Simply Angela : Quote-Tastic Monday: Dirty Ride by Chantal Fernando

Quote-tastic is weekly meme Monday meme hosted by the fabulous Anna over @ Herding Cats & Burning Soup. To participate, simply post your favorite quote from a recent read.

“Something inside me just wanted something in you.”

*Le sigh* Irish, bad boy biker, definitely knows the right things to say.

Even by Wind Dragon Motorcycle Club standards, Irish was always a bit of a dark horse. Not one to confide his secrets, such as where he got that mysterious scar across his neck, he’s quick with his fists and even quicker to jump to the defense of his MC. But is he nimble enough to handle the woman he never saw coming? Or will she leave him with a matching scar across his heart?

Series: Wind Dragons MC Series #3.5 | Publisher: Pocket Star EBooks | Release Date: February 8, 2016 | Genre: Contemporary Romance | Source: Publisher | Rating: 3.5 Cups

Challenges Read For: Pick Your Own Genre: Contemporary

First off, if you’re looking for a gritty, MC-driven story Dirty Ride is not it. If you’re looking for a slightly steamy tale of starting over and learning to trust again, then this is the novella for you.

Here’s what’s going on. Escaping from her abusive ex, Valentina decides to make a fresh start although she never imagined that her fresh start would include falling for a sexy and mysterious man who just so happens to be a member of the Wind Dragons MC. As Ardan, aka ‘Irish’ grows closer to Valentina the presence of her ex threatens Ardan and the Wind Dragons.

So, this one was really short—the printed galley was only 105 pages and they go by in the blink of an eye—but I was hooked from the first page.

I liked Valentina. She’s starting over after being with an abusive ex, so when Ardan walks into her life, she doesn’t really know what to make of this alpha male who suddenly wants her.

“You’re used to getting what you want then,” I say, tilting my head to the side as I try to figure him out.

“I guess you could say that,” he says, eyes locked on me. “But the thing is, there’s not much I usually want. So when I see something worth it, then yeah, I’ll go for it.”

I feel like we only scratched the surface with Ardan/Irish. Having read the previous books in this series, I’ve been curious about Irish and had questions that I was hoping would be answered. Sadly, after finishing Dirty Ride, I still have those questions. Although I did find that I really liked Irish. Like the other members of the MC, he’s a strong alpha hero who will stop at nothing to get, keep, and protect the woman he loves.

Irish and Valentina had this amazing chemistry right from the start. And while it was an instant love thing on Irish’s part, it took a while for Valentina to get there. While it was a bit speedier than most, it worked considering this was a novella.

Like the previous books in Fernando’s Wind Dragons MC series, this novella is told from the heroine’s POV. While, I truly liked Valentina and getting a first-hand glimpse of what she was going through, I was really hoping to see more of Irish. I think this had to do with the fact that this was a novella because the previous books really allow the heroes to shine through and I usually get a good sense of them

There is a bit of suspense thrown in this one in the form of Valentina’s ex. While it made for interesting reading, I knew pretty much from the start how it was going to play out and what was going to be revealed.

I hug him tighter, and when he flinches, I pull back and study him. “What the fuck?”

He winces and pulls up his T-shirt. I check over his abs, which look delicious but fine, then farther up until I reach his chest. I yank my hand back at the feel of new stitches. “Oh my god!”

“I’m fine, Valentina,” he says, putting up his hands as if to calm me down. “I just got a little stabbed.”

So, while I liked the plot, I was disappointed in the way the MC aspect was handled. If you’ve read the previous books in the series, you’ll know that one and two have a grittier feel to them, the third book still has some MC dealings but verges on mainstream. This book was mainstream with a teeny tiny bit of MC—I’m going to call it ramblings—thrown in. While it was a known fact from the start that he was in an MC, we meet him as Arden, not Irish the biker. It’s not until chapter 11 that the MC is even brought in, and it was very light at that. In the epilogue—when we finally switch to Irish’s POV—it’s slightly darker but not nearly as dark as I was hoping it would be.

Overall, while I liked the story and the characters, I wanted more of Irish. I wanted an edgy, gritty MC and, sadly, this was more of a mainstream romp. It wasn’t bad but it could have been so much more.