Tattooed Love by Simone Elise

Tattooed Love

Title: Tattooed Love

Author: Simone Elise

Publisher: Inkitt

Date of publication: September 20th, 2017

Genre: Romance

Number of pages: 395

POV: Alternating 1st person

Where you can find Tattooed Love: Amazon

Book synopsis  (from Goodreads):

When your heart rules your mind, you don’t get to choose who you love. But what if that love could lead to your own destruction? 
Amber is a rebellious high school senior and the only girl in a family of outlaw bikers. Her four brothers left when she was young to keep her away from their style of life, but despite their efforts, she’s wrapped up in criminal activities and her life is rapidly spiraling out of control. 

With her life finally going up in flames, adding fuel to that fire is smoldering and infamous biker Jax. As she begins to fall for her dangerous love and throw caution to the wind, Amber might not be able to turn back from the risky path she’s chosen… 

Being together might be dangerous, but, after all, outlaws are meant to break the rules.

Trigger Warning: Domestic violence, drug use, underage drinking

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Chase & Chloe by Simone Elise

Chase & Chloe

Title: Chase & Chloe

Author: Simone Elise

Publisher: Inkitt

Date of publication: July 12, 2017

Genre: Romance, Suspense

POV: Alternating 1st person

Where you can find Chase & Chloe: Amazon

Book synopsis (from Goodreads):

Chloe’s life has never been the easiest ride, and now she finds herself in chaos and running away from home in her stolen abusive stepfather’s car. When she breaks down in the middle of nowhere, she doesn’t expect to come face to face with Chase; the eldest son of the leader of the notoriously feared Horsemen Motorcycle Club. 

With nowhere to go and no one to turn to, Chloe reluctantly accepts Chase’s offer of a place to stay, despite her knowing that he can’t be trusted. This big, bad, biker can’t mean any good, can he?

A tale of romance, danger, and suspense; Chase and Chloe is a thrilling ride that you’ll find tough to slow down on…

Trigger warning: Child abuse

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Satan’s Son by Simone Elise

Satan's Son

Title: Satan’s Son

Author: Simone Elise

Publisher: Inkitt

Date of publication: May 10th, 2017

Genre: Romance, fantasy, Young Adult

Number of pages: 134

Where you can find Satan’s Son: Amazon

Book synopsis (from Goodreads):

You never expect to meet your soulmate after you die. And you definitely never expect your soulmate not to have a soul at all.

But that’s what happened to Addison. One minute she’s walking along in her average life, worrying about curfew, and the next minute she’s in hell.

Addison was living a typical teenager’s life before being dragged down to hell to atone for her sins on Earth. She must now make up for her bad behavior but is not expecting to meet her match in Ethan. Devilish good looks, charming smirk, an attitude to match, oh, and he’s Satan’s Son. Addison must now navigate the channels of hell with the reluctant guidance of Ethan as he atones for his own error. But could his mistake be closer linked to Addison’s death than she knows? Neither Addison or Ethan were planning to find love but now that they’re here, which will it be: Heaven or Hell?

My review:

I think that books about Hell/Heaven? Purgatory is a dime a dozen. But I was intrigued by the cover, the title, and the blurb. The first couple of chapters were really good. Like insanely good and I thought to myself “This book is going to be awesome”. Then the book fell flat and it became a chore to even finish it. Saying that I was disappointed is an understatement.

I mean, I loved the idea behind the book. Where Addison went after she died wasn’t Purgatory but it was kind of like a pre-Hell where people who straddled the line between good and evil were sent to atone for their crimes and then possibly gain access into Heaven or Hell. I do think that if more time was spent in developing that part of the book, then the book would have gotten a higher rating from me.

I couldn’t stand Addison. Listen, I get that there is a market for young adult women who don’t take anything from anyone and I like that. But there is a fine line between headstrong/sassy and being reckless/a witch with a b. Unfortunately, Addison crossed the line early in the book. She just came across as an immature spoiled brat who didn’t care who she ticked off and was used to people catering to her. I mean, even her explanation of her crimes, when she was alive (arson, defacing public property), was horrible. Nothing was her fault and that attitude, unfortunately, stayed the entire book.

Ethan, however, seemed to be an OK guy. Well OK for being the son of Satan. He has a thing for Addison, which I really couldn’t even begin to understand why he liked her. I understood where he felt responsible for her and I understood the reasons why Satan put him in charge of training Addison. But everything else, nope, couldn’t even come close to even understanding it. I wish more was put into his relationship with his parents and sister. Again, which blew my mind because who would think that Satan would be a family man. Not this chick.

The romance between Ethan and Addison seemed forced. Addison didn’t even like him for half the book and then, bam, Instalove on her part. I kinda went “Eh” when I read that part. As much as I thought Ethan was an OK guy, he did come across as stalkerish. Actually, the song Every Breath You Take by The Police is a perfect song for him when he was watching her when she was alive.

