stephanie_inman's Reviews (228)

I'm writing this after my second reading of this book. If you've seen pretty much anything I post on GR, you'll know that I'm re-reading my Kindle, and doing some appreciating of the good, some purging of the bad, and some what the hell was I thinking with a few things.

This is the first book in M.E. Clayton's Buchanan Brothers series. I have since read a few other series/books by M.E. Clayton, but this was my introduction to her. As for where I would file this amongst my cleaning out Kindle project, I'd put it in the "good enough to keep" pile.

While I have read better books by Ms. Clayton, I also think this one is enjoyable. I'm not going to penalize for the grammar or any errors in publication because this was published by a completely indie author. I know she has grown a lot since this book, but at the time she wrote this book, the author was doing all editing, formatting, and publishing on her own. So, I didn't take any errors into consideration. I also happen to be pretty okay with overlooking them, as long as the book is good and the story keeps me engaged.

The book focuses on Mason, the eldest of four brothers, and the woman he has loved from afar for three years, Shane. Mason, wanting to wait until his college graduation, was content to wait before he approached Shane. This led to some uncomfortable looks from him, and Shane just assumed he hated her. Mason finally gives in when he sees Shane at a party, and she is dancing with another man. He gets into a physical altercation with the man, and declares Shane as his. (He does take her into another room and talk to her first. It's still incredibly insta-love, but if you're usually okay with insta-love, then this isn't too bad.)

I'm cool with the alpha-over-the-top-ness of Mason. Shane wasn't a complete pushover, which I liked. This book has your typical lines about the alpha male "claiming" the woman, which makes me roll my eyes, but all in all, forgivable.

The sex is graphic, so if that's not your thing, you might want to skip this one. I thought it was fairly standard for the genre. Shane is a virgin (yawn), but I will admit that in this case, it didn't bother me as much as it normally does. It somewhat suited the character, so I'll give it a pass. (Even if I did add the "yawn" because I am bored to tears of the virginal heroines) I will say there is consent, but Mason is still a bit forceful, so if that bothers you, again, this would be one to skip.

There is some conflict between Mason and his dad. His brothers are very close to him, and we get to learn a little bit about each one of them. All of the conflict is quickly taken care of, as the book clocks in at around 150 pages.

All in all, this isn't a bad story. I think it could have been longer. We didn't really get time to know Mason or Shane. I did get sick of hearing how "special" Shane was (we get it. And, spoiler for the next few books, this is a recurring theme that nearly ruins the other books).

The only other problem I had with it was the way the use of the words "slut" and "whore" were used. Shane is worried about looking like a "slut". A jealous girl at school accuse Shane of doing sexual things for Mason that, apparently are taboo and therefore that is the only reason Mason could be with her. Again, more shaming, as it perpetuates this idea that if you engage in certain sexual acts, you are seen as less than virtuous, or even a "slut" or a "whore". And, there is even a part where Shane is asking Mason about doing things with him, that if she asks him to engage in certain things, "You won't think I'm a slut?"

STOP WITH THE SLUT SHAMING! There is no such thing as a slut.

Mason and his brother engaged in sex with women who they would never see again, yet they aren't shamed (and shouldn't be) but Shane is worried she will look like a slut for engaging in sexual acts with her bf? To her credit, it is written that Mason eases Shane's worries, but he also says that it's because she's "my slut" or "my whore". Nope. Let's just stop with all of the sex shaming, shall we? (I think it gets better in future works by Ms. Clayton, but my memory is fuzzy, so we will see. I'm fairly hopeful, though. There are some books by her that I remember really liking, so I'm looking forward to those re-reads)

Honestly, had the book had more of the characters, and less of the slut shaming, I probably would have gone with four stars. It's not a bad read. I still recommend it if you're looking for an easy, safe, insta-love story.

I wanted to like this one. I LOVE a damaged hero. I love bully romances. I'm a sucker for those darker reads. This one just didn't work for me.

