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Taken by Nikolai

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Falling in love with Nikolai was never the plan.

The dangerous man had other ideas.

He wanted my body, my love, but most of all my baby.

What the Pakhan wants… the Pakhan gets.

But loving him is so wrong…especially as he’s married to my mother.

104 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 14, 2022

202 people are currently reading
710 people want to read

About the author

Brooke Summers

56 books703 followers
USA Today Bestselling Author Brooke Summers is a Mafia Romance author and is best known for her Made Series.


Brooke lives on the West Coast of Ireland with her daughter and husband where her stories come to life.

Brooke is represented by Nikki Groom at SBR Media.

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5 stars
192 (20%)
4 stars
232 (25%)
3 stars
259 (28%)
2 stars
159 (17%)
1 star
74 (8%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 90 reviews
Profile Image for Lammie.
742 reviews38 followers
February 18, 2023
2.5⭐️

This book was well enough written but the story itself was absolutely ridiculous 🙄. The h being this bad ass assassin … lmfao 🤣 🤣
Profile Image for Cheryl.
2,099 reviews62 followers
July 28, 2023
Nikolai takes what he wants

This Pahkan takes want he wants. Yelena born to the Mafia goes to her mother's to recuperate from her injury.Her mother is a selfish conniving woman who will throw her own daughter under the bus.

The attraction between Yelena and Nikolai is off the charts. Even though Yelena fights it as he is her step father or so she think. This was an intense ride.
Profile Image for Doris.
3,628 reviews138 followers
July 9, 2022
Loved It!!!

This is a book that brought out some of the best of what I want in a mafia romance. The surprises, drama and steam made this a huge page turner for me. Lena was sent to Texas to live with her newly married mother by her grandfather to heal. What Lena wasn’t expecting was the looks that were passed between herself and her mother’s husband, Nikolai. Would she be able to deny this powerful man?

Believe me that Lena isn’t the bad person here with a mother likes her’s, I’d be pushed to the edge too. There is so much going on behind the scenes that it kept me on the edge of my seat as the secrets started to come to light.

The connection between Nikolai and Lena was on fire and the protective side of this mafia man was amazing. I definitely would recommend this book because it was a fast read and had a lot to offer.
Profile Image for Cia Reads 🌶️.
47 reviews
July 3, 2023
Another book I got during stuff your kindle.
This book was so bad I’d give it a zero ⭐️ but that’s not possible so i give it a one.
Profile Image for Sandy S.
8,274 reviews207 followers
July 9, 2022
3.75 stars--TAKEN BY NIKOLAI by Brooke Summers is a contemporary, adult, dark Mafia romance novella focusing on twenty-five year old Bratva princess Yelena Alekseeva, and Bratva Pakhan Nikolai Vasiliev.

WARNING :Due to the nature of the story line premise, there may be triggers for more sensitive readers

Told from dual first person perspectives (Yelana and Nikolai) TAKE BY NIKOLAI follows Bratva Pakhan Nikolai Vasiliev in the days and weeks after the arrival in Austin Texas, of Yelena Alekseeva, the granddaughter of one of the greats but Yelena believes Nikolai is married to her mother Adele, a marriage predicated upon a lie. From the outset, Nikolai’s attraction to Yelena is immediate and visceral, an attraction of which Nikolai quickly sets into motion a plan to seduce and take control of our story line heroine. Yelena Alekseeva is a strong-willed, powerful Bratva princess in her own right but Yelena has a secret, and that secret will surprise even the hardest of men. What ensues is the building relationship between Yelena and Nikolai, and the potential fall-out as Yelena is targeted by someone close.

The relationship between Yelena and Nikolai is one of immediate attraction but Nikolai is Yelena’s mother’s husband, a marriage predicated upon lies and deceit. Nikolai wants Yelena from the moment they met but Yelena is working during her few short weeks in town. The $ex scenes are intimate, erotic and intense.

The secondary and supporting characters include Yelena’s mother Adele, her grandfather Maksim Alekseev, as well as several members of the Alekseev Bratva.

