Hi there! I’m excited to share a review and giveaway in support of a contemporary biker-romance series from bestselling author Laura Kaye. RIDE HARD is the first book in the Raven Riders spin-off from her Hard Ink series. The sequel comes out next month, so I’m glad I had a chance to read this love story between the MC president and the destitute woman he rescues.

Check out the excerpt and be sure to enter the giveaway for one of THREE $10 GC to Amazon or Barnes & Noble (winner’s choice!) below.

About the book:
Brotherhood. Club. Family.
They live and ride by their own rules.
These are the Raven Riders…

Raven Riders Motorcycle Club President Dare Kenyon rides hard and values loyalty above all else. He’ll do anything to protect the brotherhood of bikers—the only family he’s got—as well as those who can’t defend themselves. So when mistrustful Haven Randall lands on the club’s doorstep scared that she’s being hunted, Dare takes her in, swears to keep her safe, and pushes to learn the secrets overshadowing her pretty smile.

Haven fled from years of abuse at the hands of her criminal father and is suspicious of any man’s promises, including those of the darkly sexy and overwhelmingly intense Ravens’ leader. But as the powerful attraction between them flares to life, Dare pushes her boundaries and tempts her to want things she never thought she could.

The past never dies without a fight, but Dare Kenyon’s never backed down before…

How about a little taste?

“So much better out here,” Haven said, the night air cool against the tingling warmth of her skin. Although she was pretty sure that not all of the heat burning through her insides was from the alcohol—her unusual flirtatiousness and closeness to Dare over the past half hour had made her desperate with a heat that had nothing to do with her drinking game.

She walked to the railing and leaned against it, chuckling a little at herself for needing the support it offered. She felt so damn free, and it was a heady, exhilarating thing.

“What’s funny?” Dare asked, settling a hip against the railing right beside her. Arms crossed, jaw ticking with tension, dark eyes blazing, he was staring at her like he wanted to reprimand her or devour her. Oddly, neither alarmed her the way she would’ve expected it to.

Haven shook her head, leaning it back and letting her gaze float over the night sky. Blurry points of light swam in the moonlit heavens. It was beautiful and peaceful despite the pounding bass beat of music thumping from inside the clubhouse. “Not funny, just good. Happy, you know? Being able to do something a little . . . scary, but knowing I’d be safe doing it.” When Dare’s gaze narrowed, she shrugged. “I don’t know.”

A long moment passed before Dare finally spoke. “You are safe here, Haven. Never doubt it.”

Peering up at him, she nodded, all kinds of words sitting on the tip of her tongue, challenging her to let them fly. “It’s weird feeling safe—or at least safer—after a lifetime of not. It makes me want to try things I could never let myself try before. It makes me . . .” She shook her head and dipped her chin.

Dare stepped closer, his thighs coming up against her hip. He lifted her chin and made her look at him. The contact combined with the command in the gesture lanced white-hot desire through her veins. “Makes you what?”

“Want to feel alive,” she whispered, her heart suddenly racing in her chest.

Dare’s jaw ticked again as his gaze swept over her face. She didn’t think she was imagining the raw emotion pouring off of him and wrapping around her, but she wasn’t sure if she was reading that emotion right or projecting her own desire onto him.

“Do you feel alive, Dare?” she asked, the alcohol flowing through her and the night spinning around her like she was walking through a dream.

“Jesus,” he bit out.

The rough desperation in his voice made her wet between her legs. “Just once,” she whispered, not sure what she was asking him for.

But he seemed to know. Because his hand was suddenly tangled in her hair and his mouth was suddenly on hers, claiming, probing, tasting.

Haven moaned and parted her lips, inviting him deeper.

Dare jerked back from her, his fingers rubbing roughly over his lips. “Fuck, I’m sorry.”

On instinct, Haven’s body pursued his, pinning his back to the railing. “Please don’t stop,” she said as her hands gripped his shoulders. She had the strongest urge to climb him, to wrap her legs around him, to grind against the hard bulge pressing electrically against her belly.

“Please,” she whispered, tilting her mouth toward his. “I liked it.”

Dare’s hand cupped the back of her head. “You’re killing me.”

“Dare,” she said, her body restless against his.

In a move that sent the world spinning, he flipped them around so that she was the one pinned against the railing. He pushed his legs between hers and leaned down over her, forcing her to arch her back, to yield, to open to him. “Tell me what you want from me. Say the words,” he said, his eyes absolutely on fire.

