Nikki is back in the RBMC world. As a quick reminder, the there are several authors who have written in this shared world, each author is able to put their own spin on the world, as long as it has the Royal Bastards MC in it. So, Nikki puts a paranormal spin on her books in this series. So, let’s talk about Devil’s Ride.
The books starts 18 year in the past. Grim, not yet known as Grim, has been trapped by the bad guys along with his pres, Keys and another brother, Lockjaw. The guys aren’t treated well, at all, to the point that Lockjaw is dead when they go to escape, and Keys dies on their way to safety. Grim nearly dies, but at the last moment, he’s offered a deal with the Devil. And when I say deal with the Devil, I mean the literal devil. After he makes his deal, Grim, now using that road name, gets hit by a car. Out of that car comes a young girl, who gives Grim her teddy bear, Cuddles, because Cuddles always makes her feel better, and it’s obvious that Grim needs help. All Grim knows about her is that she has the most beautiful aura.
Fast forward 18 years. Trish is working as a bartender at a local bar, trying to take care of her drunk father, and dealing with her scummy step-brother, who is prospecting with a local MC (not the RBMC). He really wants in her pants, she really wants him not in her pants. So much not in her pants that she is more than willing to break him in pieces to keep that from happening. Trish tells her friend and roommate Suraya about the weird interaction she had with a severely injured biker back in the day. She’s never seen him again, at least until he walks into her bar one night. She recognizes him instantly, but she’s pretty sure that he doesn’t recognize her, until he meets her eyes and heads over to talk to her.
Grim recognizes her aura, and he is so drawn to her. There’s just something about her and her aura that gives him some peace and some light, which isn’t anything that he’s had before.
This was a huge fucking roller coaster of a ride. It knocked me right the fuck out. Sometimes I think that Grim and Trish are too toxic to each other to stay together, but other times I thought that their souls truly belonged together and that keeping them apart would hurt the two of them more than help. I think that the truth actually falls somewhere in between the two. They aren’t always good for each other, especially in Trish’s cases, but she has all these feelings for Grim.
I think that Trish is strong and independent. I think that sometimes she’s too independent, and that caused some of the problems. Now, I’m not victim blaming. I’m not saying that B happened to Trish because she did A, but it may have been a part of the reason that B happened. Or, maybe more like it gave B an opening to happen. Does that make sense? I think that Trish has every right to feel the way that she does about MCs throughout the book. It has to be a hard place for her to be.
Grim. Hmmmm. I don’t know what to say about Grim. I thinkk that I like him, most of the time. I understand his actions. His actions are really kind of just plain and straight forward. He doesn’t really have a lot of twists and turns going on, and WYSIWYG. At least mostly. He is keeping one big secret (other than MC business), but beyond that…
I found the Suraya/Sasha storyline to be really interesting and sad.
OK, that’s all for this one. Go check it out! Happy reading!
In Between the Pages 