Fool me once, shame on you.Fool me twice, and I’m a damn idiot.That’s what he does to me.Ryder. Smith.The first heartbreak is always the hardest to healAnd those wounds get ripped right back open,When he walks back into my life.Seven years,It took seven long and grueling years, To get that cocky, leather-wearing bastard out of my mind.I thought I’d never get over him, never fix what he broke,And … get over him, never fix what he broke,
And now he’s back,
Every sexy inch of him,
The difference is now I’m taking charge.
This time he’ll be the fool.
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If I had one wish right now it would be to make this book longer. For two reasons; One, I enjoyed it enough not to want it to end so quickly and two, with such a complex plot it just wasn’t given proper room for a fully satisfying conclusion.
I am very happy that the author for a second time in a row went against the patterns of the previous books, making the storyline a fresh breath of air. Yes, there were still some similar plot twists and themes to the previous books, but not so much in my face that it bothered me or became repetitive. I liked the take of a second chance romance with Meagan and Ryder having a rough start, both feeling betrayed by the other but still couldn’t help the attraction still sizzling between them. It really gave the book that perfect mix of drama, intrigue and suspense. The underlying theme of Sever made the book stand out in the series on its own and was even more strengthened by not being so involved in the MC club, but rather taking a outside point view of the club, if that makes any sense. It even gave some room for other characters that weren’t a part of or associated with the club in any way, like quirky Chrissy. I am sure she was an introduction to the next book in the series and having met her in Sever makes me much more excited to keep reading.
As good as I found the book, it annoys me a bit that it easily could have been even better if it actually had been given the chance to have a bigger depth. There were things mentioned briefly that the story could have dwelled deeper into to strengthen both characters, romance and plot. Sadly many of the things I was intrigued was dropped immediately. For example why was juvie Ryder’s only other option? What was his past? And the whole thing with using Alison to get Meagan jealous, why didn’t they ever mention or even talk about that? In general I feel like I got way too little context and information of their past history together. There was much we could have explored there, with her basically a servant getting bullied at school and him not helping out and acting pissed at the world. While I enjoyed the romance there was I didn’t really get to see how they went from hate to love in the past, only in the present.
The fact that I didn’t get the complexity that this sort of story needs made me not fully satisfied with the ending. There were a lot of things that wasn’t acknowledged or even talked about by the characters, which made me feel like everything wasn’t resolved at the end of the book. The most unsatisfying thing was the end to the bad guy in the story. Seeing as how their past were linked I would have liked to see some remorse at least, and at best seeing Meagan trying to save him and help him redeem himself. Not close her eyes and just look the other way with no guilt or problem. To me it also seemed a bit unbelievable that she would not recognize him to begin with, considering their history.
For me Sever land at 3.5 stars. However considering the drama and fresh perspective of the story I will bump it up to 4 stars, but that is just barely. I’m afraid of the books getting shorter and shorter the further I go with the series, especially since I already am seeing it happening. I do really hope that that is not the case though, and since I already like Chrissy in this book I can’t wait for her story in Havoc.