Only daughter of the volatile President of the Black Shamrocks MC and long-suffering sister to four overprotective brothers, Madelaine O’Brien has survived circumstances that would have broken a lesser woman.
Mik ‘Mad Dog’ Kennedy is her salvation, her reward for continuing to fight, and the matching piece of her soul.
With her life finally happy and on track, will the reappearance of the … reappearance of the monster from her past be the event that finally breaks her? Or will he be the catalyst she needs to put it all behind her, once and for all?
They say when life gives you lemons; make lemonade. What happens when life keeps sending you demons who refuse to stay buried? Do you lie down and accept defeat or rise to the seemingly unwinnable challenge, and start SEIZING CONTROL?
Disclaimer: This story contains graphic situations that may not be suitable for all readers.
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Reading Soothing Suffering (which is currently free) first, as this will give you an understanding of the relationship between Mik and Lainey. Mik doesn’t feature in this book until after a significant period of time, and I would have struggled to care about him and Lainey without having read SS first.
The book starts with a huge event, and then moves back in time to give us the history of Brendan, Mik and Lainey. These events involve an abusive relationship and rape – they are treated respectfully and extremely well written but if these are potential triggers for you this particular book may not be for you. (Do check out the rest of the series though as these books are very powerful and are extremely well written).
I made the mistake of starting this book quite late in the evening and at midnight had to put it down but was frustrated that the situation with Lainey hadn’t been resolved. However if it had (a) I wouldn’t have had the background story I needed, (b) there wouldn’t have been the suspense that made this such a good read and (c) the story would have been over too quickly. My goodness the tension had me trying to read and turn pages at super speed.
Thankfully I’m not a victim of domestic/relationship abuse but I can see how a naive 18 year old girl can find herself isolated from her friends and slowly have their confidence eroded. Whilst Lainey liked to think she was strong when she was 17 or 18, actually she was very sheltered and immature – a fact that was briefly acknowledge later in the story. Some of this naivete continued further on in the story but at this point she was still only very early 20’s so, even though I felt she needed a good shake, it was believable. Some of me wondered, since he was quite a bit older, why Mik hadn’t realised there was a problem with Brendan. However real life tells me that we do miss the signs of abuse.
My only real criticism is that the “Brandon not wanting to let go of Lainey” story line felt a little repetitive.
I really liked both characters, they weren’t perfect and made stupid decisions but that only made them feel more real. The plot had some very unexpected twists and it certainly takes you on a journey, sometimes a difficult one but never boring. Whilst the book has a positive ending, it isn’t the end of Mik and Lainey’s story – that continues in the next book, which I most definitely will be reading.
Read: 8/31/2020
Seizing Control was the first book in the Shamrocks MC series by Kylie Hillman.
Very dark. Tons of triggers. Told from a double POV going back and forth between past and present to tell the full story. Once it merged with the present, it stayed in the present for the future. In the end, I wanted more happy. I’m ok with dark, but I needed more happy to balance the dark.
For those that like dark and don’t mind less happy, then you’ll love this one. It was well written and well developed, just not my favorite. With that said, there was a suspenseful MC plot that will carry through the series, so it may worth pursuing more.
A violence story about a girl who feels trapped, being blackmailed to remain with her abuser.
As her father is President of a MC club I find it hard to understand how her abuser got away with violating her and almost killing her. Surely she just needed to tell her dad and best friend Mik.
Lots of twist and turns in this story makes you want to keep reading to find out more.
Kidnap, rape and abuse are all featured in this book.
There’s a lot of naivety on Laine part and fears that her abuser could hurt the people she loves.
She’s determine to seize control of her life and stop every male in her life for making decisions for her.
A great read and I look forward to more from this author.
loved this!!
Great book
Excellent!
Decent plot
Sort of a backwards written story layout, and tries to be forward thinking but it isn’t executed well. Too much info is left out or skipped lea u f the reader wondering if she missed somehing, or missed a first volume.
The story line is typical for the theme/genre but the added twists made it worth the continued read. More violent and well done colorful descriptive work than normal for MC books.
One of the best books I’ve read in a very long time.
Enjoyed reading this book, look forward to more
Lost sight of the plot because of flashbacks. Couldn’t finish.