Nessa is the youngest in the reigning Irish mafia family in Chicago. When Miko, the head of the Polish mafia family kidnaps her, he wants to use her for his own gains. Neither expect to fall in love.

I love mafia books! This is the second book in the Brutal Birthright series. I enjoyed book one and this one was about the same for me. I liked that this is a version of Beauty and the Beast. You can see the references all over it and it’s fine well. Nessa is a sunshine while Miko is a grump and they okay those parts to a T. Nessa is also a dancer and it’s great to see how she expresses herself through her dance.

The action moves the main series storyline along and adds to the romance in the book. The star though really are the spicy scenes. Once they get going, they are hit and well done.
The special edition comes out on 9/29 and the drawings alone are worth it! They add to the story and characters beautifully.

Overall, this was a good read. It fell short a couple of times for me and I would have liked to see them falling for each other more BUT it’s a good mafia book!

-mafia
-grumpy/sunshine
-kidnapped
-V FMC

-thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the gifted copy! My reviews are always honest.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC. Technically, the writing was so fluent, it gripped me right from the beginning. The story was a bit familiar, the main female character was a side character in Brutal Prince, and I knew I should be expecting a really good book to enjoy.
The story began with a drama that was unexpected and made me understand the base of all Miko went through. He was strong but all because of the traumas that he had suffered. The character building was really nice.
I enjoyed every page, thank you for the good time..

Mafia x beauty and the beast = this book! SO good. It gave the first book in the series a run for its money.

Read if you like: grumpy vs sunshine, mafia romance, extra spice, and the swooniest nicknames "my little ballerina"

This story makes me realize how susceptible I would be to Stockholm syndrome, I loved Niko lol

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

This was such a beautifully written book. I couldn't stop reading it and I read it in a day. It definitely gave off Beauty and the Beast Mafia vibes and I was loving it! I'm a huge fan of Sophie's books and this one was no exception! Seeing Miko and Ness's relationship form and grow was so sweet and lovely. The tension and banter was delicious and absolutely wonderful. Another great book by Sophie Lark!

Thank you Netgalley, Source Bloom Books and Sophie Lark for this ARC!

Whoa. This book was so good. I liked book one. But this beauty and the beast-ish romance of a kidnapped mafia princess and her kidnapper kept me up reading WAY past my bedtime. I loved watching their relationship turn to love. I liked how Nessa kept who she is but also grew into her strength and ability to stand on her own. But I loved watching Miko soften for her. He was constantly surprised by Nessa and his feelings for her and their connection was so rewarding to watch on page. It makes me itch to pester my friend to buddy read the next book.

Sure mafia Beauty and the Beast has been done before. However, in this one the characters are aware that life sometimes imitates art. So much so that our FMC creates a ballet around it, and I ate it up.

This is a gritty and raw modern day Beauty and the Beast inspired Mafia story. I read this book in one sitting. This story out me in a chokehold from the very beginning and didn't let up until the very end.

The first chapter literally guts you and breaks your heart but it was a necessary evil for the reader to really understand Mikolaj's darkness. He suffered such a traumatic loss at the age of 16 that most teens wouldn't recover from but it served as a catalyst necessary to make him one of the most vicious gangsters in Chicago.

Nessa was a kind and gentle soul. A beautiful Ballerina who loves to lose herself through dance. She is oblivious to the inner workings of her Mafia family but she is aware that they are dangerous. When her family is responsible for the death of Miko's adoptive father, Nessa finds herself abducted to be used as a pawn in Miko's plan for revenge. Unfortunately Miko didn't anticipate his beautiful Ballerina hostage to dance her way into his heart.

I love an enemies to lovers story when the enemy bites off more than they can chew and end up falling for their enemy/captive. Nessa was the calming balm Miko needed to gain some perspective. He wanted revenge against the family responsible for his loss but it wasn't until he grew closer to Nessa that he realized that his true enemy were those he called family.

As the passion and chemistry grows between Nessa and Miko so does his enemies. Uncertain about her future Nessa loses herself in a dark fairytale about the love she found in the face of a beast. With some many obstacles before them and Miko's change of heart will it be enough for them to reach their HEA?

Beauty and the beast, but make it spicy mafia. This story is my favorite amongst all mafia, but especially in Sophie’s Brutal birthright series. The character growth in this story is exactly what I hoped it would be. I feared Nessa would be childish or honestly annoying, but at the end I felt she stayed true to herself but grew where she needed to. Mikolaj Is hard, emotionally shut up until a dancing ballerina enters his dark fallen mansion and brings life back into it. This is one of the few books that the setting, the house, and the grounds were described in such a way I really felt like I there. 10/5 stars, will definitely be a book I reread!

4/5 stars! Like all of Sophie's books, the cover was absolutely stunning. I appreciated the complex relationship between Nessa and Mikolaj. The mafia romance vibes were maybe applied a little heavy for my liking, but I enjoyed the story. Will be picking up the sequel to read asap.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review

Nessa grows up in her family's mafia empire but she's too gentle for the business. Mikolaj is out for revenge for his adoptive father. He abducts Nessa and plots to destroy her family. Can her love stop him?

It's a dark mafia novel and it's exactly what you would expect. It's suspenseful, dark and steamy. Nessa is great and Mikolaj took a bit of time to grow on me. It's fast moving... and a fun escapist read.

Thanks to the publisher for the arc.

Miko is the leader of the polish mob after the events of Brutal Prince, and is plotting his revenge against the Gallos and Griffins. Nessa Griffin is the sheltered youngest daughter, with whom he plans to enact his revenge. By taking Nessa captive, he sends the Griffin and Gallo families into chaos, but he wasn’t bargaining for falling for his prisoner.

