#1 New York Times bestselling author Christine Feehan pushes the limits in her next novel in the Torpedo Ink series.Isaak “Ice” Koval is on a club mission when he sees a woman who stops him dead in his tracks. Soleil is a sweet, sexy, girl-next-door type. She’s an innocent who should be nowhere near the rough-and-ready world of the Torpedo Ink motorcycle club. But Ice knows Soleil belongs with … knows Soleil belongs with him—and he’ll do whatever it takes to keep her.
After a life of drifting from one thing to the next, Soleil Brodeur is determined to take control of her life. When her breakup with her manipulative fiancé turns ugly, Soleil searches out the stranger who offered her a lifeline and ends up in a Las Vegas biker bar where she meets a gorgeous, dangerous man straight out of her most secret fantasies.
High on adrenaline, she finds herself falling faster than she thought possible. But Soleil knows little about the territory she’s stumbled into, and even less about what it really means to be Ice’s woman.…
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3.75 stars–VENDETTA ROAD is the third instalment in Christine Feehan’s contemporary, adult TORPEDO INK erotic, slightly paranormal, MC romance series focusing on the men and women of the Torpedo Ink MC. This is club member Isaak ‘Ice’ Koval, and heiress Soleil Brodeur’s story line. VENDETTA ROAD can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous instalments is revealed where necessary. The TORPEDO INK series is a spin-off from the author’s SEA HAVEN SERIES but you do not have to have read the original series to follow Torpedo Ink.
NOTE: Most of the characters including Torpedo Ink club president Victor ‘Czar’ Prakenski, and his wife Blythe Daniels were introduced in the final instalment of the author’s Sea Haven Series BOUND TOGETHER.
WARNING: VENDETTA ROAD contains scenes, and makes reference to voyeurism, graphic violence, rape, murder, torture, child prostitution, and abuse against children, women and men, and therefore, may not be suitable for all readers. The eighteen original Torpedo Ink members are the sole survivors of a Russian pedophile ring, and as such work towards rescuing children in similar situations.
Told from several third person perspectives including Ice and Soleil VENDETTA ROAD follows the insta-lust/love relationship between Torpedo Ink club member Isaak ‘Ice’ Koval, and heiress Soleil Brodeur. About to be forced into a Las Vegas marriage with a man she does not love, a man who has become abusive and bad, Soleil Brodeur finds herself at a local biker bar where she will come face to face with Isaak ‘Ice’ Koval. Ice, suspecting something is wrong, pulls together his brothers in arms, in an effort to protect the woman he knows to be his soul-mate and love. What ensues is the quick building romance and relationship between Soleil and Ice; the search for a pedophile and human trafficking ring in Las Vegas; and the potential fall-out as Soleil’s past is demanding her return in an effort to claim what is not rightfully his.
Soleil Brodeur was orphaned at an early age, and the resulting investment from her inheritance has left our heroine a wealthy young woman but Soleil has been pulled into a high stakes scheme wherein she will become the next victim of a group of men hunting women with sizable bank accounts. Ice Koval doesn’t do relationships but something about Soleil finds our hero claiming ownership when first they meet, an ownership initially based in $ex and need.
The highly sexual relationship between Soleil and Ice is one of immediate attraction whereby both are successful in their attempt to seduce one another. Soleil, on the run from her abusive fiancé, finds instant comfort and security with a man who demands everything and more- a demand, of which, I struggled in the face of the abuse and assault perpetrated not minutes before. The $ex scenes are numerous, erotic, and intense.
There is a large ensemble cast of colorful and energetic secondary and supporting characters including most of the Torpedo Ink family who have survived and endured years of torture, rape, abuse and an education in the world of the deviant and sick.
Once again, VENDETTA ROAD, like the previous instalments continues to focus on the years of abuse suffered at the hands of a group of Russian pedophiles. Groomed to kill and seduce, the members of Torpedo Ink use their skills to exact revenge against the people who continue to abuse and destroy.
As per my previous reviews, I have remarked on the author’s increasing violent story lines and abuse against men, women and children but in the case of the Torpedo Ink series, the violence is part of their history and lives-ingrained and imbedded –into their very existence. But saying that, Vendetta Road reveals a need for vengeance, by the Torpedo Ink family, that manifests as equally abusive and sadistic against the people who have perpetrated the crimes, in this, there are some questionable actions and ‘vendettas’.
VENDETTA ROAD is a story of power and abuse; of pain and survival; of betrayal, vengeance and retribution. The language, descriptions of violence, and text are graphic and gritty; the premise is edgy and raw.
I used to read Christine Feehan back in my days of buying paperbacks on a Saturday morning (I’d buy about 8 per week) and really enjoyed all of her stories. Then I got an e-reader and found the world of indie writers and drifted away from traditionally published because of price and variety, so when I saw Vendetta Road on Netgalley, I thought that it was time for a return to a past author and see what was new. Turns out A LOT. The Feehan I read was not as explicit, something that I had gotten used to with indie books which had fewer restrictions. Let’s just say, I will be checking in with Ms. Feehan more regularly.
Vendetta Road is the 3rd in the Torpedo Ink series though you don’t have to have read the previous two (I hadn’t) to get a handle on what is happening. Torpedo Ink MC is made of members who are not quite average. In the beginning, I believed them to mercenaries of sorts but they are much more than that.
Ice, Vendetta’s hero is a jaded man who is knocked for a loop when he sees a woman on the street who captures his attention like no other. He loses sight of her while tracking a guy but fate brings her to the bar where he and his brethren are later that night. Soleil is the poor little rich girl whose parents died when she was young and has been guided by her lawyer until his untimely death. Now she is trying to give rid of the slime but he is far more nefarious than she originally thought. Finding Ice and Torpedo Ink is a seemingly destiny driven happenstance that fills both of their empty lives.
First off, this is not for those who prefer their romance with a fade to black or euphemism’ed sex scenes. Ice and Soleil hit to charts HIGH on the sexual chemistry scale immediately and don’t care for long introductions. Ice, having been brought up in a highly sexualized way (you learn throughout the story but more toward middle-end about the members of Torpedo Ink’s origins), relate to the world the way he was taught. That he can feel beyond that is a revelation, a redemption. Soleil was sheltered. Her social skillset was learned via boarding school and minimal interpersonal relationships so Ice’s actions and her own may seem off to readers, as the story unveils it makes more sense.
The story has a good pace with a good balance between action and interaction and the side characters add to the palate of the tale nicely. There is an interwoven story that began with book 1 and runs through the series, though it is explained well in Vendetta, and it is interesting enough that I am going back and getting books 1 & 2. There is a paranormal element that becomes clearer as you get deeper into the story that is a great touch to make this MC just that much “different”.