Fiona, our h, has been the target of Damien's hate since they were five years old. She went through school always worrying about what he was going to do next. He was cruel. She had zero backbone, and never stood up to him. I think I would have liked this one more if there were more push/pull between the two, but it was really one sided. Damien was mean to her and she altered her life to fit his hatred. She didn't go to parties. She didn't try to date. She basically hid away at home, with her best friend, Vicky rather than risk incurring Damien's wrath.

Damien is your typical damaged hero. Bad childhood. Doesn't know how to deal with his feelings for Fiona, so he lashes out. Usually this is the kind of book I am HERE FOR.

Problem #1: Damien waits ten years to "claim" Fiona. Apparently, he always knew he was going to end up with her. She was his, he just had to go and get her. However it's mentioned that he goes to Yale, becomes successful, and he's a millionaire by the time he goes after Fiona. So, the dude seriously had the resources. There was no reason for them to be apart for ten years.

Problem #2: Damien wants only Fiona, or so he says. He hires a PI to keep tabs on her. He knows every move she's made. When she goes to college, when she starts her business, who she's dating. The dude is supposed to be seriously obsessed with Fiona. He isn't the guy who slept around in high school (even if it looked like he did). Instead he ends up climbing into Fiona's window on the night they graduated and they have sex. It's Fiona's first time (and we later find out it was also Damien's). But then Damien goes to college and by his sophomore year, he's sexing it up with various women. He doesn't have sex with brunettes, though. Because that would remind him of Fiona. He'll only do it with blondes and redheads, or women who don't remind him at all of Fiona. Because, in his mind, by not sleeping with anyone who reminds him of Fiona, HE IS BEING FAITHFUL TO HER. What the fuck? He's obsessed enough to stalk the girl, but he can't keep his dick in his pants? I had a hard time seeing this as him being head over heals for Fiona. Especially since he says he always knew she was meant to be his, and that he had planned to be with her.

Problem #3: Fiona, who isn't pining for Damien, only has sex with one other man. IN TEN YEARS. And, of course, as with so many other books in this genre, while the H is out having amazing, albeit emotionless sex, the h has sex with one guy. And she's in a relationship with him. And, of course, the sex was just mediocre. Because, no one other than the H can make her feel the way the H does. (BLEH)

Which leads me to Problem #4: STOP SLUT SHAMING WOMEN! This book officially lost a star from me when Damien and Fiona are broken up, briefly. Damien is thinking about Fiona, and about how he knows that she loves him, because she and him had sex a certain way. According to Damien, if a woman lets you take them "there", she's either in love or she's a whore. And, as he says "Fiona's no whore".

Basically, I just didn't like these characters. Fiona was a total pushover, not only with Damien, but when it came to her parents. Damien is awful to pretty much everyone. He has a best friend, Will, but for the life of me, I couldn't see what Will got out of that relationship. Damien treated him awful. He even beat him up in hs because Will questioned Damien on whether or not Damien should move on from Fiona.

Bottom line: These characters just weren't ones I was going to root for. By the end, I really didn't care if they ended up together or not. Frankly, they both could have done better.

I had high hopes for this one, as we get a little more into the cartel aspect of the series. I was looking forward to more plot. Honestly, I thought I was done with this series, but after reading the blurb and some of the reviews, I decided to give Ghost a go.

Unfortunately, most of this book is best described as "unnecessary".

There is not much plot. No actual character development. I'm all for steamy scenes, but that's about all you have here. We do get to catch up with the other Riders. Every one of the women is pregnant, because that's all we hear about in these books "Gotta put a baby in you" and ridiculous lines like that. The misogyny runs deep.

There is no OW/OM drama here, except for one tiny thing with the h's ex. And, remember when I said much of this book was unnecessary? The entire part with the ex completely falls into that category. It wasn't really built up, and seemed very out of nowhere. It changed nothing about the book. It didn't enhance the plot. It simply wasn't needed.

