Review: Dare to Run by Jen McLaughlin [giveaway]

Dare to Run
(The Sons of Steel Row, #1)
By: Jen McLaughlin
Publisher: Signet
Release Date: Feb. 2, 2016
Genre: Romance
Rating:

She knows what he’s like on Boston’s mean streets. Now she’s going to find out if he’s got some heart.

Lucas Donahue is not ashamed of his criminal past, but after a brief stint in prison, he’s ready to go legit and live a normal life. The problem is, no one leaves the gang without permission—even if he is one of the boss’s top men. Plus someone’s placed a hit on him. And then there’s that feisty little bartender who’s going to cause him even more trouble.

Heidi Greene knows to keep her distance from a ladies’ man like Lucas—even if she can’t keep her eyes off him. When he rescues her from an attack in the alley outside her bar, she’s forced to stay by his side for safety. But the longer she spends time with him, the greater her chances are for getting hurt in more ways than one.

Lucas is a rising member of the Sons of Steel Row. However, he doesn’t want to be. He was just released from prison where he almost lost his life and he has no desire to go back to jail. However, once you are in the Sons, the only way out is death. So, he sticks the course. That is, until he sees Heidi being attacked by another gang. You see, Heidi is the bar owner from across the street from his place. He frequents her establishment a lot and has found her to be fascinating. She’s got the same tough persona that he does and he finds that intriguing. So needless to say, when he sees her being attacked he intervenes and claims her as his. Which is the only way the two of them had a chance of walking away from that unharmed. Except, now everyone’s interested in Lucas’ girl and they find themselves needing to keep the ruse up lest the other gang gets wind of the falsehood of Lucas’ claim and seeks retribution. Meanwhile, pile on the fact that someone from Lucas’ gang has a hit out on him, and you have one awesome story.

“Your halo may be tarnished, yet you still saved me. That means more than if you were the hero type.”

I’m not normally a motorcycle gang fan. I find the men to be too boorish. I can’t tell you how many times I have started a book only to be turned off by the “bad-ass” hero who was really just a piece of work. Thankfully that was not the case with Lucas. While the author shows his darker side with his job, she also shows his softer side with Heidi. He doesn’t bully her, abuse her, or even talk down to her. Instead he respects her and cherishes her. Granted, at first he tried to command her to do things his way but he soon learned that Heidi was not someone you could command or manipulate into doing what you want. The fact that you have someone who you know has killed and tortured people, to make them be the good guy is mind-boggling, but the author was able to pull it off. However, at the same time, Lucas came off a bit girly. You could clearly tell he was written by a female by some of his more “perfume-y” thoughts. This point was later driven home when the Mister’s friend was over and picked up the book to read it. He had a good laugh at some of the things that Lucas thought/felt. Mainly because that is not how a guy thinks… especially one as tough as Lucas.

Regardless, I will be keeping an eye out for more from this series. There are a couple of good choices that the author could focus on next and I plan to be along for the ride. 

“I snorted internally. The dude had just killed two guys in front of me, and I was thinking how sweet he was? What kind of crazy juice had I gotten into?”