#hea

https://archiveofourown.org/works/86601811/chapters/229173086

Ten Percent and Blondie

Millie is a burlesque dancer, and she’s out for revenge for her younger sister Kitty, who had the misfortune of encountering Nathaniel Lyons. If you’re wondering what Nathaniel did, you’re going to have a very long wait. Personally, I didn’t have a problem with that. Also, be advised there is explicit language in the book, as well as steamy scenes.

If you’ve been reading Dani Ryan’s books, you’ll recognize Nathaniel, or Nate as I will henceforth be calling him, from the book Let Me Say It Again. And he was the last person I expected to have a redemption story, but here we are.

To be fair, I spent a good two-thirds of the book despising him. And yet, I wasn’t all on board with Millie, either. Here’s the thing — almost no one is a hundred percent wonderful or a hundred percent awful, which makes this story more realistic than some, and I can appreciate that. 

Millie disguises herself as the widow of a billionaire, and she definitely has the composure and grace to insinuate herself into the rich people world. She’s fully determined to do what has been asked of her, and will be paid handsomely for her efforts. Who is the unseen and unnamed benefactor? Well, I figured that out in chapter two, though the reveal in the book is much later. No disrespect to the authors; I’m just very good at figuring out mysteries, after decades of watching and reading them. 

Nate doesn’t do himself any favors, either. His father comes to him and says he’ll make Nate CEO while his brother Reddington is on his honeymoon, but he has to romance the widow Millie and make her fall for him. No problem, he thinks. But I didn’t believe his dad for one second. Any man who pits his sons against each other is not someone to be trusted.

Words. What are words?

Charlie is putting herself through school while working at a daycare. She loves her job, and the kids love her. One day, she finds out that one of the dads will be late picking up his daughter, Sloane, and she volunteers to stay until that dad comes. 

Little did she know how that would change her life. 

There are parts of this story that come from the author’s life, and that just makes it all the more realistic and relatable. I unabashedly love this book, as I have loved the three books the author has already published. Frankly, if it has her name on it, I’m reading it, no questions asked. 

It’s adorable that Hot Dad is named Maverick, and she is named Charlie. Don’t get the reference? Watch Top Gun. It actually took me until halfway through the book that I realized that myself, and then I laughed out loud, prompting my cat to leave the room in a very passive aggressive way. 

Maverick usually goes by Mack, and he works for the Sheriff’s Department. His ex-wife hasn’t been in the picture for years, and the moment I found that out, I had a feeling about what was going to happen. And I was not wrong. 

Though there’s a ten-year difference between Mack and Charlie, it doesn’t bother me in the least. People love whom they love, and age shouldn’t really enter into it. Age is just a number. Charlie loves Sloane, and would protect her (and any other child) with her life. 

Mack and Charlie also have fantastic extended families…mostly. Charlie’s father divorced her mother and later remarried, and the mother is…let’s say…critical, at best. I know what that’s like — being chastised and criticized no matter what you do. It’s exhausting, and it’s hard to love someone like that, especially once you realize that it’s never going to change. 

The next four books of the series.

5 - Tracked by Hound

Chelsea comes home from work to find her front door has been busted in, and sees a giant man threatening her brother, Ransom. As it turns out, the big man is Hound, and he has tracked Ransom down for stealing a lot of money from the Steel Rebels MC. The kicker is the guy used most of the money to pay for a year of their grandmother’s care in a nursing home. 

Still, the Steel Rebels are not going to forgive the debt, and a bargain is struck. Ransom comes up with the money within the next thirty days, and Chelsea goes with Hound as collateral. Once she’s brought to Hound’s apartment, reality starts sinking in. Hound assures her he’s not going to hurt her, but even so, she has a hard time sleeping in an unfamiliar place. This is where things get steamy, because sometimes comfort comes in the form of a giant who’s gentle only for her.

6 - Guarded by Atlas

Marie is a nurse in a nursing home, and she loves her job, even if it seems like she’s more of a pre-school teacher than a nurse. Her favorite resident is Debbie, who is Chelsea’s grandmother (see Tracked by Hound). When Chelsea and Scarlett show up to visit Debbie, the feisty resident notes that when Marie puts her coat on to leave for the night, it’s the same coat that Scarlett’s wearing.

Mistaken identity ensues, and Marie is kidnapped by former members of the Chrome Vipers, as they thought she was Scarlett. Atlas is an enforcer for the Steel Rebels, and is enlisted to rescue Marie. And once he lays eyes on her, he’s a goner. 

There’s some push and pull between the two as their relationship blossoms, and they both make some mistakes that could have been easily solved by just talking honestly to each other, but they still find their way to a happy ending. 

