In honor of the final season premiere of Sons of Anarchy, I figured I’d devote a few pixels to Joanne Wylde and her Reapers MC series.
The series, right now, is three books: Reapers Property, Reapers Legacy, and Devil’s Game. For SoA fans, this series is a must-read. You don’t get too much of the down and dirty criminality. The blood and gore that makes SoA compelling television is mostly missing from the Reaper’s MC ride. But Wylde does get down and dirty with the…ahem…sex. And holy crap do these characters have amazing, mind blowing sex! Like, I want my husband to buy a motorcycle so I can be his Old Lady.
I started reading the series because, a) I like Sons of Anarchy and b) I am working on a new paranormal romance (most likely stand alone, but we’ll see) and I wanted to read more erotic romance. In Hell’s Belle, romance is definitely part of the story, but not the centerpiece, partly because I was struggling with it while writing Nina’s story. Writing a true romance/erotica is a way to challenge myself as a writer. Plus I really love the story I am conjuring!
Okay, back to the Reapers. These are not the guys you want your daughter to bring home. At the outset of the books, they are Alpha Assholes. The feminist in me is screaming, “kick him in the balls and walk, sister!” But of course, physical attraction overcomes all logic, until eventually we see that his asshole-ishness is because he is just a romantic at heart.
Is it simplistic? A little, yes. Is it disempowering to women? At points, very much so. Is it an entertaining read? Hell, yeah.
Wylde did her research. She hung out with MCs (I believe she reported on them in her job as a journalist), she had a female consultant (a legit Old Lady!) on Reapers Legacy. I assume the consultant stuck around for Devil’s Game. So, while I am no expert of MCs, the story lines ring pretty true. But story-lines be damned, it’s really the hot, hot sex that keeps you reading.
What is it about these scenes? Wylde is graphic, for sure, but there is an arc of tenderness that runs through them. These characters clearly care for each other, love each other. But since they aren’t the types to share their emotions. All the feels happen in the sack (or on the counter of the repair shop, on the kitchen table, in the woods, etc).
Side note: Where are all the MCs with a membership full of cut hotties? Any club I’ve seen roar past me on the highway is a bunch of over-the-hill dudes sporting beer bellies and long gray beards. Not one Jax Teller among them.
Anyone else have recommendations for erotic romance? With or without MCs! I’m all ears!
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