This novel is not a cliffhanger and can be read as a stand-alone.
WARNING: This book is real, beautifully raw, and not for the faint of heart. It is the story of a young girl’s loss of innocence while growing up around a motorcycle club. It is not suitable for children under the age of seventeen due to language, sexual content, and intense subject matter. Based on true events.
Family.
I have tattooed that single word on more skin than I care to count. It elicits powerful thoughts and emotions for most people.
Loving. Caring.
Supportive. Togetherness.
Forever.
But not for me. The word family means so much more.
Vicious. Harmful.
Dangerous. Corrupt.
Deadly.
You can’t run forever from the ones who love you.
This book by Nicole Reed is in my opinion her best book by far.
I loved this book because of the amount of passion, devastation, power and a deep routed love that is written in each chapter. Two peoples lives surrounded by hurt, pain and expectation. They say all roads lead to a certain path in your life, that maybe true for some and for others they make their own paths, however, can two people who have been told what to do all their childhood lives live up to the expectations of their piers or can they defy the odds and live their own lives......
In this book, Nicole shows how what is right for one person may not always be right for the other.
Helen/Hels is a girl who suffers devastation from an early age, she is taken in by Hold’s family and from there on in, it is expected that Hell’s will be Hold’s queen one day.
Hold and Helen are brought up into a group called Hell’s Highwaymen, a motorcycle group who basically own the town they live in. This particular chapter have one motto “Blood in and Blood out” and it is a rule they live by. They also live by another rule – loyalty.
Throughout their lives, Hel’s keeps realizing that she is not cut out for the life of a biker’s groupie/queen, she does not want that life, and she wants her own life. We find that she is a brilliant artists who soon learns the art of tattooing and becomes so good at it people are flocking to get inked by her. Hels want an out and she see’s tattooing as a way to escape, not only her life but her inner demons. You get a sense in this book what people on the run must go through, always looking over their shoulder, always worried “I chant in my head that they don’t scare me; this is my life. They can’t find me” I found this to be very poignant part in the story. Nicole’s writing evokes such a strong emotional reaction.I myself could feel how lonely she now was, how scared she must be all the time, always checking, always watching. My heart was in my mouth constantly reading this book.
Hels enjoys the new life she has, she enjoys her work, and a part of her forgets that she shouldn’t be in one place for long, she should keep running but yet she doesn’t now. ‘I have been so caught up in myself, in this life I am making, that I realise I have relinquished some fear of my past. It is a miraculous moment and I am no longer pissed at getting called in, but excited to get to work’
Throughout this book we go back to Hels memories of her growing up, what she went through, why she is where she is and you can’t help feel for her, my heart went out to her for what she has been through and what she is going through.
A new man enters her life Vin, he is a mystery man who is a totally different character to the other people Hels is used to, he is sweet, charming but mysterious, he holds things close to him and you start to wonder what his story is. I fell in love with him in this bookand what he wanted to give Hels, although there were times I did wonder what he was up to. He is also mesmerised by Hels tattoos “I look at your tattoos and see moving, breathing art. There is an intricate story, carefully and artfully designed on your gorgeous skin”. Hels cannot believe that Vin gets her tattoos; these are the story or her life. She finds that is it easy to talk to Vin but she also knows she has to stay alert as to not reveal something she shouldn’t.“I swear, my mission in life is going to be to make you laugh” this is Vin’s promise to Hels.
The other main man in this book is Hold; he is groomed to take over the Chapter of the Motorcycle club when his father Ward retires. Hold is in my opinion a very confused guy, he loves Hels so much it hurts and although there are times you are sitting there not believing what he has done you see that no matter what he does he does it to keep Hels safe and alive and because he loves her so much. In one particular conversation Hold has with Hels he says “You stole my entire world and I’m not sure how to live in it anymore”This to me shows us all exactly how much Hold loves Hels
In one particular part of the book, when Hels is looking back on her life something Hold’s mom said to her sticks with her and it is so true in this day as well “In this life we live, sometimes you have to take the bad with the good. There isn’t always black and white here. There are shades of gray that you have to deal with. You Accept what you can’t change and roll with the punches”
There are some great characters in this book, amazing writing and some incredibly tense moments and I for one could not believe that this book was based on a true story until the author informed me of that. I believe that once everyone reads this story you will be the same as me, in total awe of this book, this story and this writer.
Although this book does not have a cliff hanger and can be read as a standalone book, I want to know more, I want to read more on these people in this book to see where their lives go, what happens to them and with that I cannot wait for Nicole Reed to write a book following on from this book.
This extract to me say’s it all about Hels and her life
Extracts:
The painful reality is that I have no one, not a single soul who cares what I want. I am their puppet, their whore. I lie down on the cold linoleum wishing that I died in the fire all those years ago. I can’t live like this!!!
I leave my review with this last quote from Hels, enjoy
I learned how to survive years ago and as I look out at all the prying eyes, I know I can endure whatever they are going to throw at me. Surprisingly event to me, they haven’t broken me yet!
Nicole Reed is the New York Times Bestselling Author of Ruining You. She is a true Southern girl, enjoying life with her husband and three children in the peachy state of Georgia. As a child, she discovered another world between the pages of a book. In 2012, she self-published her first bookRuining Me, and then followed it with Ruining You, Cake, and Wasted Heart. Her books have also been listed on the overall Top 100 Amazon and Barnes & Noble Bestselling list. She is represented by Ginger Clark with Curtis Brown, LTD. You can follow her on Facebookwww.facebook.com/
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