Alec “The Animal” WalkerMy best friend and I were inseparable as kids. That childhood bond turned to puppy love, and then pure, burning lust. We were biker brats, teenage misfits who only had eyes and hands for each other. But all that changed when our club found out her dad was a rat—an FBI informant trying to take down our empire.He betrayed his club. He betrayed his brothers. He betrayed her. … brothers.
He betrayed her.
He betrayed us.
To tarnish the brotherhood legacy with such disloyalty and dishonor comes with swift retribution.
Now, I’m forced to make a choice: my girl or my club.
This will destroy her.
Destroy us.
In order to earn my patch, I have to take a traitor’s life—his.
A dark, delicious, thrill ride, sure to have you turning the pages, desperate to see how it all ends.
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4 stars!!
This is book one of the “Royal Bastards MC, Little Rock, AR” series and I’m sure can be read as a stand alone.
This is a definite MC read. But I think the main story I got was like a coming of age love story. Best friends turned lovers.
First of all I want to say the cover is the shit! I love it. The different phases of Alec are what drew me to him. His love for Drew is sooo attractive. I adored him even as a teen. Their friendship was fun.
Drew is an awesome female lead character. I respect her 100%!! Their relationship is perfection.
The twists and turns were good. They gave the story some more depth and I really loved all the bikers. I did get confused on who was who a few times and still have to re-read to figure out who certain ones are because the book moved so fast. But I can’t wait to read the other guys books.
This was a short fast read. It was not drawn out and things happened at a rather fast pace. I think a little more meat to the story would have made for a 5 star book. But for being fast paced it was a good book.
**I received this book as an ARC and in return gave my honest review. **
This was a surprisingly innocent and sweet MC love story- a fast paced, quick read. The friends to lovers story is super sweet and charming and swirling around that core story we have all the fun MC twists and turns and gritty goodness. I read this in one sitting and enjoyed the Royal Bastard ride.
Alec and Drew are childhood best friends, a friendship that overtime blossoms into that hyperbolic, you are my everything teenage love that I simply adore. Both MC kids- they grew up around the gritty Royal Bastard word, but they knew they’d always be together- their tender, young lovely juxtaposed to the brash MC world around them. Their hopeful plans for their future are dashed by a brutal murder and Alex being thurst quickly into MC duty. Both of their worlds are shattered, and the events put a wedge between them that results in Drew fleeing the only person in the world she loves.
The story is told chronologically in dual POV- starting with our hero and heroine as 6 and 8 year olds. This is a really nice touch- the straight forward plot really worked – we get to see our characters’ connection build authentically (and adorably) and we don’t have to jump back and forth in time to understand their history. I especially loved getting to spend time with them as teens- seeing them so authentically and adorably find their way from friendship to romance.
Time does jump considerably between the big incident and meeting our present day characters- and we really don’t find out much about what has happened in their lives in the interim- who are they now? Turns out it doesn’t’ matter much for the romance- their love has only grown. Alec becomes “Animal” and Drew is pretty much the same. In general, I find it frustrating when characters separate over a miscommunication or misunderstanding and when they reunite it is quickly cleared up in one page- if it were that simple, why were they apart! I had some inklings of that- especially because they were apart for a LONG time here- but honestly, I didn’t want the angst and the push-pull, I just wanted them to be together, so I was less bothered by this plot device than normal- the chemistry between Alec and Drew makes you feel their devotion and longing so much, you just want them together.
This was actually not that dark nor super steamy (more of a “fade to black” kind of scenes)-or at least not with what I’m used to with Dukey or for MC romance. But, that just added to the sweetness and charm of the innocent, magnetic love story of these two. What worked so well about this story is the connection between Alex and Drew- it’s emotional, stepped in a rich history, and unstoppable. The longing between them is so well rendered you feel it within your own heart, you can feel the pull between their two souls. I hate they lost such formative years together because of some messed up stuff out of their control, but this only makes their reconnection that much sweeter.
And, in case that isn’t enough to entice you- we’ve got twists and shocks galore. THAT ENDING? Did not see it coming. Put on your leathers and saddle up, you’re in for a wild yet sweet ride with Animal and his Drew.
***4 Stars***
After finishing Bad/Good Neighbor in the Love in Lockdown Anthology I was all kinds of excited to dive into this chapter of the Royal Bastards MC ~ okay, that’s not entirely true since I am a fan of the authors and wanted to get my hands on the book when it was announced, but my interest definitely got kicked up a few notches after reading the short story ~ and I wasn’t disappointed. Animal was a quick, fun read with a good dose of dark, a dash of suspense, romance and a new slew of characters I want to get to know better.
I loved Drew and Alec. Drew is an MC princess who knows how to hold her own against anyone who decides to take her on. Sassy and sweet, she puts her whole heart into whatever she chooses to do. Alec aka Animal is fierce, loyal and protects what is his. While he all kinds of tough alpha AF male on the outside, his heart is golden.
Their journey to their HEA was all kinds of fun. I thoroughly enjoyed watching their relationship evolve as they went from friends to lovers. It was easy to see how, from the start, they had a connection that would never break, even when things got rough. The ‘rough’ in their journey was intense and heartbreaking all around, but I love how everything ended up working out for them.
This was a quick read, more novella length than novel, but it definitely gave a lot of information about the ins and outs of the MC and the people who are a part of it. The suspense side of things was brought up in Bad/Good Neighbor, but if you haven’t read it, you won’t be missing out on anything ~ well except getting to know Grim a bit better ~ because it slides over into Animal and I have to say that I didn’t not see any of that coming. We also get a bit of time with one of the other chapters in this one, which I thought was pretty cool. And as for the supporting cast of characters. All were very well written and there are a couple of secondary storylines that I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how they play out, but after that epilogue I cannot wait to get my hands on Rage!
~ Copy provided by Just Another Book B & voluntarily reviewed ~
Well, you are in for a real treat! We first met Alec “The Animal” Walker briefly in the Bad/Good Neighbor novella. This is his story. He has loved Drew Wells since they were kids. That is until her father betrayed their MC and divided them. Can Drew find peace and forgiveness for what the club has done? Is Alec the same man she fell in love as a child? What really happened all those years ago? This is told from when the were kids to adulthood. I enjoyed the build up as to why Drew disappeared until her return. This is a second chance MC, romantic suspense with a sweeter side. Told in dual POV