Revenge.
I race to finance it.
I evade to protect it.
I kill to attain it.
I planned everything.
Except her.
The alluring, curvaceous blonde at the finish line.
With sapphire eyes that cheat and lie.
Whose powerful family murdered mine.
I hate her.
I want her.
I know she’s hiding something.
But so am I.
Release Day → January 12th, 2015
Pam Godwin’s new contemporary romance, Dirty Ties is an exciting side of the author that I fully enjoyed. I will read anything Ms. Godwin rights because she has a command of the English language, even without whips and chains. There is a scene in the beginning of Dirty Ties, where Evader is racing in an underground motorcycle race. I swear I was leaning in my chair, and steering my iPad! So, we should skip talking about the sex scenes…
Moving on, this story is thrilling with elements of mystery. It also has strong characters. Godwin always brings her characters to life quickly, giving them strongly defined, interesting personalities. We have Kaci Baskel, the heroine who is married to her best friend Collin Anderson. Their parents have forced them into marriage by blackmail, for political reasons. It wouldn’t be so bad because they love each other. However, Collin is gay, and his parents have forced him to keep it a secret. Kaci longs to be free. She is desperately lonely and wants to be in love. She abhors being controlled by her corrupt parents and in-laws, but will do anything to protect her husband. He has been her best friend since childhood.
“While my own marriage was forged in deception, the heart of it resided in a deep friendship, nurtured by our families since birth.”
Kaci rides a silver Ducati to the illegal street races through Chicago’s underground circuit. She loves riding and has become fascinated with the undefeated and sexy as hell, Evader, who is also Logan Flynt. Neither of them know each other’s faces under their helmets, but he is the focus of her fantasies. Before a race, Kaci decides she is going to meet Evader-- that she will make it happen.
“For years, I’d stood alone, toe-to-toe against powerful men. How I wished to have an invincible man on my side.”
“...the man was a fearless, panty-soaking badass in black leather.”
I think Kaci falls hard for Evader because he represents everything she can’t have. She can’t see his face under his helmet. No one ever has, but she is so drawn to him. Although this is frightening, he represents all that she can’t have… at least not yet. Not until she gets out from under Trent Anderson, her nefarious father in law and the rest of their degenerate family. When she takes position as CEO of Trenchant Media, the company she has devoted her life to, she will change everything-- from bad to good.
“I didn’t have a man’s arms around me while I slept. Didn’t have a warm body to curl into, one that shared my bed and protected me from the things I couldn’t fight alone.”
Logan, our Evader and his cohort and “nerdacious half” Benny, a girl he went to MIT with, work together to avenge the death of Logan’s mother. Maura Flynt was a Hollywood stunt driver, a daredevil with a career compared to Evel Knievel. She was even inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame. When he was thirteen years old, her murder was ordered by Trent Anderson.
“My heart thundered, my hands slick with sweat in the gloves as I surged to the finish line, fueled by memories of my mother. Growing up on the back of her motorcycle. Her patient instruction as she taught me how to ride my first sportbike.”
“My mother taught me how to ride, how to win, and when she died in a river of her blood, she taught me how to hate.”
Does our Evader evolve past his murderous need to revenge his mother’s death, and does Kaci find love? Is Collin tied in to his family’s dirty dealings? We are told many things upfront. It is how the story unfolds that is exciting, sexy and engaging. I highly recommend this book to all romance readers.
He knelt over my attacker, his strength visible in the stretch of the jacket over his back and shoulders. His helmet cocked, angled in my direction. “I had this.”
Oh my God, his voice. Okay, it was definitely synthesized, his timbre humming with an electronic overlay, but it was deep and gravelly and so goddamned sexy.
Pull yourself together, Kaci. He was far more dangerous than the man who just attacked me.
“Get out of here.” I nodded to the street behind me, and as if on cue, another squad car zoomed by. “I’ll hold him until you’re gone.”
What was I saying? I didn’t want him to leave.
I thought I heard a chuckle, but couldn’t be sure with the whine of sirens and exhaust pipes. He looked back at my attacker, swung an arm, and knocked him out. Damn. Okay, that worked too.
I lowered the gun. “You won the race?”
“Of course.” He rose and erased the distance between us in three strides.
My nerves shivered, overloaded and amped up, and oh God, he was just standing there, heating the air around me, staring at me. What did he want? I opened my mouth to spew a gushing thank you.
He snatched the gun from my hand.
What the? “Give that ba—”
He lifted my chin and stroked a gloved finger over the nicks on my throat. Each caress irritated the cuts, but I didn’t want him to stop. He raised the finger in front of my visor, blood soaking the leather tip. “Have you learned your lesson?”
His voice reverberated through me, and my knees weakened. Even with the electronic distortion, he sounded pissed.
My heart panted, and a throb swelled, hot and needy, between my legs. All because of a pissed-off synthesized voice? I might’ve just swallowed my self-respect, but I couldn't help it. My body had one mission, and that mission vibrated against me like he wanted to tear me in half. Damn me to hell, but my inner muscles clenched at the thought.
I touched my throat and flinched at the bite of pain. “It’s just a scratch.”
The reflection of my helmet in his visor wavered as he shook his head. He gazed down on me as if he were…considering something? God, I wished I could see his face, his eyes.
His finger returned to my throat, trailed a path beneath my chin, lifting it and catching on the edge of the helmet. He tugged it, like he wanted to rip off the shield and see my eyes, too. “Get on your bike, sweetheart.”
He flicked the safety on the gun and gripped my shoulders, turning my body to face the bike. Both bikes. His and mine side-by-side. Oh, how I loved the sight of that.
His fingers touched my hip, slipping beneath my jacket to stroke my bare skin. I trembled against the brush of his glove, until he opened his mouth. “This is your last race.”
The temperature in my helmet rose by ten degrees, and my cheeks inflamed. I glared at him over my shoulder. “Excuse me?”
Smack. A stinging jolt of fire rippled over my ass, and I shuffled forward. He fucking hit me! I placed my hands on the bike’s seat, and unbidden, a grin took hold of my face. He fucking spanked me.
New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author, Pam Godwin, lives in the Midwest with her husband, their two children, and a foulmouthed parrot. When she ran away, she traveled fourteen countries across five continents, attended three universities, and married the vocalist of her favorite rock band.
Java, tobacco, and dark romance novels are her favorite indulgences, and might be considered more unhealthy than her aversion to sleeping, eating meat, and dolls with blinking eyes.
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