Book Review – DNF
This is technically Book 1 of the Virginia MC chapter, but it continues a larger series—so if you haven’t read the previous books, it’s confusing. I only read two of the last ones, and I still felt like I’d missed too much. The first few chapters throw you into a story that assumes prior knowledge.
The MMC, Hendrix (aka Jameson/Jamie), is President of the Speed Demon MC. The book opens with a flashback to four years ago when he first meets Anna (FMC), nicknamed Freckles. She’s just returned from consoling her sister—whose husband cheated but wasn’t left—while Anna herself left her own cheating husband years earlier. Her wealthy family disowned her for divorcing him.
When Anna’s car breaks down outside a bar, she runs into Hendrix. They’ve crossed paths before, but this time sparks fly. He offers her a one-night stand because he "can’t offer more," but it ends up being more emotional and intimate than expected. Hendrix is a widower—his wife, a soldier, was KIA so has lots of baggage.
Then the book jumps a year. Apparently, that ONS turned into something (dating? FWB?) for an entire year, but the author is vague. What we do know: Hendrix ghosts Anna. He moves without telling her, and she’s left knocking on his door all night, unanswered.
Another year jump. Hendrix is now outside Anna’s wedding, hoping she’ll notice he’s there. She doesn’t. She and her new husband leave the church smiling. It’s jarring—after being ghosted by a man she likely loved, we’re supposed to believe Anna met, slept with, got engaged to, and married someone else in one year? After her trauma and past?
Then another two-year skip. Hendrix is now underground fighting and wins a match, then immediately has sex with a redhead who eyed him mid-fight—while pretending she’s Anna. He’s become a full-blown man whore with a terrible reputation. Apparently, he fucks and chucks pretty much every single redhead in town plus everyone else too.
Apparently, the MC has an FBI contract (why? who knows—more backstory from earlier books), but now they’re taking over the underground fighting scene, which threatens their legal/illegal operations balance. There’s also club drama, including a club whore named Daisy (also a redhead) who thinks Hendrix is hers. Again, none of this is introduced well—it all assumes you’ve read prior books.
We also see two members fighting at the club because one, Fletch (married with kids), slept with another guy’s girlfriend. Most of the toxic behavior is chalked up to them being ex-military, which is frustrating. Not every former soldier cheats, brawls, and uses women to cope. Come on.
The dialogue is weird, too. These bikers are supposedly in their late 20s or 30s but talk like TikTok teens? It’s jarring and cringey.
Then, of course, Hendrix finds out Anna’s not doing well. Surprise—her husband is abusive, controlling, and tied to the Polish Mafia. He made her sell her salon, isolated her, and beats her. Oh and even better, she's pregnant.
Enter Hendrix rescuing "his woman."
Really? The only "good" man in her life is the one who ghosted her after a year of sleeping with her, tried to ruin her wedding, and has been screwing around nonstop—including, apparently, with a married woman in town? He even made Daisy, the club whore dye her hair a darker shade of red so he could pretend she was Anna. ::::Gag::::
Even in the middle of the book the connection and relationship between Anna and Hendrix seems all surface despite readers being told the opposite. It comes across disingenuous. Hendrix is NOT a likeable guy.
I skimmed to the end—nothing is resolved. No satisfying payoff. At this point, maybe it’s just my mood, but I had to DNF. Or I guess finish but heavily skimmed.
Disappointing.