Her heart was a runaway train in her chest, frantic and picking up speed. The thought of giving voice to her desires was terrifying and thrilling and dizzying all at once.

“I want your mouth,” she said. The words sounded odder out loud than they had in her head, but they were more accurate than asking him to kiss her—because her mouth wasn’t the only place she wanted his.

“Jesus,” he rasped again, his mouth coming down on hers once more.

The whimper she released was part relief, part anticipation. It had been so long since she’d kissed someone that she felt a little uncertain, but Dare’s intensity barely allowed her the capacity to worry about it. He was like a dark storm bearing down on her, relentless, magnetic, all-consuming.

Rough callouses from his hands scratched against her cheeks as he guided her. Hard breaths spilled over her lips, and the wet slide of his tongue tasted like whiskey and desire and man. Her hands found the soft length of his hair, and her breasts pushed against the hard plane of his chest.

Then her lips were freed as his mouth slid over her skin—exploring her cheek, her jaw, her ear, her neck. He hiked her up to sit on the wide railing, the move surprising a gasp out of her, especially as he crowded the space between her legs, pushing himself closer, bringing his erection against the place between her legs craving friction, hardness, so much more of him. Maybe even all of him.

One strong arm wrapped around her back and held her steady, while the other hand stroked her hair, her face, her breast. The soft groans and breathy grunts spilling out of him were delicious and thrilling, and bolstered her confidence that she wasn’t the only one losing herself in this moment, in these touches. She almost couldn’t believe this was happening, and part of her was certain she must be dreaming. Because Haven Randall didn’t have beautiful things in her life. At least, never before.

 My Review:

Haven is a woman on the run from her controlling, abusive crime lord of a father. She’s been sheltered since her early teens, has a crippling sense of shyness and got mixed up with the Raven Riders motorcycle club by accident. Haven and her childhood best friend Cora were trying to escape their fathers–Cora’s dad works for Haven’s–when they were picked up by the Church Gang.

Books in the Hard Ink series detail the Church Gang’s involvement in a plot to kill a bunch of dishonorably discharged Special Ops veterans, and how the good men of the Raven Riders assisted those heroes. When they took out the Church Gang, Haven and Cora were freed–but they had no where to go, so they are living in the Raven Riders clubhouse/compound. It’s hard for Haven, due to her shyness, but she’s beginning to make more friends, including Raven Riders president, Dare Kenyon.

Dare has made sure his MC is nothing like the criminal organization his murdering father ran back in Arizona. They act as a family, and help people in need. People like Haven and Cora. Haven’s so different from the usual gals Dare finds comfort with, and that’s cool–he’s not going to push her too much. However, they do find friendship, and later companionship. Dare’s able to discuss his childhood tragedies, while Haven reveals her abuse, and they bond. It’s a bit more tender than I’d expected, honestly.

Ultimately, there’s a bounty on the return of Haven and Cora, and Haven’s father isn’t willing to let her go–under any circumstances. It’s a bloody business that involves a fair amount of collateral damage once daddy comes a-knocking, but Haven draws on her newfound strength to protect herself and the people she loves against the man who has ruined her life to this point. The end is an HEA, but I found it muted due to the sorrow over those lost in the fray. That said, it’s a good read. This is the first of a spin-off series, so we get a lot more detail of the Raven Riders than we had in the Hard Ink books, to set up future stories, no doubt–and also some cameos from the Hard Ink boys, too.

Interested? You can find RIDE HARD on Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBooks, and Kobo.

Get a Bonus Short Story for Pre-Ordering Ride Rough, Coming 4/25/17!

Order a signed Ride Rough through the Virtual Signing!

And don’t miss all the books in the Raven Riders Series!
HARD AS STEEL now available
RIDE HARD now available
RIDE ROUGH coming April 25^th, 2017
RIDE WILD coming October 31^st, 2017

***GIVEAWAY****

Click on this Rafflecopter giveaway link for your chance to win one of THREE $10 GC to Amazon or Barnes & Noble (winner’s choice!)
Good luck and keep reading my friends!

About the Author:

Laura is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over twenty books in contemporary and paranormal romance and romantic suspense, including the Hard Ink and upcoming Raven Riders series. Growing up, Laura’s large extended family believed in the supernatural, and family lore involving angels, ghosts, and evil-eye curses cemented in Laura a life-long fascination with storytelling and all things paranormal. She lives in Maryland with her husband, two daughters, and cute-but-bad dog, and appreciates her view of the Chesapeake Bay every day.

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