The ride of her life . . .
Once upon a time, Carissa Teodoro believed in happy endings. Money, marriage, motherhood: everything came easy—until she woke up to the ugly truth about her Prince Charming. Now a struggling, single mom and stranded by a flat tire, Carissa’s pondering her mistakes when a vaguely familiar knight rides to her rescue on a ton of horsepower.
Climb on and hold tight . . .
In high school, Carson Steele was a bad boy loner who put Carissa on a pedestal where she stayed far beyond his reach. Today, he’s the hard-bodied biker known only as Joker, and from the way Carissa’s acting, it’s clear she’s falling fast. While catching her is irresistible, knowing what to do with her is a different story. A good girl like Carissa is the least likely fit with the Chaos Motorcycle Club. Too bad holding back is so damned hard. Now, as Joker’s secrets are revealed and an outside threat endangers the club, Joker must decide whether to ride steady with Carissa—or ride away forever…
Joke, your story to tell when you wanna tell it. Your story to keep if you don’t ever wanna tell. Thought you had secrets. Way you’re holding’ back with this girl, think I’m wrong. You don’t have secrets. You got demons.
Motorcycle Man was the book that first introduced me into the world of MC romance and I’ve been hooked ever since. I LOVED that book and when I found out that KA will be writing a spin off of that book with her Chaos series, I was beyond thrilled. While the first two books in this series were good, I can safely say that this one was definitely the best in the series so far and also my favorite. Carson “Joker” Steele and Carissa “Carrie” Teodoro absolutely stole my heart. Maybe it’s because it gave me that soul mates love and second chance vibe? Whatever the reason, it just worked for me
Now look, don’t go into this book expecting something different. Most of Kristen Ashley’s characters sound absolutely the same with the monosyllabic heroes and the heroines that may be 25 but sound like they’re going on 40 with their ‘honeys’ and the ‘sweethearts’. But while it may not offer anything new in that respect, what it does have is that vintage KA vibe. You know what I’m talking about. It will have descriptions galore, it will have the hero that can answer practically any question with “babe”, and it will have an incredible love story.
I swallowed. Then I nodded.
“Wanna be better?”
I pressed a hand to his chest and breathed, “Yes.”
Joker first met Carrie as Carson Steele when they were both in high school. Carrie was the beautiful, sweet and popular cheerleader while he was the boy from the wrong side of the tracks with an abusive asshole for a father. Unfortunately his plan of waiting it out till he graduates didn’t work and Carson decided to put everything behind him when his father’s abuse proves to be too much; including the beautiful girl that will always have his heart. He wants her to have the beautiful life she deserves and a man like him definitely can’t give her that.
It killed him, but that was his response.
This was because she was not his to have.
She was golden. Nothing beat her. She smiled through pain and made you believe it.
But life never works out according to plan and seven years later find both Joker and Carrie at places they never thought they’d be; Joker with his brothers and Chaos family, and Carrie as a divorce and single mom. When she’s stranded on the side of a road with a flat tire, fate brings these two together again. But while Joker recognizes Carrie right away, he’s changed quite a bit from the boy she once knew and though there’s something familiar about him, Carrie doesn’t recognize him.
I’m not sure what it was about this, but both of these characters just worked for me. Carrie has been through so much in her life; lost her sister when she was young, her husband left her for another woman while she was still pregnant, and she’s barely able to make ends meet. But through all that she still maintains the woman that she’s always been; nurturing, caring, sweet and she’s an amazing mother. Joker was a grouchy and brooding biker for the first quarter of the story and fights the connection between them. his demons from his past run deep and he doesn’t want to taint Carrie with them. But when Carrie’s ex makes life harder for her, Joker knows that he’ll do everything in his power to give her the sweet she deserves.
Joker is definitely up there with my favorite KA heroes. Something about this man was just so devastatingly perfect. The way he steps up to the plate with both Carrie and her baby son will make you swoon. Guaranteed.
“Then quit thinkin’, Carrie, because I know I’m fallin’ for you.
While I can’t say that the story was super quick paced, it wasn’t the slow drag either. There’s a little bit of suspense thrown in with cameos from some KA favorites of the past; Luke, Knight, Lee, Hank, and so much more. At the heart of it, it was a heart warming romance that had just as much sexy as it had of the swoons.
The one thing I’ve come to love from KA’s alphas is the way they take care of what’s theirs and Joker was definitely no exception.
I’ve loved her since high school, man. She means everything to me. You gotta drag her down, that’ll suck, but I’ll pick her back up. You gotta rip her apart, I’ll fuckin’ hate watchin’ it, but I’ll put her back together. Do what you gotta do to make you feel like you got the bigger dick. But know this, in the end, it’s gonna be her and me.
I haven’t enjoyed a recent KA release this much since Soaring and even that pales in comparison to this one. If you’re looking for some vintage KA vibes this is one book you need to pick up. There’s also a sneak peek into the next book at the end and that left me practically salivating for High’s story. Even though I was hoping for Rush’s book, I’ll take High after that set up. He already caught my interest here as a secondary character so I cannot wait to see what his story brings.
READ THE SERIES IN ORDER
The man was my personal North Atlantic iceberg, lurking under the cold waters, just waiting to shred me wide open.
I was learning the hard way that nothing can protect us from the real monsters.
