Reading Between the Wines Book Club: 🍷.5 #Review of Ride Hard by Laura Kaye

Saturday, January 4, 2020

🍷.5 #Review of Ride Hard by Laura Kaye

Title: Ride Hard
Series: Raven Riders #1
Author: Laura Kaye
Format: Mass Market Paperback, 320 pages
Published: April 26th 2016 by Avon
ISBN: 0062403338
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N
Source: Edelweiss
Reviewer: Kimberly
Rating: 1.5 out of 5

Brotherhood. Club. Family.
They live and ride by their own rules.
These are the Raven Riders . . .

Raven Riders Motorcycle Club President Dare Kenyon rides hard and values loyalty above all else. He’ll do anything to protect the brotherhood of bikers—the only family he’s got—as well as those who can’t defend themselves. So when mistrustful Haven Randall lands on the club’s doorstep scared that she’s being hunted, Dare takes her in, swears to keep her safe, and pushes to learn the secrets overshadowing her pretty smile.

Haven fled from years of abuse at the hands of her criminal father and is suspicious of any man’s promises, including those of the darkly sexy and overwhelmingly intense Ravens’ leader. But as the powerful attraction between them flares to life, Dare pushes her boundaries and tempts her to want things she never thought she could.

The past never dies without a fight, but Dare Kenyon’s never backed down before . . .

Kimberly's Thoughts:
I read romance because, typically, it's written by women for women. For every time I throw my fist in the air and yell "Preach!" while reading a Dahl heroine and for every time I become a sobbing mess feeling the pain of a Milan heroine, I'll keep coming back because in some way my issues and emotions are laid bare, acknowledged, and discussed.

I want to call this a New Adult but with a hero who is 37yrs old, can I? The heroine is 22yrs old and she was definitely not written for me. There's reason for her to be shy and guarded but the whole lost little girl thing did not play well with my 33yrs old self. Haven loves to cook, is so sweetly shy, but wait, also craves sex. Now, of course, a woman can have these traits but the way it is written here, kind of shallow character depth with just these traits front and center and maybe you could see why I feel like this heroine was written for some shitty ideal for what men want? She's an angel, so pure, and sweet but, without a lot of interaction, emotional depth, and relationship building becomes some sort of highly driven sexual being with the hero. It just doesn't work without depth, building blocks, and growth. I felt like I was reading a play where a dude takes a Barbie doll and a Ken doll and smashes them together over and over and declares it a romance.

Maybe I'm just getting too old for these types of romance but dang it, give me emotion and depth.

Suggested Reading Order:
Book #0.5 Hard as Steel