Review: Insta-FREE Romance at its finest!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 7, 2014
Let me just be direct about this and explain the top reason why I ended up loving this book, and that’s because it was relatively free of any romance cliches we often get in books lately. What are those, you ask? Well, let me enumerate:INSTA-LUSTINSTA-LOVEExtremely Wealthy Male (i.e., the billionaires)Doormat Female (which incidentally, makes her…)TSTL (Too Stupid To Live) FemaleIt’s becoming quite a pet peeve of mine when I start to read a book and we have the two main characters profess their undying love within 24 hours of meeting each other. That and the extreme uncontrollable lust they somehow cannot deny within a minute of seeing each other. What’s worst though, is when the female can’t even say no. It’s like she becomes a slave to her passion that only the main male can provide, so she ends up casting a blind eye when he acts like a proper jerk. Give me a freaking’ break.Admittedly, I can be more lenient with insta-love/lust when I’m reading paranormal since there’s the whole Mate and Bride thing to consider but I really cannot stand it with contemporaries. I guess that’s because I tend to look at the genre from a more realistic point of view. The first thing I noticed when I started reading Under Locke is the lack of insta-anything between the characters.Iris started working for Dex’s tattoo parlor at the request of her half-brother who’s a member of the motorcycle club that Dex is also a part of. Because of that, Dex’s first impression of her was that of a needy female who let the men in her life fix everything for her. Understandably, it took them awhile to warm up to each other, especially since they both had seemingly very different personalities.Even if the book is only told from Iris’ POV, it still felt like both Iris and Dex actually went through proper character development. I like that just because Iris found Dex attractive, it didn’t stop her from forming an unfavorable opinion because he was being a total jerk at the beginning. I also like that Iris didn’t give in the first time Dex half-heartedly tried to make amends. She knew that he wasn’t being sincere and that wasn’t good enough for her. Finally! A female who is not led by her privates when it comes to the male lead.Their relationship went from antagonism to some sort grudging acceptance of one another, to friendship, liking each other and finally… love. It was really refreshing how normal Iris’s thought process is regarding her feelings for Dex because it didn’t just jump from one extreme emotion to the other. Even when she made stupid decisions at one point, which she had no problem admitting, I still found her voice likeable. She’s a survivor, having gone through something medically inescapable which scarred her physically. I like that the scarring didn’t turn her into an overly insecure woman with low self esteem. It annoys me when female leads keep saying that they’ve been through something extremely difficult in their life but they somehow only focus on things that are shallow compared to what they actually experienced.Dex kinda reminded me of a sweeter and less pushy version of Kristen Ashley heroes and I like how his character developed gradually from the jerk with the anger management problem to the guy that Iris fell in love with. I also appreciate that Dex respected Iris’ half-brother’s wishes regarding coming on to her and even when they finally admitted to each other that there was something between them, he still respected Iris’ boundaries when it came to sex and didn’t go about seducing her the first time he realized that he wanted her. Because it was clear how much he genuinely respects her, it was also clear that he not only wanted Iris physically, but he liked her as a person as well.Perhaps my biggest gripe with this book is how absolutely long it is. Like nine-hundred-and-fifteen pages long.Yep, you heard me… 915 PAGES.Granted there was a lot of double spacing with the paragraphs and without that this book might be about 650 pages or so but still, that’s bloody long for a MC contemporary! As much as I like Iris and find her inner monologues funny, there are moments when I skimmed the book because I wanted to get on with the story and the scene felt unimportant. I think some scenes can be edited out and by doing so it will not only make the story tighter but flow better as well.I honestly don’t really read a lot of motorcycle club themed books because I’m not really interested in motorcycle clubs to begin with. This book is lighter on club politics and drama though, and it’s more focused on the relationship between the two main characters. Perhaps that’s also one of the reasons why I ended up loving this book despite not being interested with the sub-genre. Overall, if you enjoy insta-free slow-build romances, definitely give Under Locke a try. It may have felt unnecessarily long but it was definitely worth reading and worth my time. I will definitely read more books from this author.