Devil’s Honor by Megan Crane
The Devil’s Keepers, #1
Contemporary Romance
Loveswept
Reviewed By Sheena
Merritt Broussard grew up knowing she had two choices if she stayed in Lagrange: run with the outlaws or get left in their dust. So she got the hell out, leaving behind a bad-boy biker and scorching memories of their summer fling. Now Merritt’s back, with trouble on her tail, and the sergeant-at-arms of the Devil’s Keepers is the one person she can still trust. But Greeley isn’t the boy she remembers. He’s harder now, more dangerous—and even more alluring.
Joseph “Greeley” Shaw loves two things: his bike and his club. At eighteen, he escaped a rough life, found the Devil’s Keepers on the wrong side of a bad weekend, and never looked back. Greeley swore to live and die by their code: Devil’s Keepers first, Devil’s Keepers forever. No one comes between him and his brothers—except for the tantalizing woman who touched his soul. Greeley’s the kind of man who honors his commitments . . . and Merritt is one promise he’s determined to keep.
Favorite Quote: “Greeley,” she said softly, right there against his mouth, a thousand promises in her eyes. “My daddy wanted me to be better than this place. Than you. Than This. But I just want to come home.”
I am ALL about MC club books. Something about their alpha, rough and tumble, proudly damaged, protective strength calls to me. And I answer. Boy do I answer. Which is why I almost always give MC Romance books a shot. Unfortunately, this one felt phoned in, flat and unfulfilling. I never connected with the heroine and the plot felt unorganized and disjointed- and not in a trendy cool way.
Greeley felt like a caricature of a good MC hero and I could not take him seriously. He was an asshole- and trust me, I like asshole, but there has to be something redeeming in the mix somewhere. Asshole-without-a-cause just doesn’t play well with me. Merritt was cookie cutter, never really standing out, blending in a little too well, lost in her own story.
Devil’s Honor starts with a bang. Literally, Greeley and Merritt are in the throes of passion, a five year flash back scene that let me know exactly how passionate this pair could be.
“He’d already made her come twice and he wasn’t anywhere near done.
Not Tonight.
She was riding him in that lazy ass way of hers that drove him insane, a slick, hot slide of her pussy against him, then that slow, endless lift like she had all night to play with him. Greeley had his hands on her ass, filling his palms with her and watching as she took her sweet time on top of him.
“You got about four seconds, baby,” he growled at her.
So, steamy sex. Check. Unfortunately, that isn’t the only box that needs checking. Important boxes like character development, plot coherency for example remain vacant. My primary gripe with the novel is that it lacked a feeling as if anything really happened. Sure scenes came and past, characters entered and exited, but there wasn’t really a plot to fall into or a cause to champion. Greeley didn’t make me swoon one bit- my equilibrium remained regretfully copacetic, so I kind of didn’t get any wrench in my gut when he acted out or experienced pain and feelings of rejection when it came to Merritt’s penchant for doing what she felt was best for her. Merritt was too one dimensional for me to work up any feels toward her personal traumas and struggles. Devil’s Honor also had a very melancholy, and grey sentiment. Sometimes melancholy can be powerful and captivating, but the downer feels I got while reading Devil’s Honor had a more repellent and uncomfortable vibe.
Not exactly a strong motivator to continue – and I considered DNF’ing several times over. I ultimately decided to stick it out because I know what Megan Crane can really do, as I read her dystopian romance Edge of Temptation that I enjoyed and recommended here. I enjoy her work and despite the problems I had with Devil’s Honor, this will not be my last Megan Crane read. I believe what happened here is what happens to most novels when authors stumble into a new romantic fiction sub genre and tries to make fetch happen. You can’t force it with MC Romance stories. You either love the life, love the man and love the club and you write from there- then it feels authentic and soulful. If you try to jam your way into an MC romance mold and stuff your tried and true contemporary romance junk into it- the MC romance will come off as a knock off and just another novel that has over-saturated the market.
Pro-Tip. Just because you have a group of men with tats in cuts drinking beer and fucking bitches at their clubhouse- does not a genuine MC romance novel make. It is more than including random biker elements. Its a lifestyle.
*Hops of Harley soap box*
Merritt has an ambitious and restless streak that rails against Greeley’s sensibilities and desire to make do with what he has, as he has it. They were never a god fit, besides the sexual and I wanted better for them both. Overall, I do believe there was opportunity to get something good going with Devil’s Honor, but the execution failed and it ended up being a snooze. There was an HEA..I guess…I mean I assume that Merritt won’t bail on him- even though she still questioned if they would grow bored of one another at 99%. NINETY-NINE percent (literally the second to last page). I mean really, 99% and they still didn’t have a solid HEA in the bag? After a novel full of uncertainty, hot yummy sex, but plenty of uncertainty, the novel ends…with more uncertainty- gah!
Bummer. You can’t depress me for 232 pages and not deliver with a solid HEA. You just can not. If there is an audience of folks who likes this sort of thing, then perhaps this is for you. Otherwise, I’d skip it.
Grade: D
Previous Megan Crane Reviews: Make You Burn, Edge of Temptation
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