I'm excited to be part of the Blog Tour for Joanna Wylde's newest Reaper's MC installment, Reaper's Fire because, as you probably already know, I love this series! As part of my stop I have my review, an excerpt and a lovely giveaway!
Reaper's Fire (Reaper's MC #6) by Joanna Wylde
Publication Date: August 9th 2016 by Berkley
Purchase Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | iBooks | Nook | Kobo | Google Play
About the book:
New York Times bestselling author Joanna Wylde returns to the “wild and raw”* world of the Reapers MC with the story of Gage and Tinker…
The club comes first.
I’ve lived by those words my whole life—assumed I’d die by them, too, and I never had a problem with that. My Reaper brothers took my back and I took theirs and it was enough. Then I met her. Tinker Garrett. She’s beautiful, she’s loyal, and she works so damned hard it scares me sometimes . . . She deserves a good man—one better than me. I can’t take her yet because the club still needs me. There’s another woman, another job, another fight just ahead.
Now she’ll learn I’ve been lying to her all along. None of it’s real. Not my name, not my job, not even the clothes I wear. She thinks I’m nice. She pretends we’re just friends, that I’ve still got a soul . . . Mine’s been dead for years. Now I’m on fire for this woman, and a man can only burn for so long before he destroys everything around him.
I’m coming for you, Tinker.
Soon.
My
Thoughts:
Gage is loyal to his brotherhood, the Reapers MC, so when he’s
asked to go undercover to find out what is going on with the Nighthawk Raiders
in Washington, a supposed alley MC to the Reaper’s, Gage agrees. As part of his
cover he takes on a handy-man job, as Cooper Romero, in exchange for housing in
Tinker Garrett’s apartment complex. Gage
is immediately taken with Tinker, and he senses she wants him too, but he’ll
have to put all that on the back burner, because the quickest way into the
Nighthawks Motorcycle club is dating Talia Jackson, the club president’s
sister. Still, while pretending with Talia, every hour he spends working for
and with Tinker brings them closer and closer, and Talia notices, putting
Tinker in danger.
Tinker is overseeing her family’s rental properties while
healing from a bad divorce, and caring for her ailing father. Cooper (Gage) blows into her life and turns
everything upside down. Tinker was just such a nice and genuine person, but not
a pushover either, and I immediately loved her character! Even though Gage was a force to be reckoned with,
Tinker had some spine, too. Also, she
didn’t let the Cooper/Gage situation overtake her every thought and life. Tinker was definitely more than attracted, but
tried to keep it platonic seeing as he had a girlfriend (even if that girlfriend
was the daughter of Satan!).
I do wish Tinker and Gage got together sooner instead of
Gage having to pretend with Talia for so long. However, there was never any
doubt on Gage’s side that he was only doing his duty to the club and that he
completely despised Talia the whole time. Tinker didn’t know Gage’s inner thoughts, and so couldn’t understand why
a seemingly nice guy could stoop so low as to screw Talia, even if she was hot,
because Talia was so evil! I hurt for
Tinker every time she had to witness them together! Little did Tinker know is
that Gage was just biding his time until he could claim her.
When the truth comes out, Gage has a lot of explaining to
do. I know he was supposed to be doing
it for the club, but come on! He hurt Tinker and lied to her, and in my mind it
didn’t need to go on quite so long. I
just knew if I were in Tinker’s shoes it would take me some time to wrap my
head around the whole situation. But, still, Gage was tortured having to keep
himself back from Tinker. He fell for her a little more every day spent as her
tenant/handy man, so even though he did hurt Tinker, I couldn’t help but feel
bad and fall for him, too.
I will say if you haven’t read Painter and Melanie’s story, Reaper’s Fall
(the last book, #5), yet, you may want to read this one first and then Reaper’s
Fall because Talia and her brother’s story concludes more fully in Reaper’s
Fall. I went back and read a bunch of
scenes, because I forgot so much that happened, and trust me, a lot
happens! I felt like all the loose ends
in Reaper’s Fire were nice and tied
in Reaper’s Fall.
