Walk the Edge
(Thunder Road, #2)
By: Katie McGarry
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release Date: March 29, 2016
Genre: YA Romance
Rating:
One moment of recklessness will change their worlds.
Smart. Responsible. That’s seventeen-year-old Breanna’s role in her large family, and heaven forbid she put a toe out of line. Until one night of shockingly un-Breanna-like behavior puts her into a vicious cyber-bully’s line of fire—and brings fellow senior Thomas “Razor” Turner into her life.
Razor lives for the Reign of Terror motorcycle club, and good girls like Breanna just don’t belong. But when he learns she’s being blackmailed over a compromising picture of the two of them—a picture that turns one unexpected and beautiful moment into ugliness—he knows it’s time to step outside the rules.
And so they make a pact: he’ll help her track down her blackmailer, and in return she’ll help him seek answers to the mystery that’s haunted him—one that not even his club brothers have been willing to discuss. But the more time they spend together, the more their feelings grow. And suddenly they’re both walking the edge of discovering who they really are, what they want, and where they’re going from here.
“The boy everyone sees but nobody knows is with the girl who everybody knows but nobody sees.”
Breanna’s smart. Like, really smart. She has this ability to just remember random facts and it’s something that has caused her a lot of heat since she was a kid. A lot of people view her as a freak and she’s been ostracized both at school and at home. She’s the middle child of nine kids and yet she feels alone in the world. This is her senior year and she’s determined to stand out. Except, she didn’t plan to stand out by being cast a slut with a compromising photo that she’s being blackmailed with. Now she finds herself turning to the one person who most people would be running from.
Then we have Thomas aka Razor, who grew up in the Reign of Terror motorcycle club. He’s feared by everyone in town. They claim he’s the most unstable of them all. He lost his mother when he was 10 years old to a vehicular accident but something bothers him about it. He’s heard what everyone says, that she killed herself. So, when a detective shows up at his door claiming that it wasn’t an accident and shows Razor the file containing some cryptic message, he decides to find out the truth for himself. Which is how he ends up becoming friendly with Breanna. He’ll help her keep that photo from ruining her life if she will help him figure out what the message says.
I have to be honest and say that I was expecting a typical motorcycle club romance revolving around teens. However, everything that I thought would happen, didn’t. McGarry surprised me with the direction she took with everything and I enjoyed every minute of it. I don’t want to go into specifics of what I thought would happen and what actually did, because maybe you will be like me and assume the same things I had when going into this. I will say this though, it was a breath of fresh air. Sure, we get your typical teen angst/love story but there were other elements to it. You never forgot about the motorcycle club that Razor’s in, how forgotten and mistreated Breanna is at home, the suspense of what Razor’s mother’s death really meant, or the fact that Breanna’s being blackmailed by a psychopath who could ultimately ruin her chance in getting into a good college. So, while this was a teen love story, it wasn’t just a teen love story.
If you can’t tell by now, I really enjoyed Walk the Edge. It’s the first of the series that I’ve read and I’m happy to say that it can be read as a stand-alone. I wasn’t lost or confused by what was going on. However, a couple of the secondary characters in this story were the main characters of the first book. So, I do plan to go back and read it just to see what all went down with them.
“If you want out of the box you hide in, then you need to crack open the flaps and bask in some sunlight.”
I quit her when it got too angsty. I like the concept of this series though, on trend with the MC theme but teened down so it’s more emotional and less sexual. Still the angst…
I look forward to reading this! Nowhere But Here was really good and you will probably enjoy it! 😀
Loved the first and can’t wait for this one, great to hear that you could jump in as standalone
Thank you so much! <3
KP
Thank you so much! ~Jessica, InkSlinger PR
I was trying to think how a YA MC would work out, but I’m so glad to see it did for you. I’m intrigued to say the least 😀
I love that you thought you were going to get one thing (a YA MC story) but that McGarry surprised you. I think McGarry is pretty good at delivering the ‘more’ in a story. I’ve had the first one in this series for far too long…I’m going to grab it off my shelf soon!
You know, I have come to realize that McGarry is one of those authors that I always enjoy reading. I may read a synopsis and think, “meh”, like I did with this one but then I start reading it and I just can’t put it down. She definitely knows how to write a story. That’s for sure.
Great review. Oh man, Bre’s family made me so damn mad. I really liked this book though.
Yeah they did. That sister of hers was a piece of work, and everyone just babied her. I get that she had issues but they babied her and allowed her to act like a brat. >.< I'm getting angry just thinking about it.
I can’t believe that I STILL haven’t started this series! I LOOOOOOVE Katie so much! Okay, I think I will bump it up on my TBR pile! Great review!! xoxo