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Junkyard Cats #4
Junkyard Roadhouse
JUNKYARD ROADHOUSE - novella 4
Shining Smith stands on the brink of achieving her goals, and yet now she could lose everything.
The presidents of four motorcycle clubs are coming to claim blood sacrifice and to ink her with motorcycle club tats. Her new roadhouse and its charter have to meet their approval or the roadhouse has no future, and neither does Shining.
An injured kid shows up at Smith’s Junk and Scrap, but collapses before he can speak.
A note arrives containing a warning and a plea for help, addressed by someone who knows Shining’s most intimate secrets—her history, her plans, and the names of her friends. The sender claims his daughter has been kidnapped by Shining’s enemies. To keep her secrets, he wants Shining to get his daughter back.
In order to rescue the hostage and keep her junkyard, her roadhouse, her people, and the cats alive, Shining Smith will have to suffer, fight, and bargain her way out of danger. All without accidently transitioning anyone—creating an accidental thrall—no matter how much her nanobots want her to.
Lock and load. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.
Shining Smith stands on the brink of achieving her goals, and yet now she could lose everything.
The presidents of four motorcycle clubs are coming to claim blood sacrifice and to ink her with motorcycle club tats. Her new roadhouse and its charter have to meet their approval or the roadhouse has no future, and neither does Shining.
An injured kid shows up at Smith’s Junk and Scrap, but collapses before he can speak.
A note arrives containing a warning and a plea for help, addressed by someone who knows Shining’s most intimate secrets—her history, her plans, and the names of her friends. The sender claims his daughter has been kidnapped by Shining’s enemies. To keep her secrets, he wants Shining to get his daughter back.
In order to rescue the hostage and keep her junkyard, her roadhouse, her people, and the cats alive, Shining Smith will have to suffer, fight, and bargain her way out of danger. All without accidently transitioning anyone—creating an accidental thrall—no matter how much her nanobots want her to.
Lock and load. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.
5 pages, Audible Audio
First published July 2, 2024
About the author
Faith Hunter
104 books5,802 followersFaith Hunter's Junkyard Cats novella series is available in Audible, eBook, trade paperback books.
Faith's Jane Yellowrock series is a dark urban fantasy. Jane is a full blooded Cherokee skinwalker and hunter of rogue-vampires in a world of weres, witches, vampires, and other supernats. 15 books and several compilations of shorts
The Soulwood series is a dark-urban fantasy / paranormal police procedural /para-thriller series featuring Nell Nicholson Ingram, an earth magic user and Special gent of PsyLED. 6 books
Her Rogue Mage novels—Bloodring, Seraphs, Host, and the RPG Rogue Mage—feature Thorn St. Croix, a stone mage in a post-apocalyptic alternate reality.
Faith is a full time writer who finally hired a housekeeper when the dust bunnies multiplied, She loves tea, Japanese Maples, and loves to cook.
Faith researches in great detail, and tries most everything her characters do. Research led to her life’s passions – jewelry making, orchids, Japanese maples (she has managed to collect over thirty), white-water kayaking, and writing.
She and her husband RV, traveling to whitewater rivers to kayak all over the Southeast. Whitewater Kayaking is her very favorite sport, discovered when she was researching her (Gwen Hunter) mystery book, Rapid Descent. She took a lesson and—after a bout of panic attacks from fear of being upside down trapped in a boat—discovered she loved the sport.
Under other pen names, notably, Gwen Hunter, she writes action adventure, mysteries, and thrillers. As Gwen, she is a winner of the WH Smith Literary Award for Fresh Talent in 1995 in the UK, and won a Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award in 2008. As Faith, her books have been on the New York Times and USA Today Bestseller lists, been nominated for various awards and won an Audie Award with Khristine Hvam, among other awards. Under all her pen names, she has more than 50 books, anthologies, and complications in print in 30 countries.
For more, including a list of her books, see www.faithhunter.net . To keep up with her daily, join her fan pages at Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/official.fait... and see her website blog at
www.faithhunter.net
Faith's Jane Yellowrock series is a dark urban fantasy. Jane is a full blooded Cherokee skinwalker and hunter of rogue-vampires in a world of weres, witches, vampires, and other supernats. 15 books and several compilations of shorts
The Soulwood series is a dark-urban fantasy / paranormal police procedural /para-thriller series featuring Nell Nicholson Ingram, an earth magic user and Special gent of PsyLED. 6 books
Her Rogue Mage novels—Bloodring, Seraphs, Host, and the RPG Rogue Mage—feature Thorn St. Croix, a stone mage in a post-apocalyptic alternate reality.
Faith is a full time writer who finally hired a housekeeper when the dust bunnies multiplied, She loves tea, Japanese Maples, and loves to cook.
Faith researches in great detail, and tries most everything her characters do. Research led to her life’s passions – jewelry making, orchids, Japanese maples (she has managed to collect over thirty), white-water kayaking, and writing.
She and her husband RV, traveling to whitewater rivers to kayak all over the Southeast. Whitewater Kayaking is her very favorite sport, discovered when she was researching her (Gwen Hunter) mystery book, Rapid Descent. She took a lesson and—after a bout of panic attacks from fear of being upside down trapped in a boat—discovered she loved the sport.
Under other pen names, notably, Gwen Hunter, she writes action adventure, mysteries, and thrillers. As Gwen, she is a winner of the WH Smith Literary Award for Fresh Talent in 1995 in the UK, and won a Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award in 2008. As Faith, her books have been on the New York Times and USA Today Bestseller lists, been nominated for various awards and won an Audie Award with Khristine Hvam, among other awards. Under all her pen names, she has more than 50 books, anthologies, and complications in print in 30 countries.
For more, including a list of her books, see www.faithhunter.net . To keep up with her daily, join her fan pages at Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/official.fait... and see her website blog at
www.faithhunter.net
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 107 reviews
July 3, 2024
Faith Hunter is one of my all-time favorite authors right up there with Ilona Andrews and Patricia Briggs, not only because she writes such unique and addicting characters and stories, but because the quality of each book she publishes is ALWAYS top-notch! Every single story is tightly written, complex, and with rich details and depth every.single.time. You can count on it.
The Junkyard Cats series is a completely unique UF that rides the line of dystopian with a touch of Sci-Fi while still keeping all mayhem right at the forefront. And what is even better is that even in this “novella” the depth and character growth is not in anyway sacrificed to the action. It reads like a full-length novel in almost every aspect. Now that is a feat amazing!
The ONLY aspect that brought the stars from five to four is in Jagger (Shining’s Love interest). He has been a super interesting character to this point but I just can’t wrap my head around his actions in this story. Although kinda explained at the end, his choices to stay with the MC club rather than Shining, and “proving” his loyalty by literally branding her among other things, soured me completely on him. I can hardly stand him now! I think this one small area falls victim to the shorter page count, as we never get to actually understand his actions enough to accept them. It is the only glitch in an otherwise riveting read.
