Aoife for a long time and instead hearing her side he goes off on her and says rude things to her. I needed the ow to pay more. She stole his work and lied… I wanted a chapter with him confronting her.

***Major Spoilers/ Details/Triggers/Tropes: Childhood friends, Ow Drama, h’s dad is the head of the mafia, H makes a promise to marry h so she doesn’t have to marry a guy her father picks, death of parents and sister, H says mean things to h.

H meets h when they are young on the roof they share. h’s sister just died from cancer and the H holds her and tells her he will protect her. She tells him that her dad will now make her marry a man that he will choose (h’s dad is the head of the mafia). H promises her he will marry her. Time passes and they are now in college. H goes to a different college and has been distant with the h. Ow has been taking up all his attention and when she accuses the h of saying mean things to her over the phone the H takes the ow side and yells at the h. When h goes to surprise the H, the ow gets to her first and tells the h to leave. She tells the h that the H is with her now. Before the h can talk to the H, the ow pretends that the h pushed her and throws her drink on herself. H comes and again believes the ow and tells the h to leave and says some really mean things to her. h leaves and when she gets back to her dorm her grandmother is there to help her disappear. H gets into a fight with another man whose girlfriend was trying to tell him that the ow was lying. OW stays with the H to help him. Ow drugs him and they have sex all weekend. Ow also steals his work. H’s friend goes and shows him the video of the ow lying. H realizing the ow was just using him goes to hand in his paper only for them to say he was the one stealing the work from the ow. H goes to look for the h but she is gone without a trace. H leaves college but does clear his name (that the ow was the one who stole his work). Twelve years go by and finally the H gets a notification that the h was seen on social media. h is seen getting engaged (but h didn’t say yes). H goes to get the h. h finds out that the guy she was seeing is a guy from the mafia. He knew who she was. H saves her. They talk things out. h’s dad blackmails her to come to him. He tells her about her sister and mom, how he knew her sister treated her horribly, also how he would have never forced her to marry anyone. He just wanted her safe because he is dying. Her father is killed (dad wanted them to kill him because the cancer was slowly killing him). HEA with the H and h together getting married and h is pregnant.

Final thoughts: This book annoyed me. I needed the hero to suffer more. Definitely will read Adrain’s book.

[Macia · Rating 1 out of 5]

No chemistry between main characters. Didn’t care for writing either. Around 30% into the book I started skimming

[Shannon Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️: 3.5

Summary: This is a dark contemporary romance.

Additional tropes:
✅Other woman drama
✅Second chance romance

Detailed spoilers/trigger warnings (if any) and final thoughts can be found below.

Aoife and Logan meet as children. They grow up being the best of friends with the promise of one day marrying each other. Mainly to help the FMC escape an arranged marriage that will be done through her family connections, but also because there are definitely feelings other than friendship felt by both parties.

Something happens that forces the MMC to either pick the side of the girl he has always loved and supported or the one that has inserted herself into his life with intentions questioned by those around him while he remains oblivious to her actions. Unfortunately, he chooses wrong, leaving the FMC heartbroken not just by his actions but his words. With the help of a long lost family member, she pulls a runner, changing her identity while attempting to live some sort of a happy life.

The MMC quickly realizes just how bad his mistake was in choosing the word of the wrong person and spends the next several years trying to find the girl that got away. He’s not the only one though looking for the FMC, and the question then becomes what will Logan do to keep her safe and can she forgive him for the past?


⚠️SPOILERS/SPICE/DETAILED TRIGGERS⚠️

*Descriptive scenes of violence.
🌶️: 1/5

Final thoughts: I enjoyed this book. We learn a little about Logan through his brother’s perspectives in the first two books of the series so getting his story was nice.

The other woman drama was really good. She was very manipulative and seeing how much Logan was hurt from her actions, made all that she did that much worse. I really missed her getting some comeuppance so that would have been nice to include. Like I wanted the FMC to maybe run into her after she returns so she could have her chance to make the other woman pay. That would be one thing I would add to the story.

Other than that it was a well-paced read with angst and drama that I enjoyed and recommend.

[Eva · Rating 5 out of 5]

The nice thing about this story is that Christine Michelle has written an additional bonus story - “The Heirs” (You can receive the bonus story by subscribing to the newsletter at the end of this book). - That was a nice ending to “Silent Promises.” The whole story was beautifully executed.

