#CBR12 Book 2: "Tikka Chance on Me" by Suleika Snyder

Page count: 72 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars

This novella was exactly what I needed in the stressful weeks starting the new year, when I'm massively behind on my work (thanks, ill-timed Christmas illness), still fighting a horrible cough and cold (at this stage, I'm not entirely sure I'm not suffering from a new cold that I caught on the heels of the first one). I have so many mediocre English essays left to grade, with the deadline of the 12th of January (when all the grades for term 1 have to be in) fast approaching. So, of course I'm procrastinating and writing a book review instead.

Pinky Grover was away at grad school when her mum got sick, so she dropped everything and returned home to help out in her family's Indian restaurant. Now her life is on hold and there is very little to excite her, back in the tiny town where she grew up, feeling her potential waste away. The only bright spot to her days is the frequent visits from Trucker Carrigan, resident bad boy biker. Of course, getting involved with someone who works as an enforcer for a biker gang is entirely out of the question, but he sure is nice to look at, and low-key flirt with.

Trucker Carrigan went away to the army and got recruited into the ATF. Now he's undercover in a motorcycle gang and counting the days until he finishes his mission to take down the right-wing racist nut-jobs he's had to spend oh so many months with and pretend to be friends with. His only bright spot is visiting the local Indian restaurant and flirting with the owners' daughter, the gorgeous Pinky. He knows full well he needs to stay away from her, as he'll be leaving town as soon as his mission is completed, and a nice girl like her shouldn't look twice at the sort of guy he's currently pretending to be. Nevertheless, he can't help himself, and after a chance meeting at the local Walmart, where they trade nerdy banter, it seems like it was always inevitable they'd end up in the back of his truck.

I don't normally like insta-love stories, and Pinky and Trucker go from low-level flirting and longing glances to an extremely steamy car encounter and motel hook-ups very suddenly. The fact that they grew up in the same town and went to the same school (although Trucker was a few years ahead of Pinky) makes up for it somewhat. These people aren't complete strangers to one another, they just don't really know what the other has been up to since they grew up and tried to escape out into the real world. So it didn't feel exactly like insta-love, but it wasn't exactly "I secretly loved you my whole life and now we're finally together" either.

While Trucker pretends to be a low-life criminal, right-wing domestic terrorist as his cover, he's clearly a caring, sensitive, funny and deeply nerdy cinnamon roll of a man in actuality. Pinky Grover may seem like the perfect and dutiful desi daughter, but she has never been shy about admitting her wants and needs to herself, and has clearly suffered a dry spell since she had to quit college and return home. She has no intention of flaunting her new lover in front of her friends or family, but neither is she going to apologise for or deny herself the pleasure of hooking up with Trucker as many chances as she gets before their time together runs out.

I got this at the beginning of last year after a very positive review from my fellow kissing book fan, Emmalita. With the current train wreck situation in the RWA, it seemed like it would be a good time to read some romance, and especially from somone who had been outspoken in supporting my beloved Courtney Milan. I'm not the least bit surprised that I enjoyed something Emmalita recommended, now I need to see what else I can find by Snyder, as this first taste was very good, indeed. Also, I desperately crave curry now.

Judging a book by its cover: I have what I assume is the original cover for this novella. It has since been re-issued with a cute animated cover, which seems to capture the characters really well, but I prefer this simple one. I love that we don't actually see more of the characters than their feet and a little bit of the legs. The image still says so much, and from the angle, you can tell that they are locked in an embrace, without actually having to see any more of their bodies.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR8 Book 55: "Walk the Edge" by Katie McGarry

Page count: 448 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Thomas Turner, better known to his fellow Reign of Terror motorcycle brothers as Razor, is conflicted. He wants to be unquestionably loyal, but when a police detective reveals new information about his mother's death, he can't leave the case alone, despite warnings from his father and other gang members. Having always believed she committed suicide, he's compelled to find out whether the Reign of Terror were in fact involved in her alleged murder.

