Review: Something new and different from Lily White..
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 20, 2014
3.5-4 stars!Woah! Talk about one CRAAAZZZY ride! When I heard that Lily wrote a dark MC book, I really didn’t know what to expect. Bikers are just not my thing (unless it’s Joana Wylde) but this is one of my favorite authors here and I had a hunch she’d deliver a story that was different and she did! Hard Roads is a gritty MC book and told in true Lily White fashion – if it ain’t dark, it ain’t from Lily! ;)“Life was never flowers and sunshine. It was gravel and dust, the trails of dirt left behind when the brothers tore out, floating up from the ground to hover in front of an angry, red sun.”No one knows more about the tough side of life than Holly. Daughter of the Dominion MC prez, Holly grew up in a MC club filled with drinking, whoring, and violence. Contrary to a lot of the heroines in MC books, Holly doesn’t embrace biker life. She hates it. It doesn’t help that her father succeeds in pissing off a number of powerful people. She longs to live a normal life, free from the constant danger that comes with being the daughter of the club president. And then…then she meets JD.“He was both an angel and a demon. He was the most vicious storm that ever darkened my life. He was also my salvation.”A member of the rival club, JD captures Holly and plans to deliver her to his club prez. Holly knows that her life is now in danger as the men her father screwed over are now after her to get back at him. But surprisingly, she finds out that JD isn’t all bad and nowhere as ruthless and heartless as the other men after her. There isn’t much romantic development in the first half of the book as the story is more plot-driven – Holly and JD are running out of time while trying to get away from revenge-hungry men and every other danger.“It’s not like that. I’m the one responsible for her being in the situation in the first place. That’s the only reason I’m sticking my neck out to do something about it.”The second half of the book took an interesting turn. Before when Holly was living in the Dominion MC, she thought she hit rock bottom. Wrong. The ordeals she goes through in this part of the book easily trumps rough biker life and it’s unfortunate she learns the hard way. Honestly, there was one scene near the half-way mark that made me a little queasy but it just goes to show that there are larger evils out there that Holly or JD could never imagine. At this point all I wanted to do was give both of them hugs. These were two people who never wanted a life in a MC club but that was the hand that got dealt to them so even though there wasn’t a lot of relationship development, in a way, I could understand their connection. They both recognized a kindred soul in one another.“Life hadn’t been kind to either of us. We were both born into lives that neither of us wanted and we both had to go through hell to find each other.”From a general overview, I really enjoyed this book – it was full of action, had some super hot, dirty, sweaty sex scenes, and an occasional dark, gory scene (my favorite!). But I didn’t full-out love it like I usually do with Lily’s books. After mulling it over in my head, I realized the root of the problem: there is just way too much happening all at the same time. It seemed like this book hit on every evil possible in books – drugs, kidnapping, rape, torture to name a few – and nothing was truly developed to a point where I felt invested in the story or characters. It almost felt like I was reading three stories in one: a mini-story about JD and Holly’s romance, a mini-story about their ordeals, and a mini-story about the aftermath and picking up the pieces.Would I recommend this book? Absolutely. I think if you’re a fan of fast-paced, action-packed books with a side of dark and gritty bikers you’ve just found your next read.**A copy of the book was given to me for review. Please note that all quotes are from an advanced copy and may be subject to change in the final edition.**