BOOKS ‘n COZY SPOTS BOOK REVIEWS – A Dangerous Reality, by Layla Wolfe

~ 3.5 Stars ~
 Review of A DANGEROUS REALITY by Layla Wolfe

M/M Erotic Romance / Biker / Cartel-Suspense

ARC copy provided by publisher for honest review.

 

Reviewed by Jaycee ~ for Books ‘N Cozy Spots Book Reviews, www.Talon-ps.com

 

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Keep your lovers close—and your enemies in bed.

TURK. My club sent me to track him down. And when my mission was over, I never wanted another one again. When I found him, I kicked the crap out of Havelock Singer. I issued the mightiest beatdown of all time. Problem is, we’re evenly matched. We’re equals in every way, and when we finished whaling on each other, exhausted, we fell into each other’s arms.

I’ve never regretted it for an instant. It’s been the ride of my life. But loving another man in the MC world is a risky business. As if our business isn’t already brutal and ruthless enough, Lock’s homophobic sergeant-at-arms Stumpy gets an eyeful of our lovemaking and blackmails us into doing some of his dirty work, or be exposed for what we are—a couple of deviants. This run into the Indian reservation is sleazy and beneath us, but now I’m cornered, and I’ll do anything to keep my sweet Master from being lynched by his club.

LOCK. When that kingpin Carmine Rojas got a load of my beautiful stallion Turk Blackburn, he’d stop at nothing to have him—and Rojas gets what he wants. It’s my fault we’re in this situation. I should’ve kicked Turk’s ass and sent him packing back to The Bare Bones. I wasn’t even close to being ready to come out, but now they’re forcing my hand.

I can hear my destiny calling me. Either I’ll slink back to my club like a hetero bounty hunter with no morals—and no respect from anyone in my own backyard—or I’ll step up to the plate and be the lion of the day. Either way, my lover and I are screwed. Our clubs are going to hound us underground or into another country before we escape this mess—if we don’t die trying.

AMAZON BUY LINK

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Former AF pilot and current Bounty Hunter, “Lock” of the Assassins of Youth MC is in hot pursuit of a scumbag pedophile, and he never loses his mark.   “Turk”, the Vice President of The Bare Bones MC runs a legit medical marijuana dispensary for the Club.  Veteran members of different though not exactly rival MC’s, Turk and Lock first meet over a back room hook up, though not with each other, more like, over bad weed and BJ’s…

 

As boys will, the two end up beating the tar out of one another and find it such an invigorating experience they, through a series of unexpected yet interconnected events, take their passions to another level.   Their already unacceptable course is further complicated by the outright bitter betrayal by one of their own twisted brothers, and leaves them fighting for their lives, for their friends, and with a dangerous drug cartel for their very freedom.

 

I found the timeframe from attraction to action with Turk and Lock to be somewhat warp-speed, particularly in the MC culture/setting where homosexuality is not accepted number one, and number two, where one of the pair is firmly “not gay”.   Its easy to overlook because the two are likable characters in a story chock full of unlikeable characters, but it caught me by surprise in this particular trope.  They certainly had chemistry and while they…experimented often and in varied ways, there was a true connection and relationship between them.

 

I read and enjoy a lot of MC books, and yet stories about cartels don’t rate high or at all on my ‘to-read-o-meter’.  I abhor the stories steeped in inherent violence perpetrated by cartel sociopaths masquerading as businessmen.  An interesting paradox, given the inherent violence in the MC culture, and yet there is a brotherhood based in loyalty and “family” that somehow, in the context of fiction anyway, allows for a connection to character and the development of relationships worthy of reading.   This book’s combined MC/cartel world was admittedly a difficult read for me, and yet was salvaged by the brotherhood of the Clubs, the endearing and enduring relationship of Turk and Lock, and of the promise of at least a new and progressive future.

 

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A DANGEROUS REALITY also received the following ratings:

 

ROMANCE FACTOR  ~ 3 Hearts ~

HEAT FACTOR ~ 2 Flames ~

TWIST FACTOR  ~ Desert Danger and betrayal by brothers ~