Property of Knuckles

by Christine Michelle

He was her unrequited love.

She was his redemption.


Cassidy

I fell in love with James Davis when we were children, long before he was ever known as Knuckles.

We were only ever friends because James was infatuated with Simone.

Simone had been my very best friend before she used Jame’s crush on her to try to make his best friend, Jasper, jealous.

Simone knew how I felt about James. Unlike my best friend, Jasper refused to step on Jame’s toes. The minute Simone and James hooked up, Jasper would no longer give Simone the time of day. In a fit of anger, my former best friend agreed to marry the man I’d been in love with for years.

To make my life seem just a little more like a daytime soap opera, James blamed me when he eventually caught Simone cheating on him. I was so far down on his radar by then that he hadn’t even realized that Simone and I stopped talking long before their wedding and years before he caught her cheating.



Knuckles

I publicly humiliated a girl who I once considered a dear friend.

Worse – I did it for no good damn reason other than my ego had been bruised by my wife, the woman I thought was still best friends with Cassidy.

It wasn’t until my club brother, and life-long best friend, knocked me out and gave me a reality check that I realized everything I had loved about my wife had been stolen from the hopes and dreams of another girl.

It would take a miracle to earn back Cassidy’s love and trust, but after I got my crap together, I swore to spend a lifetime doing just that.



💜 Friends to Enemies to Lovers

🖤 Unrequited Love

💜 Other Woman Drama

🖤 Betrayal & Grovel

💜 Action & Adventure

🖤 Second chance at love (new person for hero)

* All the Kings of Anarchy New Mexico books can be read as standalone stories.

Genres: Second Chance, Enemies To Lovers, Friends To Lovers, Contemporary, Romance

213 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 26, 2026

About the author

Christine Michelle runs on coffee and giggles as she writes her angst-fueled romance stories (motorcycle club, rockstar, paranormal, college, & other contemporary as well as women's fiction and marriage in trouble novels).
She is a mom to four humans (2 girls, 2 boys – all grown now).
When she's not writing books, she enjoys reading, drawing, hiking, or feeding her soul with live music at concerts.
Christine is a traveler and has lived all over the USA (and other parts of the world). She currently lives in San Antonio, Texas with her two fur babies.

Reviews

[Tessa · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

I pre-ordered this because the blurb literally has all my favorite tropes....but unfortunately this was a miss for me.


There were some pretty heartbreaking scenes but zero relationship development. There was nothing to root for. I didnt understand/feel the love from the H and I have no idea why the h would of even got with him.

So ya this was a big miss/disappointment for me.

[Danny Lea · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was tragically underwhelming and felt like half the story was missing. There was no development of the MMCs relationship at all. We got the gut punches and whatnot, but author decided she'd pay zero attention to the MMCs chemistry. Which was shit. Nor did this dude have to grovel at all. Plus, he never stuck up for Cassie against Simone once. That was all Jasper. Honestly those two should have ended up being together. Not James/Knuckles. Lastly there were lot's of unanswered questions. Another disappointing release from this author and the KOA series in general.

[Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

Weak groveling, fmc was doormat

[Vana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointment

I had high hopes for this book because I usually love this author, but this one completely missed the mark. The opening drama between the FMC, Simone, and her stepmom sets things up for something intense, but it never actually delivers.

The biggest issue is the complete lack of grovel. The FMC gets hurt and betrayed, and then just forgives him almost instantly. There’s zero accountability. He treats her like she’s “the one” while still screwing around—including with her only friend—which makes him impossible to root for.

I honestly wish she had ended up with Jasper, who consistently had her back, instead of James, who comes off as immature, selfish, and honestly pathetic with no real redemption. Even after everything, James still won’t step up and deal with his ex, leaving Jasper to handle it—again. And then, at the end, the book tries to make you feel bad for the ex like her behavior is somehow excusable. It’s not—it just makes the whole situation feel even more ridiculous.

The FMC also had potential to be strong and independent after the army, but instead reads like a complete doormat.

[Shelley · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars
I didn’t hate it, just didn’t love it either. I feel there was little to none character development between the MMC’s.

[Bev · Rating 2 out of 5]

The potential of this book was everything I want in a book. The execution - not so much. There was zero chemistry between the two of them, I was actually rooting for Cassy and Jasper or (desperate times) even Greg.

The zero was so beyond TSTL I bruised my eyes rolling them. I mean - there are TSTL characters and then there's Knuckles who has his very own category of TSTLdom. I was actually wincing at some of the BS he came up with.

The FMC started off so strong, her back story is heartbreaking and one that could've been built on rather than have the FMC morph into a doormat. There were so many missed opportunities due to plot points that were just left hanging or brushed away that could've strengthend the story immensely.

