Red Hot + Blue Reads: Release Day Blitz with Excerpt & Giveaway: Reaper's Fall by Joanna Wylde

Reaper’s Fall is the newest standalone in the Reaper's MC Series.

Painter & Melanie's story is FINALLY here!

Available at the following retailers:

The New York Times bestselling author of Reaper’s Stand is back in her “uber-alpha rough world of MCs”* as one woman’s future is rocked by the man whose hardcore past could destroy her…

He never meant to hurt her.

Levi “Painter” Brooks was nothing before he joined the Reapers motorcycle club. The day he patched in, they became his brothers and his life. All they asked in return was a strong arm and unconditional loyalty—a loyalty that’s tested when he’s caught and sentenced to prison for a crime committed on their behalf.

Melanie Tucker may have had a rough start, but along the way she’s learned to fight for her future. She’s escaped from hell and started a new life, yet every night she dreams of a biker whose touch she can’t forget. It all started out so innocently—just a series of letters to a lonely man in prison. Friendly. Harmless. Safe.

Now Painter Brooks is coming home… and Melanie’s about to learn that there’s no room for innocence in the Reapers MC.

Excerpt

“You want to watch a movie or something?” she asked, nodding toward the TV. I had a decent one, too. Giant-ass flat-screen—homecoming present from the club.

“Sure,” I said, reaching for the remote. I didn’t have cable, but Ruger had set up some kind of box thingie for me so I could stream shit. “Whatcha in the mood for?”

“Not horror,” she said quickly, and I laughed again, remembering that first evening I’d spent with her at Pic’s house. She’d been so young and scared and vulnerable . . . I’d wanted to eat her up.

I still wanted to eat her.

“I can’t believe that you and Puck were supposed to be watching over me, and then you put in a slasher movie. That’s not how you make a girl feel safe.”

“No horror,” I agreed, although the thought of holding her for a couple hours while she was scared shitless appealed way more than it should. Watch it, asshole. “How about Star Wars?”

“You like Star Wars?”

I shrugged. “Everyone likes Star Wars. You know, I’m pretty damned sure Han Solo was a biker.”

She giggled. “You mean, like a space biker?”

“See, when you say it like that it sounds stupid.”

“I wanted to be Princess Leia. She’s badass,” she said, taking a deep drink of her beer. I watched as her lips wrapped around the neck, her throat swallowing. Oh fuck, that was good. She set the beer down on the coffee table with a clink, then let loose with the biggest burp I’d ever heard.

“Fucking hell,” I said, stunned. “I didn’t think girls could burp like that. Shit. Impressive, Mel. Very impressive.”

She grinned at me.

“We’re friends,” she told me. “And friends don’t need to worry about stuff like that. Let me guess—you’ve never had a female friend before?”

“Not really,” I admitted. “I’m think I’m a little scared.”

Scared and turned on, which was weird.

“You should be. I can do the whole alphabet.”

Damn. I kinda wanted to see that.

What I thought about Reaper's Fall

Reaper's Fall is the story of Painter and Melanie. We met Melanie back in Reaper's Stand. Picnic Reese's old lady, London, had taken Melanie under her wing after Melanie's mom disappears. A tragic situation puts Melanie and Painter together, and it was clear back in Reaper's Stand that there were feelings between them.

Unfortunately, Painter gets sent to prison before anything could develop, but Melanie keeps in touch with him through letters she writes. I really like relationships that develop in this way, but some of Painter's unsent letters were a bit hard to take. More than any of the other Reaper's, Painter's language regarding Melanie was doggone rough, and it almost put me off from this story when he'd share his internal thoughts. But I'm glad I stuck with it because it's part of his wonderful character arc in this story.

After a lot of "I'm not good enough for you." and plenty of time to develop a real relationship, starting with friendship that grows into more, Melanie and Painter can't resist each other and things get very steamy between them, in spite of many warnings from friends not to get involved.

But Painter hasn't learned all the lessons he needs to learn and when he gets sent back to prison for the remainder of his sentence, it opens his eyes to everything he's lost because of his own actions. I loved how he grew and changed in this story, but yet retained some of his abrasive qualities.

I really liked this story. I couldn't put it down. I especially liked how things came together in the end for them, and I loved that both the characters changed and grew up over the course of the story. There were also lots of little bits of previous characters in the series scattered throughout and I loved that too.

I can't find a single negative thing to say about this story, I'm sure I'm going to read it again (and maybe more than once) so for that reason I'm giving this a 5 star rating.

ARC provided for review.