UNDAUNTED (Knights in Black Leather #1) by Ronnie Douglas -Review and Book Tour
UNDAUNTED
Knights in Black Leather 1
by Ronnie Douglas
Genre: new adult, contemporary, romance, MC
Release Date: September 15, 2015
Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / BAM
ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date September 15, 2015
Being fearless has never looked so good . . .
Aubrey Evans needs to get her life back on track after her father is indicted for embezzlement. All she has to do to hightail it out of small-town Tennessee is save up money for college tuition and steer clear of hard-muscled boys on motorcycles. Yet there’s no ignoring someone like Zion. A knight in black leather, Zion looks like every bad idea she’s been told to avoid, but she can’t resist him. Whenever she’s in trouble, he’s there. Appealing as his rough exterior may be, it’s the protective, principled man beneath who tempts her like crazy.
Zion knows Aubrey doesn’t intend to stick around. She claims to want only friendship, but he senses there’s a naughty girl hiding on the inside—one whose intense desires match his own. For now, he’ll be patient and play by her rules. But he knows it’s just a matter of time before he weakens her resolve.
As they join forces to figure out who’s behind a local crime spree, it’s clear that the danger goes deeper than Aubrey guessed. And when she needs someone tall, dark, and undaunted to keep her safe, Zion intends to be there—now and always.
••••••••••••
REVIEW: UNDAUNTED is the first installment in Ronnie Douglas’s (aka Melissa Marr) contemporary, new adult Knights in Black Leather MC romance series. This is college student/bartender Aubrey Evans, and Zion aka Killer’s storyline.
Told from first person point of view (Aubrey) and some third person perspective from Zion UNDAUNTED focuses on Aubrey and Zion’s growing but forbidden relationship. Aubrey is new in town from Portland, Oregon, living with her grandmother, attending Williamsville college in Tennessee and looking for a job when a fellow student Ellen suggested she go check out the local biker bar Wolves and apply for a job. There she will find her ‘knight in black leather’ –Zion-who aided in her rescue a few weeks before when she ended up drunk at a local fair. What ensues is a forbidden relationship between Zion and Aubrey-one that goes against the Wolves MC and biker bar laws.
Throughout the story there are several incidences of property abuse and attacks against Aubrey’s grandmother’s home and neighborhood but Grandma Maureen has some deep connections to the Wolves MC, and with it comes years of familiarity and a friendship wherein Aubrey and Grandma have the promise of protection from MC President Echo, Zion and the Club.
The relationship between Aubrey and Zion is one of immediate attraction but Aubrey has a multi-year plan that doesn’t include dating or getting involved with any man. Zion continues to pursue Aubrey who is constantly sending out mixed signals and in this I had some difficult times with Aubrey’s characters and her wishy-washy attempts to stay away from Zion. There is also the potential for a love triangle with Zion’s cousin Noah, and throughout the story my anxiety continued to build as Aubrey played one cousin against the other. Not only is Aubrey the new girl in town, but she has caught the eye of every eligible young man. I thought I was reading a YA storyline-the build up, lack of romance and one lone (mostly implied) sexual encounter did not read like a new adult or adult storyline but a premise directed at the young adult or teen reader. Aubrey’s ‘no dating policy’, her attitudes towards her ‘virginity or lack thereof’ and the parents as representations of all things corrupt and the epitome of dysfunctional parenting, all screamed young adult and not NA. When I looked further into the author, I discovered Ronnie Douglas is the alter ego of prolific and number one selling young adult author Melissa Marr and thusly my thoughts about the YA connections were confirmed.
There are several charismatic and colorful secondary and supporting characters throughout the storyline that are the backbone of the story and kept everything on track: Uncle Karl, Echo, Nash, Ellen, Grandma Maureen and all of Grandma’s neighbors and friends. Grandma’s connections to the Wolves MC and especially Club president Echo were touched upon briefly but I wish there was more background and history revealed between a number of these characters-in fact, there is very little background and history revealed about most of the storyline characters including our leading couple. For me, or any reader, to be pulled into a story we need history and background to understand the mindsets and emotions of the characters.
UNDAUNTED is not your typical MC storyline but a much tamer and vanilla version.
If you are a die-hard MC series fan, UNDAUNTED will probably be a disappointment as it is missing most of the MC dark and dangerous habits and storyline tropes, but if you are a fan of YA type storylines, then UNDAUNTED may be for you.
