Reaper's Fire Review

Title:  Reaper's Fire
Series:  Reaper's MC #6
Author:  Joanna Wylde
Publisher:  Berkley
Release Date:  August 9, 2016
Buy Link:  Amazon

My Rating:  3 "Take One for the Team" ♥'s





Synopsis:
The club comes first. 

I’ve lived by those words my whole life—assumed I’d die by them, too, and I never had a problem with that. My Reaper brothers took my back and I took theirs and it was enough. Then I met her. Tinker Garrett. She’s beautiful, she’s loyal, and she works so damned hard it scares me sometimes . . . She deserves a good man—one better than me. I can’t take her yet because the club still needs me. There’s another woman, another job, another fight just ahead. 

Now she’ll learn I’ve been lying to her all along. None of it’s real. Not my name, not my job, not even the clothes I wear. She thinks I’m nice. She pretends we’re just friends, that I’ve still got a soul . . . Mine’s been dead for years. Now I’m on fire for this woman, and a man can only burn for so long before he destroys everything around him.

I’m coming for you, Tinker. 

My Review:
I have enjoyed all the previous Reaper's MC books - romance, bossy alpha males, kick*ss heroines, sizzling love scenes, humor, banter, drama, and always toe tingling chemistry between the Hero & Heroine - what's not to love?  Those things have become trademarks of this series for me, elevating these books to a must read now status upon release.  And so, with much anticipation, I settled in to lose myself in this world once again with Reaper's Fire.

Cooper aka Gage is in Halle Falls, Washington, working to infiltrate the Nighthawk Raiders MC and figure out what's gone awry with this club.  The Reapers are being cheated out of dues owed them by the Nighthawks, and Gage has to do whatever it takes to get to the bottom of it - including banging the sinister, slutty Talia (sister of Marsh, leader of the Nighthawks).  After all, the club always comes first.  Gage lies to everyone about who he is - going as far as fabricating an ex-wife & two kids.  As part of his cover, he gets a job as a handyman in exchange for an apartment from Tinker, who bought his lies hook, line, & sinker - probably because she is instantly in lust with him.  Tinker moved back to town eighteen months ago to care for her ailing father, manage the family apartment building, and continue building her thriving candy business.  An immediate attraction sparks between Gage & Tinker.  There are many delicious scenes of her ogling a shirtless Gage as he does chores around the apartment building.  She fantasizes endlessly about being with him in spite of knowing he has a "girlfriend".  That was most likely Tinker's first mistake, as she knows he is repeatedly engaging in hot, wild sex with Talia as she hears Talia's screams of ecstasy along with the banging of his bed against their shared bedroom wall almost every d*mn night.  Gage fantasizes about being with Tinker while he continues "doing" Talia even though his thoughts about Talia range from disgust to hate.  And yet, his dick doesn't seem to get that message.  Gage can't pursue his feelings with Tinker until he solves the issue for the Reapers.  What we have here is a situation.  What a mess.

I won't go into more detail about Reaper's Fire because of revealing spoilers.  While starting a bit slow, the pace picks up during the second half of the book, with different scenarios being tossed into the mix adding more fuel to the fire.  Scenes get intense with lives on the line.  But, I kept anticipating more interaction between hero & heroine - for their fantasies to become realities much sooner and for their chemistry to ignite.  For me, it was overshadowed by the "take one for the team" theme to the point of desecrating their romance story line. In my opinion, the things Gage did "for the club" went on far too long and were unforgivable.  It affected my perception of this character and for the first time in this series, I found myself not liking the Hero very much.  It's not about blood or gore in this book - it's about a line you can't cross if you expect love/romance to thrive.  Some things are unforgivable.  

 Wylde's signature humorous banter, bossy alpha males, and hot sex scenes are very much alive in Reaper's Fire.  I enjoyed the brief glimpses & interactions of Picnic, Hunter, & Painter. There are some threads left dangling that I presume are fodder for future books.  As a fan of the series, I do feel this is a Must Read book.  As in most series, like all readers, I have a favorite book of the series as well as one that is destined to be my least favorite.  It's the nature of reading series, I think.  Reaper's Fire is the least favorite of the series for me thus far.  While my favorite book slot of this series remains open . . . I very much favor the earlier books of this series with the old gang.  

My Rating:  3 "Take One for the Team" ♥'s . . . And that's the truth!

Cross My Heart . . . xxx

Sandra