Reaper’s Fire

Much anticipated is an understatement when it comes to this book. As this runs parallel to Painter’s book, Reaper’s Fall, I had already met Gage and his situation in the story. But wow, this story really showed some sizzle and pop when his lady, Tinker was added to the mix. A world of bikers, their club, their pasts, and their loves come to loud and colorful life in this spectacular saga of the Reapers MC.

This is, as mentioned, part of a series and is also a book that flows parallel in chronology and crossover events with the one before it so best not to get it out of order.

Things start with a heartwrenching prologue. Tinker is introduced as she is losing her baby while her jerk husband won’t even leave his work to be with her. Enough is enough. She’s out.

Next, Gage comes to Tinker’s small home town on club business. He is undercover for the Reaper’s so is pretending to be an independent biker to the local Nightstalkers Club and an over the road trucker looking for a new place to land. He sees Tinker’s ad for a handyman that includes work in exchange for room. It will make a good cover so he applies. Only Tinker in her fiery red hair, petite curvy body and mature womanly demeanor fire all his cylinders as he does hers.

But Gage has a job to do and it doesn’t involve taking his new landlady and boss against the wall. No, his task is to get in good with the new leading faction of the Nightstalkers and find out why the cut in their business to the Reapers has suddenly dropped off and why older Nightstalkers in prison are uneasy about their own club. To accomplish his mission, he must get with the cold-hearted, mean skank of a sister of the Nightstalker’s president.

Tinker can’t figure ‘Cooper’ out. His story makes sense up to a point- in the process of a divorce, between trucking jobs, needs a place near, but not too near his ex. However, she is disappointed to see him tight with Talia, a real Queen B, and hanging out with the riff raff biker element in town. It doesn’t match with the hard working handyman who is understanding about her situation, about her dad’s memory issues, and gives off vibes that he’s into her.

Then things take a turn and she’s faced with the real Cooper, a raging fire, her persistent ex, a crazy woman, and her own confused feelings. Dare she take a chance on another man hurting her and pushing her around or is Gage her best chance at something real like her best friend Carrie has.

Alright, so this one was really good. Love the world of the author’s Reapers MC, her strong, flawed, and gritty characters, and the darker plottings. I devoured it in one day. But it was also not exactly what I was expecting. I should have realized that it would be somewhat different because the setting shifts to the small town in Washington State away from Idaho and the Reapers.

When I say different, a few things are responsible for this. For one, the club culture takes a backseat in this one though it is there coloring everything since it’s the whole reason Gage is even there. The focus is very much on Gage, Tinker, and their situations mostly around the business and rooms that Tinker’s family owns and the town with just a bit at the Nightstalkers’ clubhouse. And with Gage and Tinker as a romance, much of the book, he is living a lie that includes another woman so it was a different type of romance that took place- more of a romance that is setting up on the sidelines and on hold until it bursts forth strong and fast late in the book. Finally, because its a parallel story, much of what was going down as far as the club stuff and Gage’s mission was not new to me. A few new layers and nuances, but not much to surprise me. The tone wasn’t as sharp or edgy as a result, but this doesn’t mean that I didn’t like the story. I really, really did. Really. Alot.

I’m always most enchanted by the characters this author creates. They are real people thinking, saying, and doing real stuff. They’ve made their mistakes and have their flaws, but also their engaging and good sides. Gage is all about his club and has been for many years. He’s one of the older, mature set. He’s a bit burned out by dealing with all the drama that comes with managing the club-owned strip bar and jumps at the chance to get out of it and do something different. He’s a hard man, but he wants what some of the other more settled guys have with their old ladies and families. In this story, he meets and recognizes the woman meant for him, but he is on club business so is forced to put that on hold and consort with a real head case and skank woman. Oh how I loathed Talia and wanted her to trip near a high cliff and go over. Gage is a typical alpha male and his forceful way with Tinker was humorous as he screwed up big with her when he ignores Picnic’s advice about how to deal with a worthy lady.
As to that worthy lady, Tinker grab my heart and my admiration right from the start. She has endured a lot with the death of her baby, the coldness of her husband, her mother’s death, and her dad’s fading memory while coming home to salvage the family businesses and her dad. She is a good and giving woman though she is not immune to the hotness of her new handyman. Tinker is a real woman with maturity and curves, but she is unsure after a certain huge, embarrassing mistake and seeing Gage rubbed all over by the possessive and scary Talia.

Now, while I really liked this one, I wasn’t as gungho as usual because of the situation with Gage having to make up and have sex all over the place and all the time with Talia. This is not cheating and it wasn’t anything like that, but I felt that Gage and Tinker’s getting to know you time and much of the book was tainted by Talia being between them. Did I mention that I detest her? Tinker wanted Gage, but she wouldn’t poach even if the woman was the undeserving Talia. And Gage knew he couldn’t do much about Tinker until his job was done. I didn’t feel there was enough of their time together without all the Nightstalker/Talia stuff going on when it was just them working on a relationship. So, just a small niggle, I guess, since really I loved this story and was really into it.

I have to add that I really think the author made a good move changing up the story to include the element of the forest fires toward the end. It was the perfect touch to add a tension and edge that the story was heretofore lacking, at least for me. And the emotional tone a devastating fire can bring was done well.

All in all, another fantastic installment to an already strong and compelling series. Biker romance at its best. Can’t wait for more and definitely recommend this book and series to those who enjoy the gritty, sizzling world of a biker mc.

This book was about Gage and the Club in another town that the Reapers was over. Gage had to go in under cover with the Painter. Tinker was taking care of her father and the store and her own business making chocolates. This book is worth reading and having.

Even days after reading this I dont find the point of why it was written. The next book in a series should give us something new and sadly this one didn’t. More than 80% of this book was a story we already knew. There was nothing additional added other than knowing the heroine’s POV and background. The only original thing in the book was the fires that over took Washington State and how it wiped out towns and the devastation it caused. I have nothing against cause books and an author should write what is close to their heart but that cause was the only really interesting thing about this book and was just the last 10%.

I have loved this series since first being introduced to Horse and the Reapers MC. I did not want to read a rehashing of the story we had already read in Levi’s book and I mean it was an almost word for word rehashing and not just for a chapter or two but for almost the whole book. This didnt even feel like a Reapers book – it wasn’t in the Reapers world and the humorous phone calls between Gage and Picnic were just not enough. I missed the comradery of the MC and their old ladies. I missed a lot of what I thought were signature things in this series. This felt more like a Silver Valley book as it took place in a small town away from the Reapers.

I’m always sad to write a bad review for a beloved series and I do hope this was just a one off.

One of my favorite authors! Her books do not disappoint..