Like, I loved Tooth, Luci was ok. Premise and key plot points were great.

Secondary characters weren't fleshed out.
Pacing was ok.
There were plot holes so big it was obscene (why did they check all the buses when he has a tracker on him).

Time was all over the place.
Characters behaviours changed suddenly with small excuses.
Way way way way too much telling.
So much suspension of disbelief required that it was hard sometimes.

Author clearly had a really clear picture of the story she wanted to tell and I could be way way way into that story but the execution was lacking. ( )

This second book in K.A. Merikan’s series about bikers and what they might get up to behind closed doors, may be a little less brutal and gritty than the first, but the subtle violence exuded by Tooth and his biker friends makes it just as dark. The characters who inhabit these pages are involved in prostitution and organized crime, they encounter organ snatchers, and they are homophobic—well, mostly. And as nice as they can be when it’s called for, I kept reminding myself they are outlaws so I wouldn’t expect too much from them in terms of moral fortitude. The two main characters, Tooth and Luci (short for Lucifer), are very interesting and at times highly entertaining as they bumble along, falling into a relationship before they can stop themselves. The secondary characters range from hilarious to utterly evil, and the mix definitely made for a suspenseful read—one that will stay with me for a while!

Tooth. What can I say. His official job description is Vice President of the Nails MC, but it doesn’t really do him justice. He is a very complex character with a backstory that explains much of his motivation. Yes, he is out for revenge but boy, does he have a reason to go after the people who hurt him! He also has a morality of his own, and his trademark method of interrogating prisoners of the gang made me shudder. The descriptions aren’t too detailed (thank you, Kat and Agnes!), but what there is, and the implications of what happens after some scenes fade out, were plenty brutal for me. When Tooth gets told to baby-sit Lucifer, the MC’s president’s nineteen-year-old son, he comes as close to refusing an order as I think he is able. I loved how he fell for Luci’s charms almost without noticing, and certainly without admitting it!

Luci has not had an easy life. His father, the big bad MC president, never acknowledged him, but when Daddy finds him stripping for money, the man decides to remember his duty and becomes paternal. Suddenly, Luci is expected to clean up his act, go back to school, and become an upstanding citizen. Or as close as a biker’s son can get to that. Guess what Luci does? He rebels with everything he has. His internal monologue is hilarious in places, but it also shows how the years of neglect and abuse have emotionally scarred him. He desperately wants to be loved, and his slow campaign to convince Tooth they are meant to be together was fun, if sometimes excruciatingly painful to watch.

With a plot that involves organized crime and violence, characters I couldn’t help but like, except for the bad guys, of course, and a resolution that made all the suffering worth it, this is a book that will probably fascinate you as much as some of the content will make you wonder what you’re reading here. As always in this series, heed the warning labels and believe what they say—the authors put them there for a reason. This is not romantic fluff! It is, however, a moving love story as well as a tale about the brutal reality of crime of all kinds, and that, to me, made it a great read.

If you like bikers, even if only from a safe distance when you’re reading about them, if you enjoy stories with two strong heroes, one physically powerful and the other incredibly resilient, and if you’re looking for a read filled with suspense, violence, and a few twists and turns, then you should definitely give this novel a try. It’s different and has a pronounced “danger vibe”, but the story underneath it all certainly held my attention from beginning to end.


NOTE: This book was provided by the author for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.
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