Disappointed with this one. I didn't buy his redemption or their HEA, he was just that dumb and repulsive. Cassidy deserved better than this man-child who never really left high school.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75

Cassidy had a huge crush on James Davis in high school. She was the quiet girl who mostly kept to herself sans her best friend Simone who was well aware of her feelings. She was devastated when she found out James and Simone had gotten together and the knife cut deeper when she found out they were getting married. Cassidy left and went on to start a life of her own, returning when her father passed. The problem is James is now Knuckles and a member of the Kings of Anarchy MC and he has a misconception about Cassidy and makes know qualms about calling her out, despite getting the facts. Will he ruin any chance he as of making things right with Cassidy once he figures it all out or will he destroy any chance he has?

I wanted to really like this but Knuckles is such a bull headed jerk for most of it. It got frustrating and I felt like there was a character who I was rooting for that just got kind of dumped in the story. Overall good but very angsty.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Foot in mouth

Knuckles puts his foot in his mouth a few times. However I thought this book was very mild compare to others the Author has written. But still good.

[Laur Laur · Rating 2 out of 5]

Feels like it's been quite a few years since CM has written a great book. I've got a few of hers that I re-read fairly regularly, and I'm so disappointed in her latest offerings.

This wasn't one of her worst that feel like no effort has been put in, but it is nowhere near her biker books of old. A very low three.

[Karen Ruedisueli · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dnf when she allowed him to maul her in a catering van. She had so much going for her and he had no growth in eight years .
He did not deserve her.

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

MMC is an idiot

[BAG of Books · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cassidy and James were introduced in the epilogue of “Property of Baffle.”

This story opens with a high school flashback showing how Cassidy and James went from friends to enemies. Cassidy lives a lonely life, ignored at school and at home. She has two separate friendships: Simone, her school-only friend, and James, her neighbor and at-home friend who pretends not to know her at school. Cassidy has a crush on James but never acts on it because he likes Simone.

Before graduation, James and Simone begin hooking up. Simone soon claims she’s pregnant. Because James grew up with an absent father, he insists on marrying her if she keeps the baby, despite believing Simone is unsuitable. He secretly regrets losing his imagined future with Cassidy, who he actually wanted but never pursued due to his grandfather’s advice to wait until they were older.

Simone devises a plan to permanently sever Cassidy and James's friendship (James doesn't realize this is what she's really doing). She convinces James that Cassidy has failed Simone as a friend, even though Cassidy and Simone had already fallen out weeks earlier. A few days after their wedding, they graduate. During the graduation ceremony, James publicly berates Cassidy for not supporting Simone or attending the wedding. Cassidy is blindsided. She knows nothing about either the pregnancy or the marriage.

Cassidy leaves town to join the army without telling James or Simone. Meanwhile, James prospects with the KOA, because his friend Jasper is already a prospect, and tells James the KOA will help sustain his family’s ranch.

Simone later claims to have lost the baby. (She miscarried late in the pregnancy, and she was obviously pregnant by then. So there was a baby, it just might not be his.) James is too dumb to know he was deceived and continues the marriage, believing Simone visits Cassidy at college on weekends. It’s another lie, because Cassidy was in the military and doing college online. Simone is visiting someone, but not Cassidy. 🍆

Eight years later, in the present day, Cassidy returns to her hometown, Violence, after her father’s death. She inherits his house and some money. At the wake, James drunkenly confronts her, accusing her of covering up Simone’s infidelity during college visits. Cassidy is confused, because she never attended a physical college campus and hasn’t seen either of them since graduation. She reveals she’s still in the army, with only months left to decide if she should reenlist. Cassidy's ranch foreman tells her that James divorced Simone, but James still doesn’t realize how much he was manipulated by Simone.

A few years later, Cassidy has left the army and returned home, running a catering business with her former Amy buddies. James, now called Knuckles, reenters her life when she delivers an order to the clubhouse (at the end of "Property of Baffle"). Their reunion is tense. James forces a kiss, claiming it proves they have chemistry. Cassidy thinks James did it to get revenge on her. Despite her protests, their interactions quickly turn physical during a later encounter.

James then proposes they pursue a relationship, citing their physical connection. Doesn't seem like a very good reason to me.

Cassidy tells him Simone had actually been interested in Jasper/Grunt in high school and used James/Knuckles to provoke his jealousy. The whole relationship was Simone’s manipulation tactic from the beginning. Simone fucked up her plan because she didn't realize Jasper wouldn't want her after she slept with his BFF James.

Despite her mistrust, Cassidy is forced into continued contact with James and the club, as they are her catering business’s primary client. She wants to cut ties, but financially she can't.

