A Dangerous Reality (The Bent Zealots #1 ) by Layla Wolfe
Released: January 11, 2015
M/M Motorcycle Club Romance
Quicksilver books

Reviewed by Sheena

Favorite Quote: “Better than a sex cake or a hallelujah or a chick who says yes too soon?”  “I was gonna say, ‘better than having a boyfriend, but yeah, I’ll take those other things, too.”  “Except maybe the girl.” “Yeah,” he agreed amiably.  “Forget the girl.”

Two men, Motorcycle club (MC) members are powerless to fight their affection despite trying to hide their dangerous attraction from their MCs.  So. I read a lot of MC romance. Like seriously. A. Lot. So I am no wilting lily when it came to club life and many of the aspects Turk and Luck battled through were familiar to me for sure. Unfortunately, familiar or not, A Dangerous Reality did not work for me, primarily because it spent too much time trying to work against me.

My club sent me to track him down. And when my mission was over, I never wanted another one again. When I found him, I kicked the crap out of Havelock Singer. I issued the mightiest beatdown of all time. Problem is, we’re evenly matched. We’re equals in every way, and when we finished whaling on each other, exhausted, we fell into each other’s arms.
I’ve never regretted it for an instant. It’s been the ride of my life. But loving another man in the MC world is a risky business. As if our business isn’t already brutal and ruthless enough, Lock’s homophobic sergeant-at-arms Stumpy gets an eyeful of our lovemaking and blackmails us into doing some of his dirty work, or be exposed for what we are-a couple of deviants…

I am more than a little disappointed that Wolfe gave up the chance to do something kind of  groundbreaking- to really dig in and make a great M/M MC romance with substance and grit.  I am suspicious that the author wrote the most arresting, violent sexual scenes she could imagine and then framed a makeshift plot around it.  I do not scare easy.  I read Crystal Spears Breakneck.  I read Anne Rice’s The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty series (WHOA by the way). I like  BDSM, hell I enjoy a little grit and grime in my love tales and I am drawn like a moth to a flame by all things dark and angsty.  If this were really a story about two MC members fighting their way to one another despite societal pressure or fears it would have worked.  Make no bones about it- The sex was red hot.  Too hot. So hot the mercury has burst the thermostat. So hot in fact that the novel crossed the thin line into shock value land.

I knowingly and intentionally decided to read a M/M MC novel and I didn’t like walking away feeling beat up and wrung dry, each chapter ratcheting up the cra-zy abuse and senseless cruelty.  It was like bull riding where the author kept turning up the dial, as if to say, what? Still here, how about this neo-nazi, crazy rape scene, oh wow, still there Sheena, how about this cliche’d  M/M coupling.  Atta girl! Still hanging on?  How about I use the work cocksucker 47 times in three paragraphs. Gawd dammit girl, you really are a trooper, now I will just hurl violent and loveless sex scenes at you ad nauseam until… Seriously.  I could close my eyes and advance the book several random pages clicks and slides and damn if when I open my eyes I am at another insanely gritty romping.  I can’t call them love scenes. Even towards the end when I should be on board for a HEA but no…just no.  It could have been amazing, instead it read like a caricature of a M/M romance.  Too few moments of authenticity and too many eyeball to ceiling clichés.  The raw feelings Turk developed for Luck were unfortunately lost in the shuffle.  His journey of betrayal and forgiveness had several pointedly profound moments that I connected with but that just did not get the development it deserved.

As we adjusted ourselves, I became more self-conscious, remembering I’d told Lock that I loved him.  It seemed like every five minutes I was stumbling on a new feeling, a new emotion, a new adventure.  It was exhausting and invigorating at the same time.

This! This!  I wanted more of the emotion explored.  More time examining each hero’s inner thoughts would have yielded a far better result because one thing about it- Wolfe is a talented writer. Clever.  The quips- great.  Nobody digs a mouthy asshole more than yours truly!

I’ve seen enough true crime shows. Hell, I’ve participated in enough true crimes to know that once you get into the cage, something spectacularly gruesome is about to happen. If you can somehow avoid getting into that damned Cadillac or windowless van, let me tell you, do it.

Again, too few of these moments to balance out the bad. I believe because I have seen homosexual relationships, love, unrequited love, adoring love, dangerous love, done so well in the peripheral in many amazing books that I have read , I was ready to see what could come of bringing it into the spotlight.  A Dangerous Reality was just not ready for prime time.  Turk and Lock were meaty characters!  They just needed something to do other than try and out dick trick one another.  I am a gal that lovers her sexy, smexy times, but unless it is advertised as erotica through and through, I expect to have a sustainable and interesting- believable plot and I expect characters to grow and transform and if they do not, I expect to see how their stagnation has affected them and their loved ones- juxtaposed with a sound resolution.  All of the above was not present with this book.

It is imperative that you approach A Dangerous Reality with a wide open mind. Despite not working on different levels for me, there is an audience for this series.  Wolfe has an interesting voice and  goes balls to the wall- literally in many scenes- heh heh- so if you are into shock value and really unapologetic, unabashedly sexuality then you may enjoy this novel.

His sudden enthusiasm rattled the windowpanes, echoing so loudly he was sure Stumpy could hear him. Good. “Oh fuck yeah, keep sucking me, bitch. Use your tongue. Yeah, that’s it. Oh Goddd, you love sucking cock, don’t you? You just can’t get enough of it. You want your mouth filled with a nice long, fat dick. You want to gulp that tasty, hot jizz—”His orgasm was unexpected, racing up out of his very depths, giving him no warning. He was suddenly spending in the hot, sucking mouth that swirled around his glans, pleasuring him so acutely the hairs on the back of his neck stood out. The bare skin of his ass shivered with delight, his balls like two boulders pressed up tight against his perineum. Oh, Lord. The only way this would be better is if something was sliding in and out of my ass. “That’s it,”he gasped, cradling the silken head to his groin. “That’s it, God, don’t stop.”When she gulped and cried out, the fantasy of Turk was broken… 

I absolutely advise potential readers to heed the disclaimer regarding the content prior to reading.  I stayed the course because I (comically) felt as if I were playing a game of chicken and damn if I was going to blink first!

Grade: D+

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