TAKEN BY NIKOLAI is a quick read; a fast paced, gritty, age-gap Mafia romance. The premise is intriguing and captivating; the romance is provocative; the characters are energetic, powerful and charismatic.
Profile Image for dais.
853 reviews95 followers
August 23, 2022
i’m in love with Nikolai.
istg that man has me in a chokehold.
no one will ever compare to him.
I don’t care if he switched out her pill to get her pregnant, I don’t care that he’s a Pakhan, I don’t care that he kills men on a daily basis… I LOVE HIM.
his overprotectiveness, dirty talk, darkness and his crazy blood thirst mind was just beyond hot.
“DADDY I’VE FALLEN FOR A MONSTER”
Lena is the hottest female assassin. i love her and how she’ll fight tooth and nail to protect herself. her mother was bloody awful and did not deserve to be a mum or have someone as amazing as Lena as her daughter.
if you love a spicy novella that’s mainly smut with a little bit of plot on the side then this is for you!! it’s dirty, taboo, age gap and forbidden. DELICIOUS.
9,375 reviews140 followers
July 11, 2022
This is a fast paced mafia romance with a cast of strong characters centering on Yelena and Nikolai who have a hot chemistry and sizzling passion. The author brings tons of drama, action, violence and surprises as well as all of the twists and turns along the way and delivers a fantastic read. Loved it !!

I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book., All opinions in this review are my own and freely given.
Profile Image for Stacey Woods.
1,088 reviews30 followers
July 20, 2022
Another hit just like all of her books. I needed to keep reading once I picked it up. This has everything I'm looking for. The drama, taboo scenes and heat. Lena and Nikolai fit together very well. The chemistry between those two is incomparable. Very intense and has its ups and downs.
Profile Image for dany.
780 reviews53 followers
September 28, 2022
Me gusta el nombre de Nikolai. Ja, me gustaron varios de los nombres que usaron acá.
Y ya en otras cuestiones, esto va directo al punto, hubiera preferido ver a Yelena en acción, pero aún así, para el número de páginas creo hubo buena distribución de plot, es curioso cómo hay unos donde siento todo ocurre muy rápido y otros donde siento el ritmo simplemente encaja.
Profile Image for Drasevia.
190 reviews4 followers
July 16, 2023
This novella is the perfect definition of „p*rn without plot.” Spicy scenes were good, but nothing original. It was a fun read for free though. 7/10 because of Nikolai, what a man🥵🔥
Profile Image for Tairy.
8 reviews
September 15, 2023
It was extremely rushed. No chemistry whatsoever. In a matter of less than a hundred pages, she moves in and gets pregnant with his baby.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Lill.
47 reviews2 followers
April 8, 2025
2,5
it was a alright story. short but sweet.
Profile Image for Tanya Lynn.
Author 18 books166 followers
Read
February 13, 2024
Thought this was great. Could have been fleshed out a bit better but otherwise definitely recommend for a quick mafia read.
487 reviews1 follower
August 11, 2025
This book had all the tropes I like reading but the writing wasn’t great. It read too choppy. There was a whole heap of untranslated Russian.

The plot was also overly simplistic and unrealistic. The male lead married the female lead’s mother to find out who the bullet is, and doesn’t uncover it months later until the female lead prompts him, only for it to take 5 seconds. If it was that easy and marrying the female lead’s mother wasn’t even required to uncover the secret, why the marriage? The whole step father set up made no sense.

There is no way the female lead’s mother had access to surveillance to find out the affair. 1- as the pakhan, he would have invested in security so that he would have a team monitoring to ensure no one had unauthorised access. 2- the female lead’s mother was busy seducing people in Vegas

And how would the female lead’s mother even be able to kidnap the female lead with how heavily guarded the male lead’s house would be. She would not have been allowed to take an unconscious female out of the estate without guards questioning and notifying Nikolai

Not that I want the female lead assaulted but it was so cliche the male lead arrived just in time to save the female lead and the female lead’s mother would simply confess to everything as soon as she was captured. As someone who grew up in the mafia, no doubt she would have died keeping all her secrets to herself
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
119 reviews
April 11, 2025
TAKEN BY NIKOLAI


Lena goes to visit her mother and her stepdad Nikolai in Austin Tx. All of them are apart of the mafia whenever she arrives he immediately is checking her out and not hiding it. Her and her mom have a weird vibe her mom says she’s leaving for two weeks and of course Nik and Lena end up doing it he basically is in love with her and tells her she is his! He’s not really legally married to the mom and they have never done anything together. Lena is like this can’t happen again and try’s to stay out of the house to stay away from him he goes to find her. They end up doing it again and she likes him the mom finally shows up a month later and confronts Lena in the kitchen Lena admits to it and the mom knocked her out and has her kidnapped and tells them to kill her. Nik finds out kills them and kills the mom also Lena is in the hospital while there the doctor tells him she’s pregnant later the doctor tells her once she wakes up she’s shocked and mad once she makes Nik tell her the truth she gets over it once he tells her he loves her and there’s no one else for him. They are happy together 7 months later is shows them happy and waiting for the baby’s arrival.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Maycee.
673 reviews9 followers
November 24, 2023
Quick and dirty

