I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Rainbow Published by Ruthless Underworld LLC on July 20, 2021 Genres: Fiction, MC Romance, Romance
Format: ARC, eBook
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Fire is the reason why my life changed.
And I’m the reason why fire doesn’t stand a chance.I’m a smokejumper.
I save those who can’t be saved.
But somewhere along the way, smoke has blinded me.
I’ve forgotten there is more to life than saving lives, but I can’t press pause.
A category five hurricane heading straight toward us changes everything I ever thought I knew about myself.
For instance, Ryan Hathaway.
Paramedic from Vegas. Sexier than sin. Sassy.
A man.I’ve never wanted a man.
But I want him.
And he makes me feel the hottest I’ve ever felt.
Fire can’t even compare to him.
Only thing is, he doesn’t do straight guys. It’s his rule.
What I love about rules is that they are made to be broken.
And I’m going to make him rewrite everything he thought he knew.Nothing is ever black and white, though.
It’s the details that live in the shades of grey that we need to watch out for.
The hurricane dislodges one of my MC brother's hate and hits us harder than the storm does.
Wind. Rain. Blood. Death.
The storm is far from over and our lives are at stake.
I live my life to the fullest and I won’t die with regrets.
Ryan is the blaze I never want to fight.
If we go down, we will burn together.
Extinguishing us is not an option.Because after a storm, there’s always a rainbow.
I’ll be damned if I don’t finally see what’s at the end.
I enjoyed Rainbow and his protective, caring nature, and Ryan and his absolute sass. ~ Leigh – Simply Love Book Reviews
I love M/m stories and I love the MC worlds. While they don’t seem as if they would go together, I always find it interesting when authors manage to meld two genres in a way that just fits.
However, in this instance, I sadly feel that it missed the mark.
KL Savage is a “new to me” author, so I went in without knowing her writing style, or any background of the other Ruthless Kings clubs, and my initial reaction was one of excitement. The story gripped me immediately and held me entranced as we experienced the death of Rainbow’s parents, and the events that started him and his brother Greer down the road to the Ruthless Kings MC.
And then it felt different, and the storytelling felt off for so many reasons.
First of all, this didn’t have the same dark and gritty sense that I typically get from MC stories. This was more like a fraternity of men that owned motorcycles than an actual club. In fact, I’m not sure any of the men actually rode a motorcycle during the book. I never pictured an MC clubhouse to have posh bathrooms, or soaking tubs stocked with bubble bath. And shiny marble floors seem like they wouldn’t exactly fit the image either.
Second, right or wrong, I had an issue with the ease of Rainbow’s attraction to Ryan. As a man that has only dated women, it seemed so strange to me that Rainbow could meet Ryan, develop an attraction to him, and start to act on it within mere minutes. Literally MINUTES! There was no stopping to consider this new development of being attracted to a man. There was no moment of reflection. Nothing. It was merely a simple thought that this was why he hadn’t felt strongly about any woman before. It just felt disingenuous to me for such a large revelation to not warrant adequate introspection.
Finally, there was the easy acceptance by his brothers. While in real life I would find this wonderful, in the context of an MC with a man that had only dated women, it seemed odd. There didn’t need to be judgement, but the fact that there wasn’t even a question just didn’t sit well with me. Human nature would require that at least some of his brothers would be curious or surprised by the fact that this outwardly straight man was now interested in another man. But that didn’t happen, and the lack of reaction in and of itself stood out to me.
I went into this story excited to start a new series which combined a lot of elements that I enjoy. What’s not to love about firemen, M/m romance and motorcycles? But while the individual pieces where there, the story simply did not work for me. I wanted to love it, and I did like Rainbow and his protective, caring nature, and Ryan and his absolute sass. But all put together, I didn’t feel that it blended the way I would have wanted it.