Copy supplied by the publisher
Reviewed by Sandy
Then my grandmother walked toward the bikers, who were leaning on their motorcycles watching everything. They gave her the sort of look that made me think that they were watching approaching royalty. It was a mix between Southern gentlemanliness and the way a fighter acknowledges an equal.”
“If I were the sheriff I’d be sweating like a hussy in the Good Lord’s house right now,” Beau murmured from beside me.
When I looked his way, my confusion must’ve been obvious because Beau added, “Miz Maureen has influential friends. She doesn’t like to call on them, but she’s about fed up waiting on the sheriff. That man couldn’t find his ass with both hands and a map. Those boys there”—he nodded toward the street—“they get things done. Maybe not the way the law likes, but they get results.”
“So they’re not the ones doing this?”
Beau laughed. “Echo would dip a man in honey and stake him out for the bears to find if any one of them boys touched Miz Maureen.” Beau inclined his head toward the bikers who were talking to her. “Your grandmother has the ear of one of the most powerful men in the state. She doesn’t call on Echo for anything, so people forget that she could do so.”
“Oh.”
“Not a bad thing.” Beau patted my hand. “Eddie Echo would steal the stars out from under the angels themselves if Miz Maureen so much as hinted that her yard wasn’t bright enough.”
I followed his gaze. I couldn’t make out many details about the two men standing with my grandmother. They were both, obviously, riding Harleys. I didn’t know enough about bikes to be more specific than that. One of the guys lifted his gaze and looked my way. Dark hair brushed the edge of a black leather jacket. Strong jaw, sharp cheekbones, and a mouth that looked made for sin, he was the sort of contrast in beauty and danger that made me think there had to be a trick of light. No man looked that good. Even as I argued with my own perception, I could tell that he was near my age, fit, and held himself with the kind of restrained energy that made sane girls look away and unhappy girls want to step a bit closer. I told myself that I was sane, that I was going to look away any moment now, that I didn’t want to find an excuse to go check on Grandma Maureen.
I was lying.
“Ask your gran about Echo before you go staring at the likes of those boys,” Beau paused and then added, “I’m going to head inside.”
Ronnie Douglas talks about music and writing
Music is how I get into any mood. Writing romance is part of writing most of my books, so I have a few years of trying out different strategies. Often, though, I just turn on my music and let go. I don’t need a special room. In fact, for the sequel to Undaunted, I wrote the sexiest scene in the book while I was at a layover in Iceland. It made me giggle out loud at one point to realize that I was in a lounge with all these businessmen in their suits, and I was curled up in a chair sipping my tea and writing a sex scene.
My default was Lana Del Rey, but I use music to tweak my moods, so depending on what mood I needed, I’d swap out to a specific song and just play that song on repeat for the emotion I needed to call up. A few of the ones I used were:
a. Beyoncé “Crazy in Love”
b. Rihanna “Pour it Up”
c. Rihanna “Rude boy”
d. Missy Elliot “Get Ur Freak on”
e. Leon Else “Cheap Hotel”
f. Train “Bruises”
g. Charlie Worsham “How I Learned to Pray”
Follow: Website / Twitter / Goodreads / Facebook-Melissa Marr
Ronnie Douglas is the writing name for a multiple New York Times bestselling author. Drawing on a lifetime love of romance novels and a few years running a biker bar, she decided to write what she knew—dangerous men with Harleys and tattoos. Her debut “Ronnie book” was indie-published as part of a series she created and wrote with friends in 2014.
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Excellent review, Sandy. It sounds like a good story, especially for those who may not like the dark side of MC.
Thanks for the review Sandy. It does sound like a YA storyline and although not all MC series are violent and dark, there are usually certain ‘aspects’ of the MC storyline that should be a standard.
Great review, Sandy. Sounds like something I would enjoy.
Great review Sandy.
Terrific review, Sandy. An honest one too. Does look good.
Very nice review Sandy. I love me some dark and dangerous MC stories and series but not sure if the ‘YA’ tone is my thing for the MC genre
Great review, Sandy. I have been enjoying MC storylines. Thanks.
Nice review Sandy. Love the cover
Thanks for the review Sandy. I haven’t read anything by Ronnie Douglas or Melissa Marr.
Very nice review Sandy. Congrats to Ronnie on the new series.