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If you missed the last TGON Reads review on Dance of the Gods by Nora Roberts, you can find it here.
With the recent Stuff Your Kindle Days, I got quite a few new books and wanted to share them with you so the first one is Sins of the Father by Nikki Landis. It is book one of the Ravage Riders MC series. I have been digging the MC trope lately which is why I “bought” the book. I love Stuff Your Kindle Days but I really need to get through more of my books, I have managed to acquire quite the library lately which makes me happy. I used to have a thousand books give or take but I have downsized considerably and plan to buy the books I absolutely love like my Laurell K. Hamilton and Jim Butcher books on Kindle too. There are more than that but those are my top priority. In any case, let’s get back to Sins of the Father.
We meet Edge, aka Pete, Peter, or Pet, and he is in the middle of exacting some vengeance with his MC brothers R.J., Jake, Ghost, and Valan. They are taking out some of the guys from their rivals, the Satan’s Outlaws MC. Edge’s focus is killing Akando for hurting his girl, Rae. Edge is the vice president of the Ravage Riders MC, which his dad started with Rae’s dad. Edge’s dad, Mack, is still technically president of the club but lives in exile. Rafe is currently running the club and he and Edge hate each other. Pete is determined to take Rafe down, put a stop to the activities of the club that he doesn’t like like the weapons, and get his girl back.
Then we meet Rae but we have to go back before when the book started. Rae is a good girl. A good student, a loving daughter and sister, kind, and smart. She is friends with Pete and R.J. and has been in love with Pete forever but she doesn’t think Pete feels the same way despite his devotion. Rae does know, though, that Pete and R.J. are ultra-protective of her and take that duty seriously. They help her with her fear of her stepfather who she refers to as Step-Vader. Rae’s mother does little to defend Rae against him. Her father died when she was a little girl so she knows very little of his life and her mother hasn’t been forthcoming. She has and has not been kept far away from the MC world. Soon enough, Rae and Pete confess their feeling for each other and become a couple.
Interestingly enough, R.J. Is just as much in love with Rae as Pete is and both boys are aware of each other’s feelings and respect that fact but have each other’s back no matter what, especially concerning Rae. Of course, Rae has no idea of R.J.’s feelings. This girl must be blind though, to not see any of the signs from either guy. Both guys keep their MC life separate from Rae and her family but all too soon, the secrets of everyone around Rae threaten her and her family, and Pete and R.J. fight to protect them.
There is a paranormal element to the story. Rae and Pete seem to have a supernatural connection. That connection seems to extend to Pete’s close friends too. They can sense each other and their emotions. Pete seems to have it strongest with Rae. To further the supernatural, a flash of light reveals a family secret.
I found it interesting that interesting that we started with Edge not Rae. I know this isn’t the only book that has done this but it always surprises me when it happens. Then, when I found that we rewound time when we switched POVs, not only was looking for us to go back to where we started, I was annoyed when it caught up instead of being a flashback. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, I just found it to be unnecessary. I don’t think you should do it to just do it, at least not something like this, there should be a good reason. The reason doesn’t have to be apparent up front but at some point.
Something else that was puzzling is that Nikki hid most of the motivations of the players close to her chest. There was not enough information for far too long. I’m not saying to spill the beans in the first few chapters, but tell me why I need to be invested. I love me a good romance story but there has to be more than blind love and blind hate to keep the story moving.
One thing I did not like at all was the light paranormal element. It was yucky. Either lean hard into the paranormal or leave it out it altogether. Furthermore, it needs to make sense. In this book there was no explanation for such magick, it just was, and it was only experienced by a few connected people. I’ll say it again, with no explanation behind it. The story needn’t be ONLY supernatural/paranormal but if you are going to add those elements, I need to understand why it is magickal rather than mundane. There are plenty of things that can appear magickal but are actually mundane. However, don’t let that stop you from believing in magick, it is out there.
All in all, this has the potential to be a great book but it is in need of some editing, both for errors and for reworking the way some things are said. I love how devoted Pete is to Rae. Pete’s character was better written than Rae’s in my opinion. She went along with what she was told and didn’t show much backbone and was super needy. Pete on the other hand had a few different sides to him, even coming to us with, literally, a few different names. He took on a ton of responsibility and bullshit while being incredibly young. He knows who he loves and has compassion for those around him. I love Pete and claim him as one of the book boyfriends I am cheating on my husband with.
Have you read Sins of the Father or read anything else by Nikki Landis? What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments below. Until next time, have fun storming the castle!
