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k1nkc0llect0r's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.5
bookswithjen's review
4.0
I love em lindsey and how beautifully they write books and has some strong representations there for people you normally wouldnt see in a book and I love the visibility. How they discuss strong subjects and ive loved all their work so far however this book just felt soooo gloomy dont get me wrong its a great book but there was no fun or light hearted moments and as much as I love the angst I genuinely thought i wasnt going to get a HEA. But we did so i give this book a 3.9
pshelling's review
2.0
I really liked Gunner. He's a hot biker dad who tries his best, despite his tortured past. However, the chemistry felt a little one-sided. Gunner is really into Logan, the dance teacher twink, but Logan has a lot of reservations about Gunner that aren't properly resolved before the ending. Lastly, I felt really let down by the promise of dubious morality. Probably because I read more dark and gritty stories than the average romance reader, I didn't find anything to be particularly dubiously moral.
Spoiler
genre's requisite happyteresab78's review
4.0
Good
Good start to the series. I liked the representation of different abilities, sexualities, and skin tone. I liked Logan’s strength.
Good start to the series. I liked the representation of different abilities, sexualities, and skin tone. I liked Logan’s strength.
bookish_notes's review
3.0
Well. I guess this was okay. This is my first E.M. Lindsey book, so I don’t know if this is their usual thing but the pacing of this book was weird. It felt more like the beginning of a romance by the time the book ended, then one where I was supposed to believe the love interests were getting their HFN/HEA. The plot was open-ended and I guess going for a bigger story arc in the overall series that’s not closed out in just one book? But it’s unclear at this time how many books are in this series and the blurb for book two doesn’t entirely convince me to continue reading it either.
Trigger warnings include homomisia, mentions of drugs/drug use, graphic violence, racism, a violent stabbing because of a character’s race, abuse, mentions of child abuse, ableism, kidnapping, misogyny, and anxiety attacks.
The story starts with 29-year-old Gunner, the VP of the Broken Chains MC. He escaped his father’s club with his now 5-year-old sister, Maddie, in tow. Gunner was caught as a teenager having sex with another boy, and that earned him a face that is now half paralyzed and he has a tremor in his left hand when he feels particularly anxious. Caring for a child can be a lot but at least he has his club at his side to help out with babysitting duties.
Logan is roughly 21, Maddie’s dance teacher, and he is Deaf. He teaches dance through the vibrations in the music and through ASL. The students love him. He works as many hours as he can at a Japanese noodle restaurant and manages to get by. When he becomes a target by a motorcycle club that rolls into town, it pushes him right into Gunner’s path.
One thing I really wanted to appreciate is that both leads in this book are presumably POC. BUT. It’s only assumed that maybe Gunner is mixed or maybe Latinx (just from his dad’s name) but never outright said. We do know Logan is Black (but unfortunately just said with a lowercase b in the book). The characters are pretty exchangeable as white throughout the book until the author points out how a character has light brown skin? Multiple times.
Like, an attempt was made, but I think it’s kind of a slap in the face when the text said LOGAN OF ALL PEOPLE, considers Gunner “tall, dark, and handsome.” Please, I would love to know how he’s dark. Do let me know. And the fact that Logan works at a Japanese noodle restaurant and the book says he makes stretched noodles??? Wellllllll that’s famously a Chinese thing called lamien. So. Not Japanese at all actually.
I guess the one thing the book does with more care and consideration is in the Deaf rep? I appreciate having the story told from Logan’s POV as well as Gunner’s. It was nice to see Gunner being much more thoughtful and willing to learn sign language on his own because Logan speaks ASL and because he knows Logan shouldn’t have to make accommodations for Gunner. I would say this is the only reason this book gets 3 stars rather than a 1 for me.
So, there’s a lot happening in this book. But I still feel like the text tries to make it darker than it is? Like, bad shit happens to the main characters. Not arguing that. But...it’s not dark romance. It’s just dark themed, I guess you could say. And my experience with motorcycle club books have all veered into dark romance territory so this book was weird to me in that regard. Especially since the author just ambiguously tries to say this story is grey romance in their content warnings, but maybe that’s why it feels so bland in the end? The story is morally grey, and just sits on the edge without the reader ever feeling the Broken Chains is anything more than a ragtag group of people in a pretend motorcycle club. What even is their under-the-table money making business? It has to be more than their mechanic shop but it is unclear to me what that could be. Maybe the answer is in the sequel book, which is about the President of the Broken Chains MC, Smokey.
There’s a LOT of unanswered questions at the end of this book and that includes why and how Gunner’s old club found him and just, what’s their whole deal.
Again, it just seems to me like this story is just the beginning of Gunner and Logan’s relationship and I never felt the pull for them to be together at all until maybe the end? The romance between the characters is sweet but is not fully realized as it should be.
The pacing of the book was just strange to me and the ending was extremely anticlimactic. Adding to the fact that it very much felt like POCs were added into the story just for the sake of having POCs??? Well.
