Lay It Down: A Desert Dogs Novel (Desert Dogs, #1)

by Cara McKenna

Tom Weiner (Narrator)

First in the exciting new Desert Dog series, starring hot and sexy bikers in the Southwest...

Backbreaking days, wild nights, and the hard hum of steel between your thighs...

That’s a life well lived, according to the Desert Dogs—four friends who call Fortuity, Nevada, their badlands home.

Vince Grossier is the self-crowned outlaw king around here. But when Fortuity’s slick new mayor invites a casino development to town, greed isn’t far behind—and it claims Vince’s good friend as its first casualty. With the law turning a blind eye to the mysterious death, Vince must seek his own brand of justice. The pretty photographer hired by the developers might be the key to uncovering the truth. And she’s a temptation too good to pass up.

Finally free of a controlling ex, Kim Paget’s not looking to be taken for a ride—not on the back of some tattooed roughneck’s bike and definitely not in his bed. But when she uncovers evidence supporting Vince’s suspicions of murder, Kim must entrust her safety to a man whose body threatens danger of a whole different kind.

• ISBN10: 1483021327
• ISBN13: 9781483021324
• Publish Date: 5 August 2014
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Imprint: Blackstone Publishing
• Format: Audiobook (CD)
• Duration: 10 hours and 10 minutes
• Language: English

Reviews

[EBookObsessed]

Vince Grossier’s friend Alex calls him late one night to meet up at the local bar. Alex saw something while patrolling at the construction site for the new casino which has him pretty spooked. Vince wasn’t happy when Alex never showed that night, but Alex couldn’t help it. Alex was died on the way to the bar. After their conversation on the phone, including Alex’s cryptic statement about “bones,” Vince isn’t ready to accept that Alex died while driving drunk in his police cruiser. Alex might have had a problem with alcohol, but he was always too smart to drive in that condition. Unfortunately, Vince can’t convince any of his friends that someone might have faked Alex’s death to cover up something that Alex saw that day.

Actually the only one who thinks there might credence to Vince’s insane idea is the photographer Sunnyside hired to take some publicity shots. Vince offers to take Kim to get some of the more dynamic shots of the area as only a local would know, if she promises to keep her eyes open while taking pictures around the construction site.

Surprisingly Kim stumbles on a conversation which might just give weight to Vince’s suspicions. Now the Vince is able to convince his friends that there might have been something more sinister behind Alex’s death, he has to worry that someone might be coming after Kim to make sure she doesn’t share whatever she might have heard.

THOUGHTS:
I always love Cara McKenna’s characters. They are edgy and imperfect creatures. That’s what makes them so memorable. In Lay It Down, Kim pegs Vince as a selfish guy. She is right in her assumption but she is also very wrong. Unlike his brother, Vince has stayed in the rundown Town of Fortuity to take care of their mother who is showing increased dementia. He has been in prison, but he also tries to help the families of the guys who are still inside. Helping others makes Vince feel good about himself. So Vince might be a bit selfish, but he has many good qualities to him as well.

Although Kim was interested in a one night stand, I loved that when they got to her room she quizzed him first with a “You can come in if you can answer my question. What’s my name?” At this point, Vince was only looking to get laid and wasn’t concerned with anything more than getting sex. Since he didn’t even bothering to pay attention to such an unimportant fact as her name only proves her belief of him that he is selfish. Kim turning him away peeks his interest in her as more than just a way to get a quick release.

What I like most was that by the time we get Kim and Vince into bed, Vince acknowledges to himself that his normal m.o. is to get the most out of his own enjoyment and hit the bricks as soon as it’s over. By the time he gets there with Kim, he realizes he wants to give her more than he usually demands. So we get to watch a change that being with Kim is making in Vince’s life.

Again at his fly as she undid the button. He let her wrists go, and his breath slipped out in a silent moan as she slide his zipper down. Christ, this was his cue. A cue he’d taken too many times, to cup a woman’s head, lead her down to her knees. A selfish man’s most natural move, yet his hands lay limp at his sides, the whole of him mesmerized as she explored.

Their after sex doesn’t include cuddling, mostly because they are both unsure what their relationship is, are they a one-time thing? Are they having a romance? It takes them awhile to acknowledge to themselves and to each other that there is more they want than simply enjoying sex.

This is the first Cara McKenna book that I have read that is part of a series instead of a stand alone. She introduces some really great characters and some side characters who I think will play a more important part in upcoming books. The story plot also involves murder and cover up and how far up the chain does the conspiracy go. Because she was introducing several characters and building the ground work for future novels, this one was a bit of a slow read for me. It took me some time to get into the story. We do get some answers at the end, but many more questions are still open. It will be an interesting series. I just hope the rest of the books aren’t so draggy now that we’ve established the who’s who.

Received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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