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Series: Reapers MC #3
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Publication Date: 6/3/13
Format: Paperback
Pages: 352
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4 stars
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Liam “Hunter” Blake hates the Reapers MC. Born and raised a Devil’s Jack, he knows his duty. He’ll defend his club from their oldest enemies—the Reapers—using whatever weapons he can find. But why use force when the Reapers’ president has a daughter who’s alone and vulnerable? Hunter has wanted her from the minute he saw her, and now he has an excuse to take her.
Em has lived her entire life in the shadow of the Reapers. Her overprotective father, Picnic, is the club’s president. The last time she had a boyfriend, Picnic shot him. Now the men in her life are far more interested in keeping her daddy happy than showing her a good time. Then she meets a handsome stranger—a man who isn't afraid to treat her like a real woman. One who isn't afraid of her father. His name is Liam, and he’s The One.
Or so she thinks.
Sometimes I have a hard time shutting down my brain. I'm one of those people who might look like I'm staring vacantly at the wall, but I assure you, my brain rarely shuts down. Given that, I can find myself having a difficult time settling into a story, particularly when the characters are kind of insane and their lives are even more so. For instance, when I started watching Sons of Anarchy, I was all about Jax Teller and that sweet ass of his. But then...I realized,
Oh no. Jax Teller is a dealer, a killer, and even worse, a cheater! I found myself focusing on this, ranting that Tara should get her and the boys away from that insanity. (lord was I right about that) It got so bad that my husband wanted me to take back up with staring at Charlie Hunnam's ass (and that back of his!) rather than going on and on about what was wrong with these morally corrupt characters. So I did.
This is where I found myself at the beginning of
Devil's Game. If you've read
Reaper's Legacy, then you know Em and Liam have a shaky start. Well, shaky is an understatement when you consider Liam sneakily connects with her Em in an effort to work the Reapers. You see, there's a whole lot of politics in MCs, and even though they're all about living and riding free, they're all totally tangled up in egos and territory. But anyway, the timeline of
Devil's Game coincides with Reaper's Legacy, and we get Liam's and Em's points-of-view on hers and Sophie's kidnapping, along with the before and the aftermath, and how despite all this, Em and Liam really fall for each other. Nothing says romance like a stalker kidnapper, yes? Well, in this case...um...yeah. (just go with it)
The
Reaper's MC series is filled with strong-willed, hilarious, ass-kicking women. In the first two books, I was happily surprised by how uncompromising Marie and Sophie were with their men, and how neither settled for anything less than honesty and faithfulness. I appreciate that Wylde has continued to give us this world in which the men run the club, but the women take no shit from them at the same time. It says a lot that out of these women, Em Hayes is my favorite. Not only is she a Reaper woman, her dad is the President, and that makes for a lonely life on the guy-front. Em is a total badass, ass-kicker. She doesn't go around with an attitude, but she will take care of herself and the people she loves with no hesitation and through any means necessary. She's hilarious and brave. Through her kidnapping and realizing how very little she knows about the issues that do, in fact, affect her, Em begins to realize that she deserves more. She deserves to be kept in the loop regarding details that affect her life and safety. She deserves a life in which she makes choices for herself. And she deserves a man who will fight for her.
That man willing to fight for her? Liam "Hunter" Blake. A Devil's Jack. If you're familiar with the series, then you know Devil's Jack is the rival of the Reapers. They've had a sort of truce, but it's about to get torn all to hell. Liam eyes Em with the intention of using her to help make peace, but of course, falls for her too. I hate the dishonesty that started their relationship, and I won't pretend it's okay to kidnap the girl you want to be with, and do lots of sexy stuffs with her, but hey,
this is a story. And believe me, Em makes sure he pays. Painfully. I liked that Liam's point-of-view made it clear that he would never really hurt her physically, and that hurting her emotionally is painful for him. I won't say that he didn't kind of disgust me at times, because you know what, he really did. But it's par for the course apparently when you live the life he and Em do. As Liam falls harder and harder for Em, he doesn't magically become a sweet, sensitive man. He's still pretty vulgar and can sometimes say stupid crap that gets him into trouble. But it was also really sweet to see this big, dangerous man brought to his knees by the only woman for him.
Despite how uncomfortable I felt at times while reading,
Devil's Game is probably my favorite book in the series. The story was well-developed and from what I imagine, very honest and true to the MC life. There's a nice blend of action and love story, with a lot of humor thrown in. I'm so very ready for Picnic's story,
Reaper's Stand.
So, here comes a big dose of honesty. I don't try to convince people to read books they won't like. That's not my job. What I do strive for is to explain why I like/dislike a book, and let you make that decision for yourself. If you're looking for a story with sweet romance, with characters who you will always like and understand, you're probably not going to be happy reading
Devil's Game. And that's fine! But if you go into this book looking for an escape, knowing that the characters can be absolutely batshit crazy, say and do things that are can be unpalatable at times, but at the end of the day, love each other in their own way, hard and rough...then reading
Devil's Game is an excellent time to be had.
To sum it up: if you have a hard time telling your Real World Self to pipe down, you might have a hard time with
Devil's Game. But if -like I did - you tell that bitch to take a hike for a few hours, you just might find yourself in the middle of a really excellent slice of sexy fun.
Favorite Quote
I'd just had incredible, indescribable sex with the hottest guy I'd ever met - and I was still a fucking virgin.
Jesus. Just like high school.
I couldn't give
this shit away.
I'd given almost a decade of my life to the club. Never complained, never held back. I'd done terrible things for the Devil's Jacks. I'd keep doing them too.
All I wanted in return was one thing. One girl. Of course it had to be the girl who could start a fucking war with a phone call...
I still wouldn't give her up.
"I remember everything about the first time I saw you, even though we didn't even talk to each other. That's when it started, whatever this is between us. 'Love' is a word that doesn't mean a damned thing to me. 'Em', though? That's a word that means everything."
The Reapers MC Series
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About
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