I gobbled this story up, reading it in one day to find out
what happens. I had been picking up
books and setting them aside trying to find a story that would hold my interest
when I decided to pick up Reaper’s Fire
and I was hooked! This story was raw and ugly in parts, but completely riveting! Joanna Wylde certainly
doesn’t present a heart-n-flowers sort of romance with her Reapers MC series. Her
romances are more primal, gritty, all-consuming, and I can't wait for the next one!
4 Suns
Excerpt
“I can’t believe how late it is,” Tinker said, yawning, and I realized the movie had ended. Now she stretched upward, the blanket falling to her waist as her boobs pushed forward.
God, how much should a man be expected to take?
I should’ve stayed away from her completely—that’d been the plan—but something had snapped when I’d seen her out in the courtyard. Couldn’t remember the last time I’d met a woman like Tinker. She was smart and sexy and funny, and she worked damned hard to take care of her family and business. Sure, I wanted to fuck her—you’d have to be gay not to—but I respected her, too.
“I should probably get going,” she said, offering me a smile so sweet I wanted to bite her lips. “I like to check on Dad before going to sleep, and I’ve got to be up early in the morning. I’ve got to package orders for the courier tomorrow—if they aren’t ready by two p.m., I’m screwed.”
I considered rolling over on top of her. Pushing her down into the couch cushions, shoving my leg between hers, and showing her what a real man feels like.
“Cooper?” she asked, looking confused. I blinked a couple times, forcing myself to focus on her face.
“I’m going to watch another one,” I told her, because I’m a goddamn masochist. “You sure you’re ready to head out?”
She frowned, and I could almost read her thoughts. Yes, she should leave. But she wanted me as much as I wanted her. And yeah, I realize that makes me sound like an egotistical ass, but this wasn’t my first rodeo. I saw the lust in her eyes, and the way she licked her lips and stared at my mouth. This wasn’t a one-way street, not even close.
“I guess I could stay a little longer,” she whispered. Christ, she was so sweet and soft. I wanted to bite her even more now. Suck that pouty lower lip into my mouth and shove a finger up her ass.
Break her.
You’re one sick fuck.
Why yes. Yes, I am. Thanks for noticing.
I managed to control the urge, catching her hand instead, giving it a friendly squeeze like some kind of pathetic tool. Her fingers tightened on mine, then she pulled away and snuggled back down under the blanket, raising her feet to rest on the coffee table. I grabbed the remote and clicked through the menu.
Tomorrow I’d do my job. I’d fuck Talia and spy on Marsh and look for any kind of weakness that might end this situation, the faster the better. Tonight, though . . . Tonight I’d pretend this wasn’t a waste of time.
Goddamn, but my dick hurt.
The next hour was torture.
Tinker sat next to me, all cute and classy and absolutely refusing to make any kind of eye contact. I don’t know how she felt, but to me the sexual tension hanging in the air was thick and heavy. I kept thinking about her hand in mine—small, but strong. The hand of someone who knew how to work hard. So far as I knew, Talia had never held down a job, let alone supported herself.
The couch shifted, and I glanced over to find Tinker sliding deeper into the cushions, drawing the blanket up to her chin. Our legs were maybe six inches apart. She shifted again, and then her hand bumped mine under the blanket. She jerked it back quickly, and I caught the hint of a flush on her cheeks. That was another thing I liked about her—her skin was so pale that I could see every hint of arousal.
Grabbing her hand, I pulled it over to rest on my thigh. This was a really bad idea, so I pointedly refused to think it through. Her hand tensed at first, then relaxed into my strength. My cock swelled against the fabric of my jeans, just inches from her fingers—it’d be so easy to push her hand toward it, wrap it around my painfully swollen dick, and just go to town.
Tinker’s fingers gave a quick squeeze—almost more of a spasm—and I bit back a groan.
Yeah, okay. Really, really bad idea. I should get off the couch and shut this shit down right now, because I couldn’t afford to blow things with Talia just yet. Instead I found myself leaning toward Tinker, bumping shoulders.
God.
I’d grown a pussy. No other explanation, because I couldn’t figure out why the hell else an adult man would sit holding hands under a damned blanket like a kid.
