I'm not sure what to make of all the glowing reviews for Devil's Charm. It's so oddly written and the characters not all that likeable. This is my first Sam Crescent book, so I am not familiar with her other MC series. This is a stand alone but I felt "out of the loop" at times when Devil references things that clearly happened in other books. The poor writing put me off checking those books out though.
Some examples with what I mean about the stilted writing and poor editing:
"I don’t know. I’ve not heard from her since she dropped him off. I’ve not got a clue what to do.”
Seriously, who talks like this?
"Life was looking interesting. The biggest problem he had was what to do with Lexie. The bitch was getting under his skin, and they’d not known each other all that fucking long."
And
"Most of his men were stood out in the garden nursing beers as he cooked food at the barbeque. "
And
“You’re not who I thought you was.”
And
"Lexie took another step and screamed as a bullet bounced off the floor near where she was stood."
Then there are some really troubling problems with this so-called "erotic biker romance".
For a romance, this was pretty depressing because:
"There was nowhere else for her to go. At twenty-one years old she had experienced two orgasms in her whole life, and both had been at Devil’s hands."
Yup, totally solid foundation for a relationship.
Then of course there's the lovely reproductive abuse/coercion by Devil.
"Do you want me to go to the pharmacy today?”
“Why?”
“For the morning after pill?”
“No, you don’t need it. We’ll deal with whatever happens.”
“I don’t want kids yet,” she said, blowing on her coffee.
He knew she was being reasonable while he didn’t feel the slightest bit reasonable. “I’ll use rubbers, but you’re not taking the morning after pill. That’s final.”
That's final, eh? Nice. Is that supposed to be romantic? He already has one kid he's had to track down, but hey let's make another baby with the woman you just met who's 24 years younger than you. Seems reasonable.
There's more where that came from:
"He hadn’t bothered buying any rubbers, and the thought of Lexie getting the morning after pill riled him.
There was no way she would be killing his baby. He wouldn’t have it. Devil refused to let her even think about it."
Yeah, while we're at it is it too much for our romance heroes to understand the difference between the morning after pill and an abortion? Okay? Thanks. And if it's not too much, how about a heroine who takes charge of her own reproductive health and walks her ass to a damn pharmacy.
Oh, and speaking of abuse:
"I understand, and I won’t ask you again.” She rested her head on his back, knowing she needed to keep quiet or he was going to give her a headache with his ranting."
I love a heroine who's afraid to speak her mind lest her hero start verbally abusing her. Sexy!
I definitely have no problem with "edgy erotica" or "dark erotica" if they are labeled as such. I get that MC romances are going to be a little bit grittier and coarser. But I think basic respect of the heroine by the hero should be a minimum requirement in a romance. Also think minimal editing should be a requirement for a book that costs $5.
I was between one and two stars because I finished the book, although that might have been because I wanted to see just how bad it got. Lexie is a little too stupid to live at times and she's a shadow of a character. Even though Devil is mostly a douchenugget he has his good points. He rescues Judi, protects her and cares for her as well as caring for his crew. He also comes full circle from thinking he's not capable of loving anyone to admitting he loves Lexie.
Ultimately, I just can't give a book that romanticizes the idea that a man forcing a woman to have children she doesn't want more than one star.
Despite my better judgment the Epilogue with Ripper and Judi looks promising.