SYNOPSIS
Warning: This is not a story about fate or destiny. This is a story about pain, sorrow, and suffering. This is an impulsive whirlwind romance between two lovers that are not meant to be together. Theirs is not a world with sunshine and roses. Instead, their love blossoms in a secret world full of crime, violence, and death. Their story is about what can be born from nightmares.
Danielle “Danny” West is the daughter of Deuce West, President of the Hell’s Horsemen Motorcycle Club. A sweet and beautiful girl, she loses her way, searching for things that are always out of her reach. Erik “Ripper” Jacobs is the Sergeant of Arms in the Hell’s Horsemen. Once a man who always had a smile on his face, his life takes a turn for the worst when a tragedy befalls him, leaving him scarred and broken. During a midsummer night, Danny and Ripper’s paths cross, forever changing their lives. Hastily, their lust turns to love until another tragedy forces them apart. On a journey that is marred with ugliness and chaos, Danny and Ripper must discover if their unforeseen connection can find the beauty in their world.
This is Danny and Ripper’s story.
Everything has beauty. Even the ugly. Especially the ugly.
Because without ugly, there would be no beauty.
PEPPER & MICHELLE’S JOINT REVIEW
We are going to have to start this review off with a disclaimer. We personally loved this book but it is not for the faint of heart. Like Undeniable, if you are unable to read about very tough topics (murder, rape, and just a whole host of crazy) this book is not for you. And because we love Madeline Sheehan we don’t want people that have no business reading a book this gritty complaining about it after you have been warned.
PEPPER: I loved this book. Even more than Undeniable…
MICHELLE: Me too! And I honestly didn’t think that was possible. I mean Undeniable was amazing. I wanted Deuce so bad I thought I was going to explode
but this book. Fuck me.
PEPPER: Just makes you want Deuce even more!!!
and Ripper and Cox and Mick and…
MICHELLE: I know. All of them. Take me. So here is one thing I loved. Well one of many things. A lot of time with books that are series, you see the characters from other books but almost as an afterthought. I loved that this story was about Danny and Ripper but you still got so much of Deuce and Eva. I mean you can’t have characters go through so much shit and then never talk about what happens after the book ends. When that happens it feels like:
PEPPER: YES! I totally agree. I was pleasantly surprised to have more of Deuce and Eva’s story. Like it just put that much more closure on the angst I had for their relationship. It totally solidified that they were going to be OK. And I loved that.
MICHELLE: It made the relationship seem real. Obviously no one is just going to be OK after all that happened. It was nice to see them have to work through it together. I needed them to be OK. I loved Madeline even more for doing that.
Ok so Danny and Ripper. Any sex between those two was so hot. But that first time…..
I think I blacked out.
PEPPER: I KNOW!!! It was so beautiful and forbidden and GAH so much! I can’t even think straight. It’s like:
MICHELLE: That’s a Madeline Sheehan book for you. Renders you completely unable to even speak!
What I loved about their story is how it grew. It wasn’t just that they had sex and then they ended up together with some bumps along the way and an HEA at the end. They had to work and struggle and suffer first.
PEPPER: OMG. The angst and longing and wanting was so so good. I thought these emotions were so integral to the story.
MICHELLE: Oh the angst!!! The whole time i was reading I was like…Why?? Why do you guys torture yourselves like this??? It’s all too much. But it’s ugly and then its beautiful and then it’s ugly again. It’s totally fucked and then at the same time it makes complete sense.
PEPPER: Pretty much. It needed to happen - especially for Ripper. I mean he knew how he felt about Danny. But I think he needed the roller coaster to figure his shit out. BTW - Ripper’s story just gutted me. I wanted to cradle him like a baby. I couldn’t take it. And when he finally found himself again, it was like bliss. Like, I was there right with him. It was like:
MICHELLE: I know. I loved him so much. It was unhealthy really- to feel the way I felt about a character
PEPPER: I know. And you know what, Danny loved him perfectly. Just the way he was supposed to be loved. It was beyond perfect.
And OMG. What Danny went through? GAH!!! Madeline did an amazing job with this part of the book. So raw and heartbreaking. I really felt for her. So hard.
