"Strays" (Red Kings #1) By: Emma Kendrick - Book Review
I love supporting talented indie authors and I had such a fun time with this book. It was fast paced and succeeded in keeping me entertained throughout the entire novel. I thought it had a great cover too, which even though it shouldn’t, it does make a difference to me (Half naked embracing couple on the front? Ugh. Just no). While I have yet to really read a lot of biker romance, I really appreciate the fact that while you know the Red Kings MC members are scary as hell, the part you see the most of is their fun, kind, and loving sides. I have a feeling that is rare among this breed of romance novels.
Jacqueline (Jackie) Reeves and Tyler Davis had been best friends since childhood. Together, they moved from Queens NY to Macon GA, home of the Red Kings MC. In their time there, she had rarely seen members of the notorious club until one night as she was leaving the diner she worked at. A group of men wearing leather vests surrounded a man on the ground who was being threatened at knifepoint by one particular member. She watched in horror until her eyes met with the bearded biker. She tried to hurry away, but got cut off by the man in question and he basically told her she didn’t see anything and to keep her mouth shut.
There was a deep scar through the brow above his right eye and a smaller one on his cheek. The beard he was sporting only intensified his look further and the knife on his belt glinted maliciously when the light of the street lamp caught it just right.
His dark eyes narrowed and she swallowed.
That was it, she was done for.
She was on edge after that, worried that they were going to come back to make sure she stayed quiet. She and Tyler were struggling for money and the diner she worked as wasn’t exactly rolling it in. Tyler had difficulty keeping a (legal) job and made the suggestion to start hacking again for money. Which he decided to do in front of a diner full of Red Kings. The man she had the run in with prior is Dean Rockwell, the club’s enforcer. He heard Tyler speak of his hacking abilities and offered him a job with the club.
Tyler began to do small jobs for the club while Jackie avoided the clubhouse as much as possible. During a few unavoidable visits, her encounters with Dean leave her less than impressed. She didn’t want to lose her best friend to club full of criminals, but Tyler was happy and wanted to be a part of it. Her relationship with Dean changed after she met his dog Bear and he saw her artwork. I really appreciated the pace of their relationship. It felt fluid and realistic. Not too rushed and not too sappy. The sex scenes weren’t highly detailed or erotic, which didn’t take away from the story, but my perverted side wanted to know what Dean would be like in be like in bed (:D). Once they were doing their thing, I really began to like Dean. He had such a cute, ornery side you almost forget he kills people on the reg.
Lost in her thoughts, she failed to hear the creak of the bathroom door, the sound of the boxers being dropped to the floor, or the shower door sliding open. It wasn’t until cool hands trailed against the hot skin of her sides that she registered the second person in the room, squeaking as she jumped around to face him.
“What are you doing?” She asked, her voice high as his hands continued their exploration.
“Showering.” Dean replied nonchalantly, moving them towards the wall to maneuver the spray of water to better cover them both.
“And what’s wrong with the shower at your place?”
“Yours is closer.”
“It’s also occupied.”
He smirked as he closed the distance between them, their naked bodies pressed firmly against each other as he leaned to whisper in her ear. “You sure weren’t using that excuse last night when your bed was occupied and I decided to climb into it anyways.”
Tyler was fitting in great with the club and Jackie had begun to make friends with the club members as well. She and Dean were still having fun, but in the back of her mind she knew these men were dangerous and that the club would always come first for Dean.
Tyler and Jackie’s friendship was very sweet and I did appreciate that there never seemed to be any sexual tension between them. They’re friendship was pure and they were very supportive of each other, while still giving the other a hard time.
“Isn’t this awesome?” Tyler asked, rocking on the balls of his feet in barely-contained excitement.
“Why are there tattoos on your neck Tyler?”
“It’s part of my new look. Cool, right?”
“You look like a punk.” She said, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
Dean laughed and entered the garage. “I think that’s the point.” He slapped Tyler on the back, then pushed him towards the clubhouse. “Go get to work grunt.” Tyler nodded and the pair watched him bounce merrily out of the garage. Once the new prospect was out of earshot, Dean turned to look at her, a guarded expression on his face. “How do you feel about all of this?”
Jackie sighed and looked to the ground, shrugging her shoulders. “He’s excited. How can I say no to that?”
Dean could no longer deny the effect that Jackie had on him, but he didn’t know if that was a good thing. He and his president were worried that his feelings would make it difficult to do his job and neither of them wanted that. Dean felt very emotionally immature to me. He had no idea how to deal with a woman outside of the bedroom and any type of deep feelings made him uncomfortable. Jackie decided she was going to give him the benefit of the doubt and give their relationship a real shot if that what he wanted. Up to this point, I think she had been in denial of Dean’s capacity for violence. That changed when she saw him nearly kill a man and he told her exactly who he was.
“This is what I do! I hurt people. I always have and I always will. I’m not just a little short-tempered or aggressive. I fucking kill people. It’s my job and I like it.”
Dean decided to have Tyler transferred to the Lakeside charter knowing that Jackie would follow him and he can have his friend Jagger keep an eye on her. She began to make friends with the Lakeside charter while she tried to figure out her next move. With Turf wars, rival gangs, violence, and secrets, her future ha become uncertain.
I wouldn’t go as far to say the book ends in cliff hanger, but there is definitely more to the story and I can’t wait to find out how the characters’ story ends. There are a lot of little side stories and things that would ruin the surprises for the reader if I mention spoilers. The only thing that bothered me was the third person POV. It (personally) makes it harder for me to connect with the characters. I feel like a bystander instead of being in the story, but once I got used to it, I was really able to enjoy the read. While this isn’t the fault of the author, the formatting was jarring and threw me from the story with the sentence breaks.
I gave this book four stars for the fun, sweet, and entertaining factors and was a fabulous debut novel and I am excited to read future work from this author. Recommended for 17+.
* Did you enjoy this review? Thank you for visiting and I would love to hear from you!
-Charity B.
Book link: https://www.amazon.com/Strays-Red-Kings-MC-Book-ebook/dp/B01EX5VQLO
