Trapped

by D.J. Manly

Giovanni is no hit man, but he’s going to have to be if he is going to be able to face his father again. The son of a powerful mobster, his father has determined that its now time for him to take his place in the family. Giovanni is prepared to kill the son of a rival mobster from a room across from his hotel. But what he sees distracts him, and rather than pull the trigger, he finds himself indulging in personal fantasies, fantasies he dares not have.

Amador runs his family’s construction company. Vega Construction is legit and it’s about the only business that is. He has done his best to avoid being dragged into his father’s criminal activities and done his best to hide his secret sexual desires. He is not thrilled to find himself on the Biachi hit list or to discover that the man sent to kill him now knows his secret.

Giovanni and Amador will have no choice but to come together in an explosive way, both in the bedroom and out, as they desperately try to find a way out of the trap they find themselves ensnared in. Is there a way out, and if there is, will it be together?

Genres: M M Romance, Contemporary, Gay, Romance, Crime, Thriller, Suspense

187 pages, ebook

First published June 1, 2009

About the author

I write not only for my own pleasure, but for the pleasure of my readers. I can’t remember a time in my life when I haven’t written and told stories. When I’m not writing, I’m dreaming about writing, doing something wild and adventurous, or trying to make the world a better and more open minded place to live in. I adore beautiful men, and I know I’m not alone in this! Eroticism between consenting adults, in all its many forms is the icing on the cake of life!

Reviews

[Alina]

How I felt after I finished reading? Pissed off!
I stayed up until almost 3 am, because the story got me hooked and unfortunately it turned out to be a disappointment.

The MCs spent maybe a week together in the beginning and then 12 years apart! Twelve! Okay the first 2 years were maybe necessary to show how both guys had changed and what they've become, but the whole trial period going over 4 years was too much and later on, when the witness protection program forced them to be apart for another five years - I'm sorry, but that was an overkill.

I wanted for the MCs to spend at least some time together - really together - in the end, to re-learn being with each other, to get reacquainted, but there was none of it, just the short scene and that's all. Frustrating and not at all satisfying for me :/

[Elisa Rolle]

This is almost a modern Romeo and Juliet, better... a Romeo and Julio! Giovanni "Gio" Bianchi is the 18 years old son of a mafia boss. He doesn't like his father business but he is too young and too deep into the family to be able to repudiate his family, and so he is now in a hotel room waiting to kill the son of a Colombian drugs lord. The kill will be his initiation to the family business but will prove also wrong all the voices about him being a sissy. Actually Gio himself has no proofs that he prefers men, having had no chance to be with one. His father would have never allowed it. But Gio is in for a surprise and a definitely proof this time: Amador Vega, the man he has to kill, his in another hotel room on the opposite building with a man! And from his point of view Gio has all the chances to see him naked and in action... and he is so attracted to what he sees that he is easily distracted from the real reason why he is looking him through a binocular!

Gio is not very good at this work and Amador "Amad" Vega realizes soon that he is spied. He breaks into Gio's room while he is taking a shower and easily disarms the man and kidnaps him. Amad, like Gio, is not into his father's business, and above all, doesn't want that his father knows of his sexual preferences, like Gio, he is due to marry a woman he doesn't know as a collateral for a business contract. Obviously Gio and Amad fall in love, but it's a contrasted love and not one with an easy happily ever after.

The author plays a lot in making hard for this star written lovers to be together, but he doesn't skimp on the romance department. Actually probably this is the only part of the book that it's a bit unrealistic, but it's mitigated a bit by two factor: first, the love is not immediate, at first it's more a question of an horny and virgin to man love boy, Gio, who has the chance to be in strict quarter with a very handsome and experience man, Amad, and of course he takes advantage of it. Add to this the fact that Amad is also very good at it, and it's natural that Gio falls in love. Maybe if they had the time to grow tired of each other, maybe they would, but instead the fate torn them apart and the love remained hinted but not fulfilled. Again the author could have used the unconditionally love's card, making both Amad and Gio desperately in love and faithful till the eternity to each other, but we are talking of a teenager and a barely twenty years old guy, and so no, Gio and Amad remain in love with their heart, but not with their body, at least not till the moment they have the possibility to actually tighten a bond.

The story is about an opposed love, but it's not as tragic and dramatic as Arsenic and Rio, another book by D.J. Manly with some common elements with this one. In both books the heroes are not exactly white lilies, and sometime they are driven more by their sexual urges than their minds, but in both of them I noticed two things: there is not a forced connection between love and sex, but if it's present the sex is better; and the characters, even if behaving badly, in a way are naive and innocent, despite all, maybe since they are also so young. These are not men worn out by years of bad life, these are men young enough to have still time to redeem.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002GPVBRS/?...

[Kelly (Maybedog) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would have been a four but the last bit if the book pissed me off.

Random thoughts:

Never quite got why Gio fell for Amad. I didn't like Amad that much for a while. I felt that Amad was using Gio for sex and that Gio really wanted love. Gio was clearly in love--MEGA instalove--but Amad still was aloof.