The Junkyard Cats series is a completely unique UF that rides the line of dystopian with a touch of Sci-Fi while still keeping all mayhem right at the forefront. And what is even better is that even in this “novella” the depth and character growth is not in anyway sacrificed to the action. It reads like a full-length novel in almost every aspect. Now that is a feat amazing!
The ONLY aspect that brought the stars from five to four is in Jagger (Shining’s Love interest). He has been a super interesting character to this point but I just can’t wrap my head around his actions in this story. Although kinda explained at the end, his choices to stay with the MC club rather than Shining, and “proving” his loyalty by literally branding her among other things, soured me completely on him. I can hardly stand him now! I think this one small area falls victim to the shorter page count, as we never get to actually understand his actions enough to accept them. It is the only glitch in an otherwise riveting read.
July 18, 2024
That was fun. 'Junkyard Roadhouse' was my fourth visit with Shining Smith. following 'Junkyard Cats', 'Junkyard Bargain' and 'Junkyard War'. Her world gets richer with each visit that I make.
I love that Faith Hunter has turned her hand to Science Fiction and produced something complex and intriguing, with a strong woman at its heart, delivered at a pace that keeps the action pumping but allows time for plots and conspiracies to be considered and for me to love or hate the characters. I think only Faith Hunter could have come up with a scenario where the people most likely to save the world are in Motorcycle Clubs.
The two AIs in this are a hoot. They're original, amusing but still credible. The mutated junkyard cats remain the scariest thing in the story. They see people as either servants or protein and what they did to that attack dog would make even the toughest biker give them a wide berth.
This episode moves the overall story arc forward by getting Shining Smith set up as the head of her own MC, running a Roadhouse that delivers services and provides neutral territory to the four main MCs. I wondered if that might make the story a little static, focusing on what happens in the Roadhouse and the Junkyard but Faith Hunter quickly gets Shining Smith involved in action in a neighbouring town. This action exposes the Dark Riders as more than opportunistic bandits, builds some new alliances and sets Shining Smith up for a larger scale conflict. I'm already keen to read the next book.
I like the novella format that Faith Hunter is using. It keeps the focus tight and the tension high. It's like watching a TV episode with a Three Act structure. The people, the problem and the context are introduced, the big fight happens, the consequences are worked through and the seeds of the next episode are sewn.
Junkyard Cats was originally conceived as an aubiobook only series. Now it's available in paperback and ebook but my strong preference is to settle down with the audiobook and let Khristine Hvam's narration light up the story for me.
I love that Faith Hunter has turned her hand to Science Fiction and produced something complex and intriguing, with a strong woman at its heart, delivered at a pace that keeps the action pumping but allows time for plots and conspiracies to be considered and for me to love or hate the characters. I think only Faith Hunter could have come up with a scenario where the people most likely to save the world are in Motorcycle Clubs.
The two AIs in this are a hoot. They're original, amusing but still credible. The mutated junkyard cats remain the scariest thing in the story. They see people as either servants or protein and what they did to that attack dog would make even the toughest biker give them a wide berth.
This episode moves the overall story arc forward by getting Shining Smith set up as the head of her own MC, running a Roadhouse that delivers services and provides neutral territory to the four main MCs. I wondered if that might make the story a little static, focusing on what happens in the Roadhouse and the Junkyard but Faith Hunter quickly gets Shining Smith involved in action in a neighbouring town. This action exposes the Dark Riders as more than opportunistic bandits, builds some new alliances and sets Shining Smith up for a larger scale conflict. I'm already keen to read the next book.
I like the novella format that Faith Hunter is using. It keeps the focus tight and the tension high. It's like watching a TV episode with a Three Act structure. The people, the problem and the context are introduced, the big fight happens, the consequences are worked through and the seeds of the next episode are sewn.
Junkyard Cats was originally conceived as an aubiobook only series. Now it's available in paperback and ebook but my strong preference is to settle down with the audiobook and let Khristine Hvam's narration light up the story for me.
July 3, 2024
I distrust Mateo Jolie & now the bug ship.
August 19, 2024
Shining Smith is ready to open her Junkyard Roadhouse and become the leader of her own club. It involves approval from the presidents of the other motorcycle clubs and painful tattoos. I slipped right in and became caught up when an injured man arrives. Once they get him patched up, they discover his uncle sent him because his daughter has been kidnapped. The tale that unfolds was action-packed.
Hunter has created a gritty, dangerous world laid desolate after wars. Technology is both cool and scary as Shining is infected. Then we have cats that communicate with her, and motorcycle gangs vying for territory, product and power. It is not a place for weak of heart. For each tidbit we learn, I want to know more… it’s addictive.
I love Shining and the motley crew she surrounds herself with from a lover to AI. All Shining and the others want is to live life on their terms. Each novella is well developed and contains a mission or situation while advancing the overall arc and relationships. I highly recommend listening in the order of their release.
Khristine Hvam does a stellar job of giving voice and personality to Shining, the cats, other characters and AI. She enhances my overall enjoyment of the tale. I couldn’t imagine not listening.
Fans of science fiction, post-apocalyptic worlds and well-developed characters need to grab this series.
This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Reviewer
Hunter has created a gritty, dangerous world laid desolate after wars. Technology is both cool and scary as Shining is infected. Then we have cats that communicate with her, and motorcycle gangs vying for territory, product and power. It is not a place for weak of heart. For each tidbit we learn, I want to know more… it’s addictive.
I love Shining and the motley crew she surrounds herself with from a lover to AI. All Shining and the others want is to live life on their terms. Each novella is well developed and contains a mission or situation while advancing the overall arc and relationships. I highly recommend listening in the order of their release.
Khristine Hvam does a stellar job of giving voice and personality to Shining, the cats, other characters and AI. She enhances my overall enjoyment of the tale. I couldn’t imagine not listening.
Fans of science fiction, post-apocalyptic worlds and well-developed characters need to grab this series.
This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Reviewer
July 29, 2024
Fourth in the Junkyard Cats apocalyptic science fiction series and revolving around Shining Smith, a made-girl who runs a junkyard in the desert of West Virginia. It’s been six months since
Junkyard War
, 3.
My Take
Junkyard Cats is an interesting look at the needs of an apocalyptic world, from how Shining describes her world to the importance she places on various skills. One where ice and nuts are a sign of wealth and skin cancer is the primary cause of death.
Hmmm, one thing Shining doesn’t have to worry over is how to feed the cats. Ick.
We experience so much through Hunter’s use of first person protagonist point-of-view from Shining’s perspective — she sure did learn from Pops!