Breanna Miller has always felt like an outcast, both in school and at home (she is the middle child of NINE siblings). She's super smart and dreams of going away to an elite school, where she's even managed to secure a scholarship, but is denied the chance because her parents need her at home. Her parents rely on her to help take care of her younger siblings and generally seem to ignore the fact that time and again, Breanna gives up on her dreams because of her family. Her only friend, Addison, has a lot of problems of her own, and as such, isn't someone Breanna feels she can turn to.

Like everyone else at school, Breanna is initially afraid of Razor, and there are all sorts of rumours about what the members of the Reign of Terror have to do to patch in. After Razor helps her out one afternoon when her brother's forgotten to pick her up, Breanna starts wondering about the mysterious Thomas Turner, and soon the two can't stop thinking of each other. Breanna's brain is constantly looking for puzzles to solve, and Razor just happens to have some messages in code that could help him figure out what really happened to his mother.

Once Breanna realises that a) Razor is not the dangerous criminal she feared, but actually a very smart and chivalrous boy and b) contrary to what she expects, he doesn't find her a brainy freak, but is fascinated by the way her brain works,, she starts warming up to him. Unfortunately, someone snaps a picture of the two of them, which out of context looks really salacious, and uses it to blackmail Breanna. She's terrified that the picture will be leaked on social media, potentially ruining her chances to get into college and away from her smothering family.

There is frequently an opposites attract, protagonists from different worlds theme in Katie McGarry's books, and this one is no different. Razor is the close-mouthed, emotionally closed-off loner, a motorcycle-riding bad boy with a dangerous reputation. He's grown up among members of the motorcycle club, and would never conceive of trying to leave them to live a different life. He's always wondered if his father's love of women was partially responsible for his mother killing herself, and once he discovers that his mother's death wasn't a suicide, but that she was quite possibly run off the road, he can't stop digging into the case, no matter what the older Reign of Terror members tell him.

Breanna is a loner in a different way, and despite her large family, feels like she has no one to turn to. The fifth of nine siblings, she is seen as an annoying younger sibling by the four eldest and as a nagging older sibling by her four youngest. Because she's extremely smart and well-adjusted, her parents constantly ignore her to prioritise more pressing needs in the family and rely on her for babysitting duties. She's denied her wish to go away to a prestigious private school because her parents, who both have to work full time to support their giant family, can't spare her. At seventeen, Breanna is pretty much raising her younger siblings, and that is not a job a young girl should have to have.

To add to her troubles, the star football player wants to pay her to write his essays for him, and when she continues to refuse, he manages to secure an incriminating photo of her and Razor together. The fact that nothing at all happened is completely irrelevant. The photo is snapped at exactly the wrong moment, and Breanna is worried that she's going to have to agree to the douchewad's demands, in order to make sure her future isn't ruined.

I have yet to find a Katie McGarry book that I don't like and she tends to do excellent pairings, with deeply likable protagonists, often in interestingly fucked up situations, who find solace in each other. In this, I was furious at Breanna's parents, who so selfishly kept reproducing and expecting their children to pretty much raise each other. I honestly don't understand how Breanna's mother, who works as a nurse, could ignore contraception in such a way. As far as I could tell, they were not religious nuts who believed safe sex was a sin. Who has nine children, when it's quite clear that they can't support said children both financially and emotionally? They completely ignore Breanna and all her troubles during the first part of the book, only to go mega overboard on being protective in the second half, once they discover she's been dating a biker. They made me really angry.

The "we know best, just never ask any questions" attitude of the older Reign of Terror bikers was also pretty frustrating. As they are clearly set up as law-abiding and above board, despite all the rumours in the local community about them, it was obvious to me that they hadn't conspired to murder Razor's mother, but their complete inability to be open with him, and insistence on blind, unquestioning loyalty, even when the kid is clearly struggling, was baffling to me.

While I care about as little about motorcycle gangs as I do sportsball players, I am a sucker for well-written, emotionally resonant romance. Because this is YA, there aren't really any smexy times, although there is some pretty impressive UST and some great smolder and kisses. McGarry keeps delivering books that hit me right in the feels, even when some parts of the story annoys me. I will eagerly await the next book in the series.

