Haven Randall escaped her over-controlling father and ran
away with her best friend Cora; on their way to freedom,
they were captured by rivals of the Raven Riders Motorcycle
Club, and eventually rescued by the Raven Riders themselves,
who confiscated weapons from them. The girls are now holing
up at the MC's compound; Cora's dad occasionally works for
Randall, a known criminal, and Haven knows he'll do anything
to get her back. Even though the bikers have been nothing
but kind to her, Haven is still scared of them; she's led a
very sheltered life, and mistrusts just about anyone except
Cora. The Raven Riders' president Dare Kenyon also frightens
her, but she is attracted to him in a way she doesn't quite
understand. Dare knows only the MC life, although the one he
made for himself is quite different from the one he grew up
in: his Club is mostly law-abiding, although for the greater
good, one must sometimes step on the wrong side of the law.
Their goal is to offer protection to those who need it; Dare
knows only too well how some people need outside help. Dare
has never known love, but Haven makes him feel things he
never knew he could.
The Raven Riders were part of the latter books of Laura
Kaye's Hard
Ink series, and RIDE HARD picks up the
story where we left off, RIDE HARD does however work
perfectly as a standalone. RIDE HARD fleshes out the main
characters and introduces some secondary ones; Ms. Kaye's
obvious grasp of the bikers' lifestyle is very impressive:
the Raven Riders MC feels entirely authentic and their
altruistic mission makes complete sense. Dare and Haven are
intrigued by each other; Dare is 37, and Haven is 22, and
although Dare acknowledges their age gap could be
problematic, my issue was not with the numbers but with the
fact that Haven behaves like a scared little mouse, and
given her overly melodramatic backstory, it's
understandable. At the beginning, Dare behaves in a
protective, paternalistic manner towards her, and given that
she comes off almost like a child, I thought it felt a
little creepy; on the other hand, Dare's life story sounded
entirely believable and touching. Haven has a list of things
she wants to do now that she is allowed to live a little,
and there is one item that she checks as done, and where
unfortunately Dare went down a few notches on my hero-scale,
unless it's up on the bad boy scale? To be honest, I much
preferred Cora and her sunny personality, and I thought Cora
would have been a better romantic interest for Dare, but I
did enjoy very much the girls' friendship and their banter,
it rang true. I must also say I was expecting more action,
which comes late in RIDE HARD, but it's well worth waiting
for, and there are a few unexpected twists.
RIDE HARD is a solid introduction to the new Raven
Riders series, and I'm really looking forward to the
next book, because Maverick and Alexa are featured, and they
were my favourite characters in RIDE HARD, apart from Cora,
and I wanted to know their story even while reading RIDE
HARD.
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...
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