She sure has transformed that junkyard of hers with so many enterprises added from the roadhouse, the trading post, the clearing house-grocery store, and all those rental bunks. She’s so excited about it, and even better, she won’t be in hiding anymore. And she gets to set the rules. More fun is reading about all the security measures Shining is including — like those hitching posts, lol.
It’s sad that it took plagues to make children valuable.
Part of the drama is Shining being formally ousted from the OMWs and getting her new club’s colors and tats approved. Scarier is whether all those motorcycle clubs converging are coming to battle or make nice.
I love that the made-men fear those cats! Unfortunately, the cats aren’t too keen on all that inking and the men of those gangs.
There are plenty of traps in this story, and it’s fun to watch Shining recognize and then step around them. That payment she demands of Whip is a pip. And Shining discovers she has a friend!
Ooh, that question about events in that last battle towards the end sounds like an additional topic for book five, along with the names in those records Jolene acquired.
Whew, even Jacopo knows he isn’t safe from Mina.
Hunter incorporates the biker culture and its language to create a dramatic story in which the good guys are up against the bad guys . . . and there are enough of those guys who are in the gray to keep all this action and bargaining interesting
The information bonanza Shining and Jolene got from Warhammer’s nest is a treasure trove and terrifying with all that it implies.
Junkyard will be the name of her club. And I gotta wonder, how do two AIs go on a honeymoon?
The Story
To make it official, Shining and Cupcake will have to be branded and tattooed while their “guests” kick back in the roadhouse. And it seems not all of them can read Shining’s Rules of Entry when one of them kicks a cat.
Oops.
The Characters
The orange-eyed Shining “Little Girl” Smith, a queen and made-woman, has finally opened her Junkyard Roadhouse, and it looks like an old-west saloon. Pops, Bill Smith, had been her father and the de facto leader of the OMW. “Little Mama” her mother.
Mateo is a mish-mash of human and machine and the former commander of the USS SunStar. Jolene is the aware AI of the ship. Amos is in a relationship with the amazingly organized Cupcake, who is Shining’s number one thrall and soon to be vice-president and treasurer. Cupcake had been Red’s Old Lady in the original Hell’s Angels and the president’s communication and records specialist. Shining’s other thralls include the rescued Captain Evelyn Raymond ( Junkyard War ), who had been Mateo’s second-in-command, and Wanda and her son, Alex. Gomez is the alien Bug ship AI whose captain is dead/not dead in a lower level. The bouncer bot sounds sexy yet menacing.
Spy is one of Tuff’s descendants. Tuff is the current queen of the clowder, of Tuffs’ Destruction. Other warrior cats include Wide Stripe, Narrow Stripe, and Spot.
Logan Jagger is the OMW’s national enforcer (and a Hatfield on his maternal side). The current motorcycle clubs include the Outlaw Militia Warriors Motorcycle Club (OMW) where Roy “McQuestion” Gamble is the top man; Marconi (the regional president in Charleston) and Charles “Chuck” Whip are with Hell’s Angels; the augmented J’Ron “Mama-Killer” Walker leads Black Sabbath; Tomika Alverez, the best tattoo artist east of the Mississippi, leads the Sisters of the Cross; and, Bengal is with the Boozefighters. Jacopo and Enrico Marconi are sons while Mina is Marconi’s psychopathic daughter. Weylon McClelland had been the inker of the OMW. “Hammer” Davis is Whip’s NE. Not part of the alliance is Asheville’s Iron Order Rifles MC.
Logan is . . .
. . . a town that has been through a lot, and the Logan Wildcats Militia are offering an alliance. William Anderson “Devil Anse” Hatfield is a descendant of those Hatfields. Martha is his wife. Eloise is their kidnapped daughter. The orphaned Andy Gaither Hatfield made the treacherous trip to the roadhouse. Will and Martha took him in when his parents, Benjamin and Shanna, died. Joey needs medical help. Beckett is Anse’s number two. Richard McCoy is the town mayor. More men include BillyBob, Claude, and Sawyer. The Freewill Baptist Church is critical. The Four Corners Mine used to be a going concern in Logan.
The commander of the Charlotte North Carolina Military Base has a crew of Rangers ready to go. The Hand of the Law are the police.
Clarisse Warhammer had taken over the Mara Salvatrucha Angels (MSA) but was killed in Junkyard War during the battle of Warhammer’s Nest.
Haruto is a tattoo artist from Japan and is now based in Chattanooga. I think a morphon is a combination cellphone and tablet. I can imagine a lot of people could make good use of their very own Medical Battlefield Bay (MBB). Cataglyphis bicolor Fabricius ants swarm to kill. Alien Bugs had gone to war with Earth, to stop its foolishness. One-percenters are the top made-men of a club. Jollies are knockout gummies fro minor surgery. Devil’s Milk is a better medication. Harlan had been Shining’s best friend. “Fostering” had been a euphemism for slave labor or the sex trade.
The Cover and Title
The cover is dark with blacks, browns, and golds brightened by a bit of electric blue. It’s a stormy sky above the single-story roadhouse with the short-haired Shining in front, one foot up on a crate, wearing weathered blue jeans, a dirty white tank top, and dusty boots with cats all around her. To her right is a bike, massive with highlights of bright blue; another bit of bright blue is the morphon on her right bicep. The title is at the top in gold while the author’s name is at the bottom, also in gold. Just above the author’s name, in white, is an info blurb.
The title is Shining’s achievement, the Junkyard Roadhouse.
My Take
Junkyard Cats is an interesting look at the needs of an apocalyptic world, from how Shining describes her world to the importance she places on various skills. One where ice and nuts are a sign of wealth and skin cancer is the primary cause of death.
Hmmm, one thing Shining doesn’t have to worry over is how to feed the cats. Ick.
We experience so much through Hunter’s use of first person protagonist point-of-view from Shining’s perspective — she sure did learn from Pops!
She sure has transformed that junkyard of hers with so many enterprises added from the roadhouse, the trading post, the clearing house-grocery store, and all those rental bunks. She’s so excited about it, and even better, she won’t be in hiding anymore. And she gets to set the rules. More fun is reading about all the security measures Shining is including — like those hitching posts, lol.
It’s sad that it took plagues to make children valuable.
”God loves you just as you are, but people never would.”Part of Shining’s challenge is her mutated self — a touch or her sweat can start the transition process in another living being.
Part of the drama is Shining being formally ousted from the OMWs and getting her new club’s colors and tats approved. Scarier is whether all those motorcycle clubs converging are coming to battle or make nice.
I love that the made-men fear those cats! Unfortunately, the cats aren’t too keen on all that inking and the men of those gangs.