7 - Healed by Doc

Nine years ago, Cara’s stepbrother attacked her after he found out she’d taken out the trash with his drugs inside. The door to their home was open, and a man came in and saved her life, and her brother died when he took a wrong step and got a fatal blow to the head. Her stepfather made her lie and say that the man attacked her stepbrother without cause, sending him to prison for five years. 

Now, Cara works at Haven House, a women’s shelter that is owned by the Steel Rebels MC. And that man she put away? He’s been out for four years, and everyone now calls him Doc, as he is the doctor who helps out the women at the shelter. She’s sure he’ll recognize her and want to take revenge, but what she doesn’t know is that he never blamed her. 

Once Doc (or James, as Cara knows him) realizes who Cara is, he’s immediately smitten. Okay, that’s an understatement, but you get the idea. He doesn’t want to traumatize her, but he also can’t stay away from her, so he takes things slowly, much to Cara’s chagrin.

This book does deal with very real situations, especially those of the victims of physical, emotional, and mental abuse. Yes, physical abuse is terrible, but mental and emotional  abuse can’t be seen, and can often do more permanent damage. Doc, however, is never going to let anything happen to Cara again.

8 - Satisfied by Ransom

Abby shows up at the women’s shelter that’s protected by the Steel Rebels MC, having been severely beaten. Ransom is tasked to take medical supplies to Doc, and the first moment he sees Abby, he knows she’s the one for him. 

Of course, he doesn’t press her. He’s always there, taking care of her, helping her through her injuries and pain. And if he ever sees her ex again, he’s going to take care of him. Though the ex does show up at the shelter and causes a scene, threatening violence, Ransom knows he can’t publicly take the guy down, and he knows that Abby is going to run, to protect the other women in the shelter. 

As if he’s going to let her out of his sight.

I’m very satisfied with how the ex is resolved; we don’t know what happens to him, but with the Steel Rebels involved, and Ransom on their payroll, you can take a guess at the jerk’s fate. In any case, he’s gone, and Ransom and Abby finally get their happily ever after. 

Sometimes we have to hit rock bottom before we can rebuild ourselves.

Sienna has been blacklisted in Hollywood, because she punched lead actor Bradford Williams after a table read. She had reason to do so; he went after her and said the most horrible things to her, and they’d only just met. 

Frankly, I would have punched him, too. Also, he went down like a rag doll.

Now, no one will touch Sienna with a ten-foot pole, but a movie that she’d shot awhile back was about to have its premiere, and as she was the main female character, she gets to go to said premiere. It was already going to be hard for her to pretend to be happy, but when she gets a bouquet of flowers with a card from the mysterious sender that says they’ll make sure she never works in Holly wood again, that her career is over.

So, of course, a bodyguard is required, as the police won’t do anything about a threat. Which is frustrating, because what if this mystery person tries to kill her? Enter Zane, owner and operator of his own personal security service. In other words, he’s a bodyguard. Cue the romantic tension!

I enjoyed this book; it was fun to have a little mystery to ponder while Zane and Sienna fall in love. I really appreciated how Sienna took a good look at herself and decided who she wanted to be, instead of who everyone thought she should be. Zane, of course, can’t help falling for his charge, and though they butt heads in the beginning, you know they’re going to make it to the HEA finish line. 

Well done on the little mystery, too. I am usually very good at figuring out mysteries, after a lifetime of watching/reading them. This one kept me guessing until almost the last minute, and I haven’t experienced that for a while. 

Their relationship was never like siblings.

Pretty Boy and Lila have known each other since her father, Hillbilly, President of the Reckless Order MC, took Pretty Boy (real name Matteo) in and raised him like a son. Lila wasn’t exactly happy about that, and she’s made it clear that she can’t stand Pretty Boy.

Methinks the lady doth protest too much. 

Pretty Boy loves to tease her, and they fight with words. But when stuff gets real, like her father having a heart attack and a mafia loan shark calling in the loan from Hillbilly’s gambling, there’s no teasing there. He’s put in charge while Hillbilly recovers, and now they have to figure out where to get a lot of money in forty-eight hours.

I think Lila has always been attracted to Pretty Boy, and her jealousy in her teen years just morphed into a front of disdain so no one catches on that she has feelings for him. In fact, she’s so good at telling herself that she hates him that it’s a complete surprise when she finds out that she actually doesn’t hate him.

Maybe she thought it would be weird for them to be together because they’d lived under one roof as teens. Maybe she wanted to be angry with him for being the guy that Hillbilly was teaching to run the motorcycle club one day. I doubt that she would ever openly admit any of those things. Good thing that Pretty Boy knows her so well.

There isn’t a big fight in this book, nor anyone getting injured, unless you count Hillbilly’s heart attack. Bear in mind that this is a steamy romance, so if you like the door closed, this might not be for you. I really enjoyed this book, because I love the “he loves her but she can’t stand him” trope. It’s one of my favorites.