MICHELLE: She did. Danny was such an amazing character. It’s another thing I love about Madeline’s writing. You get strong females. And it is so amazing. The things that Danny goes through tore me to shreds too and she always comes out on top. Some of it even hit me personally and I was a wreck right along with Danny. I was like:
I just don’t really know how to accurately describe this book except other than to say that it is ugly and beautiful all at once.
PEPPER: Agreed. But I do have to say that it wasn’t nearly as fucked up as Undeniable. Unless I just expected the most intense shit because we got that with the first book. But I felt a little more “rainbows and butterflies” in this book. If that is even possible…
MICHELLE: I mean I think after Undeniable we are just used to our hearts and guts being ripped out by these books and characters. I agree there were a few more feelings of feel good here in comparison though. Madeline doesn’t write about hearts and flowers but honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way. She manages to write with humor when it’s warranted (the scene with Kami calling Cox a Mexican- I.died. Seriously- almost peed my pants) but she also can bring it right back down to serious and gritty.
PEPPER: I was just going to say that I love how she is completely unapologetic in her writing. Like there were some nasty scenes in that book, but it was fine because she had balls and went with it. LOVE IT!!
MICHELLE: Madeline Sheehan is such a bad ass. If she wasn’t married and I didn’t love men I would totally turn for her. And as a writer- she’s amazing. She’s not afraid to write stuff that isn’t pretty and she does it so well!
PEPPER: OMG. I want to cuddle her so hard. When I meet her, it might be like this:
MICHELLE: Oh Lord! I cannot wait for Unattainable (Cage and Tegan’s story) and now I am really dying to read all about the effed up love triangle involving Jase and Dorothy. I won’t drop the third name because I think you need to read it for yourself in Unbeautifully. I almost fell on the floor….
PEPPER: UM…OMG, I cannot wait for Cage and Tegan!!!!!! That is going to be fucking insane.
MICHELLE: So there you have it folks. Madeline Sheehan slays it with another great book. You have to read this series. It isn’t pretty. It deals with some ugly shit but she does such a good job writing it, you won’t know what hit you!
You can check out my review of Undeniable here.
EXCERPT
The first time I fell in love it was with a pair of blue eyes and a wide dimpled grin.
“Your old man loves ya, Danny girl,” He whispered. “You never ever forget that, yeah?”
I never did. And I never thought I could ever love any man as much as I loved my father. But as we grow, we change, we begin to make our own decisions and thus become independent and self sufficient and start turning away from our parents and turning to others. We form friendships, strong bonds and ties and begin experiencing life outside of the bubble we grew up inside of.
And we fall in love…a second time.
The second time I fell in love it was with a badly scarred face, the stuff of nightmares; the sort of disfigurement that mothers steer their children away from. Ugly, jagged slashes marred the skin from the top of his skull, down over his right eye, an eye that had been dug out of his face with a serrated blade. The scars continued across his cheek, over his lips and down his neck, ending at the top of his shoulder. His chest was a hundred times worse; scar tissue as far as the eye could see.
“Baby,” He said gruffly, “Man like me got no business with a girl like you. You’re nothin’ but fuckin’ beauty and I’m a whole lot of fuckin’ ugly who’s already halfway to hell.”
But he was wrong.
Everything has beauty. Even the ugly. Especially the ugly.
Because without ugly there would be no beauty.
Because without beauty we would not survive our pain, our sorrow, and our suffering.
And in the world I lived in, the world he lived in, a secret world within the world, a world of of constant crime and cruel, cold, death, there was almost nothing but suffering.
“You may not be beautiful the way you were before,” I whispered, placing my hand on his hard chest. “But you’re still beautiful. To me.
AUTHOR INFO
Madeline Sheehan, a Social Distortion enthusiast and devoted fan of body art, has been writing books since she was seven years old. She is the author of The Holy Trinity ebook trilogy and Best Selling Undeniable series. Homegrown in Buffalo, New York, Madeline resides there with her husband and son.
GIVEAWAY
I love Madeline’s books, she never disappoints! I am anxious to read the rest of the Undeniable series.