There are plenty of traps in this story, and it’s fun to watch Shining recognize and then step around them. That payment she demands of Whip is a pip. And Shining discovers she has a friend!
Ooh, that question about events in that last battle towards the end sounds like an additional topic for book five, along with the names in those records Jolene acquired.
Whew, even Jacopo knows he isn’t safe from Mina.
Hunter incorporates the biker culture and its language to create a dramatic story in which the good guys are up against the bad guys . . . and there are enough of those guys who are in the gray to keep all this action and bargaining interesting
The information bonanza Shining and Jolene got from Warhammer’s nest is a treasure trove and terrifying with all that it implies.
Junkyard will be the name of her club. And I gotta wonder, how do two AIs go on a honeymoon?
The Story
To make it official, Shining and Cupcake will have to be branded and tattooed while their “guests” kick back in the roadhouse. And it seems not all of them can read Shining’s Rules of Entry when one of them kicks a cat.
Oops.
The Characters
The orange-eyed Shining “Little Girl” Smith, a queen and made-woman, has finally opened her Junkyard Roadhouse, and it looks like an old-west saloon. Pops, Bill Smith, had been her father and the de facto leader of the OMW. “Little Mama” her mother.
Mateo is a mish-mash of human and machine and the former commander of the USS SunStar. Jolene is the aware AI of the ship. Amos is in a relationship with the amazingly organized Cupcake, who is Shining’s number one thrall and soon to be vice-president and treasurer. Cupcake had been Red’s Old Lady in the original Hell’s Angels and the president’s communication and records specialist. Shining’s other thralls include the rescued Captain Evelyn Raymond ( Junkyard War ), who had been Mateo’s second-in-command, and Wanda and her son, Alex. Gomez is the alien Bug ship AI whose captain is dead/not dead in a lower level. The bouncer bot sounds sexy yet menacing.
Spy is one of Tuff’s descendants. Tuff is the current queen of the clowder, of Tuffs’ Destruction. Other warrior cats include Wide Stripe, Narrow Stripe, and Spot.
Logan Jagger is the OMW’s national enforcer (and a Hatfield on his maternal side). The current motorcycle clubs include the Outlaw Militia Warriors Motorcycle Club (OMW) where Roy “McQuestion” Gamble is the top man; Marconi (the regional president in Charleston) and Charles “Chuck” Whip are with Hell’s Angels; the augmented J’Ron “Mama-Killer” Walker leads Black Sabbath; Tomika Alverez, the best tattoo artist east of the Mississippi, leads the Sisters of the Cross; and, Bengal is with the Boozefighters. Jacopo and Enrico Marconi are sons while Mina is Marconi’s psychopathic daughter. Weylon McClelland had been the inker of the OMW. “Hammer” Davis is Whip’s NE. Not part of the alliance is Asheville’s Iron Order Rifles MC.
Logan is . . .
. . . a town that has been through a lot, and the Logan Wildcats Militia are offering an alliance. William Anderson “Devil Anse” Hatfield is a descendant of those Hatfields. Martha is his wife. Eloise is their kidnapped daughter. The orphaned Andy Gaither Hatfield made the treacherous trip to the roadhouse. Will and Martha took him in when his parents, Benjamin and Shanna, died. Joey needs medical help. Beckett is Anse’s number two. Richard McCoy is the town mayor. More men include BillyBob, Claude, and Sawyer. The Freewill Baptist Church is critical. The Four Corners Mine used to be a going concern in Logan.
The commander of the Charlotte North Carolina Military Base has a crew of Rangers ready to go. The Hand of the Law are the police.
Clarisse Warhammer had taken over the Mara Salvatrucha Angels (MSA) but was killed in Junkyard War during the battle of Warhammer’s Nest.
Haruto is a tattoo artist from Japan and is now based in Chattanooga. I think a morphon is a combination cellphone and tablet. I can imagine a lot of people could make good use of their very own Medical Battlefield Bay (MBB). Cataglyphis bicolor Fabricius ants swarm to kill. Alien Bugs had gone to war with Earth, to stop its foolishness. One-percenters are the top made-men of a club. Jollies are knockout gummies fro minor surgery. Devil’s Milk is a better medication. Harlan had been Shining’s best friend. “Fostering” had been a euphemism for slave labor or the sex trade.
The Cover and Title
The cover is dark with blacks, browns, and golds brightened by a bit of electric blue. It’s a stormy sky above the single-story roadhouse with the short-haired Shining in front, one foot up on a crate, wearing weathered blue jeans, a dirty white tank top, and dusty boots with cats all around her. To her right is a bike, massive with highlights of bright blue; another bit of bright blue is the morphon on her right bicep. The title is at the top in gold while the author’s name is at the bottom, also in gold. Just above the author’s name, in white, is an info blurb.
The title is Shining’s achievement, the Junkyard Roadhouse.
July 16, 2024
A lovely and entertaining addition to the Junkyard Cats series of novellas. Shining Smith gets to set up a Road House and rescue the damsel in distress, all while driving hard bargains and trying her hardest not to accidentally transition anyone into her thrall. There is also some murky business going on involving alien technology and clandestine, "government" (what's left of it) military operations. Jolene, Cupcake, Mateo, Jagger, and the cats all make an appearance.
January 3, 2025
3.5
I love the Junkyard Cats dystopian sci-fi fantasy world. Shining Smith is such an interesting character with a compelling backstory. It seems as though there are many more adventures for Shining, but this adventure/obstacle fell a little flat for me. Shining is presented with an objective but there wasn't much emotion behind it. Then, "Junkyard Roadhouse" abruptly ends. I feel this book needed one or two more chapters.
I love the Junkyard Cats dystopian sci-fi fantasy world. Shining Smith is such an interesting character with a compelling backstory. It seems as though there are many more adventures for Shining, but this adventure/obstacle fell a little flat for me. Shining is presented with an objective but there wasn't much emotion behind it. Then, "Junkyard Roadhouse" abruptly ends. I feel this book needed one or two more chapters.
July 21, 2024
I am so in love with this series!! The mix of sci-fi and urban fantasy is seamless. Faith Hunter being the fantastic writer she is, emerges you into her post-galaxic war ruined world. The story surrounds the now grown women, who as a little girl saved the world from being conquered by a robotic alien species. This is the 4th book in the series, and we are watching how Little Girl deals with the effects and life changing consequences she has as a result of entering the Mommabot to save the world. On a side note, I love the bevy of cats and all thier personalities! 5 stars all the way
August 6, 2024
I don't know why I love this series, but I do. Motorcycles, tough women, dytopian future, anarchy, hacked tech, life at the brink, actual psychopaths, cats (not the same psychopaths, but yeah, them too)... and Jolene. I will just keep reading this series as long as more books come out. No notes.