Who knew there was so much more to the woman Alessio Bianchi used to have in his life? I don’t know why I am surprised, Brooke always writes these incredibly strong, beautiful and cutthroat women. Lena is a force to be reckoned with, and she still has morals which can be hard to find in the mafia. Nikolai is the quintessential Made Man - alphahole, takes what he wants, insufferably arrogant and possessive of what is his. Is he covered in red flags? Duh.. do we care? Of course not. This novella isn’t nearly as taboo as you think it’s going to be. While it is a shorter read, there is a ton of plot, emotion and character development. The characters are fantastic, the steam and chemistry is off the charts, and there are quite a few twists thrown in. I love reading side characters from other series and if you’ve read Brooke’s Made series you will recognize some people. This is dark and dirty but with a well earned HEA. If you love mafia romance, you’ll definitely enjoy this one!
204 reviews4 followers
July 7, 2022
Yelena is in Texas to recuperate after being shot, while in Texas she's staying with her mother and her mothers younger new husband of six months Nikolai. When she meets Nicolai he's the most gorgeous man she's ever seen and Nikolai wants Yelena the moment he sees her. Nikolai is a dominant and possessive guy. Yelena is an independent woman who does not trust easily. The story is a fairly short read. It has violence and some action. A little twist to the story pretty early on that's interesting. There's also a few scene's between Yelena and Nicolai that are pretty hot. Nicolai is into dominance and can get a little rough in the bedroom so beware if you are not into that. There's not much humor and it is not a lighthearted read. There is family turmoil galore ot just with Yalena's family but with other characters family as well.

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
324 reviews4 followers
July 16, 2022
A story in the mafia world. It's enjoyable with dark storylines that might not be for everyone but if dark is your thing, you will definitely like it. There are some glitches in the story. For example, why Texas, not New York or Chicago or L.A. It was a strange place for a Russian mafia story. Then why Nicolai didn't have sex with Lena's mom although they were married. Does that to make his relation with Lena less taboo later? Also, everything Nicolai did was OK for him! ( dub-con, forced pregnancy...etc) but drugging Lena by a thug to rape her is a No-No in his eyes. What an ethical principled criminal we have here?! Those issues in the story ( while not big ones ) made me pause sometimes during reading. A more care of such details are needed to increase the book believability as it surely has a lot of potentials.

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Profile Image for falenatales .
403 reviews2 followers
June 18, 2023
Let's start with the name "Nikolai" I like that name so much so plus points for that.

This book has Stepdad, forced proximity, betrayal, pregnancy, A**hole Mother, mafia-ish vibes if you like that go ahead give this a try. 

PS: it has a dub con scene, make sure you're good with that.

The storyline itself was lowkey predictable but still nice since i was in a book slump.

Okay and the Female MC being this badass had me laughing because what where I did not see it....




My basic facts

Genre: Age Gap Mafia Romance 
Series: no
Love triangle? no
Cheating?  no
HEA? yes
Favorite character? no one 
Would I read more by this author/or of the series? maybe
Would I recommend this book/series? yes and no
Will / Would I read this again in the future? no
Star rating? 2,3
Profile Image for Ariday Books.
258 reviews21 followers
January 23, 2025
Casi lo abandono por el simple hecho de que había infidelidad. Pero al final resultó que no era así, así que continué. El libro pues es un insta love y bastante corto. Hay que leer las advertencias.
Lena es una asesina rusa que trabaja para su abuelo, Nikolai es el jefe de la mafia rusa pero en Estados Unidos. Ah y también es el “esposo” de su madre (que realmente al final se dice que el matrimonio es falso y el nunca estuvo sexualmente con la madre)
Para las personas que les gusta el fetiche de reproducción, este les va a gustar. Ya saben el fetiche del prota masculino queriendo dejar embarazada a la protagonista.
Para los que les gusta ir advertidos:
-Possessive MMC
-Supuesta infidelidad (pero no realmente)
-No Virgenes
-Embarazo
-Tortura
-Asesinato
-Heroina ruda
-Final feliz
766 reviews5 followers
July 11, 2022
What didn't this book have. Bad Boy male lead? Check. Stepdad kink? Check. Dub Con scenes? Check. Forced pregnancy? Check. Betrayal (not by the main characters)... You guessed it, check.

The plot was pretty original with just the right amount of predicability, such as the happily ever after. The taboo-ness of the story was a nice change from your contemporary romance books, even from some Mafia ones.

I would definitely recommend this book, if you don't mind (or better yet prefer) a little taboo in your smexy tales.

