Self-Published | January 11, 2016 | Contemporary Romance
Black Thorns, book 3
★★★★1/2
SOURCE: INDIESAGE PROMOTIONS
This book can be read as a standalone, but characters from the previous books appear and situations/relationships from the first two are also referenced.
He never saw her coming. An angel doesn’t belong with a devil.
Nothing will ever be the same….
Zeb “Runner” Wilkes has always been the wild playboy of Black Thorns MC. The shallow joker who spends his life partying and screwing. He never once imagined it would get tired. Until it does. When he steps in one night to protect shy diner owner, Sarah, he quickly realizes there’s more to her than he gave her credit for. But this down and dirty biker doesn’t do sweet and innocent. Or, so he thinks, until he gets a taste of her. Before long, he’s unable to maintain his own denial. He’s in trouble, because she’s on his mind. He wants more than a taste. But can a man like him really have a woman like her?
Sarah Hughes has been living her life in peace, running her diner in Brockford. She keeps to herself and never lets herself get mixed up with any men, not after her awful past. But when her ex finds her and starts trouble in her diner, everything changes. Her biker crush steps in like a knight in shining armor. Her ex and his business partners turn out to be enemies of Runner’s club and the mutual threat throws her and the sexy biker together.
Runner and Sarah find what they didn’t even realize they needed in each other. He gives her strength and brings out her fire. She becomes the only thing standing between him and absolute darkness.
But when a blast from the past attacks Runner in the most sadistic way, their relationship is put in jeopardy. In the aftermath, he’s sent into a tailspin and being pulled into his old life. Can he hold on? Can Sarah bring him back from the edge? Or will he end up losing everything: the club, Sarah and even his life?
{ about franca storm } .
Franca was born in Surrey, England and currently lives in Niagara Falls, Canada with her husband and their labrador, Rocky.She is a long-time lover of erotica and romance novels, especially those with sexy-as-sin alpha males. She decided to try her hand at writing her own and writing romance is now her obsession and the perfect way to put her dirty mind to good use!
Her writing spans many different sub-genres of romance: contemporary, biker romance, paranormal romance, new adult, romantic erotica and romance suspense. She’s got a ton of stories to tell and many more works up her sleeve.
{ review } .
I really, really, enjoyed this story. And aside from a few nit-picky things, it would have been a 5-star read for me.
I just really, really, hated the hero's use of 'were' instead of 'was'. Drove me bat$*&!, bonkers, outta-my-mind crazy. I didn't mind the language otherwise -- I felt that Ms. Storm did a good job with the nitty gritty that MC romances tend to take. It was just that 'were'...
Zeb "Runner" Wilkes is a hard-talking, big mouthin' guy who's getting 'up there' in age -- or, as Ax says, is no spring chicken. The man who will bed a different club whore a night, he's not looking to settle down -- least of all with quiet, reserved Sarah. When he met Sarah, he thought she was pretty, but her quiet nature wasn't one he ever thought would mix with his. Then one night, a bad guy, and a knife later, things start to change.
These two were rather fun to read about. Sarah, while quiet, has a bit of a past she needs to move on from -- easier said than done, of course. Then there's Runner, who's working past some of his own demons and needs to accept that he deserves a little light in his life.
She was sweet and light and proper, he... well, he was not.
I loved this story. It was fun and intense, sexy and sweet. I loved the friendships and experiences we get with the other club members (gah, I have to go back and read Ax and Rox's story!). There were times, however, I felt Sarah was too naive and her thoughts definitely bordered high school valley girl (like, because Zeb was so hot). Pairing her with someone as rough and tough as Runner didn't always seem likely, but when these two have their first moment (after Runner's crude mentioning that she 'did it for him' when no other girl had in a long time...), things started to change. She wasn't as naive as those initial pages. Equally, I enjoyed Runner's ability to be vulnerable with Sarah, especially so early on -- could it have been a characteristic flaw in the writing? Possibly; Runner wasn't too consistent in the beginning. His sweet moments felt a little out of place considering he otherwise seemed of sound mind -- but once the change occurred, once a relationship was on the horizon, everything was consistent and true to the characterization on the pages.
Regardless, I enjoyed this story and I'm enjoying this club. I will definitely be keeping it on my radar.
I just really, really, hated the hero's use of 'were' instead of 'was'. Drove me bat$*&!, bonkers, outta-my-mind crazy. I didn't mind the language otherwise -- I felt that Ms. Storm did a good job with the nitty gritty that MC romances tend to take. It was just that 'were'...
Zeb "Runner" Wilkes is a hard-talking, big mouthin' guy who's getting 'up there' in age -- or, as Ax says, is no spring chicken. The man who will bed a different club whore a night, he's not looking to settle down -- least of all with quiet, reserved Sarah. When he met Sarah, he thought she was pretty, but her quiet nature wasn't one he ever thought would mix with his. Then one night, a bad guy, and a knife later, things start to change.
These two were rather fun to read about. Sarah, while quiet, has a bit of a past she needs to move on from -- easier said than done, of course. Then there's Runner, who's working past some of his own demons and needs to accept that he deserves a little light in his life.
She was sweet and light and proper, he... well, he was not.
[Ax] gets in my face and lowers his voice so Rox don't hear as he tells me, "I ain't tired and looking like shit cuz I got a baby and a wife now. It's cuz you kept me up all night with your shit...And what I got with Rox? You see it as jail or some shit. Farther thing from that, brother. I got a woman who's got my back, no matter what. She accepts the asshole in me, along with the rest..." He draws back a bit as he says, "What you got is a bunch of whores... Ain't it getting tired, Runner? Ain't it getting too fucking cold for you now?"
I loved this story. It was fun and intense, sexy and sweet. I loved the friendships and experiences we get with the other club members (gah, I have to go back and read Ax and Rox's story!). There were times, however, I felt Sarah was too naive and her thoughts definitely bordered high school valley girl (like, because Zeb was so hot). Pairing her with someone as rough and tough as Runner didn't always seem likely, but when these two have their first moment (after Runner's crude mentioning that she 'did it for him' when no other girl had in a long time...), things started to change. She wasn't as naive as those initial pages. Equally, I enjoyed Runner's ability to be vulnerable with Sarah, especially so early on -- could it have been a characteristic flaw in the writing? Possibly; Runner wasn't too consistent in the beginning. His sweet moments felt a little out of place considering he otherwise seemed of sound mind -- but once the change occurred, once a relationship was on the horizon, everything was consistent and true to the characterization on the pages.
Regardless, I enjoyed this story and I'm enjoying this club. I will definitely be keeping it on my radar.
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