This book, while not my favorite of the series, had a pretty great story. There were a lot of layers to this story. If you take the story at face value, then it seems to be a story about a man who coerces the woman he abducts into a relationship with him by threatening her brother's life. Once you dig a bit deeper beneath the surface, you discover that this story is actually about two people who are each broken in some way, each helping to mend the pieces of the other.
King's was a very tempermental character. One minute he liked her, the next he was being a jerk. His idea for Rae was not something I find at all appealing, irl or in fantasy. I had a really hard time getting past his ultimate plan for her, and his terrible reasons for doing it in the first place. At times, he seemed like a boy in a man's body pretending to be a leader. He wasn't trustworthy at all. He went back on his word multiple times. He got angry that not all members sided with him and acted out by trying to make an innocent woman suffer. He broke one of the club's cardinal rules; don't mess with family. He didn't consider how his action would widen the divide in his already fractured club, he only thought about how it would make him feel vidicated. He does manage to pull his head out of his behind about 55 - 60 percent of the way through the book, but he didn't make it all the way back to the top of my favorite IO character list.
Rae was very interesting. At times, she was a bada55 who had no problem putting others in their place. Other times, she was a shy, uncertain person afraid of so much it didn't seem like she was really living, she was just going through the motions. King brought something out in her that was great sometimes and not so great at other times. Rae said it best when she said that their relationship, in the beginning, was very toxic. She would become excited whenever he would treat her poorly. It wasn't a healthy relationship in any way, at least not until later. Rae had a lot of demons, and I think that's why she and King clicked so well. They both had demons and darkness inside them that were haunting them. They were able to relate to one another, to understand what the other was going through, and to provide one another some comfort and a solid foundation to hold the other upright.
The ending was the best part. I really enjoyed it. Niro's story is next. He, like King, fell a few rungs due to his initial treatment of Rae, but I'm hoping he will be able to redeem himself in the next book.
Thoughts while reading:
Ok, first thought; the ending of the previous books and the beginning of this one don't exactly line up. At the endof the previous book, Niro and Bates shared a knowing smirk in the kitchen of Spark's house while King talked to Saint about what he would be willing to give to become a full member. However, in this book, Niro and Bates don't find out about Rae until after Saint already left for Mexico with Briar. It seems like the timelines are a bit muddled.
Classic quote, "How ironic I have to help execute my own kidnapping because of male ineptitude." I love it.
I think some members of the club, and their women, are going to have some serious problems with what King is doing. I can't wait to see how Gwen confronts him with her shame and disappointment at his actions. I hope she does anyway. Just like I hope Spark and Clutch and the other good members of the club will.
I love how Rae made him have to shake his head, metaphorically speaking, due to her reacting in a manor completely unexpected. She's smart, sassy, and completely in control. King may thing he's in control, but it's clear from their brief interactions so far that he's not.
Her acting as if she is choosing to participate in her situation, at least in her head, is almost comical, and not a good way. She's acting like she has a choice, like she wasn't just kidnapped by outlaw bikers who threatened to off her brother and Briar if she didn't come with them. She's only doing all of this because she's trying to save her brother, to survive until she's rescued by him. No sane, mentally healthy woman is going to be sexually attracted to her captor, in less than 24 hours. I don't care if she is into BDSM or dubious consent. I could understand if she had been with him for weeks, then it could be constured as Stockholm Syndrome, but this is just ridiculous. A sane woman would only agree if it was under threat of death, and even then it's a 50/50 chance she would still fight. Rae may call it dubious consent, but King is under the impression that she's doing it against her will, so it's SA not matter how you look at it.
King is coming across as a sore loser, a toddler crying because he didn't get to play with his toy the way he wanted. Well, boo-freaking-hoo. Move on cry baby!
King was my favorite character, but now he's loosing steam in my opinion. Rae is a very good character, genuinely strong and intelligent character.
I can't get with the fact that Rae seems to want King to treat her like crap. He gets angry about something about her brother and he takes that anger out on her, and she seems to want it. Seems like she has some unresolved issues from her childhood that she needs to work on because that is not healthy. I understadn DubCon, but this isn't that, this is her getting off on abuse. It's extremely unhealthy.
Uther feels shame for what he's done ot the club, but he'll continue to screw it up with his scheme involving Rae because an imatrue toddler who angry he didn't get his way. He needs to grow the F up and realize what's really at stack if he keeps going down that road.
There are some story inconsistencies throughout the book. For instance, when Rae wakes up in the cottage after the celebration at the club house, she says it's 9am, the goes outside to speak into the camera. When she goes back inside, she sits in a chair talking about how she loves watching the sun rise. At 9am, the sun would have already been up.
Talk about emotional whilash. He's a jackass, then he's sweet and connects ith her, then he's back to being a jackass. It's one step forward and two steps back with this man.
I wish we coulld have read of the conversation between King and Clutch after he revealed that he had Rae to the club and Saint. I'm looking forward to seeing how the women in the club react once they hear what he's doing to Rae.
Ok, the one-on-one talk between Clutch and King, Uther and Landon, was great. I love that King is finally turning to Clutch, the man who has always stood by him, for advice about this situation with Rae. I hope he really takes it all in and is able to bring the club back together. The divide is going to be their end if he can't.
I think Duchess will remain my favorite, but I like Sunbeam.
I haven't seen it yet but, with them going out with the other couples, the guys must not have told the ladies the truth of why Rae is with King. I'm a bit disappointed, but I hope I still get to see Gwen put him in his place for kidnapping Rae.
Ok, King's big gesture was phenomenal, heartbreaking and swoo-worthy all in one. He's redeemed himself in the sense that I don't dislike him anymore, but it may take a bit more before he can make it back to being my favorite.
The frying pan incident was definitely another check mark in his favor.
I wonder if Niro and Bates will be able to redeem themselves, especially Niro after eveything he said and did.
Rae is a badass chick with quick witt, strong intellect, strength of will, and seemingly sufficient skills with guns.