Kristen Ashley's Blog - Posts Tagged "kane-tack-allen"
Middle Ground
For those of you who have not read Motorcycle Man, don’t read on…
But.
I miss Tack.
I love my books, as I would. But this one gets to me and the reason it does is that I adore the transformation of the hero.
See, I went into this book thinking that it would be Tyra who would be conforming to the Motorcycle Club world. And she does. Kind of.
Beginning the book by slinking out of Tack’s bed when ordered to do so, not long after she holds her ground and then goes truly badass when she puts her foot down about what she finds unacceptable in Tack’s rough, gruff behavior. Enough to draw the line and walk out on him. Which she does. She also absorbs very quickly that she’s safe, not only with Tack at her back, but all of Chaos, to be herself. Be wild. Let loose on some jerk who hurt her girl. Make her point when some bee-yatch invades her space and hurls unacceptable insults. Get drunk and smile when the Cool Whip comes out. She finds her place and genuinely earns the respect of those who inhabit her new world.
But it’s Tack who I find extraordinary. Older, he’s lived in the MC world since birth. It’s all he knows. He’s seen a lot. He’s done a lot. And not all of it is good. He understands the concept that his world is not like “the real world”. But in the beginning of the book, it’s all or nothing with him. Either Tyra accepts him and his world as it comes or he’ll cut her loose.
Then his dream woman walks out on him because she finds that ultimatum, but mostly how he voices it, unacceptable. And he not only accepts that he screwed up, he admits it and, in his (lush) way, he apologizes for it. He loses sleep at the thought that he might have lost her. And then he sets about handling her with care like she deserves. I have to say, I totally dig Chapter Seventeen “Foregone Conclusion” and not just because Elvira cracks me right the heck up. But because Tack does not delay in admitting he was wrong and setting about making things right.
A man like that? It says it all.
This does not mean he loses the man he is. He loses his temper. He says the wrong thing when he’s angry. And in these times he lets it all hang out. But it’s quick to flame out, it’s driven by the depth of emotion he feels for her, he explains and he never dishes out more than she can take.
But it’s the penultimate chapter, “Rivers of Blood” that kills me. Throughout writing that chapter, I was barely breathing. When he finds her, the run into the emergency room, the wait, I couldn’t type fast enough. I wouldn’t even allow myself to cry for that would delay my writing. I had to get her pulse back. For Tack.
And the Epilogue, mostly in Tyra’s voice, is all about Tack. He erases her scars even though their memory is burned in his brain. He puts his ring on her finger while she’s in a hospital bed. He makes an all out effort to win her father’s trust and respect. He takes her for the long ride she wants, marrying her along the way. He inks his woman into his skin, twice. He bonds with Hawk, Brock and Mitch not because they took his back but because they took that house with him at his side, putting their lives and the future happiness of their families in jeopardy to do it.
My books are often about the hero and heroine accepting each other exactly as they are. Finding The One who is already The One and settling into a beautiful life together. But more, my heroes are alphas who are who they are and mostly, that’s just it.
Somehow, the ones where the hero and heroine find middle ground strike me deeper. The Golden Dynasty is one.
Motorcycle Man is now another one.
It’s funny how the two men who you would think would be most unlikely to learn how to compromise, Dax Lahn of The Golden Dynasty and Kane Allen of Motorcycle Man, learn. And learn well.
I love my Tyra. I think she kicks ass. Her awakening is a beautiful thing to see. Thinking about it, Tyra simply woke up and embraced who she really was. She didn’t exactly transform at all. Tack just made it safe for her to take that step from existing to being alive.
But to me, it’s all about Tack. On the steps to the office of the garage at Ride that Monday morning, it started to come clear to Tack that he might have just found his dream woman. With Kane “Tack” Allen, you expect the unexpected so it would stand to reason the woman of his dreams would be anything but predictable. And every second he spent with her after, as her layers peeled away, that discovery became clearer and clearer. She was feisty and vulnerable, funny and loyal, she stood up for herself and those she loved and her depths were so deep he’d never hit the heart of her. And he knew he’d do anything to win her and keep her. Even meet her and live blissfully happily in middle ground.
So he did.
And that, somehow, makes him more badass than he already was.
