MAZE:

In concept, the plan was simple: prospect at The Henchmen MC. In practice, however, it was anything but. One, because I was a woman. Two, because it was a brotherhood. And three, because Repo, the man who was in charge of making my life a living hell until I quit or screwed up enough to get thrown out, also happened to be the hottest guy I had come across in ages.

The problem was, if I didn't get in and stay in despite the hazing from the members and the undeniable attraction building between me and Repo, there was a very good chance I would be found by them. And if I was found by them, well, I was dead.

REPO:

How the hell was I supposed to get her out of the MC when, one, I didn't agree with the fact that because she was a woman, she had no place in The Henchmen. Two, because she was strong, smart, capable, and determined to get a patch. And three, because, well, I wanted her.

The problem was, if I didn't get her kicked out, I would be screwing up a job that was important to the prez. But the problem was also that if I kicked her out, there was no way I was going to get a shot with her.

I didn't know, however, that the real problem was a lot more complicated and a lot more dangerous than disappointing my boss or not getting laid... the problem was Maze had demons and they were hot on her trail...

* This can be read as a stand-alone and has an HEA but has side characters from the other Henchmen books.

4 stars

I knew going into this book that I wasn't going to love it. I knew I wouldn't like it as much as the other stories I've read from this author. I knew this because of one reason...

It was going to be ridiculous!

Why?

Aw man, I'm probably going to get a lot of hate for this, but I. don't. really. care.

This story was about a woman named Maze and how she decides to prospect with The Henchmen MC in order to garner some sort of safety. Instead of coming to them for protection, she deceives them and plays like she's just one of the guys.


Neither a wine glass nor a shot glass was going to make this story easier to swallow. Bring me some damn bottles!

So here are a few things that made me laugh:
❥ Maze, who was a self-proclaimed naive and innocent girl, was bamboozled her whole life. Mom was a con artist, boyfriend owned a chop shop, and her latest employer is a contributor to human trafficking. After her attempts to do right put her life in danger, she finds K, who proceeds to equip her with unrealistic skills, building her into a bootleg version of Black Widow.


❥ When Maze appeared out of nowhere on her bike, she approached The Henchmen MC about prospecting. No one knows her. No one knows what she's capable of. But when Reign hesitates like any rational person would, Lo gets upset, storms off, and rallies the troops (aka the women who the men fell in love with). They proceed to rant and rage about equal rights and opportunities and blah blah blah and... Reign CAVES!!


Me? Incredulous? Noooooooo.

It's totally believable that the women who don't belong to the MC have any say. Absolutely credible! A big, bad biker who has killed countless people is cowed by the women who wouldn't even be here if the men hadn't saved them. Told you I'd be making a few enemies

❥ After the absurdity of her introduction, the men put her through the wringer - specifically Repo. See, Repo knows everything about loyalty and he's as loyal as they come. Reign told him to drive her out and that's exactly what he intends to do. So what if he wants her baddddd? So what if she also wants him? He's got a job to do. However, Maze has him questioning everything.

I was under the belief that what someone came from meant a hell of a lot less than what they became.

There was some drama involving what Maze was hiding from and a truly beautiful epilogue. Honestly, that epilogue is one of the only things to save this story for me. Between Maze finding a problem with everything people said to her or told her to do like she wasn't prospecting for a BIKER CLUB and her need to be upset that Renny and Duke weren't suffering like she was (although they were there for longer than her and she has no idea what they went through before she came along), I almost called it quits. Which irked me because I promised myself to read all the books in the Navesink series. If it weren't for Repo and his sweet, sweet heart, I don't know if I would have made it to the end in order to find that especially cute epilogue.

I knew it was supposed to fade, to grow old, but I never got over the punch-to-the-gut sensation I got whenever I saw her and realized she was mine.

Ah well, I'm still going to read the other books. Right after a break.