Contrived part near the end: There was absolutely no reason to split them up for five additional years after everything. Families are put in witness protection together all the time. Since no one knew Amad was gay, him being with Gio would have been a great cover story.

Ages were completely off: In the beginning Amad was 22. He was in the thick of things for two years. At that point he was 24, his brother 17, his sister 14. Trial started one year later and lasted 3 years. Something else took another year and a half after that (wrapping up loose ends or something). Then they are separated for another 5 years. That makes ten and a half years total. Two years before end of separation, Amad turns 32. He should be 30. At time of reunion, two years later, Amad should be 32. His sister should be 24. His brother should be 27. Yet his sister is going to her prom and graduating from high school (four years later for her) and his brother "finished college for the summer." This doesn't even sound like he graduated. Assuming normal college, four years later would make him 21 and graduating. I think the author tacked on the five years at the last minute and forgot to change the children's ages. This is just way, way off.

The narrative was confusing in several places when too many pronouns were used and not enough names.

Happy ending? Yes, HEA.

[Krummi í klettagjá]

This was a very interesting book.
Cons:
#1 - The time frame. The story jumped over a couple of years after Gio got to Canada and then it jumped over two/three years during the trial and then it jumped over five years during the witsec.
#2 - The insta-love. I have never been a fan of insta-love and this case was no different. What, so Gio has sex with Amad and suddenly, he's the love of his life? Come on.
#3 - The ending. It was way too bow-tied for my taste. What, so they go into witsec for five years, no one finds them, whoop-dee-fucking-doo, and then some ex-con finds them and Amad just flies on a plane, rescues them and that's it? "Oh, yeah we forced you to be seperated for five years for your own safety, but now you've been attacked and we don't give a fuck." *rolls eyes* That was just way too unrealistic.
#4 - Gio's constant um-ing. It was like he was never sure what he was going to say.

Pros:
#1 - Sophie. I liked her, she was sweet but also a bit sassy. (In a fiercely cute way)
#2 - Jason. I liked that he didn't condone any illegal activity
#3 - The sex in the attic. That was hot as fuck.
#4 - Gio's and Amad's professions after they went into witsec
#5 - Amad's drinking and downfall after starting to work with his father. It was realistic.

Things that I didn't quite get
#1 - Why not just kill Gio straight away (yeah I know he said to make him watch Amad's wedding) but was he really worth all that trouble for Amad's dad?
#2 - I would.have thought that the insta-luuuvre Gio wouldn't have had a relationship with another man, no matter how meaningless
#3 - That seemed like a really shitty thing of Roy to do. Why ruin his own case? For what? Personal revenge of some sort?
#4 - I already kind of mentioned this, but why did witsec take so long in the first place and and also why then just not give a crap after the five years were up?

All in all: It was an interesting book, but I don't think I'd read it again.

[Rhianon]

I really wanted to enjoy this one, hoped it would be a nice fluffy read. But the characters, who are 18 and 22 years old, annoy me. And the writing style is obnoxious, at its best. I can understand an 18-year-old virgin being obsessed with having sex before he dies if his death seems rather imminent. That, I can forgive. But the author really doesn't make much of an attempt to create character depth or endear either of the lead characters to the reader at all. And while I didn't read all the way through, it's a relatively short length for a novel. So I found myself wondering when the author would get around to developing his characters a little more.

The random details are even worse. I mean, do I really need to know that the hotel they're walking past on the beach is 11,486 square feet? Really? Where the fuck did that random information come from? And it wasn't just that. There's detail like that everywhere, like its research that the author just ... crammed into the story to increase the total word count or something.

It starts out with an intriguing enough premise, but it lost my interest very quickly.

[ElaineY · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite romance. While I found Amador sexy, coupled with Gio, they were a rather boring couple. Amador, and the story, would have fared a lot better for me if he had been paired with a more charismatic man, young though these two may be.

It's one reason why I don't care for stories featuring young protagonists. Amador is only in his early 20s, I think, and Gio is 18. They are too young to have that gritty edge to their personalities that I find so sexy. I also found Trapped missing the suspense of Connie Bailey's Miles To Go which also featured a Colombian drug-trafficking theme and which featured far sexier protagonists. Then again, the two books are vastly different in that Bailey's is a romantic suspense whilst Manly's isn't even though it has all the ingredients that make you think it's one - drug-trafficking, mobs, hitmen etc.

[Absynthe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. It's definitely a different setting than most m/m books( organized crime ). The plot was solid and the characters well written. Gio was adorkable. I enjoyed reading this. The other thing I liked about it is that even after the characters got together, the plot continued. The author didn't take the easy exit of "and they lived happily ever after" once they were reunited again ( or the first time? I dunno ). There was more to it than that and that's a refreshing change from quickly and easily wrapped up plots.

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was too convenient. Nothing really tripped up Gio's plan to get Amad out of the gangs. I just needed more conflict (you'd think there'd be conflict because of the mob thing, but turns out that's a red herring) and maybe some more descriptions to make me like the book.