A Dangerous RealityRating: 3.75 stars
Buy Link:
Amazon | All Romance | Amazon UK
Length: Novel


Turk’s motorcycle club is under lockdown, but he is set on a mission. When he sees his boyfriend of two years on his knees in a club servicing a stranger, he calls that part of his life to a halt. Turk is, however, able to get a glance at who is boyfriend was with: Lock, who is exposed with his hands bound. When Turk sees Lock again he is in enraged, not only for what he saw at the club, but Turk also thinks that Lock is the one messing with his business. Without warning, Turk launches himself at Lock for a beat down, but their chemistry is all too real.

Lock, a successful bounty hunter, has followed his latest target to a gay club. Lock is so deeply closeted and will never admit to being gay, but if a random guy wants to pleasure him, who is he to pass it up. When his path then keeps crossing with Turk, it is hard to stay away from the gorgeous biker.

When one of Lock’s motorcycle brothers sees Lock and Turk together, he blackmails them to do his dirty work or risk being exposed. Running in a world fueled by drugs, money, and double crossing, Turk and Lock are set up at every turn. Trying to find a way out is one thing, coming out to their motorcycle clubs and having a life together is quite another.

This book had a tremendous amount of promise as it starts and we are immediately put into Turk’s world as the VP of his motorcycle club, alongside Lock’s world with his club and his business as a bounty hunter. Turk is secure knowing he is gay. He is sure some of the guys know about it, but it is kept completely quiet. Although Lock has been with a man before, it was just physical he tells himself, and his last relationship was with a woman. The voices of each character are completely unique. This is largely due to the characters being written in different tenses. Where Turk is written in first person, Lock is written in third person. The POV changes each chapter and it is remarkably easy to follow each character despite, or perhaps because of, the change of tense.

The guys are a study in contradictions. After Turk sees his boyfriend cheating, he clearly states he has no interest in a relationship, but just one look at Lock instantly changes all of that. And Lock is so closeted, so adamant about not admitting he is gay, but then claiming Turk in the next sentence. The chemistry the guys have together is off the charts hot. But, there is just not enough of it. The first time they are really together another club member sees them and then the story shifts to all kinds of dirty dealings. The guys are then only together in frantic, hurried moments, while entrenched in kidnappings, murder, drugs, and a whole list of incidents that come at them one after the other. At the same time, they are planning how to have a life together after knowing each other for two weeks. There is not enough of them together as any kind of couple to have me believing in them outing themselves to their clubs and forging a life long relationship.

There is violence and bloodshed that is part of the story line, but being involved in the motorcycle world it did not read as overly violent to me. The plot moves quickly as Turk and Lock are set up and double crossed time and again. There are a lot of players and many scenarios to keep track of that overwhelm the personal story line of the men. Turk has been in a motorcycle club almost his entire life and Lock is a successful bounty hunter. Yet, they are set up time and again, and everyone is sneaking up on them, and constantly steps ahead of them. They appear to be stumbling along always in the cross fire, and it is another contradiction to how they are portrayed. Some of their dialog also has them losing credibility with lines like, “Jiminy Christmas,” and Turk’s signature line of, “Great Caesar’s Ghost.” Their expressions did not seem to fit in with their tough guy persona and at times gives them a cartoonish appearance.

I enjoyed the premise and the set-up of this story and the alternating character POV works well. I would have enjoyed more of a build up of their relationship because when Turk and Lock are together their chemistry is evident. There is just not enough of that aspect seen to have me believing in their love for each other as the larger plot line overshadows their relationship. As this is the start of a new series, I would be interested to see how their story progresses if there were a few more scenes with them as a couple. A Dangerous Reality would then be a good choice if you are looking for a plot driven novel about hard core bikers with a lot of obstacles to get through.

michelle signature