Review: Bound to Black by F. Sommers
Contemporary/MC Romance
Released: Februaury 15 2015
E-Book

Reviewed by Sheena

Favorite Quote: “You tired babe?” he asked softly, his breathing still rough, his fingers gently pushing my hair out of my eyes.  “Seems like your stamina can’t keep up with motorcycle sex,” he murmured, chuckling softly.

When Serena Becker moves to the Bay Area for a law internship, she doesn’t expect anything besides a change of scenery. But upon meeting Gabe Black, the accused murderer she must defend, Serena’s life takes a thrilling turn.

As president of the local outlaw motorcycle club, the gorgeous, alluring Black leads a double-edged life of rebellious excitement and violence. Despite his intimidating lifestyle, Serena finds herself captivated by this man, and is willing to face any danger to be with him.

But when her relationship with Black spins out of control, Serena is thrust into a world very different from that which she has always inhabited, stuck at a crossroad between what she wants and what is right.

Brimming with romance and suspense, Bound to Black is a love story with an edge.

Smart heroine meets tough, bad boy hero …on a bike.  With a President patch on his cut.  Gabe Black is a total Alpha without the douche component.  Now, personally, a little douche does my libido good, but Gabe was a rather fresh take on the typical Biker Prez.  He had this gentlemanly swagger that bubbled beneath his surface.  Make no mistake. He’d gladly bash an enemies brains in, but he’d carry his lady love over the puddle of brainy grey matter so she wouldn’t have to have her sensibilities disturbed.  That kind of gentleman.  Serena Becker is a young fresh out of law school attorney-at-law who finds herself in a new in town and representing her first murder case for no other than Gabe Black.  Black is the Skull and Bones MC club President whose outlaw life is steadily catching up to him. His safe haven and release and ticket to absolution is the pure of heart Serena.  Their romance is dark, almost star-crossed.  Bound to Black is definitely a romance novel, however, there is a strong suspense element, so I will be delicate as the climax is definitely a surprise and leaves Serena and Gabe at a fork in the road, neither available path exactly desired.

The darkness in the story lent well to the gritty tone and I found myself in a constant sense of foreboding.  Never really settling into a sweet spot as I could not shake that something was at work to cause the couple trauma.  Their quiet happy moments, eclipsed by shadows.  The sensuality  was off the charts, however, is just as much a tragedy as it is a romance.

Typical biker trope is afoot, sexy biker, virgin, heroine, the club has whore and enemies and tough as nails old ladies and the women bond and support  their men, etc.  If you are a Sons of Anarchy fan, you will be right at home with this novel as it lends itself to almost a written companion-like experience.  I can see shades of Jax and Tara in Serena and Gabe and their little Bay Area town, not too much unlike Charming. With that point of reference it was a little more thrilling to indulge into the novel.

Watching Serena and Gabe fall in love, was an awkwardly beautiful experience.  She was an innocent in body and sexuality , he was a man used to getting his own way but was abruptly taken with Serena’s beauty and quiet strength.  Serena is his buttoned up lawyer and he is her untamed inaugural walk on the wild side.  He teases and winks at her incessantly, so much so that I could practically time then impending winks down to the paragraph.  For all his teasing, he was super swoon-worthy and triggered all of my buttons.

Of course I had known that Gabe wasn’t a virgin- how could he be, when he looked like that?- but I hadn’t been expecting this.  And then, suddenly , a horrible thought occurred to me.  I was just one number, the most recent of an unknown, seemingly endless list.  How many other women had been seduced by him the way I had been- how many of them had sat where I was siting now?

But just when my mind was beginning to conjure the worst possible thoughts, Gabe placed his firm fingers on my chin and tilted my head up, so that I had to meet his probing gaze.

“Don’t overt think it,” he said quietly, his face unexpectedly soft and gentle.  “All of those women- it had all happened mindlessly.  I didn’t have a real relationship with any of them.”  he half- smiled.  “In that way, I’m just as inexperienced as you are.”

The majority of the book focused on the main couple, with a few interesting enough characters sprinkled along the peripheral. Their love affair was built up only to be tread upon and beaten, snatched from their grasps, when all they ultimately wanted to do was hold on to one another, however, when competing loyalties spring from the shadows, Serena and Gabe have their biggest obstacle in their path, how do you fight a foe that is formidable yet also familial?  The ending is sort of cliff hangery- but I was not inclined to have a fit or rant my annoyance.  The author left the end wide open for a sequel but left both hero and heroine in a resolved state of mind, HEA present , however tenuous due to a major character development (darn spoiler gag!).

If you like steamy romance where the plot more so tells the story of the couple’s growing connection than anything else, this will be right up your alley. Dark tones of romance, elements of danger and some betrayal, it was rich in emotional substance. Although the novel worked as a character study  (that I quite enjoyed),  I absolutely missed the presence  of a substantial plot outside of the relationship.  Twenty chapters of this nascent relationship that grew from lusty beginnings to substantial love and devotion and then WHAM, devastation! It was a little jarring and unsettling.  A big credit to the author for tying together some of the blown apart pieces, otherwise it would have ended as an unforgivable cliff hanger. Un-for-giv-able.  Thank goodness things settled down with a huurah! declaration from Serena and confirmation of Gabe’s undying devotion.  I cautiously recommend Bound in Black, as an open mind in regard to plot development is paramount.  The payoff, Gabe and Serena are as sweet as they are HOT!

Grade: C+

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