Get your motor runnin'...

                   ...Head out on the highway...

                                           ..Lookin' for adventure

ok, I admit it without fail if I come across a book about motorcycle clubs...Steppenwolf's 'Born to be Wild' becomes firmly planted in my brain...for my generation it is synonymous with the motorcycle clubs from the 60s...clubs like Hell's Angels, Satan's Choice, The Outlaws, Last Chance and Bandidos and I can honestly say I don't think those MCs are what this author is writing about and that's a good thing, however, these gangs are what are known as the 1 percenters in otherwords these are the bikers who live on the wrong side of the law and they are in this story...they're just not the focus of it simply part of the conflict. But still here I am with 'Born to be Wild' and Peter Fonda's movie 'Easy Rider' bouncing around in my head.

In 'Running Blind' we met Bram who was working undercover and looking for his brother Linc who coincidentally is also undercover and we learned that Linc was held captive by The Heathens, a rival MC to Havoc. Havoc rescued him but it's not until here in 'Running on Empty' that we get the rest of Linc's story.

Havoc member Mercy was involved with Linc before he was kidnapped and he still cares for him but things are more than a little complicated for these two men and it's a fine line they're walking in this dance they're doing as they try to find their way back to each other.

While Mercy and Linc's relationship is central to the story there's another story happening here as the men of the Havoc MC prepare to defend themselves from rival gangs and Linc's old job as an undercover agent may turn out to be the key to Havoc winning this war.

In general this story grabbed my interest and held it quicker and more solidly than the previous two books. I was all in from start to finish on this one. Mark Larchmont was once again the narrator which I think also helped me to become more invested in the story as the character voice's held a more familiar tone and I was more readily able to distinguish who was speaking. 

At this point I'm actually hoping that the authors going to do more with this series since there were some MC members in this one that we saw more of and I for one would love for them to get their own story and for me...Van is at the top of that list...a girl can hope right?

And for those of you who aren't Steppenwolf fans and because it's even more appropriate to this book there's always Jackson Browne's 'Running on Empty' (you can hear the song in it's entirely on YouTube)...

Running on, running on empty
Running on, running blind
Running on, running into the sun
But I'm running behind

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An audio book of 'Running on Empty' was graciously provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

When I saw the title of this book I have to admit one of my first thoughts was I wonder if the author was a tiny bit motivated by the 1977 Jackson Brown song...'Running on Empty' when she picked the title for this book. I don't know about the rest of you but I graduated from high school that year? Anyways, it was just a random thought that floated through my brain when I saw the book title. The story not to confuse anyone is set in the present.

When Bram tries to leave 'The Heathens' Motorcycle Clue he learns the hard way that if getting in was painful getting out will damned near kill him. Bram's not really a biker but if 'The Heathens' find out that he's actually an undecover ATF agent what he will be is a dead man. So after a somewhat failed attempt to leave that nearly cost him his life and finding out that his brother Linc is missing he does the only logical thing he can...he heads to Shades Run the last place where his brother was known to be and in less than a day he captures the attention of 'Sweet', who's not just any Havoc member...nope, turns out he's the president of the Havoc MC and as much as he wants to stay off of any Motorcycle Club's radar finding himself on Havoc's also offers him a level of protection that like it or not he's going to need if he hopes to survive much less make progress in his search for his brother.

As Bram and Sweet work together to try and find Linc while each man tries to keep his secrets hidden both men find that they may be able to hide their secrets but they're not so good at guarding their heart.

Bram and Sweet's relationship is often times a case of come here, come here, get away, get away as both men keep trying to throw  up obstacles to why they shouldn't be together...to be fair Bram does this more often than Sweet, but Sweet manages to throw his obstacles in there as well all the time never letting them got in the way when he thinks Bram needs saving or protection.

And I have to admit that once again I found the Havoc MC to be an oxymoron all on it's own. They're bad-assed bikers who will mess you up in a heartbeat if you mess with them or break their code and all while helping you if you're in trouble and they feel your cause is just...in a sentence 'they are unlike any biker club I've ever heard of' but again it's fiction and the fun thing about that is the story can go pretty much where ever the author wants to take it. In spite of the fact that this may seem a little unlikely for me it's also reflective of the fact that in the real world things are often not always how they appear to be. 

Overall I found that I enjoyed this story a bit more than 'Running Wild' however, I don't think I would have if I hadn't listened to that audio book first since a lot of the characters from 'Running Wild' play a role in this book some more so than others...such as sweet who was secondary character in 'Running Wild' but who's a main character here and while Bram is essentially new to the story Linc is a good friend to Noah and Sean (who is also known as 'Rush') and there are a some others but I'll leave them for readers to discover when they are enjoying the story.

Now about the narrator...I'm one of those people who usually like the consistency of the same narrator from story to story in a series...unless...that's right unless the MCs are different from story to story...of course having said that should a future story have Ryker and Sean as the MCs than I admit it I would be happiest having their voices reprised by Dorian Bane rather than another narrator...that's just how I roll. 

Now back to this book and this narrator...Mark Larchmont is not only a new to me narrator but it would appear that he's new to the world of audio book narrating in general. 'Running Blind' is currently the only audio book he has to his credit on audible, however, when I had a peek at his site it tells me that he's currently working on another audio book for S.E. Jakes and there was a sound clip for a m/f book...that I was unable to find a title for. I found all this because I was honestly hoping that there were other books of his that I could check out. I really enjoyed this one and while I liked Dorian Bane's performance during 'Running Wild' I have to admit I think for me I enjoyed the audio on this one just a tiny bit more...hence the 3.5 stars and I'm definitely going to be looking out for more bu this narrator.