December 7, 2024
Lively and Entertaining
Shining and her post-war world keep me caught up every time I pick up a new book. One of my favorite series. Especially the cats! I can't wait to see what new battles Shining takes on, whether she gives in to her nanos needs, and I'm hoping that she gets the guy in the end. And the bikes. Love all the sexy bike modification talk.
Shining and her post-war world keep me caught up every time I pick up a new book. One of my favorite series. Especially the cats! I can't wait to see what new battles Shining takes on, whether she gives in to her nanos needs, and I'm hoping that she gets the guy in the end. And the bikes. Love all the sexy bike modification talk.
July 6, 2024
I still get a kick from the cats! Wonder if Jolene and Gomez have anything to do with that signal!
September 25, 2024
4.5 stars.
July 2, 2024
Oh my!!!!
Eagerly awaited and did not disappoint! Thank you Faith Hunter for an enthralling read. You truly have a unique voice and yet, it's so completely plausible. Enjoyed every minute of it.
Eagerly awaited and did not disappoint! Thank you Faith Hunter for an enthralling read. You truly have a unique voice and yet, it's so completely plausible. Enjoyed every minute of it.
November 9, 2025
I love this author. She's retired and doesn't write as much these days, but I'm thankful for at least this series. This one is about establishing the roadhouse as neutral territory and rescuing a kidnapped girl.
August 30, 2024
When I finished the previous audiobook in this utterly awesome, completely riveting, absolutely compelling series that began with Junkyard Cats four years ago, that story, Junkyard War, felt like a slam-bang ending.
And it kind of was. But as things turned out – thankfully, blissfully and painfully – it wasn’t the end of Shining’s story at all – merely the end of the beginning. Because Junkyard Roadhouse is clearly – and OMG this listener/reader is so, so glad – the opening of a whole new chapter in Shining Smith’s quest to keep her people safe – no matter how much of her world she has to take under her protection in order to make that happen.
It’s a much, MUCH bigger world than we saw in the first book in the series, Junkyard Cats. In that opening story, the world came to Shining in the junkyard she inherited from her ‘Pops’. And it came to take her out and take over everything she had and everyone she had come to love – no matter how reluctantly.
But the enemy that came for her, Clarice Warhammer, is dead. Dead at the hands, and guns of Shining, her friends and allies, and the clowder of sentient battle-cats who are probably the true masters of Shining’s junkyard. Just ask them.
Shining’s reward for taking out Warhammer is three-fold. Warhammer and her nest have been eliminated – with extreme prejudice. So that’s one enemy in the ground. Shining took all of Warhammer’s intel as part of the spoils of war – a vast increase in Shining’s knowledge and insight into the world around her and the enemies that were backing Warhammer and will absolutely see Shining and her allies as a threat.
Because they absolutely are.
But first, Shining gets to collect her reward – a reward for which she has already paid in blood and will again. It’s not really a reward for herself – or at least she doesn’t see it that way. What she sees is the increased responsibility for keeping her people – whether two-legged or four – as safe and secure as she can make them.
So, with the posturing and permission of the motorcycle clubs that control the region, that were her allies in the battle with Warhammer, Shining Smith officially opens the Junkyard Roadhouse, a club chapter house that includes a restaurant and rooms to rent, trading post, and neutral ground – owned, operated and administered in all of its somewhat safe and mostly secure glory by Shining Smith herself and her own entirely independent motorcycle club.
It’s all hers – if she can manage to keep it.
After all, Warhammer was just the tip of a very dirty iceberg filled with powerful enemies – and Shining Smith is already in their sights. What none of them, not the military, not the Gov, not the Hand of the Law, recognize is that they are already in hers – and that hers are considerably more than they ever imagined.
Junkyard Roadhouse marks the beginning of THEIR end – they just don’t know it yet.
Escape Rating A: This is the story I felt compelled to finish last Friday, to the point where, as much as IMHO Khristine Hvam thoroughly embodies the voice of Shining Smith, I switched to the text – grateful that the text was already available for a change – in order to see how Shining got herself and her people out of the pickle she was in, turned it to her advantage, AND set the stage for the next book in the series.
Because Shining CLEARLY isn’t remotely done with the black ops of the military, their supporters in the Gov OR the corrupt Hands of the Law – all of which seem to be legion, planning something big and nefarious and aiming straight for her.
But that’s for later – and this reader is oh-so-happy that there will be a later, because Shining’s story could easily have ended with her victory at the end of Junkyard War.
Whether you experience this series in text or in the marvelous audio rendition, the series and whether or not you will like it rides or dies on the voice of its protagonist Shining Smith. If her blend of bravado and snark, her ability to take charge but her internal doubts about her ability to lead, her impostor syndrome combined with the utter certainty that if she doesn’t do it the job won’t get done – in other words, all the things that made ‘Little Girl’ survive the mamabot to become Shining Smith – if that voice and attitude trips your reading trigger you’ll love Shining.
As her friends and especially her enemies would attest, however, Shining Smith is a bit of an acquired taste – and there are parts of her world that are depressing as hell. The conditions that she has survived certainly depress the hell out of her frequently and often. She just puts on her ‘big girl panties’, gets on her bike and rides out to meet those conditions whenever and wherever necessary and that’s what I love about her and her story.
This particular entry in the series is a bit of a bridge between those initial three books and what’s coming next – and it starts with an excruciating rebirth that sometimes felt like it got lingered over a bit too long. Your mileage may vary but the change from Shining Smith, member of the OMW to Shining Smith, president of the independent Junkyard Roadhouse motorcycle club is both bloody and painful to the point where if I hadn’t already been all in on this series I might have turned off – or at least switched to text which wouldn’t have been quite so… visceral.
Meaning that this is not the place to start your experience of Shining’s truly fucked up future Earth. Start with Junkyard Cats – you’ll be glad you did. I was then, I am now and I can’t wait for more.
One final note on the audio, well, sorta/kinda on the audio. I’ve enjoyed Shining’s voice so much, especially as portrayed by Khristine Hvam, that I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to check out whether she is also the voice of Jane Yellowrock in the author’s signature series of the same name. She is, which just threw 15 more books, and counting, onto the top of my TBL (that’s To Be Listened) pile. Which I absolutely did not need but am still incredibly happy about because it will give me something (else) to dive into while I wait for Shining’s next adventure/confrontation/full-scale war.
Originally published at Reading Reality
And it kind of was. But as things turned out – thankfully, blissfully and painfully – it wasn’t the end of Shining’s story at all – merely the end of the beginning. Because Junkyard Roadhouse is clearly – and OMG this listener/reader is so, so glad – the opening of a whole new chapter in Shining Smith’s quest to keep her people safe – no matter how much of her world she has to take under her protection in order to make that happen.
