Review: Devils Game by Joanna Wylde

Devil's Game (Reapers MC #3) by Joanna Wylde

Publication Date: June 3rd 2014 by Berkley Trade

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Kobo

About the book:

Liam “Hunter” Blake hates the Reapers MC. Born and raised a Devil’s Jack, he knows his duty. He’ll defend his club from their oldest enemies—the Reapers—using whatever weapons he can find. But why use force when the Reapers’ president has a daughter who’s alone and vulnerable? Hunter has wanted her from the minute he saw her, and now he has an excuse to take her.

Em has lived her entire life in the shadow of the Reapers. Her overprotective father, Picnic, is the club’s president. The last time she had a boyfriend, Picnic shot him. Now the men in her life are far more interested in keeping her daddy happy than showing her a good time. Then she meets a handsome stranger—a man who isn't afraid to treat her like a real woman. One who isn't afraid of her father. His name is Liam, and he’s The One.

Or so she thinks.

My Thoughts:

Joanna Wylde creates a rough around the edges “family” in The Reapers Motorcycle Club Series that fascinates and thrills. The series just keeps getting better, and Em and Hunter’s story in Devil’s Game is my favorite so far. 

Some of Em and Hunter/Liam’s story was told in Reaper’s Legacy but only from Sophie’s POV and so we never had Em and Liam’s full back story or what happened behind closed doors. Devil’s Game gives us all of that and I enjoyed every juicy detail!

Em is the daughter of The Reapers Motorcycle Club president, Picnic.  To say that this had an effect on her love life would be an understatement.  Em has had crushes, even on members in the club, but none have really gone anywhere because no one wants to piss off her scary and powerful father. She has been nursing a mad crush on Painter, a new prospect in the club, but he’s dodged all her advances and he screws up whatever chance he had with her spectacularly! I totally wanted to smack him, and thankfully Em doesn’t just take it.

“Figure it out, dumbass. You blew it, and now I’ll never blow you.”

But Em has been connecting with someone she met online, Liam, and they immediately click. They text and message each other back and forth getting closer and closer until finally, Liam suggests they meet up. Little does Em know that Liam is part of a rival motorcycle club, The Devil’s Jacks and their connection was hardly an accident. Their first meeting is, at first, so intensely HOT, their chemistry is off the charts and just, wow, Liam!!  But this quickly turns into an utter disaster with Em and Sophie getting kidnapped and held by Liam and one of his Devil’s Jacks brothers in a club skirmish. Em feels hurt and betrayed, and Liam is lucky he kept all his appendages, because Em was also extremely pissed.  

Liam is loyal to the Devil’s Jacks because they saved his sister and him when they were teenagers, and have been his family ever since. The plan to get close to Em was not as underhanded as it seemed in Reaper’s Legacy, and Liam was already pretty much a goner for Em even before they started messaging. Everything went to hell once they had to take Em and Sophie as collateral for one of his brothers, and Liam feels her loss profoundly.  He’s never been so obsessed and hung up on a girl and he doesn’t think he’ll ever fall as hard for anyone else.

I just adored Em.  At first she didn’t really stand up for herself with her father, and seemed a little sheepish all around, but she wises up quickly, and then is a force to be reckoned with. Although, I still think she was a little too soft on her dad. Unlike the heroines in the previous books, Em is well acquainted with the club life, and this proves to be an asset with Liam and the problems they face being in rival clubs.

Liam was just all around amazing. Like most of these motorcycle club guys, he’s possessive and protective, but he treated Em like an adult and equal, unlike her father and his crew.  There was never a point where I wanted to throttle him like I did with the Ruger in the previous book. Some of his actions with the kidnapping seemed pretty horrible but getting his POV and the back story cleared everything up, and I was rooting for Liam the whole time! 

Em and Liam’s romance was full chemistry and heat! Some of the hottest scenes were when Em was being held as collateral. Sure it was messed up, but oh man was it ever steamy!! Their relationship was more than that, though, they truly cared for each other.

Favorite Quote:

“ ‘Love’ is a word that doesn’t mean a damned thing to me. ‘Em,’ though? That’s a word that means everything. I’d die for you, babe. Kill for you, too. I stood up to my club for you and I don’t regret any of it, not for one minute. So, you wanted to know how I feel? I don’t even have a word for what I feel, sweetheart. I just know it’s really fuckin’ good.”

This series is gritty, and the motorcycle club life is far from saintly.  These are dangerous and scary people but I did admire the close-knit family vibe I got.  They would do anything to protect their brothers and family.

The Reaper’s MC series has become one of my favorites and I anxiously await Picnic’s book! I have to say, that man infuriated me with his man-whoring! The fact that he was screwing around with girls his daughter’s ages right in front of them made me want slap him! Em constantly holding her tongue in the beginning grated on my nerves.  I was happy to learn his love interest is thirty-eight, much closer to his age, and I have a feeling Picnic is about to get an education. *insert evil grin*

5 Suns

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