[Katie O’Reilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 🌟

Just a good old-fashioned misbehaving jackass alpha and how he grovels for forgiveness. I WAS INTO THIS

[Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great angst in the beginning! I wish we would have gotten more of that. The OW was so diabolical and entertaining! The last half was blah and flat and insta.

[Denice Leong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Logan and Aoife's story was good! The twist when she ran off I didn't see coming, but I will say the one thing that irked me about that was how quickly he dismissed Aoife without hearing her side of the story. Kudos to his bestie for filming and showing him. Glad Logan had karma slap him in the face. I did enjoy him winning her back.

[Joy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to read about the rest of this family after first reading book 4 by Cate C Wells. I did enjoy that book.

Following book 2: Veiled Silence by Eve Black (Kendra & Gideon), this was yet another disappointing book in this 4 book series. I must ask- Why even bother with the betrayal trope if it isn’t used and developed? This could have been a good series, but in my opinion 2 of the 4 authors failed to deliver.

Here we have childhood sweethearts, Logan and Aoife, with a high school promise to eventually wed. He promised to marry her, rescuing her from a mafia arranged marriage.

Fast forward a few years to separate colleges: Logan, the MMC falls in lust at his college with another woman. He claims the physical distance was too great between their two colleges (4 hours). Slowly ghosting the Aoife and losing interest in her. He decides he wants to have a relationship with the OW - Grace. And falls hook line and sinker for Grace’s manipulation and lies, repudiating the FMC badly. He leaves the FMC devastated and hanging out to dry when he accuses her of assaulting the OW. He later finds out Grace (OW) was a lying conniving cheating user.

Here is where the reader needs to suspend disbelief: THEN, Logan- who couldn’t manage the distance of the two colleges without being with another woman - spends the next 12 YEARS trying to find Aoife, who disappeared after the betrayal and her college graduation to avoid an arranged marriage by her mafia father. He claims to his brothers that she is the “only woman for him.” 🤣

Eventually the FMC is found. Yep, and just like book 2 Veiled Silence, this FMC is a doormat as well. Aoife takes him back after the original massive public betrayal with barely a peep, happily skipping along. She doesn’t even miss a beat when her father’s head is blown off in front of her, blissfully chowing down on Italian food shortly afterward. Just blithely following along with the MMC resurrecting their childhood dreams and fantasies.

There was discussion about how their earlier romance would not have survived, they were too young, he felt obligated to help her, he was lonely at college etc. 🧹Sweep, sweep, sweep everything under the rug. Then WHY bother with the betrayal story? Because getting together after 12 years, with insta-forgiveness and insta-lust just leaves too much missing for this reader. This story concludes at the speed of light and just was SO rushed. Good story premise- extremely poor execution. Do not recommend.

Grovel: 0/5
Believability: 1/5
Romance: 1/5
Spicy: 0/5
Plot: 2/5
Overall: 1/5

[Readerofbooks · Rating 1 out of 5]

This MMC cannot be called a hero. He’s an immature little b!7ch boy who doesn’t even know what he wants and is lead by his d!ck. He meets the FMC when they’re little children and promises to be her saviour and marry her when they grow up. He then pretty much uses her as a “while in sight” best friend but out of sight out of mind person. He likes the OW (Grace) and believes her like the b!7ch boy that he is when she decides she wants to sow discord between them - note, it’s exceptionally easy for her to do that because … ding ding ding .. the MMC is a pathetic little b!7ch boy who - woe-is-me boohoo - loves both women and is attracted to both women. Ahhhh I can’t read this drivel anymore. DNF and would never recommend an author who writes so poorly, plots so badly and writes such terrible characters. I honestly don’t care if they get together or not and hope the heroine finds a better man. Cate Wells set up great plot lines for each of these other authors to take forward but literally everyone is a disappointment

