When you’re teased and tormented as a kid, about everything you’re not able to change about yourself, you grow up tough on the outside, but shattered in a million pieces on the inside. Steve was a poor kid, thrust into a world where people had everything he thought he wanted, but couldn’t have. He was bullied for being “different” and made to believe he was “less than” everyone else.Ten years … years later, Steve is now Sledge, an enforcer for the Westside Skulls. He found a place where he could put his tough skin to use, and people weren’t constantly judging him. He loves life in the MC. He works hard and he plays harder, and he never lacks for female companionship. For once in his life he has everything he wants or needs. Well…almost everything.
Daria Ford had it all growing up. Money, looks, popularity…everything except what she really wanted, the one thing that would make her happy. Daria wanted Steve and since she was used to getting what she wanted, she was shocked when her plans went sideways, and she was left feeling embarrassed and rejected.
Ten years later Daria is still searching for fulfillment. She has a good life, but she’s not happy. She’s always felt like something was missing and when she started writing romance novels for a living, it seemed to fill the void, at least for a while. Funny thing was that all the heroes in her books looked and sounded a lot like Steve, her high school crush.
When Daria accidentally crashes head first back into Sledge’s life, will these two people come together and find what they’ve both been looking for all along? Or will Sledge’s insecurities rule his heart, and Daria’s imagination fool hers?
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Book 5 in the Westside Skulls MC Series.
This is a Standalone Romance Novel but characters from this story, will appear in future books in the series.
HEA and No cliffhanger.
Intended for Mature Readers.
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The Westside Skulls MC Series is about members of the MC club, their friends and associates.
Each story, while focused around one main character, is not necessarily about a Westside Skulls club member, but the story is related to Skulls members and the club.
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*I received a free copy of this book which I voluntarily chose to write an honest review for.
Cooke has written yet another amazing MC romance that will keep you hooked and wanting more. This time we get Sledge’s story as he has to deal with his horrid childhood when confronted with Daria. Maria has always wondered what happened to him and regrets her role in his past. It was riveting as these two fought, pretended, and so much more on there way to be together. Having the MC in it as well just takes to the next level. Perfect for fans of the genre. I really liked it so I give it 4/5 stars.
Let’s start off by saying this is one of my top favorite MC authors, each story she creates she gives us more characters to love.
I really enjoyed this story from beginning to end. Sledge had been a favorite character of mine from previous stories, and I am so glad he got a chance at happiness like his other brothers, as well as his best friend.
Sledge was my favorite character this time around. Sledge is a character that carries baggage from his childhood and as much as he as tried to put most of it behind him all is not forgotten and the one person who still haunts his dreams is Daria. I loved how protective he is of the ones he loves. I love how after so much heartache he has created his own mini family with Ash, Charlie and Mac. Not only that, but I also love how he found what he needed and finally found a place where he belonged within the MC.
The story was emotional in the fact that it addressed bullying of those who are different from one another. Sledge was effected by this, as he was a poor boy who won a scholarship to a school for the rich, and those peers never let him forget that he was born the wrong side of the tracks. Sledge opened up in this story and let us see his pain and how he deal with it. I loved that he even opened up to the fact that if he did not have Ash and Mac in his life at the time, things might have turned out differently. The story also deals with peer pressure to remain part of the click and the life you were born into, and it’s not your place to mix with the common. Their own peers can be just a cruel….
This story wise it was hot, and the sexual content heated, and I loved how the story flowed and how both Daria and Sledge were about to get their second chance to get it right this time.
Daria was a character easy to love from the onset as she too went through life never feeling like she belonged, always searching in others for the one thing her heart always craved. I loved that Daria as a best-selling author created her characters that she only wished would end in her own happily ever after. I loved her heartfelt apology to Sledge, long overdue. She was just a character easy to love as she was patient, kind and even a little broken despite her own success.
Overall I loved the sweet romance with all those sexy romance scenes and how the heart wants what the heart wants, and you just have to find a way to achieve it even if the road is a bit rocky getting there. I also love that we got to revisit some of our other favorite characters as well. The story kept me glued to the pages and I loved the fact that the characters themselves were easy to connect with and both were easy to love.
Recommended read to all and be sure to check out this other author’s books in this series as you won’t be disappointed, and I hope you love her books as much as I do. Looking to Maz story coming up next !
When Daria’s sister brings up Steve, she didn’t date him for the reasons her sister thinks, she dated him because he was smart, and she was attracted to him, his voice sent chills down her spine, she wanted him to be her first. She didn’t see his refusal, that he didn’t want to take advantage of her when she was drunk and never spoke to him again, after all the years she still felt guilty, but she also felt the tingled thinking about him.
Daria heads away, to the set of her book that is being turned into a movie, agreeing to the blind date her sister set up she didn’t expect to end up in Steve’s arms, or him to be called Sledge now. Daria still wants Sledge, maybe to get him out of her system after all those years, so she decides to make sure she sees him again.
Sledge decides that he can have some fun with Daria but that will al it will be, they would never work, he learnt that years ago.
When Ash asks Daria is she likes Sledge, she goes with honesty, saying she always has, but he won’t give her a chance to prove it, he wants her gone, but Ash lets her know something is bothering Sledge and they never have had a fight, and he thinks it was about her.
Sledge still thinks that he can’t be with Daria except behind closed doors that everyone would judge them, will he give them a second chance, with Daria doing everything to show him that what she wants is real. Will they realise that, that night years ago, that caused all their pain was a miscommunication.
Will Sledge see that he is good enough and she only wants him.
Let me start by saying I highly recommend reading the Southside Skulls Series first. You’re going to love Dax and by getting to know the other characters you will have a feel for the lifestyle that goes with the series and a better understanding of the characters and their significant other’s. They are an eclectic group and each story is as unique as the character themselves. I can honestly say I truly enjoyed reading each of their stories.
When the author started the Westside Skulls she blew me away with Wolf’s story. She started off with fireworks and just kept going from there. She’s added the players from her MMA series and incorporated them into the Westside Skulls so you get to know them also (they are awesome).
Sledge was a really smart, nice guy, who had a pretty rough time growing up being bullied and basically feeling awkward and out-of-place. He finally found a home with the Westside Skulls where he is confident and strong until Daria falls at his feet. Dare he trust her? Should he just take what he wants and run? Is there really such a thing as fate? This is not a soft and gentle slow warm-up, this is a real life s*** happens, move on and get past it, forgive and forget, and definitely for mature audiences, steaming hot and very enjoyable to read. Happy Reading!