The club discovers Simone is now a realtor listing property bordering their compound. Land connected to Cassidy’s inheritance, but actually inherited by her evil stepmother, Tiffany. Knuckles assumes Cassidy lied and is secretly working with Simone. After Cassidy clarifies to the Prez (Bigfoot) that the land belongs to Tiffany, she sees Jasper with another woman on his lap at the clubhouse and leaves, hurt.

Concerned about escalating tension between Knuckles and Cassidy, who has become friends with the club wives, Bigfoot sends Knuckles to Phoenix for a job.

Tiffany and a man named Ruiz later threaten Cassidy at her home, but the incident is witnessed and reported. Meanwhile, Cassidy reconnects with Greg, an army friend installing her security system, and visits Phoenix (where he lives) with him. During a night out, Knuckles spots them together. Then Simone appears at the same restaurant and shoots Cassidy.

Knuckles follows Cassidy to the hospital, posing as her husband, while Simone is captured by the KOA and Greg. Soon after, Tiffany is found dead, leading police to suspect Cassidy’s army buddies acted in retaliation for Cass being threatened. The truth, that Simone shot Cassidy, is hidden because the KOA is holding Simone hostage in their murder basement right now.

Simone claims the shooting was accidental, but the KOA believes she’s tied to the cartel (Ruiz) and acted deliberately. If Cassidy dies, her land would pass to her army friends, raising further suspicion.

As Cassidy recovers, Knuckles remains at her side. Their relationship is strained but deepening.

Simone, who moved to Violence from Chicago, reveals her mafia-connected father forced her to act as a sleeper agent for a cartel deal. She was meant to marry an MC member and gather intel, which she did during her marriage to James. She claims coercion by the mafia, and the KOA believes her about most of it, though her motives remain suspect. The cartel’s goal is to take over the town, but Simone doesn't know why. The KOA shares parts of her confession with her father to end the mafia+cartel alliance, while lying that Simone fled after Tiffany’s murder and they don't know where she is. (So they can kill Simone later.)

Meanwhile, Cass is resting in Knuckles's room in the clubhouse.

She decides that if they love each other, they shouldn't let the past ruin their future, and she decides to be his old lady.

The main problem with the story is that the "grovel" was all off page while Cass was in the hospital. What we get on page is a total banana pants wacky story. 😆

[Jennifer Creese · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the book but not liked liked. It was good enough. When I give 3 stars it’s usually a possible reread option but not for this one. There just wasn’t enough zing for me. It was like reading a description of a story. It starts one when they are in high school. The FMC is sorda like a wallflower. She’s neglected by almost everyone in her life but has a strong sense of self. After betrayal by the 2 people she felt closest to she joins the army. She comes back to town and now the MMC takes his shot even after humiliating her the last 2 times she saw him. She doesn’t really hold a grudge from the past (maybe she’s just not that type of person). They end up spending time together talking after she is shot but it didn’t feel like we got to feel the true connection other than just talking. It’s a simple read so if you want something that just flows give it a chance.

[Grinning Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

James, who later became Knuckles, was teenage friends with Cassidy, but only in secret. Her ex-best friend Simone married him because she was pregnant, and he was nasty to Cass at Simone’s behest. He later blamed Cass for keeping his ex wife’s cheating a secret and again, was nasty to her in public. At her father’s wake. Total rhymes-with-mastered.
In my opinion, he didn’t grovel enough. Seriously. Because of this, the book is really not five stars, but 4.5 stars. I rounded up.
Cat’s stats
Heat- explicit
Bechdel test- passed (kind of)
Safety? Y, but if you get butthurt when the characters are with other people before they are with each other, you won’t be happy.
Triggers- violence, language
Tropes- friends to lovers / enemies to lovers, former military, other woman drama

[Tina Turcotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

And the loved through the heartache!

You gotta love when a woman gets knocked down figuratively, brushes herself off and just moves on the best way she can. Knuckles just couldn't help get in his own way. I love that this book showed there are always more ways to have a family then biologically. I did feel bad for Greg. I just got the vibe that Greg was one of the "nice guys that finish last" or just got overlooked. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to read about a bad boy and and the women that makes them the best version of themselves. Honestly this is a standalone book but I suggest reading the first two books in this series for an even better experience.

[Samantha Burdick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Felt Rushed

I have been waiting for this book for a while, and I was so excited. But it felt way to rushed. Knuckles treated Cass horribly and basically had no groveling or redemption mark for me. He literally kept blaming her and doubting her at every corner and shes just like ok I will be with you. There needed to be more. He needed to fight more for her once we got to the present. It just felt like 2 separate books. Idk, I will continue with this series bc I loved the 1st two books, but this one needed more to it.