Judging a book by its cover: There are a number of different covers for this book, all of them variying degrees of meh to awful. The version I read actually had a pretty decent cover, which fits with certain scenes in the story. A blond guy in black jeans and a white t-shirt, walking along the train tracks on a railway bridge - this could be a scene of Razor in the book. Several of the key scenes in the story take place near just such a bridge, so I think it's quite fitting, and much better than say, the headless couple leaning against a convertible (had it been a motorcycle, it would have fit better) or the badly photoshopped couple embracing, while pouting out of the image that make up the other two covers of the book that I have seen.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

#CBR7 Book 74: "Nowhere But Here" by Katie McGarry

Page count: 400 pages
Rating: 4 stars

I got this review copy from NetGalley in return for a fair and unbiased review. The book is available now. 

Emily lives a nice, safe, uneventful life with her mother and adopted father Once a year she meets up with her biological dad for an awkward day, usually spent shopping, but she tries not to think too much about him or his side of the family. After all, he willingly signed away his parental rights and wanted nothing to do with her as a baby, right? However, when her mother receives word that Eli (her bio dad)'s mother has died, she insists they have to return to Kentucky for the funeral. What they discover there turns Emily's life on its head and challenges everything she ever believed about herself, her mother, Eli and his family.

Oz has wanted to be a member of the Reign of Terror, motorcycle club that Eli is a leading member of, for as long as he can remember. He's finally turned 18 and is eligible as a prospect for the club, when Emily bursts into his life and complicates it massively. For reasons no one wants to explain, a rival MC gang are trying to get to Eli through Emily, and Oz is tasked with keeping her safe. While he finds her easy on the eyes, she's also a total pain in his butt, and no matter how pretty she is, hooking up with the boss' daughter is a terrible idea. Emily also turns her nose up at everything Oz loves and admires, so just as he's determined to prove his worth to Eli and the other heads of the Reign of Terror by making sure not a hair is harmed on her head, Oz is determined to prove to her that she is wrong about the bikers and their community.

I really like the YA books I've read in Katie McGarry's Pushing the Limits series, so when I heard that she had a new series out, and was able to request the book on NetGalley, I jumped at the chance. As with her other books, the chapters alternate between the heroine and hero, who usually start out from very different places, and gradually gain knowledge and understanding of the other. The setup for the book takes place over more or less twenty-four dramatic hours, when Emily and her parents go back to her mother's hometown in Kentucky to attend a funeral. Emily is persuaded to stay on with Eli and get to know more of his family, both biological and chosen. Due to her mother's stories about her time there, Emily is anxious and reluctant to stay, but also curious about Eli. When her beloved adopted father assures her that he doesn't feel threatened by her curiosity about her biological father's extended family, she's reluctantly convinced that staying in Kentucky is ok.

Oz lives and breathes for the biker club all the men of his acquaintance are a member of. Despite his parents' wishes that he go to college and use his brains to get a good degree, all he wants is to become a full member of the club, working for the security firm they own. He likes coaching little league teams and working with kids, but it's the club that is his only focus. He's asked to help guard Emily during her first twenty-four hours, and when he briefly nods off on duty, she and her parents are nearly attacked by their rivals, and Oz' chance at making prospect suddenly look very weak. So when Emily is persuaded to stay, and Eli gives Oz a second chance to prove his worth, Oz swears he'll never leave her side.

There are clearly secrets about Eli and Emily's mother's shared past that neither Oz and Emily know enough about, but members of Eli's family really want Emily to dig into her roots. While their relationship begins as deeply  antagonistic, the more time they spend together, the closer they grow. In the series description for Thunder Road, of which this book is the first, it claims it was pitched as West Side Story meets Sons of Anarchy, which seems pretty apt. Emily and Oz come from different worlds, but the more time Emily spends in Kentucky, the more she discovers that their heritage is very much the same, she's just been denied hers.

I liked the book, but it didn't captivate me like the best of McGarry's earlier books. I will be looking out for the next book in the series, and there are a number of troubled teens introduced over the course of the story that the reader will no doubt see find their own happy endings in future books.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.