A Review By Wendy
4 Sly, Pierced, Frustrating, Smart Stars * * * *
This was my second time reading Joanna Wylde. Her Reaper's Property introduced me to the this tribe, this club and all its inhabitants.
In the first book I met Horse and Marie. I truly loved Horse and had issues with Marie. What made the book enjoyable, though, was how humor and comments were laced throughout, giving some spark to enhance the story. We met a full range of characters and Horse's best brother in the club was Ruger.
Ruger is cut from the classic mold... big, burly, tatted and pierced. Fierce eyes, fierce demeanor.... just plain ole fierce, period.
The story is based on his love of a child and his mother... sounds simple but not really... Sophie fell for Ruger's younger half brother... unfortunately... not smart... she gives her Vcard to him with the icky factor of 5000 as Ruger walks in as it is just over...
Eight months later Sophie and Ruger have another defining moment... by the side of the rode where she needed him to help her get to the hospital as Zach was drunk and passed out. As Sophie sees she is not going to make it to the hospital, she get's Ruger to pull over.
There, together with the help of 911, Ruger delivers and holds Noah first. With that moment etched in his heart and brain... he will always be there for them, no matter what.
Seven years go by, lots of water under the bridge and we find Sophie struggling to do her best as a single mom...she has learned a lot since being 17 with her son, She has done everything as best she could with what she had... a deadbeat abusive dad in Zach who hasn't be paying squat to support his son. She has been doing it on her own and trying to just make it day after day.
But the day has come when everything has gone to shit... her sitters, all of them have this flu which was going around... and so in order to do her shift, she ask the neighbor across the hall to watch Noah. She hasn't seen anything bad with the girl and she really needs the job, so she is stuck with what she has to do. Noah stays across the hall and trouble comes knocking.
The great news is Noah has been taught how to use the phone. He takes the neighbors phone when he starts seeing the boyfriend is not a good guy and is trying to get weird with him; calls his mom and gets voice mail and leaves her a message; then calls Ruger. He tells Noah to hide, he is on his way. Sophie gets the message, gets Noah and is back in her apartment settling all of this in her head... how she is moving out of the dump she is in... how she has to get another job as they told her to not come back if she left to get Noah... how exhausted she was and so angry that all of this happened....and she has a serious dose of guilt, too.
She wakes with Ruger's hand clamped over her mouth... showing her how unsafe her place is and him being crazed by what happened with Noah. He accuses her of blowing child support and doesn't understand how she can live this way. She lashes back telling him how Zach hasn't paid for a year and she hasn't been able to afford anything better... that she has done everything she could with the system trying to get her support from him with nothing coming of it.
Ruger sees Noah come out of bed and tells his "little man" to go and get his rest as they are going to his house to live. This sets Sophie off and Ruger explains... that is the way it is... that the boy was his from the moment he was born and he would never let anything happen to him. After some back and forth...Sophie sees this is for the best.
We go on this journey of push and pull between Ruger and Sophie. They have huge history together and both are wanting each other... she has been attracted to him for years... things have happened to make it difficult for her to be around him at times... but through every situation, he has been the only male figure for Noah. Ruger has looked out for him, taken him under his care and alway, always bailed out Sophie whenever she has called. Because whether Ruger knows it or not... he loves her. He has always loved her and his head just needs to catch up with his heart.
Ruger's character is very easy to like... and I did big time... because even when he may have been demanding or controlling... he was honest in everything. He never would promise Sophie he could do something unless he thought he would... and that was a lot of their issues... they both really did care for each other, no doubt... but Sophie did not want to be his... and him messing with the "sweet butts or club whores" and he couldn't promise he wouldn't ... he wasn't going to put his dick on a leash... so they were at odds...
Sophie's character was a complex one for me... yes, she was a very strong, caring mother...disowned by her own family, left to raise Noah almost alone with very little assistance. She grew up fast; unfortunately Zach was not the prince charming she thought he was through her 16 year old eyes. She had a difficult life and was doing the best she could. Yet, she was presented with a man who was devoted to her son, who housed them and in his way, told her he cared for her... only to fight it every step of the way.
Saying no Ruger the minute he came close and in her personal space was impossible ... sex between them was amazing and both were consumed by it. Yet she didn't understand the MC life or more likely didn't want to and would push Ruger's buttons many times in knee jerk reactions doing exactly what he asked her not to do.
As I read this book I started to see recurrences of the humor and sly inserting of biker information by our author. It was there in the explanation of things; it was there when she did parallel parties with the club versus the straight set. She showed how cutting and cruel people can be while judging others and used Sophie as the vehicle to give us the messages.
Joanna Wylde has created a MC world from research and care. She has a very sly way of setting up humor in an environment which can sometimes go ugly. Her characters have heart, grace and MC charm which caused this reader to show patience when sometimes frustrated.
The best, though, is she is consistent in her love of her subject matter and it translates in her prose. When she had Ruger explain to Sophie what being his property meant... I felt Ruger was baring his soul and all he was... and I got it... and wanted Sophie to finally get it too.
I am firmly intrenched and want to follow this franchise; look to see what happens next... it looks like the president's daughter Em is going to have her story told and I can't wait to see who she chooses...
Arc provided in exchange for an honest review
Joanna Wylde is a freelance writer and voracious reader. You can visit her website at www.joannawylde.net.
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