Genres: Contemporary Romance, Motorcycle Club Romance
Published by Evil Eye Concepts
Released on March 14, 2017
Pages: 206
The Delight
A lusty, gritty though at times quite funny biker romance from a favorite author and series was one of the highlights of my reading year.
Review
As part of the 1001 Dark Nights, Shade’s Lady can be read standalone and is a great introduction to the author’s writing and the world of her biker romances.
Shade’s Lady focuses on the Reapers MC at the National level rather than the local chapter like the previous books in that series and takes up the story of the Reaper’s Nat’l President and the woman who dares challenge him and might just be more relationship shy than himself.
Like any fan of the series, I’ve known of Shade’s existence- the voice on the other end of the phone or the guy calling the shots from the distance, but this was for all practical purposes the first real encounter. I enjoyed it. Shade and Mandy were a combustible pair. Both so fiercely strong and freedom was important, but also a loneliness and need for connection.
The limelight is on Mandy as the main narrator though Shade gets some narration time, too. Mandy is a sexually confident woman and she has spirit. She’s a great match for a guy like Shade. I could have done without the distracting inner monologuing she did with Wonder Woman (yep, she has silent discussions with the great Amazon warrioress herself), but they were sometimes funny so I tolerated them.
As novellas go, this was fantastic. I enjoyed it so much that I wish it had been a full-length piece. Mandy’s background is well drawn, but I felt even by the end that Shade was still an enigma. His background and how he arrived in the place in life he was is still obscure. This did not detract from the story, but just left me utterly curious.
No, this story was full throttle from the first scene with Shade and Mandy, through their wary circling, to family troubles for Mandy and her sister, and all the way through to the perfect epilogue.
I definitely recommend this to other series fans, lovers of biker romances, but also I think it is a great place for newbies to biker romances to dip in your toe to see if its your thing.
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Preview
About Joanna Wylde
Joanna is a freelance writer living in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. She started writing fiction in 2002, then took a long hiatus to explore other writing opportunities. She returned to fiction in January 2013 with ‘Reaper’s Property’, the first book in the Reapers Motorcycle Club series, and has recently released ‘Reapers Legacy’, the second of the series.
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Oooo, neat! I didn’t know that this author wrote for 1,001 Dark Nights! I love this publisher/collection. I’ve not read anything specifically by Wylde but I’ve seen her books around. I’m glad you enjoyed it! I’m kind of in the mood for an MC/biker romance now. 😀
Have a wonderful week, Sophia. =)
Alyssa @ The Eater of Books!
Glad I could feed your mood, Alyssa. 🙂
I like this series in a whole but some are better than others for me
This is true for me as well. I’ve liked them all, but only loved certain ones. I hope she continues the Silver Bastard series, too.
I keep seeing great things abut this series so at some point I’m gonna have to read it.
Oh yes, Mary. I’ve skipped the first book and went right in with book two and just kept going with each new book release. I like how she writes these.
awesome that you are enjoying these novellas so much. Interesting series. I think its a good way to learn about authors and their writing style, but I’ve had such bad luck with novellas in general hah
Yes, the 1001 Tales is a great way to experience new authors and series. I have the same gamble each time I pick up a novella b/c yes, some are not so good.
I have heard so many amazing things about Wylde from both you and Anna, I purchased the first four books in the Reapers series and I’m heading over to Amazon to pick this up! I just love a gritty MC read.
We hooked you, Angela. 🙂 Glad you are giving these a try. I know not all MC romances are equal. I’ve actually not read the first one in this series yet, but I’ve read the rest and enjoyed how she wrote this style of romance. Hope you like them.
1001 Nights, huh? I have read so many of these or have them in my tbr pile. I almost always end up unhappy about the length of the story and how undeveloped everything is, so I quit buying them although I may still read the ones I have eventually. Ones that go with a series that I love is usually an exception for me and it sounds like this one was great for you. Glad you enjoyed!
This was my first 1001 Nights. I have a couple on my kindle that are part of favorite series. I’m like you and only get them for that. Novellas are iffy for me, but I did love this one.
Nice that newbies can jump in. These 1001 books always confuse the heck out of me. LOL
I can see how they would. I’m only grabbing the ones that go with series I’m already reading, so far. They are shorter and there is a little assumption the reader is familiar with the series world, but fortunately, this one seems to take the attitude that its standalone which was nice for all.
I think I’ve read less than a handful of biker romances. Not really my thing but I’ve enjoyed the ones I’ve read. I totally get where you’re coming from about the hero still being an enigma at the end. It’s a pet peeve for me because having the spotlight on one character more than the other it somehow feels as though you’re being cheated out of the rest of a really good story. Perhaps the author will write more about this character in future books. Great review!
I’m not widely read with the biker romances though I have a handful of favorite authors that I trust to hit it just right for me and Wylde’s one of them.
Yes, I was dying of curiosity about Shade when I got this one, but this story stuck right in the present and didn’t give much of his thoughts at that. Sooo, curious. LOL