Meant to Be by Laramie Briscoe

The narrator of this audio book reminded me of a mix between Dr. Phil and that informative talking DNA strand from the original Jurassic Park film. While he was relating the amorous exploits of our lead characters, I kept expecting him to switch gears and talk about dinosaurs.

What’s it About? 

Single mother. Laid off factory worker. Drug runner for the Heaven Hill Motorcycle Club. When Denise Cunningham is served with foreclosure papers on her birthday it’s the last straw in a long line of bad luck. Sitting and crying about things has never been how she solved her problems, but this time she decides to do just that. A phone call interrupts her pity party and changes the course of her life forever.

Loyal brother. Grease monkey mechanic. Vice President of the Heaven Hill Motorcycle Club. William Walker Jr., known as Liam to his club, needs a new recruit that is just naïve enough and desperate enough to do what he asks without question. When Denise Cunningham lands in his lap, he decides to hire her – not because he wants to, because he has to. Neither are comfortable in their new roles, but he needs help and she can’t stand to lose anything else. As bullets fly and a local Bowling Green, KY reporter works to bring the club down, Liam and Denise find themselves getting closer to one another. When the stakes get high and outside forces try to keep them away from each other, they have to decide if they really are meant to be.

First Impressions

Obviously, the narration wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. Of all the romance novels I’ve ever listened to in audio format, this is the only one I’ve come across with a male narrator. Not too shabby. As for the storyline itself, I must say I’ve never been a huge fan of books featuring motorcycle clubs, as the male leads are almost too alpha for my taste. However, for a biker book, this one was pretty tame as far as the whole “me Tarzan, you Jane” mentality.

Although, something I never understand in these biker gangs is when the guy refers to his woman as his old lady. I know it’s supposed to be respectful, but what 20-year-old woman wants to be referred to as old? And then there’s the whole aspect of having her wear his cut, which declares her as his property. Hell, if I were in that situation I’d be like, “Alright, now what are you gonna wear that proclaims you to be my property?” Sorry, consider that rant to be over.

Motorcycle Club My Ass

I feel like in most romance novels revolving around a motorcycle club, the members of the club are just minding their own business when they are somehow drawn into a kerfuffle with another club/gang. They just want to be free and ride like the wind. This book was a little different. Instead of it focusing on our biker bad boy rescuing his woman from a rival gang, it tells a tale of Liam drawing Denise further into his  world. And it doesn’t necessarily consist of law-abiding citizens.

These particular bikers are criminals! No other word for it. At the start of the book, they are dealing drugs, and by the end of it they are considering selling guns to a Mexican cartel. They took advantage of Denise’s desperate financial situation to get her to abet them in smuggling drugs, and I personally had difficulty liking them because of that. Sure, they’re all about protecting their own, and Liam treats Denise like she’s his old lady (charming!), but that doesn’t eliminate the fact that the police are after them for a reason.

*This audio book was provided for an honest review*

Series: Heaven Hill, book 1. There are a lot of books in this series.

Should you read it? There were definitely some conflicting emotions revolving around this book. On the one hand, you are really rooting for Denise and Liam to get together, but on the other you don’t really want Denise to be drawn further into this criminal world. Although this book doesn’t necessarily end on a cliffhanger, there are a lot of important questions left unanswered.

Smut Level: There aren’t too many sex scenes, and you have to wait a bit before you get to the good stuff. But the build-up of sexual tension is delicious, and the scenes themselves are pretty steamy.

Get it on Amazon: Click Here for free Kindle version. Click Here for $17.95 Audible version.  Self-published. 255 Pages or 6 hours and 27 minutes.