Review: Reaper's Claim by Simone Elise

Abby is a twin, geeky kind of girl who is growing up as the daughter of a biker dad. She doesn't fit in that world, certainly not like her sister who likes to whore around. But things get complicated when she meets the Reaper. The enforcer for another biker gang. Their relationship is turbulent and crosses years and a lot of angst.

Not a fan of prologues but trust me you can skip it and you won't miss a thing. Also the way the author spells out at the start of a scene the point of view makes it feel more like it is a working draft rather than the finished book. The beginning is a bit slow but saying that I'm also grateful for that as the world the characters live is a little alien to me, mainly because I have lived a sheltered life so I did appreciate the dipping of toes first. There is a lot of the beginning that really isn't needed. Making it a bit of dreg to get into it.

The writing is good and easy to read while it draws you into the drama of the world. So if you like a raunchy romance then you will love this. There is the lovely happy ending that will sate everyone. The story line is very realistic but that is part of the problem. I like my stories to be princesses and knights and shining armour kinda romance. There are no good guys in this story and all the characters are realistically flawed and that is a bit frustrating.

I'm afraid I am a little old fashioned as well and I didn't like the cavalier attitude towards sex which made me skip big sections of the story. But if you don't mind that it will certainly make your stomach flip with worry that the happy ending isn't going to happen. Though I wouldn't class this as erotica it is very descriptive. I don't read erotica for many reasons but one of the reasons is that the sex scenes sound like something out of an instruction manual instead of something romantic. Slot object A into slot B and repeat till done. Like erotica this story is missing romance. There is no ah-sweet-moment-I-wish-I-had-a-guy-like-that. Not that Kade is unlikable or that Abby isn't relateble. The characters are actually much more dynamic than you would get in your run of the mill romance. There is also more to the story than boy meets girl they fall in love and then hook up. Real life is very prevalent in this story so their road to a happy ending is very much filled with trouble and complications.

I usually give a higher rating for something that is this well written but the lack of morals* of the story just sticks in my craw so I give this 3 stars.

*I believe that books should mirror a world we want or at least highlight how wrong some things are. When murder, gun running, underage sex and rape are seen as acceptable it makes me cringe. This is not the world I want and it doesn't decry what is wrong with our world. Media has an ethical obligation to guide people to something better. But that is a rant for another day.