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Review

4.5 hard core biker-lovin’ stars

I love me a good biker book, and this is a fantastic biker book! Gritty, raw, and full of emotion, it’s a fantastic combination of dirty and violent mixed with sweet but steamy romance, and I loved it!

The Horseman of Hades are the most notorious MC in the US. A murderous bunch of gun-runners, they are hard core all the way – language, sex, violence, and downright disturbing behaviour, this is not a read for the soft-hearted. But it forms a fantastically contradictory setting for a beautiful, heart-warming love story to be carved out in the middle of hell.

As a child, eleven year old River encountered a girl in the woods. She was shy, frightened, and locked behind a fence. The two of them shared an innocently intimate moment together, and a first kiss before River was called away by his MC-Prez father.

That little girl was Salome. Eight years old and living in a strict religious cult where she is kept as one of The Cursed – too beautiful, and too much of a temptation to be around the men of The Order, she is ostracised because of her beauty until the times when she is called upon to be brutally violated by The Order Elders. It is a horrific existence.

Fifteen years later, and Salome finally manages to escape the Commune. Battered and bleeding, she breaks free and ends up taking refuge by a strange building which turns out to be the Horseman MC Compound.

River is also all grown up, and is now known as ‘Styx’, the Prez of the Horsemen. When he finds an unconscious woman dying on his property, he brings her inside to help her, not knowing that his whole world is about to be turned upside down.

Salome wakes, understandably terrified, but is able to introduce herself as ‘Mae’. Having never stepped outside of the Commune before in her life, she is in a world of horror surrounded by scary men engaging in debauched activities. But her first encounter with Styx changes everything.

The moment where they recognise each other from their childhoods is absolutely breathtaking. My heart was pounding, and I had tears in my eyes from the significance of the moment. Neither of them are aware of their importance to the other, but they have both held the moment of their first meeting dear, keeping it close and using it to give them strength through the years. The poignancy of their reconnection is absolutely beautiful!

Styx is a sensationally complex character! Fierce, tough and seemingly uncaring, he has a vulnerability about him which is handled absolutely beautifully throughout the book, and forms a big part of who he is, and his relationship with Mae. The return of Mae to his life shows us his softer side, and I absolutely melted at the big, badass biker being brought to his knees by the tiny woman.

She’d fallen asleep in my arms, her soft breath fanning my neck. For the first time in my life, I got a goose bump.
A goddamn fuckin’ goose bump
…
Having her in my arms was the best thing I’d ever felt.

Mae’s adjustment to life on the outside of the Commune – not just life, but biker life is a huge shift for her, but she adjusts to it surprisingly well. She is surrounded by people who have vowed to protect her, who care for her and who honestly want to help her, and, of course, she has Styx, and she is utterly devoted to him.

The boy River had grown into Styx the man and, despite his flaws and his harshness, he was all I wanted. All I had ever wanted.

I love these two together! The hardass criminal, and the naive, innocent girl. The romance between them builds quickly, but they had been dreaming of each other their whole lives so I was happy to go with it, and I could feel all of that emotion right along with them. Coming from two completely different worlds, they have a lot standing between them, but they are refreshingly open and honest with each other, they accept each other unreservedly and their unwavering love for and acceptance of each other was absolutely beautiful.

“I have only ever liked one boy in my life. I have only wanted one man to have as my own. I have only ever had one dream since I was eight. Styx, the dream is you. You stole my heart fifteen years ago and you still haven’t given it back.”

Mae was mine. Fifteen long years of wanting her to be mine, and here she sat, curled up in my arms – a fuckin’ angel in hell.

And the passion between them is off the freaking charts!

“I want you to show me what being with a man should be like. What giving my body and soul to you should be like.”

Mae is SO incredibly strong! After all that she has been through, she embraces her new reality and her life with Styx, and proves herself to be a fantastic partner for him. Being there for him and helping him as much as he helps her. I loved her!

He had no idea of the life I had lived, of the tenacity of my spirit or the multiple horrors I had to endure on a daily basis. I am a survivor. The scars he found so repulsive were a testament to my strength. I cannot, will not be ashamed of actions thrust on me by others.

But their romance is only part of the story. With the Horsemen seemingly under attack, and huge problems to deal with within the club, there is always something happening, but Tillie Cole does a fantastic job of tying everything together, pacing it beautifully to give us an exciting ride from start to finish. And through all of the turmoil, heartache and violence, Styx and Mae’s love for each other remains strong, without any doubt that they are meant for each other.

“For the first time in my life, I feel wanted… like I finally belong. There is nowhere on Earth I would rather be than here with you. You do not cage me, Styx. You make me soar.”

“It’s me babe… Ain’t no other man for you… but me.”

The ending is action-packed with a very satisfying finish, and gives us a pretty good indication that this book is going to become a series, and I can’t wait for more!

It’s a wild ride, and I loved it!

4.5 stars.