Lanie approaches Hop for what she assumes will be a one-night stand. Silly Lanie. You should know this Chaos motorcycle club is full of alpha men who aren’t willing to let their women go once they’ve had a taste.
What’s it About?
Lanie Heron isn’t looking for love-no surprise, considering her last serious relationship nearly got her killed. So when Lanie propositions Hop Kincaid, all she wants is one wild night with the hot-as-hell biker who patrols with the Chaos Motorcycle Club . . .
For Hop, Lanie has always been untouchable. She’s too polished and too classy for his taste. But when she gives Hop the once-over with her bedroom eyes and offers him a night in paradise, he can’t say no. And he doesn’t regret it when he finds that Lanie is the best thing that’s ever happened to him-in or out of bed. Now the trick will be to convince her of that.
First Impressions
Lanie definitely got more than she bargained for after approaching Hop for a little romp between the bed sheets. While he’s initially thrown off by her proposal, and it’s rather entertaining to see her be the initiator in the beginning, it doesn’t take long at all before he takes back the reins in their relationship. One taste is all it takes, and even though Lanie tries to brush off his advances, he’s determined that the two have a connection which is more meaningful than just one night.
It’s possible that not all the readers out there will be comfortable with Hop’s constant pursuit of Lanie in spite of her many initial objections. However, we soon learn that Hop does have a soft and nurturing side underneath his tough exterior and leather cut. Lanie has awoken feelings in him which he thought would lay dormant forever, and he recognizes that she too is struggling to overcome some of the trials and heartbreaks of her past. Perhaps if he can show her that he’ll always be there for her, no matter how much she might push him away, he won’t abandon her like others had done before.
Battling the Past
When we first meet Lanie at the start of the book, she seems like a go-getter who isn’t afraid to pursue what she wants, and in this matter what she wants is one night with Hop. But why does she insist on limiting things to just one night? As it turns out, Lanie has been battling certain demons from her past for years. Her attempt to limit things with Hop is her attempt to protect herself, as well as her heart, from the same kind of pain she experienced when her ex-fiance put her in the direct line of danger to protect himself. She also hasn’t exactly had the perfect example of love when looking at her own parent’s relationship. It’s really no surprise then that when Hop comes along, and tries to insert himself fully into her life, she would try and do everything possible to push him away.
As for Hop, he too has experienced pain in regards to love lost. He’s been cheated on, lied to, manipulated, and fought alongside his brothers to defend their turf for years. However, whereas Lanie tries to close herself off from the possible pain a new relationship might bring, we see the opposite is true when it comes to Hop’s outlook on love. He’s able to recognize in Lanie a kindred spirit; a woman who will challenge him every step of the way; someone he sees as being different from any woman who may have come before her. He’s an alpha male, through and through, and he’ll do whatever it takes to ensure this unique woman he’s falling for doesn’t get away. He also has the difficult task of opening her eyes to why it’s worth going all in on their relationship, and overcoming the pain of her past to take a chance on them.
The Dramatic Focus
This is the second novel in the Chaos series, and like book one I was once again surprised to discover that the bulk of the drama surrounds the developing relationship playing out between our lead characters rather than any kind of drama related to motorcycle club business. We do get many references to the past events involving Lanie and her ex-fiance being shot and left for dead by the Mafia, and even though they’re suspenseful in nature, the fact they’ve already taken place years ago means they play a more important role on Lanie’s current state of mind rather than lending any kind of actual drama to the plot.
This is quite similar to what we saw in book one in that we see multiple references to events which have already taken place in a sister series. However, the implementation of still making these past events relevant was executed much more successfully in this sequel. I would have to say it was pretty disappointing though that the main drama we see involving club business takes place at the very very end of the novel in the epilogue, and even this dramatic scene is one we already witnessed play out in book one. It’s like this whole series so far has been an insinuation of drama which will inevitably happen in a future book, but it’s definitely taking us an awful long time to get there!
Can (Almost) Never Push Him Away
One of the most endearing features of Hop as a male lead is that he refuses to give up when Lanie keeps trying to push him away. We get multiple descriptions of his knowing smirks, as though he’s thinking “yeah right, like I’ll just walk away from you, pffft!” Deep down, Lanie knows that she wants a life and a future with Hop, but she’s simply afraid of giving her heart over to another person again. She openly warns him that she’s prone to overreacting when it comes to relationships, and she’s wont to think the worst of a certain situation. Therefore, I loved that Hop was willing to stick by her so many times as they stumbled across a few hurdles here and there. At first. Turns out, there’s only so much one man can take. Eventually, Lanie pushes Hop away one too many times, and he decides to end things between them.
Throughout so much of the novel up until this point, we’ve seen Hop insist that he’ll never walk away, and yet we shockingly discover that it’s only so long before he actually turns his back on her. Now, I could definitely understand why he would’ve reached a breaking point. There’s only so many times a man can be accused of something from his past that he didn’t actually do, and he was pretty fed up with Lanie always defaulting to think the worst of him. He certainly had more patience than I ever would have, but I was still shocked that he actually did reach a point where he gave up. Especially when we see her admit she was wrong, and all her attempts to win him back are rejected. Hop was definitely giving her a taste of her own medicine, and again although it was understandable for a time, you still can’t help but taste the bitterness of his actions.
Series: Chaos, book 2.
Final Impressions: Where is all the drama?!?! We’ve seen multiple mentions throughout these first two books of a rival motorcycle gang encroaching upon Chaos territory, but aside from one escalated argument in the final epilogue, we really haven’t seen much suspense or action when it comes to this rival gang. I’d say the first book had a few more references to them, but in this second one the drama was almost entirely absent. Ultimately this sequel was more successful though in summarizing previous events from the past. In addition, I think I also appreciated Lanie and Hop’s relationship more than the couple from the first novel. They are both finding out how to move forward from their pasts, and it’s in each other that they are able to find the love and strength necessary to succeed. Hop definitely comes across as a tough guy, but his devotion to Lanie and even his poetic descriptions of music evoke a softer side to this motorcycle man. This made it all the more surprising when he eventually pushed Lanie away, but at the same time you can’t necessarily fault him for reaching a breaking point.
Smut Level: The fact that Lanie and Hop’s first time together isn’t described in any detail shocked me to my very core! Don’t worry though, what follows are plenty of descriptive, dirty talking sexy scenes to make you blush. Some even involving a waterbed!
Get it on Amazon: Click Here. $6.99 Kindle Price. Forever Publishing. 421 Pages.
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