by Katie McGarry
29 March 2016
Harlequin TEEN
Katie McGarry is an expert on walking a fine line of teen romance. She manages to not have the romance be too sweet or too explicit for my high school students (or me!). I read the first book in the Thunder Road series, Nowhere But Here in September, but this one, in my opinion, is a bit better and more compelling. It certainly feels more relevant.
Razor is in the motorcycle club Reign of Terror, and Breanna is the "perfect" student and daughter who's tired of always being just that. When an innocent moment between the two is photographed (and appears to be much less innocent), Breanna's world is turned upside down. The two make a pact that she'll help him solve a mystery that's been haunting him and he'll help her out of this bind. They are, as in most romances, slowly drawn together. They don't fit together, but something just makes perfect sense, and as the mysteries deepen, they fight to discover who they are apart and together.
I liked the realistic portrayal of teen issues. Social media, cameras on every device, and people who don't understand or care about the lasting impact of reputations (especially online), are only adding to the stresses of teenagers today. Cyber-bullying and blackmail are happening more and more often as kids (and adults) have a much more visible online presence.
Breanna's family annoys me. Her constant forgiveness of them without any change on their parts annoys me as well. Perhaps that was what was intended on McGarry's part as many people live with horrible families, but put up with less than ideal situations. It did make the fact that Breanna and Razor fit together so well so much of a payoff. Razor is a fun character who is easy to picture and not that hard to relate to. Seeing the two interact and go through some major issues together was so sweet.
Final thoughts: good story, great characters, decent ending (there were a couple of things I wish McGarry would have explained), a fun read.
