stacey_is_sassy
Written on May 4, 2016
You don’t know your true strength until you face the fire.
It’s been a wee while since I’ve read a - bikie/biker/motorcycle club/strippers/bar worker/club house - type of book. It’s not that I don’t like these type of books, it’s just that I think I overloaded on them a bit. I think the break did me good. When I started Beyond The Horizon, I started to remember all the good parts of a biker romance. We have the tough, good looking biker dude who deals in the bad stuff at work, but is a real sweetheart with his “old lady”. This particular “old lady” is carrying a few war wounds. It’s taking all that our hero has to make his woman realise how precious she is to him. She wants to stand on her own two feet so she doesn’t become dependent on him, to lose him like she has lost her mother. What she doesn’t realise is that he doesn’t want to take over her life he just wants her days filled with colour.
Lily’s mother, Faith, has just passed after a three-year battle with cancer. Seeing her mother suffering like that was not easy, but having her gone is worse. Faith was Lily’s life and it was a bit of a reversal of jobs for the two of them, because Faith’s job as an artist, left Lily running the household. Lily spent her days at the hospital with her mum and her nights working at a bar. She had taken time off her studies to become a nurse because she just couldn’t do it all. Now with her mother gone it’s time for Lily to come out of her shell and try to live a normal life. There is a slight problem, Lily is SHY…like really, really shy. Panic attack, asthma attack shy. If Lily is in an unfamiliar situation she does not cope at all. She does find one coping mechanism that kind of works….alcohol. It doesn’t really fix it, but it certainly gives her strength and an ability to become someone else. In the three years Lily has been looking after her mother, she can’t forget the one night of passion that could have been so much more…but she pushed him away. Now he's back and he's not taking no for an answer.
Asher, is a member of the Sons of Templar and has been since he left the Navy. The other members are his family and he knows that he will always have their backs. His closest friends have found their “old lady’s” and he wants his woman with him too. The problem is, he know who she is, but she is absolutely petrified of the feelings they have for each other. He's lived three years without her and he doesn't want to wait any longer. Asher connects up with Lily after the funeral, but knows she's not emotionally ready. When Lily puts herself in danger over and over again with her partying ways, Asher knows it’s time to get things straight with her. His head is clear and he has known for three years that Lily is the woman for him, he just wished she realised how special she is.
I enjoyed Beyond The Horizon and I was glad to experience the MC world again. I’m sure bikie gangs are probably not the same as in romance books, but it’s kind of sweet to read about these big tough dudes who bring the wife and kids to the clubhouse. There’s a little bit of the feral in each of these types of stories, with skanky chicks, strip joints, and booze aplenty. Sex is mostly against walls but also has been known to be on the kitchen bench or while straddling bikes. A slip of the panties to the side…and there he blows!!
There were a couple of things that I struggled with throughout the story, but I know that I probably should have been more tolerant because of the grief Lily has been dealing with. But GEEZ…this chick can cry. Besides her mother dying, she also has long-seated issues she never overcame, dealing with an abusive father. He died while she was still really young, but the wounds were already in place. I just felt like poor Asher was never going to win with her. She pushes him away numerous times when she is facing some sort of crisis. His frustration jumps off the pages, but Lily still feels justified every time she does it. The worst part is, he has to come in and save the day nearly every time anyway.
There are douchewaffle baddies to deal with and Bex, Lily’s best friend seems to bring even more drama to Lily’s life.
So, even though I had a couple of issues, I still really enjoyed Beyond The Horizon. This was #4 in the series, and my first book by this author. I didn’t have any troubles following along without reading the ones before but I may go back to them in the future. I’m kind of thinking that the next in the series is Bex and Lucky’s story, and I will definitely be interested in reading that one.
To purchase Beyond The Horizon from Amazon - http://amzn.to/27pPiWh
I’m an Aussie chick who loves to read and review romance, drink coffee, be a Style Setter and stalk David Gandy. To see more of my reviews, fashion, food and pervathons -