I'll be honest after the glimpses of Yuma in previous books from Freya Barker, I wasn't his biggest fan. He seemed to take the biker lifestyle to the limit and live down to the expectations he'd come to know from family and MC brothers. When life hit the fan for him, he hit rock bottom, but Ms. Barker always finds a way to make the most broken, misunderstood characters shine when they get their own stories.
Reenter Yuma, back and still struggling with a new reality in his life, but determined to make his life work. When he meets the new tenant in apartment building he manages, not only is he smitten with her, he finds someone who truly understands his struggle. To the outsider, an MC member and a cop seem like an unlikely pair, but in true Ms. Barker style she proves the them wrong. They shouldn't work, they shouldn't even try given their histories, but they do.
Lissie is the product of a chauvinistic line of cops, father and brothers, who think a woman's place is in the home and not at the police station. She's worked hard to be a good cop, and when given the opportunity to take a job in Durango, not only is she escaping her family and an professional incident at home, she's searching for a friend, who seems to have ties to the area.
Ms. Barker does not fail to run this couple through the wringer, individually and together. But what comes shining through is this author's innate ability to weave multiple storylines into one brilliant read. The topics are timely, the passion is intense, the emotions are real, and her characters draw the reader into and refuse to let go until long after the book is finished. Ms. Barker has taken a character I didn't care for and made Yuma one of my favorite of her heroes. As with each book released, I can't wait to see what she has up her sleeve for her next book.