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Blurb

From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Joanna Wylde comes a new story in her Reapers MC series… 

Peaches Taylor spent the last seven years slinging drinks and dodging drunks at the Starkwood Saloon. Some might call it a dead end job, but to her it was an investment—another six months, and she’d have enough money to buy the place.

Life would’ve been perfect if Eli hadn’t come home.

Eli King is ready to settle down. He stood by his brothers when they needed him, paying the price for their freedom with his own. Now it’s time to claim his reward—the Starkwood Saloon. He’s got the cash to buy the bar, the skills to run it, and just one person standing between him and his dream: Peaches Taylor.

She’s been driving him crazy since they were kids, and not in the good way. When she was six, she shoved a spider down his pants. When he was ten, he locked her in a closet overnight. Then she hot-wired his car at seventeen, and things got ugly…

They’re adults now, and the Starkwood isn’t a toy to fight over—it’s the hill they’ll die on. No prisoners. No compromises. No mercy.

Peaches Taylor and Eli King are going to war.

 

 

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Review

4 stars!

A short, fun, sexy enemies-to-lovers romance, this novella is a part of the Reaper’s MC series, but can easily be read as a standalone, sitting nicely alongside the rest of the books but introducing new characters (or maybe characters that have been mentioned before but that I can’t remember… either way, you’ll be fine reading this one on its own).

Eli King is a member of the Reapers MC, and he has just gotten out of prison after doing time for a crime he didn’t commit in order to protect his brothers. Now it’s time for his reward – buying the Starkwood Saloon from his Uncle Gus.

Peaches Taylor has been running the Starkwood for years, and has a deal with Gus – the only father figure she has ever known – to buy it from him. So her entire future is ripped out from under her when she learns that the deal is off and the bar is going to Eli instead.

It’s the latest trigger in a lifetime of animosity between Eli and Peaches. Having met as children, they hated each other instantly, and their childhood was defined with insults, pranks, teasing and bullying. They hate each other. But they are also wildly attracted to each other. Let the fun begin!

Peaches Taylor had crawled under my skin when I was seven years old, and by now, I was addicted to the sensation. Sooner or later, I’d bend her over that bar for real.
Until then, I’d just have to get off by torturing her.

This is a really fun set-up. The chemistry absolutely sizzles as Eli and Peaches battle their feelings for each other while fighting for control of the bar that they both care so deeply for, and the long history between them makes everything so much more intense.

I wanted him. Wanted him in ways that just weren’t right, because nobody should fantasize about fucking their mortal enemy.

The turning point for them happens naturally, and I loved watching things change as they finally act on all of that sexual tension. It’s hot and steamy with a nice amount of feels, and it ties in so well to their history and everything else that is unfolding in the story.

The book ends in a great place with an epilogue that left me with a big grin on my face, and I loved it.

4 stars.

An Advanced Reader Copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

 

 

 

Reapers MC

 

 

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Excerpt

“So, assuming we decide to do this—and that’s a big if—then who do you want to sleep with first?”

“Eli,” she said with a little too much enthusiasm. “I’d really like to fuck Eli. But only once you’re done with him. I follow the code.”

I scrunched my nose at her. “I’m not interested in Eli. He smells like dirty feet.”

“Yeah, I don’t believe that,” she said, reaching for the bottle again. “If you weren’t interested, you wouldn’t hang out with him so much.”

“I hang out at Gus’s house, which is where Eli happens to live,” I corrected her. “Between that and work, I see him a lot. Doesn’t mean I like it.”

“Does that mean I can have him?” she asked, perking up.

I frowned. For some reason, I didn’t care for that idea. Don’t think about it. Thinking is almost always a bad thing.

“Okay, whatever,” I said. “Just be sure to use like, six condoms. Because he’s probably got all kinds of cooties.”

McKayla gave a high-pitched squeal.

“You’re amazing, Peaches. I love you!” she said gleefully, raising the bottle for a drink. But instead of swallowing, she lowered it, glee replaced by grief. “Oh, this is the worst. How could something so terrible happen in such a beautiful moment?”

“What?”

She tilted the bottle upside down between us. Nothing came out.

“The tequila disappeared.”

“How did that happen?”

“Someone must’ve grabbed it while I was distracted. Then they drank all of if before putting it back in my hand, all without me ever noticing…”

I pictured Indiana Jones swapping out a bag of sand for treasure, and a snorting laugh escaped. McKayla shot me a dirty look. “Don’t make fun of me. It could’ve happened.”

“Yeah. Definitely the most likely explanation.”

She sniffed. “Doesn’t matter what happened to the booze. We need to focus on what’s actually important—finding another bottle. Fast. Otherwise, we’re at risk of sobering up. That’s not okay.”

“Once again, very hard to argue with your logic.”

“Exactly,” she said, nodding slowly. “Let’s go get more tequila.”

Standing up turned out to be a lot harder than I’d expected. My left leg had fallen asleep, and I’d been sitting on something sticky. Not only that, but by the time I completed the process, I couldn’t quite remember why I’d needed to get up in the first place.

Fortunately, the music was good, and people were starting to dance. Not only that, I loved dancing. Always had. And now there was a dance floor right in front of me when I needed it most.

 

 

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About Joanna Wylde

Joanna Wylde started her writing career in journalism, working in two daily newspapers as both a reporter and editor. Her career has included many different jobs, from managing a homeless shelter to running her own freelance writing business, where she took on projects ranging from fundraising to ghostwriting for academics. During 2012 she got her first Kindle reader as a gift and discovered the indie writing revolution taking place online. Not long afterward she started cutting back her client list to work on Reaper’s Property, her breakout book. It was published in January 2013, marking the beginning of a new career writing fiction.

Joanna lives in the mountains of northern Idaho with her family.

 

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