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An audio  book of 'Running Blind' was graciously provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

'Running Wild' is the first book in the series Havoc by S.E. Jakes.  Sean Rush is a bad boy adrenaline junkie who steals and races cars...preferably classic muscle cars and is drawn to Ryker a lieutenant in the Havoc Motorcycle Club who coincidentally enough can't seem to stay away from Sean. 

I have to admit this is a bit of a bizarre MC they make they money producing legit porn and aren't involved in drugs, arms running or prostitution. They help get vets re-integrated to civilian life after they've served and keep the town they live in as drug and crime free as possible...but don't cross them because they know how to get rid of the bodies. 

I have to say I definitely found this to be a bit of a fantasy world. But what the hell it's fiction and if vampires can sparkle than bikers can be good bad boys...right? It could happen. I have to admit I found it damned lucky for Sean that Ryker was so into him because seriously he saved Sean's backside on more than one occasion.

When all was said and done I definitely liked Ryker more than Sean and even Sean didn't frustrate me as much as his friend Noah...seriously with friends like Noah one would do well to skip the enemies.

Sean's actually trying to stay on the right side of the law but eventually thanks to a friend he gets dragged back into his past and thankfully Ryker's on hand to guard his six because things aren't adding up in Sean's favor and if not for Ryker there's a good chance that Sean wouldn't survive events long enough to find out who and why someone wants him dead.

All this made for enough action and interest to keep me listening...well this and Dorian Bane's narration giving the MCs each their own unique and voice that...and forgive me if I'm stereo-typing here but I liked that each of these men had voices that I as easily able to attach to someone of their character and image. Their voices were gravelly and husky at times giving a hint of danger and other times they held the promise of sex. For me Mr. Bane definitely nailed it with his vocals for these men.

In spite of all this there were times that it just felt like these wild boys were just a bit too tame. While I enjoyed listening to this on audio I can't honestly say that it would have been as enjoyable to sit and read the story. For me this one definitely benefited from the narration.

And if you want to read a really epic review for this one just follow the link to my friend Dani's review...Dani's Review of 'Running Wild'

well, quite frankly this one bored me. I have a couple of theories why and I'm honestly not feeling the least bit shy about admitting that this time around I'm pretty sure the book and I can share the blame on this one.

'Free Falling' is the first book in S.E. Jakes 'Extreme Escapes' series or the second I'm not really sure because when I look this series up on GR it shows that there are 10 books to 'Extreme Escapes' and the listings seems to be a combination of some previously written smaller series by this author. The first story being 'Bound for Keeps' shows as being book #5 from her series 'Men of Honor' and from the sounds of the blurb the characters from it aren't a part of this book so I figured I'd be ok in terms of following the story and from that perspective I'm pretty sure I was, however, the next couple of books in the series are books the first two books from the series 'Hell or High Water' and then we jump to Dirty Deeds book #1 from a series with the same title, 'Dirty Deeds' and then it seems to jump back to the 'Hell or High Water' series...ok, I have to say this is a bit confusing to me because I'm kind of wondering where that leaves the rest of the books from the 'Men of Honor' series? Should they be read before starting this? After? Maybe it doesn't matter? But it also has me wondering how connected any of these stories are...so really does it matter what order they're read in at all? 

Blue's a thief and Mick's a mercenary but the one thing that's obvious from the word go in this story is that they have a history...at times it actually feels like a lot of history and some of it may have occurred in another book in another series I don't know. But after reading the blurbs from those books it doesn't seem like it and without having read the books I can't be sure. However, as far as background for the individual characters I felt like we got more about Blue than Mick in this story, but we did at least get a bit about both of them and while it may have zero effect on this story in terms of understanding. That bit of previous history for me helps me to establish a bond if you will with the characters. It's nice to feel like you're there from the beginning rather than just getting plunked in the middle.

And for me getting plunked down in the middle of what turned out to be a rather prolonged mating dance between these two men but at the same time they had this perpetual game of 'come here, come here, come here...no get away, get away...wait come here...' going on and for me that game becomes real tired real fast and I become a bored person. I think if I'd been there for more of their relationship in the early stages maybe when they  first met a couple of subsequent encounters I might have found myself more invested and ultimately more interested in that moment when they both realized that they wanted to be together...I can't really say for sure but what I do know for sure is that from start to end this one just let me feeling disconnected and wondering if maybe I should have read some of the other books first? 

At the end of it all I just know this was me...

However, I did manage to pay attention long enough to be able to say that my issue was definitely in regards to the story and not connected to the narrator...sorry Mr. Bane, I truly didn't forget or ignore you.

Dorian Bane was the narrator for this one and I do want to make note of the fact that his efforts did not go unnoticed. While I liked Blue's voice for me the winner was Mick. Mick had that husky gravelly voice that held a slight edge of ongoing frustration and anger to it and for me that was so reflective of Mick, who I quickly came to identify as someone whose anger and frustration was a constant simmer beneath the surface and given what he did for a living this felt like it should be a natural emotional state for him. He deals with the part of humanity that quite frankly most of us would rather pretend didn't exist...Mick's voice very definitely worked for me as did profit with his subtle English accent and huge helping of snarky, attitude. So yeah, the narration for me on this one was definitely solid.

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An audio book of 'Free Falling' was graciously provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.