[Linda Hanning · Rating 5 out of 5]

amazing

I have read a lot of your books, and knuckles and cass’s story, about broke me. I literally felt so bad for cass and im so glad she got the happy ending she had imagined. It might not have been the way she thought it would have been, but it was how it needed to be so the both could grow. Even through I wanted to punch knuckles in the face when she walked in and he had a club girl on his lap. I’m glad things worked out for her. Hoping to get a book on Grunt/jasper, I would love to read his story, and see him get his happy ending also.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this story more than the previous book, Property of Baffle.

To me, this book was entertaining and a page-turner, keeping my attention to the point that I stayed up way too late reading it. The story takes you along as the characters embark on a rollercoaster romance. This story ends in Happily For Now (HFN)

Below is a quote I gained from this book:
“I know it’s hard to forgive, but if you can find a way to be at peace with the mistakes your father made, it will lift a burden from your shoulders.”

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

James & Cass

Loved how this book started when they were in high school. I am not usually a fan of flashbacks but this was only for a few chapters and it was important to the story. Cass deserved so much better growing up, especially from her father. I liked how she left and made her own path. James an idiot....I wanted to scream every time he believe the ow (her former best friend). Thankfully he got himself together and they got their HEA.

[Michelle Graves · Rating 5 out of 5]

Knuckles is a dumb fuck!! Men really need 2 get his head out of his ass!! He really screwed his life up sum cause of stupidity and sum 4 trying 2 do the rt. Thing with the wrong person. Can he possibly b 4given 4 everything he put her through half of their lives? When the unexpected happened he knew enough was enough. It was x 4 him 2 make sum hard decisions about his future and what he wants for it. But b4 that happens can they prevent a possible war in their town? It was really good!!

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book!

This was a great book. Cassidy deserved better than she got in from her father and her so called friends. Thankfully she realized that and move on unfortunately the past doesn’t stay there. James aka Knuckles should be ashamed of himself for his treatment of Cassidy. Honestly I wanted to throat punch him at one time. He does eventually get his crap together but it almost comes too late.

[Stephanie L. Reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the Heroine

Cassidy was everything, I loved the way she was able to see herself and reflect on it an make lasting decisions. She didn’t flounder with her decisiveness at all. It funny what we will allow people to do to us just to feel like we belong, and what we will do to other people to belong. This was a good read with a lot of depth thank you for this really appreciate it.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good fun book 3 of the series

I love Christine Michelle. So glad she is part of the KOA MC universe. I enjoy the books under her other pen names too.
The pace of the book is great and the character's are well thought out with depth to them. She consistently writes with well thought out plot lines and character growth.
This was exactly what I needed it to be as an MC Romance.

[Smo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Blurb trapped me and just didn’t connect (or believe) the connection between H or h. I was pleased the h left and got her life together, had decent friends etc but a little disappointed that she got back with him after she was shot bc of H. I wouldn’t say H was a loser, just young and dumb and not much smarter 8 years later.

[Letti Trejo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Knuckles & Cass

Can I say misunderstanding’s, drama , secrets, action, jealousy, well I think you need to read this story because we how both the main characters are treated and used. Crutch was awesome can’t wait for his story. Knuckles he redeemed himself, Cass never gave up on herself. Loved all the surprises. Can’t wait for the next one

[Jenae (Jeni) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Normally give her books higher ratings

I love Christine Mitchell books but honestly, this one disappointed me. I made myself finish it. I was extremely upset with the way Knuckles treated Cassidy. I am disappointed that Cassidy seems to be a doormat type. This is my personal opinion and I still suggest reading the book for yourself and making a decision then. Happy reading!

[Rainbow Reader · Rating 1 out of 5]

Christine is one of my favorite authors, so I decided to go into this book blind but it turned out to be really boring. The hero seems so dumb, and the heroine feels like a classic doormat. I didn't like this book at all. 😣

[Monica · Rating 1 out of 5]

One conversation was all it took for everything to be resolved, so the story was boring. No anguish over losing a lost or unrequited love, no drama or struggle between anyone, no complications to stop the couple from being together. Just stupidity on Knuckles' and reluctance on Cassidy's side.

[Carol Roll · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good

Another good addition to this series of books. Good characters and storyline along with good twists and turns plus action and suspense. Lots of emotions involved. Very enjoyable.

[Julia M · Rating 3 out of 5]

not my favourite

I’m sorry but no self respecting woman would take such an idiot as James/ Knuckles back after the way he treated her. This relationship does not work for me at all . This is a shame because I normally love this author’s work.