A little predictable but still cute. I enjoyed seeing both Nessa and Miko grow emotionally, but I would’ve enjoyed seeing more of the other characters in the Gallo and Griffin families.

I had to DNF this book. The writing felt very juvenile. The words don’t have weight. The prose is stiff and unyielding and the emotions felt dry to me. There was also a big lack of imagery. I tried to skip forward to see what the book would feel like later and I was not terribly impressed by what I found. This plot of this book is merely a vehicle for the smut. I say this as a reader who enjoys smut: I feel like each tool an author uses in a story should be carefully placed, crafted, and utilized. Smut just isn’t interesting when there’s a lack of believability and a real sense of tension.

I received the digital version of this book as a ARC books from NetGalley, which is interesting because Goodreads says this book was published back in 2020. Not quite sure why this available for review now in 2023.

Sophie Lark is one of my favorite authors, and this is definitely in the top three I have read so far. I'm not much of a darker romance girly but these books always hit the spot. Seeing the character growth in Miko from wanting to hurt Nessa and her family to falling in love and doing anything for her was the best part of Stolen Heir. Yes, Nessa also changed from being her family's youngest and most sheltered to someone who can hold their own, but there is something so satisfying about watching a man soften for 'the one'. If you only ever read one Sophie Lark book, please let it be this one. I wish I could have seen more between them in this book after everything happened, but I know that the story continues in the next books. This would be a great read for any mafia or enemies-to-lovers fans.

Thank you NetGalley, Sourcebooks Bloom Books, and Sophie Lark for this arc!
Y’all… if you like a true morally gray man and a good beauty and the beast retelling this is the one! I’ve read a lot of Sophie’s books and this reread solidified that Mikolaj is my favorite! I love seeing how far he comes from his tragic backstory and Nessa’s growth into the beautiful woman she is! Highly highly highly recommend

Thank you NetGalley, Sourcebooks Bloom Books, and Sophie Lark for this arc!

Sophie Lark does it again! Brutal Prince was my first read by her and absolutely fell in love with her world! I normally don't like mafia storylines but this has me hooked! The way she writes the characters makes you want to know every little detail there is about them!

The characters in stolen heir might be my favorites so far! Mikolaj's backstory was so tragic and the character growth from Nessa was really good! I liked that she was written to show she was smart and artist without being the spoiled baby child everyone thinks.

Def recommend!

I read this book in one day. I enjoyed the concept and the story line. It is almost like beauty and the beast. I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first in the series but it was a good book overall.

Thank you netgalley and sourcebooks for the arc of stolen heir.

Let’s just start off with the fact that I usually don’t like mafia romance at all. However I read the first book in the brutal birthright series within one day. This second book was no different.
Sophie just has a way of dragging you into the story within the first few pages.
Her writing flows and immerses the reader wholly.
Sophie puts a lot of research into her books and it’s evident in the way that everything just makes sense, right down to the smallest details.
All this being said and I haven’t even touched on how well she rights spice. The angst Sophie is able to build through the beginning is a testament to her writing skills.
There were scenes with so much sexual tension that it made my heart beat faster just reading the words on the page.
When the spice finally came about it was such a release! Well written while also being amazingly dirty. Just the way I like it.
I really really enjoyed this read and I think it’s my new favourite out of her series.

It definitely had more angst than Brutal prince which would normally be up my alley, but it was not as satisfying as I thought it would be.
I would have liked more depth in their relationship and more interaction between them in the first half of the book in order to justify the deep love that they claimed to have after the 50% mark.
I felt like Nessa interacted more with Klara than with Miko and even the few scenes they had together did not feel deep enough to justify the insta-love.
On the other hand, I loved the focus on Miko's activity, although he gave up the vengeance quite easily i might add.
Another big mention is the art which was top notch, I want more of these in books, other authors should take note.
I also enjoyed the songs mentioned throughout the book which really set the mood right, it heightens the experience if you read while you listen to the music.
Overall, I enjoyed this book, and I cannot wait for the other's characters' stories as well. Thank you NetGalley for providing me with the ARC for this book.

Stolen Heir is the second interconnected standalone in the Brutal Birthright series by Sophie Lark. In this book, Nessa Griffin, Callum (who was the hero in Brutal Prince) Griffin’s baby sister. We met her in the first book as the meek and slightly naïve member of the family. After the run in with the Polish mafia in the first book, tensions are high after the murder of Mikolaj’s ‘father’.
After a chance meeting in a nightclub, an entranced Miko takes an interest in Nessa and decides to kidnap her in retaliation for his fathers murder. This is definitely a Beauty and the Beast retelling. The quiet, naïve woman with the brutish beast. Obviously, for some, the whole kidnapping and captivity element of the story isn’t appealing. I felt the back and forth between the two was good. Nessa learning Polish to listen in on conversations was fun to read as well. Overall, I enjoyed reading this. Seeing Nessa grow and become more independent was good but it would have been nice to see more of this. Miko was a great hero. The tragic back story, the weight of being Boss on his shoulders with the introduction of this woman he’s falling for was fun to read. I look forward to reading the other books in the series. Sophie Lark definitely knows how to right a spicy and intense romance with an interesting plot.
Thanks for the eARC!

I am really enjoying this series. Nessa and Mikolaj had amazing chemistry and they had the whole opposites attract vibe going on. This is definitely a mafia beauty and the beast type of story and I loved it! I can’t wait to read the rest of this series.

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Bloom Books for the arc of this book.