[BiblioDarling · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating System (as of 8/14/2025):
⭐: It was a struggle to read. I almost DNF
⭐⭐: This could have been so much better.
⭐⭐⭐: Good/Average
⭐⭐⭐⭐: Great book. I will probably reread it.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: I absolutely loved this book.
***********************************************************************
Triggers:
🚩Violence
🚩Strong Language
🚩Sexual Situations
🚩Harassment
🚩Deception
🚩Mild Bullying
🚩Mobster/Mafia Mayhem
🚩Invasion of Privacy
🚩Cheating (not by main characters)
🚩Death/Disappearance of Family Members
🚩Cancer (side character)


Tropes:
💕Childhood Friends
💕Mafia Romance
💕Betrayal to Grovel
💕Part of a Series
💕Best Friend Romance
💕Arranged Marriage
💕OW Drama

Spice Level: 🔥🔥🔥

Spice Level Rating System (as of 9/4/25)
🔥: Clean. Handholding. Kissing.
🔥🔥: Non-Descriptive/Implied on Page Sex
🔥🔥🔥: Hot-Descriptive on Page Sex
🔥🔥🔥🔥: So Hot—Do Not Read in Public
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥: Oh My-BDSM. Blood Play. Smut.
************************************************************************
This is book three in a series. For the best experience I recommend that you read the books in order.

Quote:
"Don't worry, I'll protect you. You lost your sister, and we lost our mom. We can stick together and then we'll always have each other. I promise to never stop being your friend, ever."

Summary:
MMC and FMC meet as children. The are both children of mafia bosses. The FMC is being forced to marry once she reaches a certain age. The MMC promises that he will marry her and take her way.

However, when they go to separate colleges things begin to change. The MMC becomes involved with the OW. The OW manipulates the MMC to distance himself from the FMC. Thus, breaking his promise. This all comes to a head one evening when the MMC chooses the OW lies over the FMC.

The FMC then must find a way to disappear, so she isn't forced into marriage. She gets help from a surprise individual. The MMCs life begins to fall apart as the OWs lies are exposed and he realizes all she has taken from him. He then spends years trying to find the FMC.

The FMC is betrayed and brought back into the spotlight. The MMC and his family come to her rescue. This begins a time of grovel, communication. HEA.

Review:
I have read several books by this author. She is one of those authors that you either love or dislike. I happen to have liked the books I have read. This book goes into my liked category.

The writing is what you expect from this author. The story is good. I really liked that the MFC suffered for choosing the OW over the FMC. I also liked that the FMC stood up for herself. She created a life and didn't look back. I was left wondering how she and the MMC were going to come back together. This is where the curve ball came in and I loved it. It was a great way to put them back in the same place. Clever.

If you are looking for a lot of grovel...this isn't your book. But then they weren't really in a love relationship when the betrayal happened. So, I get it. I did like the last scene with the FMC and her father. That was surprisingly touching and made me see things a bit differently.
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[MiSsE · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Very Merry Red Flag-mas

⚠️ SPOILERS ⚠️

I was so excited to finally read book 3 of the Dark and Silent Night Series since I’ve read all the others.

First lemme start off by saying, when authors use the name “Aoife” my brain short circuits every single time while trying to read this name 😩 like OMG no joke I have to stop and remind myself how it’s pronounced each and every time!

We have Logan, I think his betrayal is the second least harshest out of all of the books. It happens when they’re young and in college, so it’s easier when 12 years has passed to have time to deal with that type of betrayal imo.

The main thing I didn’t enjoy about this story:

I didn’t feel the connection between Logan and Aoife. There was no spark. The first part of the book was them spending time apart because of college, then the betrayal happens, and then 12 years went by without them talking or being around each other. There was no dominance or possessive behavior that the other brothers gave off. I know Logan is the “sweeter” one of the bunch, but it would've been better to see feel that from him.

His actions with the betrayal, and then sleeping with the OW, (yes he was out of it) but he was leaning towards being with the OW already. He can’t say she’s the love of his life when he was throwing her away for another woman. His love didn’t feel legit, like he actually loved her. His actions in the beginning proved that.

I didn’t feel like we got a chance to learn about Logan. We of course read about him in the other stories, but I felt like we didn’t get a chance to connect with him as an adult. Everything was said and done in past tense, so we didn’t get to truly see who Logan is now and not then.

Overall I’m giving a 4 star rating because I love this authors work, I just feel like this one didn’t live up to what I know she’s capable of creating. I’m obsessed with her work ♥️