Bet on Me is Elizabeth Knox’s entry into the Royal Bastards MC shared world series. And Elizabeth’s take is really interesting, and not one that I expected when I started reading it.
So, here’s the way that this one goes. We have Rancid, who is the national Prez of the Royal Bastards. And let me tell you, Rancid really fits him. He’s a wretched piece of shit. Actually, he would have to level up about 17,000 times to become a wretched piece of shit. And that would only be if he were really, really lucky or really, really good. Anyway, 10 years ago, Rancid went to Baltimore and killed Gamble’s entire family. All except Gamble. Her, he took. She was 15, and he turned her into his pet, and not a pretty kind, if you know what I mean.
Now, it’s 10 years later, and Gamble has actually been able to get away from Rancid. She’s been back to living in Baltimore, with that chapter of the Bastards, and while she was there, she fell in love with the Prez, Dog. Rancid calls her down to see him, and when she gets there, all the other Prezs are there, and Dog is tied up and has been tortured. It’s bad. Really bad. It turns out that Dog has been trying to get rid of Rancid, and he heard about it, so he’s going to get rid of Dog and takes Gamble.
Finally, Gamble is back in Baltimore, and is in a position that no one expects and that no one really believes. On top of that, she’s got a new member in the chapter that she has to deal with, Hart.
Hart is currently in hiding. He got in trouble with Petros, who is the Prez of another chapter of the Royal Bastards. But Rancid has decided that Hart is going to go to Baltimore, so off to Baltimore he will go.
There is a lot that goes on in this book, for as short as it is. I did, at times, feel like it was a little rushed, but not overly so. I do feel like it ended too soon though. I feel like there is a lot more to come with Gamble and Hart, so I’m really hoping that Elizabeth is going to continue on with these guys, because it really does feel like the first half of a book instead of a whole book. I hope that makes sense.
I do like Gamble. I think that she’s remarkably strong for everything that she’s gone through over the years. She has a real streak of iron right down her spine, and I have mad respect for her.
Hart seems a little harder to get a hold of. Mostly we see Gamble’s POV, so we just don’t get as much of Hart. I’ll have to read Petros, which is currently sitting on my Kindle to read, which means it will probably be on here at some point, to see if we get to know Hart any more in that book than we do.
Overall, I enjoyed the book, and I’m going to keep reading more of Elizabeth’s books, because I do like her worlds.
A female Prez? I think that Rancid might actually hurt himself here.
OK, that’s all I have to say about this one. Go check it out! Happy reading!
In Between the Pages 