“You don’t know this, baby, but some men have dream women too.”
God, I miss Tack.
But.
I miss Tack.
I love my books, as I would. But this one gets to me and the reason it does is that I adore the transformation of the hero.
See, I went into this book thinking that it would be Tyra who would be conforming to the Motorcycle Club world. And she does. Kind of.
Beginning the book by slinking out of Tack’s bed when ordered to do so, not long after she holds her ground and then goes truly badass when she puts her foot down about what she finds unacceptable in Tack’s rough, gruff behavior. Enough to draw the line and walk out on him. Which she does. She also absorbs very quickly that she’s safe, not only with Tack at her back, but all of Chaos, to be herself. Be wild. Let loose on some jerk who hurt her girl. Make her point when some bee-yatch invades her space and hurls unacceptable insults. Get drunk and smile when the Cool Whip comes out. She finds her place and genuinely earns the respect of those who inhabit her new world.
But it’s Tack who I find extraordinary. Older, he’s lived in the MC world since birth. It’s all he knows. He’s seen a lot. He’s done a lot. And not all of it is good. He understands the concept that his world is not like “the real world”. But in the beginning of the book, it’s all or nothing with him. Either Tyra accepts him and his world as it comes or he’ll cut her loose.
Then his dream woman walks out on him because she finds that ultimatum, but mostly how he voices it, unacceptable. And he not only accepts that he screwed up, he admits it and, in his (lush) way, he apologizes for it. He loses sleep at the thought that he might have lost her. And then he sets about handling her with care like she deserves. I have to say, I totally dig Chapter Seventeen “Foregone Conclusion” and not just because Elvira cracks me right the heck up. But because Tack does not delay in admitting he was wrong and setting about making things right.
A man like that? It says it all.
This does not mean he loses the man he is. He loses his temper. He says the wrong thing when he’s angry. And in these times he lets it all hang out. But it’s quick to flame out, it’s driven by the depth of emotion he feels for her, he explains and he never dishes out more than she can take.
But it’s the penultimate chapter, “Rivers of Blood” that kills me. Throughout writing that chapter, I was barely breathing. When he finds her, the run into the emergency room, the wait, I couldn’t type fast enough. I wouldn’t even allow myself to cry for that would delay my writing. I had to get her pulse back. For Tack.
And the Epilogue, mostly in Tyra’s voice, is all about Tack. He erases her scars even though their memory is burned in his brain. He puts his ring on her finger while she’s in a hospital bed. He makes an all out effort to win her father’s trust and respect. He takes her for the long ride she wants, marrying her along the way. He inks his woman into his skin, twice. He bonds with Hawk, Brock and Mitch not because they took his back but because they took that house with him at his side, putting their lives and the future happiness of their families in jeopardy to do it.
My books are often about the hero and heroine accepting each other exactly as they are. Finding The One who is already The One and settling into a beautiful life together. But more, my heroes are alphas who are who they are and mostly, that’s just it.
Somehow, the ones where the hero and heroine find middle ground strike me deeper. The Golden Dynasty is one.
Motorcycle Man is now another one.
It’s funny how the two men who you would think would be most unlikely to learn how to compromise, Dax Lahn of The Golden Dynasty and Kane Allen of Motorcycle Man, learn. And learn well.
I love my Tyra. I think she kicks ass. Her awakening is a beautiful thing to see. Thinking about it, Tyra simply woke up and embraced who she really was. She didn’t exactly transform at all. Tack just made it safe for her to take that step from existing to being alive.
But to me, it’s all about Tack. On the steps to the office of the garage at Ride that Monday morning, it started to come clear to Tack that he might have just found his dream woman. With Kane “Tack” Allen, you expect the unexpected so it would stand to reason the woman of his dreams would be anything but predictable. And every second he spent with her after, as her layers peeled away, that discovery became clearer and clearer. She was feisty and vulnerable, funny and loyal, she stood up for herself and those she loved and her depths were so deep he’d never hit the heart of her. And he knew he’d do anything to win her and keep her. Even meet her and live blissfully happily in middle ground.
So he did.
And that, somehow, makes him more badass than he already was.
“You don’t know this, baby, but some men have dream women too.”
God, I miss Tack.