It’s a much, MUCH bigger world than we saw in the first book in the series, Junkyard Cats. In that opening story, the world came to Shining in the junkyard she inherited from her ‘Pops’. And it came to take her out and take over everything she had and everyone she had come to love – no matter how reluctantly.
But the enemy that came for her, Clarice Warhammer, is dead. Dead at the hands, and guns of Shining, her friends and allies, and the clowder of sentient battle-cats who are probably the true masters of Shining’s junkyard. Just ask them.
Shining’s reward for taking out Warhammer is three-fold. Warhammer and her nest have been eliminated – with extreme prejudice. So that’s one enemy in the ground. Shining took all of Warhammer’s intel as part of the spoils of war – a vast increase in Shining’s knowledge and insight into the world around her and the enemies that were backing Warhammer and will absolutely see Shining and her allies as a threat.
Because they absolutely are.
But first, Shining gets to collect her reward – a reward for which she has already paid in blood and will again. It’s not really a reward for herself – or at least she doesn’t see it that way. What she sees is the increased responsibility for keeping her people – whether two-legged or four – as safe and secure as she can make them.
So, with the posturing and permission of the motorcycle clubs that control the region, that were her allies in the battle with Warhammer, Shining Smith officially opens the Junkyard Roadhouse, a club chapter house that includes a restaurant and rooms to rent, trading post, and neutral ground – owned, operated and administered in all of its somewhat safe and mostly secure glory by Shining Smith herself and her own entirely independent motorcycle club.
It’s all hers – if she can manage to keep it.
After all, Warhammer was just the tip of a very dirty iceberg filled with powerful enemies – and Shining Smith is already in their sights. What none of them, not the military, not the Gov, not the Hand of the Law, recognize is that they are already in hers – and that hers are considerably more than they ever imagined.
Junkyard Roadhouse marks the beginning of THEIR end – they just don’t know it yet.
Escape Rating A: This is the story I felt compelled to finish last Friday, to the point where, as much as IMHO Khristine Hvam thoroughly embodies the voice of Shining Smith, I switched to the text – grateful that the text was already available for a change – in order to see how Shining got herself and her people out of the pickle she was in, turned it to her advantage, AND set the stage for the next book in the series.
Because Shining CLEARLY isn’t remotely done with the black ops of the military, their supporters in the Gov OR the corrupt Hands of the Law – all of which seem to be legion, planning something big and nefarious and aiming straight for her.
But that’s for later – and this reader is oh-so-happy that there will be a later, because Shining’s story could easily have ended with her victory at the end of Junkyard War.
Whether you experience this series in text or in the marvelous audio rendition, the series and whether or not you will like it rides or dies on the voice of its protagonist Shining Smith. If her blend of bravado and snark, her ability to take charge but her internal doubts about her ability to lead, her impostor syndrome combined with the utter certainty that if she doesn’t do it the job won’t get done – in other words, all the things that made ‘Little Girl’ survive the mamabot to become Shining Smith – if that voice and attitude trips your reading trigger you’ll love Shining.
As her friends and especially her enemies would attest, however, Shining Smith is a bit of an acquired taste – and there are parts of her world that are depressing as hell. The conditions that she has survived certainly depress the hell out of her frequently and often. She just puts on her ‘big girl panties’, gets on her bike and rides out to meet those conditions whenever and wherever necessary and that’s what I love about her and her story.
This particular entry in the series is a bit of a bridge between those initial three books and what’s coming next – and it starts with an excruciating rebirth that sometimes felt like it got lingered over a bit too long. Your mileage may vary but the change from Shining Smith, member of the OMW to Shining Smith, president of the independent Junkyard Roadhouse motorcycle club is both bloody and painful to the point where if I hadn’t already been all in on this series I might have turned off – or at least switched to text which wouldn’t have been quite so… visceral.
Meaning that this is not the place to start your experience of Shining’s truly fucked up future Earth. Start with Junkyard Cats – you’ll be glad you did. I was then, I am now and I can’t wait for more.
One final note on the audio, well, sorta/kinda on the audio. I’ve enjoyed Shining’s voice so much, especially as portrayed by Khristine Hvam, that I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to check out whether she is also the voice of Jane Yellowrock in the author’s signature series of the same name. She is, which just threw 15 more books, and counting, onto the top of my TBL (that’s To Be Listened) pile. Which I absolutely did not need but am still incredibly happy about because it will give me something (else) to dive into while I wait for Shining’s next adventure/confrontation/full-scale war.
Originally published at Reading Reality
October 12, 2024
Junkyard Roadhouse is the fourth book in Hunter’s exciting Shining Smith futuristic sci-fi series. The book, set a few to several months after the war with Clarisse Warhammer, marks a new start and the beginning of another story arc. Shining is moving forward with her own sanctioned MC and a neutral ground roadhouse. In a passing thought, readers learn that when Clarisse was killed, Shining (and her AI Jolene) discovered a trove of intel indicating a massive conspiracy that spans government, military, and other MCs. We witness a bit of this in the primary plot of Junkyard Roadhouse.
Overall, I continue to enjoy this series for both the interesting storylines and the unique and fascinating characters. Junkyard Roadhouse is a great addition, transitioning the original trilogy into a larger conspiracy with global implications. There are additional characters, new bad guys, and more to fight for. Shining is coerced into help a neighboring militia save a kidnapped girl; however, it’s something I think she would have done anyhow. I love that Shining is tough but has a moral compass. While this plotline is self-contained to the book, it is just the tip of the iceberg when dealing with the new foe. I am excited to find out the extent of the mysterious dark riders and what is their ultimate end game.
The book also opens up some threads that felt unfinished, like the emaciated coal miners, Mina’s mental state, and what her boyfriend Jaeger is really up to. I hope these threads are also picked up in subsequent stories.
Narration: Junkyard Roadhouse is shared via the first person POV of Shining. Ms. Hvam’s voice for the narrator/Shining is on the deeper side of average female and has a gravely component at times. She alters the voice for dialogue, using distinct accents and dialects for each character. I especially enjoyed the southern accent of Jolene, and the metallic/robotic accent of Mateo. She also does an amazing job voicing a young child, sounding authentic. I like how she portrays Shining. She’s got an edge and you can hear it in her voice… it’s not soft and comforting. It’s got grit. You can also hear exasperation with the situation in her non-spoken verbal cues. She brings Shining and the world to life.
