Rating: 2.5 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | All Romance | Amazon UK
Length: Novella
Jake was in the wrong place at the wrong time, witnessed a murder being carried out by a motorcyle club, and now he is on the run. He is being tracked by the club’s enforcer, Nick, with plans to eliminate Jake as a witness and Jake knows his time is running out.
Nick is 23, but has done so many things in his life that he is not proud of. After his parents’ death, he was raised by his uncle and brought into a life he never asked for. His conscience is weighing him down and having Jake as his next target is his final breaking point. Nick plans to let Jake go and finally leave everything behind when he will trade his life for Jake’s, but Nick didn’t count on being so attracted to the man. He certainly never counted on the two of them forming a bond and then Jake refusing to allow Nick to sacrifice himself. Jake wants to show Nick a way out, but Nick has a job and a past that travels the same roads.
This book started out with an interesting premise on the basic level. We have Nick, disillusioned with all of the violence in this life and looking for a permanent way out. He sees his chance in Jake where he can not only spare Jake, but end his own torment. In the moment, it’s a good story of a bad boy finding love and redemption, but the supporting details both before the men meet and then after are weak and the story then lacks structure.
The men meet under unusual circumstances and they both take a chance on what they think will be their last night. Jake immediately sees that there is a good person underneath Nick’s hit man exterior. I could go with that one as the men did complement each other. It was the rest that didn’t come together for me.
Jake witnesses a murder and then immediately goes on the run. He is not involved at all with the motorcycle club and it was never discussed how Jake knows about the club or why his first instinct is to get out of town as fast as he can. He then just knows that they sent someone to kill him and recognizes Nick as that person. Nick’s uncle is the head of the club and Nick has done everything his uncle has asked for his entire life. He is afraid of his uncle and we are told he has good reason to be. Of course, the uncle won’t allow Nick to just walk away and the entire storyline from here and the connections we are told that his uncle had did not add up for a local motorcycle club and didn’t make for truly interesting reading.
The book was short, there was a lot condensed into its pages, there was limited character development, and at the end the area with the motorcycle club had too many pieces that didn’t fit together well. Jake is way too instinctual on all things Nick from the first moment their eyes meet and, while their first night packed some heat, that alone wasn’t enough to save this for me. Motorcycles, bad boys, redemption, all good stuff but the themes alone weren’t enough to offer a recommendation on this one.
A review copy of this book was provided by Dreamspinner Press.