I also didn't like the hero or the heroine as much as some of the other books (even with their virginal heroines). Rico and Grace were incredibly bland to me. I'd rather have read a book about Grace's dad. Both he and Rico's siblings were more interesting than either of the MCs.

I would have given this one star, but it earned a second star, in my eyes anyway, by being the first book in this series where the heroine isn't a virgin! Hallelujah!

I still hesitate to write off the entire series, even as much as the virginal heroine think drives me up a wall. If you're looking for something easily read in a night, and completely free of angst, the Steele Riders MC Series might fit the bill.

Wasted potential. That's the best way I can describe this book. This book had everything it needed to be a great book. It just wasn't executed well.

I loved Vicky and Will from the first book. And authors always get a bonus from me when they write an interconnecting book in the series where we already know both MCs. So, starting out, I was psyched.

The problem is that Vicky and Will are supposed to have a past, but their entire past revolves around Damien and Fiona, from the first book. Every interaction we see between Will and Vicky is their reaction to a Damien/Fiona scene. It's basically Vicky getting pissed off at Damien for treating Fiona like shit, and then Will telling Vicky to stay out of it. That's 99% of their past relationship. Will and Vicky don't even seem to be the MCs in their own story.

And, dear god, did I get tired of reading Vicky think about how fucking amazing Fiona is. It seemed really unnecessary and made it seem like Vicky had no personality, aside from being Fiona's best friend.

We find out that Will had apparently always liked Vicky. While he was screwing every girl in his high school, he really wanted Vicky. I am beyond over male characters being with tons of women, while they are apparently pining over the girl they really want. It's both overdone and sometimes insulting to men. Not all men think with their dicks.

Vicky, however spent her last few years in high school with an off and on again bf. The bf cheated on her, and she stayed with him. Mainly because he was the first guy she had sex with, and I guess she thought it better to stay with a scumbag than to break up with him. Everyone knew they had sex. She didn't want to be seen as "easy" or some bullshit like that. In the first book, we are led to believe Vicky is this badass, independent woman. Even in the flashbacks, she's supposed to be badass enough to stand up to Damien, but she can't tell her cheating bf to take a hike?

Will is also pretty pathetic, though, so I guess maybe they are perfect for each other. He completely let Damien dictate his life. He never stands up to Damien. He wants Vicky, knows her bf is a cheater, but just does nothing about it.

Vicky and Will meet again in the first book. Will, being Damien's best friend (again, I'm not sure why. Damien is pretty awful to him) is attending a work party that Damien is bringing Vicky to. He has Damien make sure that the only way Vicky is going to the party is if it is as Will's date. Yet, Will even lets Damien make it sound like Damien is the one ordering this. He doesn't even stand up and say that it was because he ordered it. Nope. Again, he lets Damien have all of the control.

But the thing I really hated about Will was how he let Damien be mean to Vicky. For years, Damien and Vicky butted heads because of how Damien bullied Fiona. But Will always stands back and allows it. Even when Damien is with Fiona, and Fiona runs out on him, Damien calls Will and Vicky, because he knows they are together that night, and he's furious. This would have been a great time for Will to grow a backbone and show us that he deserved Vicky, but, as usual, it seems like he just cowers to Damien.

As for Vicky, she's a bit wishy-washy on being with Will. I could understand the way she acted in the beginning. After she and Will spend the night of the party together, Vicky sees Will on his company page, and he's always with a woman. She, of course, doesn't confront him about this. Instead she ignores him. Once that problem is solved, they have the issue of them living on separate coasts.
Yep, that's the big obstacle here. A long distance relationship.

Honestly, I had looked so forward to this book. The first time I read Book 1 was about a year ago. I re-read it just because I wanted to read it before this one. But I wanted Vicky and Will's story. Unfortunately, this just didn't seem like we got that.