My Ratings:
Story: B+
Narration: A
Overall, I continue to enjoy this series for both the interesting storylines and the unique and fascinating characters. Junkyard Roadhouse is a great addition, transitioning the original trilogy into a larger conspiracy with global implications. There are additional characters, new bad guys, and more to fight for. Shining is coerced into help a neighboring militia save a kidnapped girl; however, it’s something I think she would have done anyhow. I love that Shining is tough but has a moral compass. While this plotline is self-contained to the book, it is just the tip of the iceberg when dealing with the new foe. I am excited to find out the extent of the mysterious dark riders and what is their ultimate end game.
The book also opens up some threads that felt unfinished, like the emaciated coal miners, Mina’s mental state, and what her boyfriend Jaeger is really up to. I hope these threads are also picked up in subsequent stories.
Narration: Junkyard Roadhouse is shared via the first person POV of Shining. Ms. Hvam’s voice for the narrator/Shining is on the deeper side of average female and has a gravely component at times. She alters the voice for dialogue, using distinct accents and dialects for each character. I especially enjoyed the southern accent of Jolene, and the metallic/robotic accent of Mateo. She also does an amazing job voicing a young child, sounding authentic. I like how she portrays Shining. She’s got an edge and you can hear it in her voice… it’s not soft and comforting. It’s got grit. You can also hear exasperation with the situation in her non-spoken verbal cues. She brings Shining and the world to life.
My Ratings:
Story: B+
Narration: A
September 1, 2024
I just love the Junkyard Cats series and this new installment, “Junkyard Roadhouse” while short reads like a dream.
This time Shining Smith has remote junkyard to include a roadhouse and safe haven for the bikers she is now set to be their leader. Of course, there are always one or two fools out there who just have to test the mettle of “the little girl,” a title Shining embracing with a vengeance. Well, they won’t be testing anyone else because Shining and her family make sure that they will RIP.
Before her guests arrive, an injured boy stumbles into her compound asking for her assistance. This time Shining will need to really watch her back as well as that of her crew as well. It’s a great responsibility when you grow to love and respect the people who put their faith and trust in you. Well, let me tell you the cats are also on high alert and are not about to let anyone mess with Shining especially when they are hungry. Any excuse for a meat meal is fine with them.
I really enjoyed this installment. There are a few secrets revealed and it also concludes with providing Shining with several new missions in life. This “little girl” thinks big and the whole planet is about to know it!
This time Shining Smith has remote junkyard to include a roadhouse and safe haven for the bikers she is now set to be their leader. Of course, there are always one or two fools out there who just have to test the mettle of “the little girl,” a title Shining embracing with a vengeance. Well, they won’t be testing anyone else because Shining and her family make sure that they will RIP.
Before her guests arrive, an injured boy stumbles into her compound asking for her assistance. This time Shining will need to really watch her back as well as that of her crew as well. It’s a great responsibility when you grow to love and respect the people who put their faith and trust in you. Well, let me tell you the cats are also on high alert and are not about to let anyone mess with Shining especially when they are hungry. Any excuse for a meat meal is fine with them.
I really enjoyed this installment. There are a few secrets revealed and it also concludes with providing Shining with several new missions in life. This “little girl” thinks big and the whole planet is about to know it!
July 9, 2024
Shining Smith is getting ready to open her Junkyard Roadhouse and head her own club, after the approval of the presidents of four motorcycle clubs. This entails painful blood sacrifice and tattoos of her club logo and colors. An injured kid shows up and they have to medically treat him before they can find out why he’s there. When they finally speak to him, they’re given a note from his uncle, who claims his daughter has been kidnapped by dark riders. Shining will have to lead her people on a mission to retrieve some items that were taken, rescue the girl, and defeat the enemy, while hopefully making new allies for the future and making sure her secrets are kept. With ruthless fighters on her side, two powerful AI’s providing intel, and bloody battles to get through, Shining and her junkyard cats won’t stop until they get what they want, freedom to live life on their terms. This is the 4th novella in this series, and I can’t wait for more. I just wish they were longer and they came sooner, because this one was finished too quickly and now I have to wait a while for the next one to enjoy.
July 14, 2024
This is book four of the Junkyard Cats series. Every book has left me wanting more. I do understand that these are novellas rather than novels, but darn it, this one felt far too short! It must be time to go back and re-read/re-listen to the earlier volumes.
I enjoy every update on Shining Smith and her companions, particularly the cats. Jagger (I thought it was Jaeger until I read the ebook) is okay, but the cats are more intriguing. The cats shine as the absolute heroes of one scene early on in the book, which is wonderful.
I was a Faith Hunter fan before this series began, or I wouldn't have taken a chance on it. The first volume, Junkyard Cats, was only available as an audiobook at first. I don't generally listen to fiction, but I like Hunter's work so much that I bought it anyway. I'm so glad that I did!
For the first time, I used the Whispersync feature to read the Kindle version of the book and listen to the Audible version. That worked very well!
Khristine Hvam's narration adds so much to this series. I can hear Shining, in particular, but she does a great job with all the other characters, too.
I enjoy every update on Shining Smith and her companions, particularly the cats. Jagger (I thought it was Jaeger until I read the ebook) is okay, but the cats are more intriguing. The cats shine as the absolute heroes of one scene early on in the book, which is wonderful.
I was a Faith Hunter fan before this series began, or I wouldn't have taken a chance on it. The first volume, Junkyard Cats, was only available as an audiobook at first. I don't generally listen to fiction, but I like Hunter's work so much that I bought it anyway. I'm so glad that I did!
For the first time, I used the Whispersync feature to read the Kindle version of the book and listen to the Audible version. That worked very well!
Khristine Hvam's narration adds so much to this series. I can hear Shining, in particular, but she does a great job with all the other characters, too.
February 5, 2026
This series keeps getting better. It moves along at a fairly fast clip, plenty of action, sci fi aspect is explained in a manner I can grasp. It's not heavy duty sci-fi, it's just part of the story. I guess military /biker club sci-fi blend.
It's all about the characters and the action. Shining has opened a roadhouse, her junkyard is out in the open but still with plenty of secrets. As has been through the series, there's a lot she has to deal with. She's been given permission to have her own biker club, leave the one she was born into and that comes with consequences and political maneuvering.
Then there's the request to come to the aid of a town's leader who has had his daughter stolen by the Dark Riders who have been running rampant all across the area. The leader has some leverage and Shining isn't happy about the whole deal.
Another great entry in this series. I can absolutely recommend this book, series and author.
It's all about the characters and the action. Shining has opened a roadhouse, her junkyard is out in the open but still with plenty of secrets. As has been through the series, there's a lot she has to deal with. She's been given permission to have her own biker club, leave the one she was born into and that comes with consequences and political maneuvering.
Then there's the request to come to the aid of a town's leader who has had his daughter stolen by the Dark Riders who have been running rampant all across the area. The leader has some leverage and Shining isn't happy about the whole deal.
Another great entry in this series. I can absolutely recommend this book, series and author.
