Review: So much more than your simple biker romance
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 1, 2014
What happens when the place you truly belong is the one spot you flee from because the pain of betrayal and loss are too overwhelming? What happens when outside forces threaten everything you worked to hold on to after an act of violence destroyed your family and your happily ever after with the love of your life? These are the questions Olivia Masters and Daemon Knight struggle to answer in Stacey Lynn’s Point of Return.Olivia MastersShe’s an MC princess who wants nothing to do with the club she was raised in because club business took her mother’s life and almost hers as well. For five years, she’s done everything in her power to escape her old life and the memories that go with it, but fate has a way of bringing people back to their unfinished business, and Jasper Bay, Daemon Knight, and the Nordic Lords Motorcycle Club are not ready to give her up for good.I have to admit, I had a hard time with Olivia at the beginning of the story. She comes back to Jasper Bay, gets involved with a man who is the complete opposite of the one man she loves, and is merely surviving instead of actually living, and it just doesn't sit well with me. I want her to fight for what she wants, not succumb to what she thinks she needs to live. She’s attempting to settle for a life and a man that really do not fit her. I understand that she doesn’t know how to get beyond the betrayal, but she doesn’t even attempt to look at the bigger picture. There were so many people affected by the situation that killed Liv’s mother, but she only looks at her own pain. The way she handled things makes me want to shake her, but as the book progresses, Liv’s eyes are enlightened, and she starts to understand that everything is not as black and white as she thought, and slowly but surely as she wises up, my opinion of her changes.Daemon KnightHe’s the epitome of a badass motorcycle VP. He’s cocky and bossy; he takes what he wants when he wants it regardless of what anyone else says about it. He may not have wanted the job, but he knew he needed to step in when everything went to s*** five years ago. The biker life defines him, and readers are shown through him what the motorcycle brotherhood truly means. He’s never stopped wanting and loving Liv, but now he has to get her to see past his betrayal all those years ago and realize that she belongs with him and the Nordic Lords. I have to admit some of his actions made me want to punch him in the face, but the biker lifestyle is raw and gritty and they make no excuses for their actions because it's just the way they live. Watching him step up for Liv, though, really showed the kind of man Daemon truly his; he protects what's his even when doing so makes a bigger mess than there already is.Point of Return is so much more than a simple biker romance; in fact, for most of the story, Olivia is fighting her feelings for Daemon by keeping him at a distance. Their relationship is definitely a slow burning flame that doesn’t get fully lit until the end, but that works for me as a reader because there is so much chaos going on around them and so much for them to work through that they shouldn’t automatically get back together. Olivia needs to get past her confusion, spite and feelings of betrayal before she can give herself fully over to Daemon, and Stacey Lynn does a fantastic job of illustrating her path to forgiveness not just of Daemon but the biker lifestyle as well.The supporting characters and subplots also add to the success of this story. There are so many places the Nordic Lords Series can go with Faith/Ryker, Jaden/Jules, and the mysterious Finn – even the fate of the motorcycle club itself is left up in the air at the end of the text. It may seem like there's too much going on at the same time, but the writing makes it all make sense, and all of the secondary characters are necessary to show the depth of the brotherhood in the club as well as the damage that occurred from past events. I can’t wait to see what Stacey has in store for her bikers as well as her readers as this series continues. One thing's for sure - It's going to be one hell of a bumpy and messy ride!A complimentary copy of the text was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review4.5 poison apples (The Fairest of All Book Reviews)