Even when they had sex, it seemed off. I am thankful that the author chose to not detail that because it really wasn’t something that I want to think about.

I do wish that the author went through with Satan’s plan to restore Addison to being alive sooner in the book. I think that it would have been a great twist in the plot to have her alive and gradually remember her time in Hell (well, pre-Hell) and then realize her feelings for Ethan than to drag it out for chapters.

There were a couple of loose ends that never got picked back up. Did Addison meet back up with Alex? And more importantly…..why was Satan never given a scene? He was mentioned a ton of times and Ethan actually met with him when he brought Addison to his house for dinner. But no Satan. I was a little disappointed.

The end of the book was technically a HEA with everything turning out alright.

How many stars will I give Satan’s Son: 3

Why: Now, I know most of you are like why a 3 if you didn’t like the main characters. Here’s my explanation: I think that this book could be something if the author took the time to do more world building, character building, fix up some of the dialogue and do an overhaul of Addison’s character. I see the potential in this book and what I see, I like.

Will I reread: Maybe

Will I recommend to family and friends: Maybe

Age range: Older Teen

Why: Language and some mild violence

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

Reaper’s Rival (Satan’s Son’s MC: Book 2) by Simone Elise

Satan's Sons MC Romance Series Book 3: Reaper's Rival by [Elise, Simone]

Title: Reaper’s Rival

Author: Simone Elise

Publisher: Inkitt

Date of publication: March 22nd, 2017

Genre: Romance

POV: Alternating 1st person

Number of pages: 532

Series: Satan’s Son’s Motorcycle Club

Reaper’s Claim – Book 1 (review here)

Reaper’s Rival – Book 2

Where this book can be found: Amazon

Book synopsis (from Goodreads):

The steamy and dramatic sequel to the Best Selling Reaper’s Claim by Simone Elise.

After the events of the first book, Abby has joined her half sister’s gang Hellbound. Can Reaper claim her back?

Reaper:
This life gives you regrets on a silver platter. This life makes you colder, and there is a coldness in you now Abby, and I don’t like seeing it. It is what I was trying to protect you from. You always had an innocent heart, but something got inside and messed around with it, and I don’t like it. You can come back from this. Let me take all the bad from you so you can go back to being you. Ain’t ever gonna stop trying to make you mine.

Abby:
You have to lose yourself to really find yourself. You have to crawl through the dark times to understand and crave the light. And sometimes you need to lose the man you love to realize that what you had in the first place was in fact, love. We had a history between us. But more importantly, we had love between us and time doesn’t affect love, or at least I hope it won’t affect our love. Right now I don’t belong anywhere, but I know that no matter what happens or where I am, my heart will always belong to him.

Being together might be dangerous, but outlaws are meant to break the rules.

My review:

I am going to start this review by explaining what happened shortly after I reviewed Reaper’s Claim (and why I was beyond confused when I started reading Reaper’s Rival). The author decided to split the first book up into two books. So, when I started reading Reaper’s Rival, I fully expected it to take up after the events that I had read in Reaper’s Claim….which ended up being the end of Reaper’s Rival (confused yet….lol). Which confused me because I was expecting Reaper to be in full get Abby mode after what I read in Reaper’s Claim and instead she was in Blake’s gang which happened in Reaper’s Claim (and no, not a spoiler).

I heard back from the publisher about what happened. The author decided to split Reaper’s Claim into two books and she added 40K worth of words to the new book, which is Reaper’s Rival. To be honest, I think it was a wise move on the author’s part. So much went on in Reaper’s Claim that it was almost too much when you read it. With the story being continued in Reaper’s Rival and new material added, it made the book a lot easier to read and follow.

Reaper’s Rival takes place 3 months after the events of Reaper’s Claim. Abby has shed her “good girl” persona and is now in a gang, working as a hit woman. If she even had a shred of me liking her in the first book, it was stomped on in this book. I don’t know if the author intentionally wrote her this way but she came across as an insecure, whiny, immature little girl who freaked if she even thought Reaper was looking at another girl but it was OK for her not to call him for months on end. I really couldn’t stand her and I would be lying if I said I wished she was taken out. But then there wouldn’t have been a story so it’s kinda a wash….lol.

Reaper was still a tough biker but I like how the author wrote in scenes that made him human. What I mean by that is that he had feelings and he really wasn’t afraid to let Abby, Kim or Roach see them. He also loved Abby no matter what. Which I am not sure she deserved with the way she acted (read the book). When he found out what she was doing in the gang, instead of running guns like she leads them to believe (not that running guns were good), he understandably freaked out. There are reasons why he freaked out. Want to know what?? Read the book.

I will say that this book had some crazy action scenes. If you don’t like blood, don’t read this book because it kinda gets a little gory at points. But it doesn’t take away from the book, it actually adds to it. But, like I said in the review of Reaper’s Claim, this is a pretty realistic view of motorcycle clubs and guess what, stuff like this is a reality for hard-core members. This club isn’t one of those clubs where the members meet up on the weekends and go cruising…..this is a club where killing, drug deals, stealing motorcycles/cars and other criminal activities are a way of life.

