Review: Light on Biker, Heavy on Romance
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 06 28, 2013
3.5 StarsTori Baldwin moves from place to place, never getting close to anyone or forming any lasting relationships. She randomly ends up stopping in the biker town of Pitnam, Oregon, and decides to set up her mobile coffee shack for a few months before moving on. Tori quickly becomes the talk of the town, know for her compassion and the free love advice she gives with each cup of coffee. Tori's coffee shack is parked in the parking lot of Cactus Cove, a biker bar owned by Rain, the leader of the Bantorus bikers. Although they initially bump heads, Tori and Rain have an intense attraction to each other and the deal is sealed when Tori brings Rain cookie dough. Rain is drawn to Tori's quirkiness and her uncanny ability to bring people together and give unusually perceptive advice. Despite their growing affection, Tori is hiding secrets from a traumatic past, and Rain is determined to find out what she is hiding.In the meantime, things are heating up in Pitnam when a rival biker gang, the Langsturns, come to town and decide to stay for a while. Rain claims Tori as his woman in order to protect her from the Lagsturns, but his motives go beyond protection when he notices that she is classy, sexy and a total goof - the three traits that he has always imagined that his perfect woman would possess. When random and dangerous events start happening, Rain fears that the Lagsturns are trying to start a war. Interestingly enough, Rain realizes that Tori seems to be the target of these mysterious attacks. He vows to find out why and protect Tori at all costs.This was a biker book that was light on the biker and heavy on the romance. As I was reading, I felt like I was reading a Kristen Ashley novel. The dialogue, alpha male, kidnapping and epilogue had a similar KA feel, but the length was shorter than a KA and the secondary characters weren't as developed as KA makes them.What I liked:Alpha male heroBikers...Tori's love adviceelements of mysteryWhat could have been improved:The hero (Rain) was a bit soft for a biker. In other words, this isn't Deuce from Undeniable. Although Rain has the bossy alpha male thing down, he's pretty straight laced and does not fully embody what comes to mind when you think of the leader of a motorcycle club. I would say he is a reformed biker, or better yet the Robin Hood of bikers.The character descriptions were off. There were several errors where the name of a character was mixed up with a different character. This made things confusing, and I often had to reread sentences to make sense of the dialogue and realize there was a mixup. Also, I never got a feel for what any of the characters looked like. I have no idea what color of eyes Rain had. In one part of the book, Tori has eyes the color of bourbon, and in another part of the book she has blue eyes. As for the other characters, no clue. This made it difficult to visualize the characters, which I like to do.As I mentioned, there were elements of mystery, but nothing that kept you on the edge of your seat. I like a buildup of suspense and mystery, and this one had a few moments, but the big reveal fell a little flat for me. I'm not a big fan of everything happening in the last 10% of the book. I think mystery should be done well or not at all. I like twists and turns, and I think the author attempted to throw in a few surprises, but they only made other parts of the story make less sense. When the big moment arrives, it doesn't last long and I couldn't fully appreciate it. It didn't evoke any real emotion or make me feel like I was in the story.This is not a hardcore biker book, but if you are looking for romance and a HEA, you'll find it here.