Reviewed by Dan
TITLE: Torque
AUTHOR: Charley Descoteaux
PUBLISHER: Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
LENGTH: 189 Pages
RELEASE DATE: February 23, 2016
BLURB:
Sometimes letting things get complicated is the best way to figure it all out.
Mick Randall is on the run, from the biker culture he grew up in and his impossible vision of love. Alaska should be far enough to escape his old life—until he rolls into a wrecking yard and gets lost in a pair of pale, bottle-green eyes.
Scotty Bell has spent years learning to channel his fiery temper into the heat of a welding torch. His sexual heat has always been slower to ignite, but one look at Mick rouses confusion alongside desire. In all his life, he’s only been attracted to one other person—his best friend, Mercy Taylor.
Mick lands a temporary job at the yard, and finds an uneasy crash pad at Scotty’s place…where the ragged ends of his emotions get tangled up in Scotty and Mercy’s relationship.
But when Mick hears a Harley engine from his past bearing down on him, his first instinct is to go back to the half-life he’d been living. Lest his secrets destroy the only two people who’ve ever made him feel whole.
Warning: Contains references to abuse, subversive ideas about sexual identity and gender expression, and a free-range bisexual on a mission.
REVIEW:
Well, this one was a departure from my long line of fantasy, sci-fi, shifters and what-not. And not in an entirely bad way.
When we meet Mick Randall, we know he is on the run, and know it isn’t from the law…but we don’t know much else. In fact if you didn’t read the blurb, like I didn’t before I read it, you won’t know until a good way through the book (more than half way) what he is actually running from. I prefer that myself, since it kept me guessing.
Mick is headed for Alaska, but money is tight so he randomly decides to take a temporary job at a junk yard somewhere in Oregon. Of course, there ends up being a hot blond welder and all around guy at the yard, who turns out to be the owner’s grandson, Scotty Bell.
Scotty has only ever had one love in his life. His best friend Mercy. What will happen when sparks fly between Scotty and Mick…but also between Mercy and Mick?
I liked the fact that this story incorporated a bisexual character, an asexual character and a transgender/gender fluid character as the main character polyamorous Triad. Honestly though, I was a little confused by some of the representations of the sexual identities of the characters. Mick is written as bisexual, but he read as more of a confused gay man fighting to not be gay. Scotty, who is supposed to be asexual has wild bouts of wanting lots and lots of sex…which seemed odd for an asexual, and Mercy’s character just needed more details and background to be believable as the trans/gender fluid character that she is supposed to be.
Overall, the book was good/average in my opinion. The storyline on this one was a little choppy. It seemed to jump around, and characters popped in at odd times. For example, the guy from Mick’s former life who just happens to stop at a random junk yard in Oregon and finds Mick? Really? Or the instant trust of Mick, and the instant “love” between the Triad members. I just felt it was all a little too pat. The book was well enough written, but didn’t really have much to make it stand out and grab my attention. Now that I think back, I did read the blurb when it hit our available to read/review list on Love Bytes, and I originally requested it and picked it up specifically for the “running from the motorcycle club” aspect. I guess I was expecting a little more. It was a good book, but it didn’t excite me.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS: