David. Catholic. Gay. Set on keeping his purity ring.
Raja. Biker. Manwhore. Never refuses a bet.
David has always tried to be the best son his parents could dream of.
Always at church on Sunday.
Always eager to help with the garden.
Always trying his best at school.
Prim, proper, innocent, and kind.
But deep inside of him, there is a yearning planted by the devil himself, and when a cocky, foul-mouthed biker pulls him a step too far, David doesn’t fall into the abyss. He leaps.
Raja is all he’s ever dreamed of, yet didn’t dare voice. Older, dangerous, a wall of muscle with a grip so strong David can’t resist him no matter how hard he tries.
As a freshly appointed president of a motorcycle club on the verge of ruin, Raja has a lot to live up to. Being gay doesn’t do him any favors in terms of commanding the respect of his men. He has his way of compensating though.
Always first in a fight.
Always bragging about his sexual conquests.
Always up for a bet.
Daring, tattooed, sexy, and unapologetic.
After he boasts he can have any man he wants, he gets challenged to hook up with the preppy guy wallflowering at a party. Raja can’t wait to pop the innocent cutie’s cherry. But when he finds out the guy is his friend’s younger brother, life gets a whole lot messier.
Why is the one guy who should be off-limits always the most tempting?
POSSIBLE SPOILERS:
Themes: Outlaw motorcycle club, organized crime, religion, homophobia, bet, good boy meets bad boy, coming out
Genre: M/M romance, suspense
Length: ~100,000 words
WARNING: This book contains steamy sexual content and graphic violence.
Chelsea - 4.5 Hearts
Buddy Read with Breann and Fantasy! We had a lot of fun fawning over David, getting hot under the collar with Raja's dirty talk, and cheering loudly when certain people got punched in the face!
This was truly a sweet and fluffy Merikan book. However that being said, there's still some dismemberment, but it wouldn't be a ‘sex and mayhem’ book otherwise ;-)
So first off let me introduce you to David and Raja:
Everyone meet David,
David is an eighteen year old boy who has been raised in a conservative catholic family. His brother is Hunter (who was the hero in ‘Split’), a member of the Coffin Nails MC (‘CNMC’) Detroit chapter. David goes along to Hunter’s new sons baby shower, along with all of these CNMC members. Here he meets Raja and ends up doing dirty dirty things!1
“I’m a dirty boy, I want it.”
Yea you do! Seriously though, David was such a cutie.
He is naive, but honest with himself once he learnt to overlook the restrictions his parents had placed on him. Obviously he annoyed the shit out of me when he was clouded by all the opinions he’d been led to believe, but more on that later. I loved seeing David come out of his shell and make a version of himself that was just for him. It was very well done.
Everyone meet Raja,
Raja is the newly appointed president of the Coffin Nails MC Toledo chapter. He’s struggling to get his small chapter of 5 men up and running while trying to prove his worth as a gay president. He is a self-proclaimed manwhore and loves it! When he’s at Hunter's baby shower, Raja feels the need to prove he’s still a ‘man’ even though he’s gay (queue eye roll) and makes a bet with one of his men that he could get any man to suck his cock. Here enters David.
Raja is one sexy Mofo, every sex had me in overdrive and his dirty talk… grunts...so good!
Raja moaned and grasped David’s hair tighter. His muscled stomach flexed so beautifully that David couldn’t help but gasp against the thick shaft. “It’s gonna plow both your holes today. Can you imagine it pushing your ass apart?”
I really like how Raja wants to protect David, but not smother him. He wants David to explore what it means to be himself. Once they decide to be together though, Raja brings out that possessiveness, which had my toes curling in delight.
Even though I liked Raja, it was definitely because he grew on me. Being an out and proud manwhore, he doesn't treat David extremely well in the beginning, and I felt nervous about the inevitable fallout his actions would cause. I like how things resolved though. Good for David!
One reason I was hesitant to read this book was the religious themes involved. Hearing about gay boys (and girls) hating themselves and being hated on makes me so angry, especially when it's disguised under the banner of ‘love’ and what's ‘best for you’. Now don't get me wrong, I think spirituality is an important part of many people's lives, but religion is organised by people, and people can be judgmental ignorant pricks who should not enforce their opinions where it's not welcomed. It feels a lot like brainwashing, which was why is was so interesting to see David start to question his opinions and beliefs when faced with a world away from his parents influence. Poor David and his inner conflict…. It hurt to read.
“There are facilities where I can be helped with my… feelings. I’m just not ready to go, but it looks like I’ll have to, because it’s spinning out of control.”
Raja’s jaw clenched.
“What facilities?”
“There’s even something like a summer camp where I would go for a few months , do therapy, and not be a pervert anymore. There’s lots of people who have succeeded.”
This book had some great moments that had me jumping up and down in my seat. I was literally grinning like a loon when Raja comes help David out with a certain situation gone wrong at church, it was ah-mazing!!
Some people may think this book was too long, I didn't notice the length but I can understand their thoughts. I could've kept on reading for the delicious sex alone! It takes a great book to make you invest and physically feel all the emotions the characters are feeling. It might be because the religion issue is close to my heart, but I was definitely invested! This book was ridiculously fun, ridiculously sexy and ridiculously infuriating. Highly recommend!!!
Breann - 4 Hearts
Well, hot damn! Hot book is hot.
I really couldn't have said it better than Chelsea. Reading with Unicorns is always better, especially when you can chat about all the dirty details and get excited when a certain someone gets what's coming to them.
First: David. He was adorable and sweet. Yes, he definitely frustrated me sometimes. I wanted to smack him, but had to remember he's really young and a product of his environment. Considering his strict upbringing, he was very open and honest with Raja about his feelings. And he had feelings. Hot and dirty feelings.
Raja saw something in David right away and drew everything David was trying to hide out to the surface. He brought out the dirty boy in David. Good-NESS they were effing hot together. David has got a mouth on him. I loved all the kinky things Raja made come out of David's mouth.
This was most certainly the fluffiest of the series. There was some violence and blood, but it was mostly a good mixture of sexy and sweet. I liked the change of pace, but it still felt like a Sex & Mayhem book.
For me, Heart Ripper was a tad too long. There was a lull in the middle and the David and Raja scenes felt a bit repetitive at times.
Definitely another win in the series. I am convinced that K.A. Merikan can do no wrong.
Fantasy Living - 4 hearts
This review may contain minor spoilers
I’ve had a pretty mixed experience with the Sex & Mayham Series. I have mostly loved the books I’ve read, but some have flopped a bit for me.
This wasn’t a flop. I thoroughly enjoyed it. David made this book wonderful. It’s a little fluffier than the previous books, but it still has that sharp edge of the MC to keep with the flow of the rest of the series.
I liked Raja but I wasn’t completely convinced by him as the President of the patched-over club. While he was trying to create an income for the club, I felt like there wasn’t a good way to showcase him leading the group, and pursuing David. The focus was more on his relationship with David, and I felt that the development of the MC as a group was stifled.
David’s self-acceptance was hard won. I’m not entirely sure whether there was really any resolution on his religion. But he moved well into the crowd at the MC and made friends, carving out a spot for himself in his new environment.
There were some light moments, and some good old fashioned flirty fun. This book didn’t drag at any point, and I enjoyed learning about both these characters, as well as reading more about prior characters.
The religious stuff was fairly benign. Some questionable content, and some interesting concepts, like the purity ring, which I have heard about, but at the time, wasn’t interested enough to know more of. It was nice to learn something new.
The sex, as always, was hot. David and Raja had great chemistry. I liked that after the first scene, things moved a lot slower. I think that made it more believable with David being a virgin.
I think my favourite parts of this story was when David started to get the confidence to stand up for himself, and the people he cared for. Growing up in a sheltered environment, where disappointment from others is probably the worst thing imaginable, meant that speaking his mind freely was something he had to learn once he started living with his brother. I felt the authors used care and precision when developing David, and the timing of his growth was perfect.
I would recommend this for readers who enjoy MM MC books, with some edgy content. There is violence in this book, as with the others, so reader beware. This can be read as a standalone, but I would recommend reading some of the prior books first, just for the fun of it (and to appease my series order OCD).
Add to your shelf on Goodreads!
Did you check out the author's visit and giveaway today? See here!
No comments:
Post a Comment