July 20, 2024
Junkyard Road house is an excellent book it shows how well she has developed her nest to be independent as possible with free will and thought. At times Shining finds this disturbing and wonders what else her thralls hide from her but at the same time she refuses to have mindless slaves. I truly enjoy seeing the evolution of her friends and what they can do as a team. I am very curious about her live interest who seems the most un-thrilled of the bunch and I wish they could be together as they had hoped. I’m excited to see what comes next in the story as the bar and safe haven for all gets off to its beginning. I feel like it is a fantastic beginning for a hopefully brighter future and yet I feel trouble brewing on the horizon which will most definitely make for an excellent and enjoyable next edition. I can’t wait and if you haven’t already started the series I highly recommend it!
March 15, 2025
Junkyard Roadhouse a wild entertaining ride
The descriptive and in-depth characterization, combined with fast pacing, made this a novella I had trouble putting down before the end. The plot is interesting and grows the world, presenting threats on a larger scale.
I do wish the pacing had been slower in places. Sometimes, it feels there is too much coming at you without more context. I also wish there was more page time and characterization for some characters, such as Mina and Devil Anse. I think any problems might have been fixed if it was a full length novel instead of a novella. We'll worth the read as is though.
The descriptive and in-depth characterization, combined with fast pacing, made this a novella I had trouble putting down before the end. The plot is interesting and grows the world, presenting threats on a larger scale.
I do wish the pacing had been slower in places. Sometimes, it feels there is too much coming at you without more context. I also wish there was more page time and characterization for some characters, such as Mina and Devil Anse. I think any problems might have been fixed if it was a full length novel instead of a novella. We'll worth the read as is though.
March 25, 2026
I really love this series but they’re all starting to feel the same. There wasn’t anything in this book that stood out as different from the others. Shining and her crew battle bad guys, there’s lots of blood and guts (and the hungry cats like that a lot), and the good guys retreat home to heal their wounds. Shining has the same concerns about enthralling others, keeping her tech secret, worrying about people making plans behind her back - and all those are legitimate concerns. Maybe it’s that this felt too much like the Warhammer encounter.
In any case, I’m about to start the fifth book. It’s great to have a book where lots of cats are heroes. Of course I’m going to love these books!
In any case, I’m about to start the fifth book. It’s great to have a book where lots of cats are heroes. Of course I’m going to love these books!
July 2, 2024
junkyard roadhouse
Anything by Faith Hunter is quality writing. The stories are well thought out with depth of character and world building. I have read all of her books and look forward to more.
The only con is how quickly I read each new one and have to wait for the next.
I’m a woman in my 70’s who has been in love with science fiction and fantasy since I was a preteen. At times it was awkward to be seen reading this genre as a girl. Thank goodness times have changed and such quality writing is readily available today!
Anything by Faith Hunter is quality writing. The stories are well thought out with depth of character and world building. I have read all of her books and look forward to more.
The only con is how quickly I read each new one and have to wait for the next.
I’m a woman in my 70’s who has been in love with science fiction and fantasy since I was a preteen. At times it was awkward to be seen reading this genre as a girl. Thank goodness times have changed and such quality writing is readily available today!
July 5, 2024
The Adventures continue.
Shining Smith has opened a neutral Roadhouse in this fourth book set in post apocalyptic West Virginia. But, of course, things don't go as planned. The Black Riders, a paramilitary group, has been raiding unprotected communities for tech and sex slaves, and captured the daughter of the leader of an improving town, whose leader has tech stolen from Shining's property.
Shining trades help for the missing tech and defends the town from the Black Raiders after rescuing the girl.
Excellent writing as expected from Faith Hunter.
Shining Smith has opened a neutral Roadhouse in this fourth book set in post apocalyptic West Virginia. But, of course, things don't go as planned. The Black Riders, a paramilitary group, has been raiding unprotected communities for tech and sex slaves, and captured the daughter of the leader of an improving town, whose leader has tech stolen from Shining's property.
Shining trades help for the missing tech and defends the town from the Black Raiders after rescuing the girl.
Excellent writing as expected from Faith Hunter.
August 24, 2025
Now that the biggest, most immediate threat of Warhammer is gone, Shinning Smith has converted the junkyard to a neutral roadhouse forming her own motorcycle club. Designed to be a trading post, clearing house and a refuge for any who need it with enforced rules. But Warhammer hadn’t been the whole problem. There were still traitors in the military and government that had corrupt plans for the nation that had to be cleaned up.
Fave scenes: Shining welcoming the bikers, the result of Whip disobeying the rules, the mice at the diner and taking care of Cupcake.
Fave scenes: Shining welcoming the bikers, the result of Whip disobeying the rules, the mice at the diner and taking care of Cupcake.
July 14, 2024
Good story, and great edition to the series. If you have not read the others, you might prefer to do so. Although the author does give you some background, to be honest, I did not feel it was enough for someone who was not familiar with the other books. If you are a fan of this series, or this author, I highly recommend. And, if you have not read the other books in the Junkyard series…I recommend them as well. Good series, and again, a great edition to it.
December 15, 2024
bugs?
The information they got from the killing of Warhammer prove that the government was using agents with a plan to take over the US. The dark riders are fighting in this book or a part of that plot..
They were successful and saving the girl saving the town getting rid of a lot of spies and killing a lot of bad guys .
They have two do trading partners and shining his head of her own gang called the roadhouse which is neutral territory for a all biker gangs
The information they got from the killing of Warhammer prove that the government was using agents with a plan to take over the US. The dark riders are fighting in this book or a part of that plot..
They were successful and saving the girl saving the town getting rid of a lot of spies and killing a lot of bad guys .
They have two do trading partners and shining his head of her own gang called the roadhouse which is neutral territory for a all biker gangs
May 14, 2025
New enemies emerge in book 3
Book three in the Junkyard series. Shining opens a Roadhouse designed to be neutral territory for the MCs and then gets an urgent request for assistance from a man who apparently scavenged parts of Boldness tech years ago. The storyline is crisp. There is violence but not overly gratuitous, as the series is set in a
dystopian future, there is consequently a lot of violence.
Book three in the Junkyard series. Shining opens a Roadhouse designed to be neutral territory for the MCs and then gets an urgent request for assistance from a man who apparently scavenged parts of Boldness tech years ago. The storyline is crisp. There is violence but not overly gratuitous, as the series is set in a
dystopian future, there is consequently a lot of violence.
July 2, 2024
In this one Shining seems to go from one fight to another. It's iffy as things are going down, but each time she manages to come out ahead in so many ways. Through it all, Shining is careful to not add to her group and at the end tears someone a new one for making decisions with her in mind that aren't solely theirs. The last bit so much fun to see.
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