Review: A Riveting, Dark Motorcycle Club Romance
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 2, 2014
A gut-wrenching, dark Motorcycle Club (MC) romance.  Not all MC romance lovers, will like this novel; but, if you can will yourself through the perhaps too vividly, described dark parts, you will absolutely find yourself riveted by it!  I know a story is a great read when I can't get it out of my mind:  both if I feel obsessively drawn to finishing the story (particularly at the expense of my sleep!) and, even more so, when it lingers in my mind, finding its way back into my thoughts, days after I have finished the book.  MISLED was one of these amazing reads!Ms. Kelly does an amazing job of bringing these characters to life.  I was particularly impressed by her ability to realistically bring these biker bad boys to life with her word choices.  Ms. Kelly is a master crude/profanity wordsmith!  Although admittedly some of the language in this book breaks multiple grammar rules in one sentence, it is just so unique, and descriptive, that I found it immensely entertaining.  I found myself frequently having to re-read certain phrases just to confirm that I had really read what I thought I had read, and because the imagery and feelings that those words conjured up were just that vivid!Christopher "Outlaw" Caldwell finds himself the new President of the Death Dwellers' MC after he kills the former President and his long-time mentor.  Megan "Meggie" Foy, the eighteen year-old, daughter of the former MC President, has grown up outside of the MC world.  when her mother remarries, and her step-father starts physically and sexually abusing both her and her mother, Meggie decides its finally time to seek out her real father who she believes will protect her.  She runs away to find her father, but is turned away by Outlaw without any explanation as to the real reason for her father's absence.  Penniless and hungry with no where to go, and now having triggered the wrath of one of the other MC's members (who Outlaw disciplines for bringing Meggie to the MC), she is beaten and left for dead.  Outlaw, by chance, stumbles upon Meggie and takes it upon himself to nurse her back to health.  During that time, Outlaw develops an attraction to Meggie (an attraction that he knows is shared), but knowing that Meggie is much too young for him (he is fifteen years older) and too innocent (she is a virgin), not to mention that she deserves so much more than him, he tries to keep his distance.  But ultimately, being the man that he is, he is unable to resist, and gives her an ultimatum:  if she stays, she must sleep (and no, those are not the words Ms. Kelly uses, but boy is that repartee indicative of my earlier master wordsmith comment) and do anything else he asks her to do without any strings.  He also informs her that he will never marry her and that any child that is born of their relationship will never have his name.  As the MC goes through the power struggle of Outlaw's new leadership and Meggie learns both the good and the bad of MC life, we see Outlaw's and Meggie's relationship develop.  But can what Outlaw proposes ever be enough for Meggie and will she ever be able to forgive him if she learns the truth of her father's death?The characters in MISLED are rough, gritty, broken and/or flawed.  Life has dealt them some of the worst cruelties imaginable.  From Outlaw having to learn some modicum of self-worth following his life-long family mistreatmentresulting from the circumstances under which he was born (he is the product of his mother's rape), to Meggie's willingness to sacrifice nearly everything else she believes in in order to feel safe after surviving horrific abuse.MISLED proves that not everything is black or white, good or bad.  Instead, the characters in MISLED, as is often the case in life, are some shade of gray and not always what they at first appear to be.  Most importantly, what I took away from MISLED is hope, as this novel proves that even the most of flawed of characters can be healed by love.