Stacia (the 2010 club)'s Reviews > Reaper's Legacy

Letting in ALL THE SPOILERS. Beware if you don't want to know. Adult review for erotic content. My pre-review thoughts can be found here.

If I'd read this before book 1, I might have gone higher on the rating. Why, you ask?

I think a good part of why I'm so upset with book 2 is not having to do with any sort of magnitude of awfulness regarding the story, but more so the fact that I was hoping to see a HUGE improvement over book 1 in character smarts. In some ways, Sophie was more responsible than Marie (and you could tell that she wanted to do right by her son), but because her decision making skills were only marginally better than Marie's and not massively better, I felt disappointed.

"You're a very frustrating person, Ruger," I said, torn between bitching at him for being such a giant whore and jumping over the counter, ripping off his pants, and riding his cock. Not the best way to handle the situation. I knew this.

No, she really didn't know this, or I wouldn't have seen the same scene played out in her head OVER AND OVER.

FFS, if she'd just owned her shameless lust, I would have respected her more. I just realllllly hate when people can't get their head on straight, and we have to watch them go through the same indecision over and over again.

They obviously had to pass some sort of minimum hotness test to join up.

I'm still waiting to lock eyes on this magical, mythical MC in real life because (not counting the one hot biker guy who takes his kid to my kid's school) I'm pretty sure a club of "all hot" bikers doesn't exist in the real world. Yes, it's the world of romance novels. Got it. I know I shouldn't bring reality into this review, but it's hard not to when statements like that make me laugh hard. O.o

Some of you might have seen where I'd mentioned in my book 1 the instance of wanting to weep for humanity, if women are going to be reduced to nothing but walking, talking vaginas. Maybe I didn't think it could happen again in book 2 - after all, women are vastly different. Experiences and opinions may vary, right?

Ruger was over six feet tall, roped with muscle and annoyingly handsome in an I'm-probably-a-murderer-but-I've-got-dimples-and-a-tight-ass-so-you'll-still-lust-after-me kind of way.

Okay, so I'll give that one to Sophie. I've lusted after guys who were trouble. I've gotten into trouble with guys who were trouble. The thing about lust is that you don't actually have to keep acting on it, if you're not seeing improvement in the man. Right?

It seems to always come back to my issues with the female's behavior. The guys are pieces of work. At least we're going to half-expect that with this type of story. I was just hoping to see Sophie be a more evolved version of Marie - and she wasn't. So much of her hesitancy had to do with not wanting to traumatize her child, which actually was good. But underneath, if she hadn't had Noah to stabilize her, she wouldn't have been all that different from Marie. And I absolutely hated that.

WHY can't we have smarter women being represented in romance books? WHY do I feel like I know how to relate to these characters, yet still want to see them drive off a cliff?

WHY was Ruger the voice of reason in this instance?

"Really? You don't like it? Personally, I don't like the idea of the next kid getting raped just because he isn't smart enough to hide on the fire escape."

WHY was Sophie trying to sexually antagonize Ruger in front of her kid? Dear lord, I know...women can dress and act however they'd like and we aren't supposed to slut shame them for it, but honestly mom? Way to set the learning bar high for your kid and show him how mom likes to tease men into sexual frustration.

Then I spotted the super-tight, super low-cut "Barbie is a Slut" tank top. I pulled the tank out with a smile. I'd let him perv on my boobs.

All day. Publicly.

Uh, did you forget your kid was going on this trip with you? How about this t-shirt instead?

(I'm so buying this)

Never mind how a good portion of the conversation happening while Sophie and Ruger were in the truck probably shouldn't have happened in front of kid, if for reasons that...oh...I don't know...rape and torture probably aren't "child friendly" conversations? Oh wait, but Noah was laughing at his video in the backseat. Because kids NEVER pick up conversation that they shouldn't hear.

"You're a cocksucking bastard," Noah repeated like a damned parrot.

Oh right. This is the same woman who left her kid with a neighbor she didn't really know, which almost resulted in the kid getting raped. Got it.

Apparently, women losing their mind is just par for the course in these books. After all, even a friend of Sophie's who wasn't in the MC world realized that life might just be easier by going along with what her man wanted.

I swear, I fell for him on the spot. He didn't like the idea of sharing me with any other guys, so I quit the next day. I didn't want to fuck things up between us, you know?

No. No, I don't believe I know. I know one night stands. I don't know "quitting my job for a man after only knowing him for twelve hours."

It's not that I didn't have moments of being able to relate to Sophie. Being too broke to buy a damn vibrator made me laugh. Single mom problems can be a bitch. Like I'd put in my initial thoughts comments, it was the back and forth which wore me down. I would have loved to have seen her feelings for Ruger be noted more as sentimentality for what he'd done for her and Noah. Then we could have watched her give him the middle finger while HE SCRAMBLED to figure out how to win her affection. Instead, she cleans his house, finds copious amounts of underwear, then later discovers him with a naked female, and she STILL debates her feelings back and forth.

Predictably, my body wasn't listening to my brain again, because I had the urge to spread my legs and wrap them around his waist.

This was about 2 paragraphs after he called her a "fucking idiot." Have some self-respect, woman. Fantasize about him in private if you must (or preferably...don't), then show him a steel resolve as you keep him at a distance (running away down the street felt more like a half-assed move done simply out of reason for not knowing what else to do). I hated that Ruger got to continue to be a bastard and deny his feelings to her, then when he decided he was ready to start being a grown-up, it didn't take all that long for him to win her back. What is it with these men who get to have their cake and eat it too? Why DON'T THE WOMEN GET CAKE?!?

I want cake, dammit. Cake. Not heroin.

This isn't the first, or one-hundreth, time I've mentioned the love-sex-drug reference from a book. Should I even be surprised anymore when it shows up?

The man was like heroin - seductive, addictive, and a damned good way to wake up dead.

At least it was heroin and not heroine...

What I did like :

The female comaraderie. The sisterhood of old ladies is fun to read about.

Picnic. Again. I do want to see how his story turns out.

This author does a better job of showing the balance of both the good and bad of MC life than a lot of authors seem to. I can tell she's put a lot of time into researching what she's writing about, instead of just making it all up as she goes along.

There were a few moments which were funny. She needs to not get cut with a knife in the first place. Women are finicky that way - we like not getting cut.

Ruger's tattoo explanation. That was a very sweet and swoon-worthy moment.

What I lost interest in :

Em's story. I was interested in her back when reading book 1. Now that I see the potential love triangle (and both of the guys seem to have issues), I'm sort of over it. I would have preferred to have seen Painter man up and risk it all for Em. Now, we're supposed to be feeling some sort of sympathy for the kidnapper Hunter.

Oh yeah - which reminds me - I'm offically tired of kidnapping scenes in MC books. New conflict starter, please.

Just give me a smarter chick next book, and I'll probably like the story fine.