Review: Hard as Steel by Laura Kaye (Hard Ink #4.5; Raven Riders #0.5)


Note: This ARC was provided InkSlinger PR in exchange for an honest review.

Jessica Jakes and Ike Young have been friends ever since they started working together in Hard Ink Tattoo, and while they've swapped stories before, neither is fully aware of the fact that they're each other's fantasy. Now, they're together in Ike's cabin, hiding out after Jess's home is ransacked by enemies of Nick Rixey, their friend and the brother of their boss Jeremy. As tempting as Jess is, Ike doesn't want to act on his feelings, still haunted by his failure to protect the first girl he ever loved. But there's only so much temptation either of them can take and when the line is crossed, their friendship is altered irrevocably.

Hard as Steel is a crossover novella from bestselling author Laura Kaye, one involving her undeniably popular and well-loved Hard Ink series and her upcoming Raven Riders series. The Raven Riders are a motorcycle club that play an important part in the quest of Nick Rixey and his former Special Forces teammates to learn the truth about their less-than-honorable discharge from the Army. Ike Young is a member of the MC and he works for Jeremy Rixey and with Jessica Jakes. The chemistry between these two is palpable in this novella but Ike's past is something that wreaks havoc on what's going on with them.

This novella overlaps with the events that take place in Hard to Be Good and Hard to Let Go and it certainly piques my interest as to what the Raven Riders series has in store for us beginning next year. I liked that Jessica and Ike are able to get their story told here and that the connection they have with Jeremy and Nick and the rest of the Hard Ink crew and the Raven Riders MC makes them interested parties in what's happening back in Baltimore. This was a quick but highly enjoyable read and one that shows that when it comes to novellas, Laura Kaye always packs a punch. Hard as Steel receives five stars. ♥

Release Date: 22 September 2015

Date Read: 22 September 2015

Learn more about Laura Kaye here. 

Purchase Hard as Steel on Amazon.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Release Blitz: Saved by Hazel James

Image
Saved (Battles #2) by Hazel James Release Date: June 21, 2018 About Saved Leilani Moretti Life is out to get me.  Humvee accident that took my right hand? Strike one.  Cancer three years later that stole my breasts and hair? Strike two.  An overbearing mother who seems to think I’m twelve, not twenty-seven?  Yeah, I’m out of there.  I thought moving to Oklahoma would give me a fresh start. I hoped life would finally cut me some damn slack. But between the inept people at the VA hospital and a boss who’s hell-bent on fixing me, I just want to be left alone. Haven’t I been through enough already? Clay Prescott Joining the Army and deploying to Afghanistan? Hard. Kicking an alcohol addiction and starting a business combining fitness and mental health? Harder. Worth it? Hell yes.  Battles, my gym, has been so successful that I hired a new employee—a veteran herself—to help me open a second location. And that’s when it all goes to hell. Everything
Read on...

Release Blitz: Blue Skies by Marie Sinclair

Image
Blue Skies (Blue Skies #1) by Marie Sinclair Release Date: October 11, 2023 About Blue Skies Greg loves his job as a flight attendant. If only his love life could make him as happy, he’d be all set. Asexual and HIV-positive, Greg has had a series of untrustworthy boyfriends who saw him as a challenge or told him they could accept his sexuality and status. Until they couldn’t. Still reeling from his latest breakup, Greg’s romantic heart beats a little faster when he meets Holden at a club, even though his brain whispers caution. For Holden, relationships are something he can’t afford. He’s been in the closet his entire adult life because it could cost him his job if anyone finds out he’s gay. At forty-eight, hook-ups, one night stands, and quickies in a bathroom are as good as it gets for him. It’s all he’s looking for when he goes to Neon. Instead, he finds Greg. Drawn to each other from the start, the two experience a bit of a bumpy take-off. But then Holden ends up on Greg
Read on...

Review: The Room Mate by Kendall Ryan (Roommates #1)

Image
Note: This ARC was provided by the author via InkSlinger PR in exchange for an honest review. I do believe I've found myself a new book boyfriend to drool, erm, swoon over in Cannon Roth, male main character in bestselling author Kendall Ryan's Roommates series starter, The Room Mate . This had a familiar romance trope--falling-for-your-best-friend's-sibling--and yet I didn't find it boring or tiresome in any way. This has both heart and heat as well as lighthearted humor along with a bit of heart-tugging angst and it's headlined by a couple of main characters that I was totally smitten with from the moment Paige got a pretty good idea of just how much her best friend's younger brother Cannon had grown up from the nerdy boy who followed them around like a puppy when they were kids. Bonus points for Paige being older and for the four-legged, furball named Enchilada.  When twenty-eight-year-old Paige took the call from her best friend asking if her yo
Read on...