• ────── ✾ ────── •

Okay, now I'm going to make even more enemies. I'm so tired of this feminism schtick being used to explain bad behavior. A woman doesn't have to be crass, rude, disrespectful or raw in order to be strong or to be seen as strong. It doesn't make them attractive. Men cannot be excused for that type of behavior, so why is it okay for women to do it all in the name of 'feminism'? I'd like to repeat what I've said time and time again... while men are not better than women, they are better at certain things that we suck at. Just like we're better at certain things that they can't master. Not being as physically strong as a man does not make you less than. There's a reason why we are of different sexes. We contribute to the whole in different ways. No way is greater than the other. Just different.

Repo by Jessica Gadziala is FREE to read with Kindle Unlimited
Amazon US * Amazon CA

Jessica Gadziala is a full-time writer, parrot enthusiast, and coffee drinker. She enjoys short rides to the book store, sad songs, coffee in Big Gulp-sized cups, and cold weather, and has recently developed an unhealthy obsession with acquiring houseplants. She lives in New Jersey with seven parrots and six dogs.

She is a big believer in snark, strong secondary characters, and bada$$ women.

Elsie has a problem. She has a mystery she is bent on solving, a mystery that led her to run for her life down the streets of Navesink Bank until she found herself rescued by a sexy stranger.

Paine has a past. He’s done everything in his power to move on from it, to distance himself from the things he has done. But then one night he finds himself saving a woman whose naive dabbling in matters she doesn’t understand threatens to drag him right back into the world he had done unspeakable things to escape from in the first place…

* This is a stand-alone with an HEA, but features secondary characters from "Monster" and "Killer".

** For possible triggers, follow this link: http://www.jessicagadziala.com/triggers.html

Six years on the inside gave a man a lot of time to think. And a lot of time to plan. When I got out, I was determined for things to go a different way. I never wanted to lose control and rage out again.

The only way to accomplish that, though, was to shut it all down.
Complete disconnect.

That meant no family, no friends, no links to anything attached to the man I was before.

Of course the problem was, I never factored HER into my plans. And try as I might, I couldn’t find a way to shut it down, to disconnect from her.

I had a sneaking suspicion she was going to take all my carefully constructed plans and toss them out the window, was going to force me to face up the demons inside and confront the ghosts from my past.

Those ghosts?
They wore the faces of my family.

And a confrontation with them, yeah, I had a feeling it was going to show me that I had spent six years taking action on beliefs about the demons inside. Demons that had never actually existed in the first place…

Add it to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36161136-eli

RYAN
She was perfect:
Sweet, smart, awkwardly adorable, and beautiful as hell.
The only problem was:
she was terrified to leave her apartment.
And, apparently, she had somehow gotten herself wrapped up with some pretty bad guys to boot.

DUSTY
He was perfect:
He was a living, breathing, walking, talking statue come to life.
But when would a man like that ever want to be with a woman who was too anxious to even walk into the hallway? Let alone go on a date with him. Or meet the family he was so close with.
That being said, he seemed interested for some reason.
So obviously, he was just as crazy as I was.
On top of that whole confusion situation, something was going on with my business partners. And things were about to go straight to hell…

Add to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33863726-ryan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Dark series #1
Release: May 31, 2015
Length: 234 pages

XANDER RHODES is a private investigator known for taking cases that other PIs wont touch (and perhaps pushing the lines of legality in order to help his clients) is suffering from sleepless nights and a fall in confidence having failed his last case... protecting a woman from a malicious stalker.

One night, a woman shows up at his office, battered and begging for help. She herself is dealing with a stalker.

What he doesn't know, however, is that ELLIE is hiding things from him. A dark and troubled past that threatens to put her, and his, life in jeopardy.

Among trying to figure out the mystery of the woman begging asylum at his apartment, Xander is forced to deal with his growing attraction to her. Will he be able to reconcile his feelings for her or put the pieces of her life together and help her before it is too late?

Goodreads | Amazon

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