Reaper and Abby’s sex scenes, while hot, really didn’t do it for me. I am going to admit it is because of Abby. I just didn’t like her.

The book ends on another cliffhanger and I can’t wait to read book 3.

How many stars will I give Reaper’s Rival: 4

Why: Like I said above, I think it was great that the author decided to split the first book into two and add content to Reaper’s Rival. It actually made for a better read than reading it all at once. The characters were more in-depth, the situations that they got into were more in-depth and there was more of an understanding of why what happened at the end happened. I was very happy with it.

Will I reread: Yes

Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes

Age range: Adult

Why: Sex, language, violence. Also, a pretty graphic scene of a 10-year-old being murdered.

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

Reaper’s Claim by Simone Elise

Reaper's Claim

Title: Reaper’s Claim

Author: Simone Elise

Publisher: Inkitt

Date of publication: February 15th, 2017

Genre: Romance

POV: Alternating 1st person

Number of pages: Unknown

Series: No

Where this book can be found: Amazon

Goodreads synopsis:

In my motorcycle club I’ve earned the name ‘Reaper’ and now I have my claim on Abby Harrison.

Reaper:
I didn’t know what love was, but I knew what want was, and I wanted Abby. When I walked out of the club and saw her I was stone cold sober. She was quietly beautiful and unlike any other woman I’d had before. But she was the daughter of the president of Satan’s Sons MC and completely out of my reach.

Abby:
Everyone knew The Reaper and how he got his name, so I never expected him to be my salvation when my sister’s drunk boyfriend wanted to lay hands on me. I thought my innocence would be lost in that alley until he showed up and saved me. I know being with Reaper will lead to trouble, but I don’t know if I have the strength to stay away.

Being together might be dangerous, but outlaws are meant to break the rules.

My review:

What I liked about Reaper’s Claim:

  1. It was a motorcycle club book. I am slightly obsessed with them since getting an ARC last year. I don’t know why. Maybe it is the allure of a bad boy or maybe it is the romance that comes with the story. I really don’t know why I am obsessed with them.
  2. The realistic look on motorcycle clubs. I said above that I am slightly obsessed with motorcycle club books. But it doesn’t mean that I am blind to when they are being shown as bikers with hearts of gold. It might be true for some clubs but let’s face it, motorcycle clubs in real life are not all good. They actually do very bad things to people and that is what makes this book refreshing. The author didn’t hide that Reaper, Roach, Kim, Abby and the rest of the club were bad people.
  3. Reaper and Abby being portrayed as real people. What I mean by that is that they have real issues. Abby has Daddy issues (Roach wasn’t exactly father of the year), anger issues and makes some not so great decisions in her life. Reaper has anger issues and when he fights with Abby, he ends up sleeping with a club girl (a woman who lives at the clubhouse and sleeps with everyone there….aka a whore). Together they had communication and trust issues. Major trust issues. To be honest, there was a point in the book where I thought that they needed to see a therapist.

What I disliked about Reaper’s Claim:

  1. The numerous 1st person POV’s. I love reading different point of views. It adds flavor to the book to read from another perspective. But, and stress but, there is only so many POV’s that you can have in a book before it starts to get confusing. Not only did we have Abby and Reaper’s POV but we had Trigger, Kim, Roach, Brad, Vivienne and a couple of other people whose names I can’t remember. Too much, way too much. It should have just been left with Reaper and Abby. The story wouldn’t have seemed as bogged down as it is.
  2. Abby. I couldn’t stand her. She was given a rough deal in life with her mother dying at such a young age, her father being who he was and her sister sleeping around. I get it but it didn’t excuse her actions after she was forced to go live with her aunt. Honestly, she acted like a 3-year-old trying to get her father’s attention (which I really think she was). She never listened to reason. If Roach or Reaper were trying to tell her something that might save her life, she would take off. By the end of the book, I was pretty sick and tired of her.
  3.  I couldn’t tell where this book took place. I know it is a petty thing to dislike but I couldn’t flipping figure out if the book took place in Australia or the UK and it drove me absolutely crazy. I know people are going to be reading this and going “Ok”. Here’s the reason it was driving me nuts. I read with accents and I couldn’t figure out what accent to give to the characters. I know, petty and weird, but it totally threw me off stride when I couldn’t do that.

How many stars will I give Reaper’s Claim: 3

Why: I was so torn on giving this book a lower star rating. I actually liked the book and found it refreshing that it gave a pretty realistic view on what motorcycle clubs are really like. But between the multiple 1st person POV’s and a very unlikable main character, I couldn’t get into the book and that affected my rating.

Will I reread: Probably

Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes but I would warn them about the sex, language, and violence in the book.

Age range: Adult

Why: Sex, violence, and language.

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**