Review: What happened to the Shade and Lily we met in the first three books?
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 23, 2014
3.5 StarsFans of Jamie Begley's Last Rider's series have been impatiently waiting for Shade and Lily's story since we were introduced to them in Razer's Ride. We have watched Shade want Lily while he was waiting for the right time to claim her as his own thinking that their story is going to be the one that actually sets our Kindles or Nooks on fire. Unfortunately in reality what we get is a watered down version that was filled with contradictions and made me feel at times that I was attending a Sunday Church service. Now before you all try to come and lynch me, I did like it but I did not love it like I have with the previous books. Also finding out that I should have read the books in her VIP series first because they tie into Shade's Fall was irritating as well.We all have known that Lily has issues. It was plain and obvious from the start that something happened to her that made her basically scared of her own shadow. She is a walking contradiction at times. Lily hates being around alcohol but yet is upset that she isn't allowed in the clubhouse of The Last Riders, her dream man is a "cowboy" as a husband and have a family, yet she won't have sex with anyone. One minute she is scared of bikers, the next she can walk right up and talk to one like he was a Pastor at a church. The list goes on and on. I was really hoping that Lily would come out of her shell and turn into that wild child that was sometimes hinted at in other books. That she would be worthy of being a Last Rider and her membership is never even brought up. When you learn what happens to her before she came into Beth's family it is heart breaking and you understand better why she is the way she is. The way she moves past it just has my head shaking like really what did I just read.Shade is still as sexy as ever but even he is tamed down and not at all the overly dominant man that he has been previously. He is still possessive and is dominant but I thought he would be a lot more by the way we have been lead to believe. In previous books you just know how sexual this man is, that if you spent time with him you would walk away very satisfied but in this one it's like he is a shell of his previous self. I was waiting for some of those super-hot scenes that we are used to when getting votes for membership and here it's quickly mentioned that he has markers for some votes but nothing is said about Lily officially joining. He goes after Lily finally in his own way, his approach at times had me rolling my eyes and asking what are they in Kindergarten?Overall I am let down by Shade's Fall, I had such high hopes and could not wait for this one to release and when I was finished reading I felt a sense of disappointment of being let down by a book that was just ok in my opinion. I hope that the next book in this series is back to the level that I have come to expect in this series.Note from DiDi - I agree 100% with Cheyenne's review, but I give it 3 stars. Maybe I gave it lower because I DID read the VIP series before Shade's Fall and that OMG! part in TAINTED that ties into Shade's Fall in a major way, was really anti-climatic, it was like "Oh really? Ok."  Three days after finishing the book and I am still disgusted with the way Shade treated Lily, I did love the way he pulled off that ONE special moment, but even that didn't really fit with the way he had been treating Lily.  I was really disappointed in Shade and Lily's story, it just didn't live up to all the build up in the previous books.  *Maybe SPOILER* I don't feel the scene with Lily, Diamond, Knox and Shade was true to Lily or Diamond's character, or even Shade's he couldn't stand for other men to even hug Lily, yet he had no issue with Knox seeing her naked??  Another HUGE issue for me was Lily's safe word - anyone with any minimal knowledge of BDSM knows the safe word is the most important aspect to the sub giving her trust. It means that ANYTIME she feels unsure, unsafe, pushed beyond her limits she can use it and her Dom automatically stops.  Shade didn't allow this with punishments and I totally wanted to throw my Kindle across the room.****And PLEASE!  I hope Ms. Begley gets rid of that skank Bliss, she is a troublemaker and always plays the "Oh I'm so sorry!" card when she gets caught!!!  I have no interest at all in stories for Evie, Stori, Bliss or any of the female club members. I can't suspend my belief far enough to believe any man would let his woman continue to be around all the guys she screwed many times many ways. I have a hard enough time believing Winter, Diamond, Beth and Lily allow their men to still be around Evie and crew.  Of course when the men straight out tell them that if they want to be with them they have to accept Evie and crew, I guess these women put up with it. Honestly I don't find Winter, Diamond, Beth or Lily to be strong leads, they give in to easy.  The only females I feel are strong and I want stories for are the women in Sex Piston's crew. The whole way the women are voted into the Last Riders and the fact the old ladies/wives have to continue to interact with the Last Riders women club members, regardless of how the other women have hurt the old ladies/wives feelings is the one thing I hate about the series, but for some reason I just can't quit reading it.  I really like Ms. Begley's VIP and Biker Bi***es series better, the heroines are strong in both of those series.