Saturday, November 28, 2015

BOOK REVIEW: Ride It Out by Aden Lowe and Ashley Wheels

~Synopsis~
All Hound wants is some peace and quiet away from his everyday life. A stay at the beach house is the perfect opportunity, but when he arrives, he sees *her*. From that moment, his thoughts are anything but peaceful.

Anne has spent her life in relative obscurity, with other people in control of her every move. Fed up with it all, she orchestrates a little getaway to show them she's capable of a normal life. But Blake(Hound) invades her solitude and independence like the storm that hovers on the horizon and makes her want the extraordinary. 

When the hurricane warnings come, Hound decides to stay put and ride it out with Anne. Will the emotional storm be worse than the weather?




~Book Review~
3.5 Stars

Blake, known as Hound to his fellow Hell Raider MCs, is adapting to a new lifestyle. He’s still part of the club, but his ride these days is a wheelchair instead of a motorcycle. While regrouping at the beach, he meets Anne. She’s no stranger to life in a chair on wheels, but she has lead a sheltered 22 years.

I really appreciated the premise to this story.  Having both the H and the h share a disability was unique and original and for the  most part they didn't let it get them down. It was refreshing to see a disabled couple in romance with a positive presentation. The story has a lot of promise, but I definitely wish it would have been fleshed out more.

Told by their dual first person POV, Blake and Anne both present as interesting characters from different backgrounds but with shared circumstances and challenges.  When Anne isn’t falling into the innocent virgin, won’t-utter-a-cuss-word troupe, and Blake isn’t going all alpha male pissing contest with her brother, they have a lot of potential.  Too bad we didn’t see more of them working to make a life together. Instead the lust and love are insta.

While I was glad it avoided the angsty plot twists that generally befall the MC genre and the couple are exclusive, it missed other opportunities for tension and development. The circumstances of the hurricane for one. It doesn’t exactly advance the plot in any way. Like other parts of the story it’s rushed. It also requires some suspension of disbelief. (No one around them—her overprotective brother and his MC buddies— seems to know a category four hurricane is coming!)  

With a good editor and proofreader (tense changes cropped up a few too many times), the story could definitely garner a much higher rating. None the less, if you’re looking for a short afternoon read, this is still an engaging one to pass the time. 

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