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Profile Image for Mary Nikolettou.
105 reviews9 followers
July 12, 2022
This nouvella grabbed my attention from the get go till the very last page. It's a fast paced story with well developed characters that I certainly could connect with. Nikolai and Lena are two very interesting leads with amazing chemistry who battle against all odds to finally get their HEA. Even though Lena's overwhelmed by her inner turmoil, gave in to Nikolai who finally won her over. I must say that Lena's mother was quite the surprise. In the beginning she seemed indifferent and neglectful but soon proved to be ruthless and evil. It's action packed and suspenseful just like all Mafia stories should be.

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
5,014 reviews27 followers
July 23, 2022
Nikolai Vasiliev, Pakhan of Texas, is Yelena new step-father, in a long line of them. She is visiting the newlyweds for a month while she recovers, per her grandfather’s wishes. She is not prepared, Nikolai is at least ten years her mother junior and hot. She does her best to avoid him for some of her stay.

Nikolai has a plan, he want a particular assassin, the best that is on the Alekseev payroll, to work for him. Marrying Adele seemed to be the way to find out his name. He had seen pictures of her daughter, but they did not do her justice. She will be his, she will make a perfect queen.

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Profile Image for Shawna Jimenez more.books.forever.
1,858 reviews87 followers
July 13, 2022
OMG!!! This baby might have been a quick read but dang was is packed full of all the thangs!! Nik’s obsession for Lena the moment he saw her was unmatched he was like a wild beast ready to pounce and pounce he did. These two were so very sexy together their chemistry explosive. Can we also stop and take a moment for the baddie that Lena is!!! Complete girl crush to say the least!! I loved these two so much and while it was quick I didn’t feel like it was lacking. No the plot was good the characters were fantastic and it had everything I needed!! Amazing read!
Profile Image for Gianina Diaz (gianina.books).
502 reviews4 followers
May 29, 2023
Yelena está en Texas para recuperarse después de recibir un disparo, se queda en casa de su madre y el nuevo marido de ella, Nikolai.
Cuando conoce a NiKolai, él es el hombre más hermoso que jamás haya visto y él quiere a Yelena en el momento en que la ve.
Nikolai es un tipo dominante y posesivo. Yelena es una mujer independiente que no confía fácilmente. La historia es una lectura bastante corta. Tiene violencia y algo de acción. Un pequeño giro en la historia desde el principio que es interesante. También hay algunas escenas entre Yelena y Nicolai que son bastante spicy.
93 reviews
October 27, 2024
Lena is a Bratva princess who is sent to America to stay with her mum and new step dad to recover from a bullet wound. I liked her as an FMC straight away. She's strong, sure of herself. Nikolai is instantly possessive of Lena, not insta love, but insta obsession. She fights it to start with, but then they just work. Lena's mum isn't there at all so there's no sneaking around which is an aspect I really love with these tropes. Great story premise and my only negative feedback is that I would have loved a longer book.
Profile Image for april ♡ probably reading smut - safety reviews.
1,477 reviews2,597 followers
July 8, 2022
Nikolai and Lena make a really intriguing couple. I love the forbidden aspect- Nikolai is married to Lena's mother. But that doesn't stop them! Every obstacle they face just brings them closer together.

This was a very spicy, hot book. Forced breeding is a subject I love to read about. This author tackled it perfectly! I recommend it, especially if you like forbidden romances with forced breeding.

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
1,240 reviews18 followers
July 9, 2022
I really enjoyed Nikolai and Yelena's story. Boy were there a lot of surprise twist and turns. And Adele, Yelena's mother was quite the character, definitely would not win mother of the year. All these characters had a lot of secrets they were hiding and altering motives for what they were doing. I loved how Nikolai was a hard man but he showed his softer side to Yelena now to see if he could win her over or not. This was a great book and definitely enjoyed it. Definitely would recommend it.
Profile Image for Courtney.
4,298 reviews
July 13, 2022
Oh.. my... GOSH! 😍

Can you say jaw dropping, drool inducing, cannot stop reading, one heck of a good time read? This book was everything I could have ever wanted it to be and more!! ❤

I truly, absolutely love Bratva stories! I love the thrill of the unknown, and the fact that their way of life comes before everything else. Power and a domineering spirit of everything/one around them always comes first!

I definitely recommend every single page in this novel!
Profile Image for Sue Harbers.
1,421 reviews13 followers
July 17, 2022
I loved this novella! It was short, sweet and fast paced but also full of angst and steam. It has all the elements of a full length novel packed into a novella sized package. Lena was amazing and her and Nikolai’s attraction kept right off the pages. They had a instalove that left nothing to be desired. I hated Lena’s Mom and I’m happy with how her storyline went ultimately. Wonderful addition to our crossover stories!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 90 reviews

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