I think if you’re a regular reader of motorcycle club romances that are on the darker, dark romance side of things, this book won’t hit the mark. But if you usually shy away from motorcycle club romances and want somewhere to start, this might be for you? This has found family and queer characters with disabilities in the club, which the author seems to take more care in writing than anything else.
Trigger warnings include homomisia, mentions of drugs/drug use, graphic violence, racism, a violent stabbing because of a character’s race, abuse, mentions of child abuse, ableism, kidnapping, misogyny, and anxiety attacks.
The story starts with 29-year-old Gunner, the VP of the Broken Chains MC. He escaped his father’s club with his now 5-year-old sister, Maddie, in tow. Gunner was caught as a teenager having sex with another boy, and that earned him a face that is now half paralyzed and he has a tremor in his left hand when he feels particularly anxious. Caring for a child can be a lot but at least he has his club at his side to help out with babysitting duties.
Logan is roughly 21, Maddie’s dance teacher, and he is Deaf. He teaches dance through the vibrations in the music and through ASL. The students love him. He works as many hours as he can at a Japanese noodle restaurant and manages to get by. When he becomes a target by a motorcycle club that rolls into town, it pushes him right into Gunner’s path.
One thing I really wanted to appreciate is that both leads in this book are presumably POC. BUT. It’s only assumed that maybe Gunner is mixed or maybe Latinx (just from his dad’s name) but never outright said. We do know Logan is Black (but unfortunately just said with a lowercase b in the book). The characters are pretty exchangeable as white throughout the book until the author points out how a character has light brown skin? Multiple times.
Like, an attempt was made, but I think it’s kind of a slap in the face when the text said LOGAN OF ALL PEOPLE, considers Gunner “tall, dark, and handsome.” Please, I would love to know how he’s dark. Do let me know. And the fact that Logan works at a Japanese noodle restaurant and the book says he makes stretched noodles??? Wellllllll that’s famously a Chinese thing called lamien. So. Not Japanese at all actually.
I guess the one thing the book does with more care and consideration is in the Deaf rep? I appreciate having the story told from Logan’s POV as well as Gunner’s. It was nice to see Gunner being much more thoughtful and willing to learn sign language on his own because Logan speaks ASL and because he knows Logan shouldn’t have to make accommodations for Gunner. I would say this is the only reason this book gets 3 stars rather than a 1 for me.
So, there’s a lot happening in this book. But I still feel like the text tries to make it darker than it is? Like, bad shit happens to the main characters. Not arguing that. But...it’s not dark romance. It’s just dark themed, I guess you could say. And my experience with motorcycle club books have all veered into dark romance territory so this book was weird to me in that regard. Especially since the author just ambiguously tries to say this story is grey romance in their content warnings, but maybe that’s why it feels so bland in the end? The story is morally grey, and just sits on the edge without the reader ever feeling the Broken Chains is anything more than a ragtag group of people in a pretend motorcycle club. What even is their under-the-table money making business? It has to be more than their mechanic shop but it is unclear to me what that could be. Maybe the answer is in the sequel book, which is about the President of the Broken Chains MC, Smokey.
There’s a LOT of unanswered questions at the end of this book and that includes why and how Gunner’s old club found him and just, what’s their whole deal.
Spoiler
Who’s the guy who’s just going around town being a dick? Is the story part of the long game that we find out in later books? It’s not clear. And the cop?? How is he NOT the love interest for the second book after what we find out in this one? I don’t want the love interest to be a cop but Nate intrigues me. Then there’s Olivia, Gunner’s older sister with the perfect life and the perfect husband. Why did she so easily give Maddie back over to Gunner? Where’s the fight? Also. Does Logan ever find out Olivia isn’t Maddie’s mother? Does Logan ever figure out Gunner’s whole past and how Gunner’s family are all related? Do Logan’s friends even care about him?? They just vanished in the story. I could keep going.Again, it just seems to me like this story is just the beginning of Gunner and Logan’s relationship and I never felt the pull for them to be together at all until maybe the end? The romance between the characters is sweet but is not fully realized as it should be.
The pacing of the book was just strange to me and the ending was extremely anticlimactic. Adding to the fact that it very much felt like POCs were added into the story just for the sake of having POCs??? Well.
I think if you’re a regular reader of motorcycle club romances that are on the darker, dark romance side of things, this book won’t hit the mark. But if you usually shy away from motorcycle club romances and want somewhere to start, this might be for you? This has found family and queer characters with disabilities in the club, which the author seems to take more care in writing than anything else.
thosemedalingkidsss's review
DNF @40ish%
Unfortunately this MC romance wasn't for me. I needed a bit more romance and chemistry between the leads to keep me interested. Also more plot action. Pains me to not love something by Lindsey.
Unfortunately this MC romance wasn't for me. I needed a bit more romance and chemistry between the leads to keep me interested. Also more plot action. Pains me to not love something by Lindsey.
lissa_bee's review
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia and Hate crime
Moderate: Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Racism
cam_twad's review
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
reag_leigh5's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0