Reviewed by Valerie

 

TITLE: Forgive Me Father

SERIES: Rebel Kings #3

AUTHOR: Garrett Leigh

PUBLISHER: Fox Love Press

LENGTH: 428 Pages

RELEASE DATE: November 14, 2022

BLURB:

Expect: a sizzling hurt/comfort MM romance with a damaged chaplain and a dark-souled enforcer with a tender-hearted secret.

“I gave my darkest secrets to a man who doesn’t exist.”

Embry

“…you don’t understand.”

Mateo lowered himself to sit, still vibrating with the need to fix me, the way he always did. “Then tell me. Explain it like I’m the simplest idiot you’ve ever met.”

I can’t. I’d never told anyone. Not the judge, the jury, or the legal aid barrister who’d written me off before she’d ever met me. But as I drowned in Mateo’s affection, in a love I’d done nothing to deserve, the words came tumbling out.

Bad words.

Dark words.

Darker than sin.

Darker, even, than Mateo’s battered soul and the secrets I didn’t know about yet.

I thought those words would shatter me.

Shatter us.

But when the devil came for us, it wasn’t mine.

It was Mateo’s, and the man I’d trusted with my fragile heart was a stranger more broken than his scars could ever show.

Forgive Me Father is a continuation of the best-selling Rebel Kings MC series. Content warning for violence and sexual trauma.

 

REVIEW:

Forgive Me Father is a magnificent book with more of the wonderfulness we loved in Devil’s Dance and Saint’s Song. More angst, more of the Rebel Kings MC brotherhood, more murder and mayhem with mafia and cartels running rampant, and of course, more romance, this time between Embry and Mateo. Yes, romance can definitely exist in the world of motorcycle clubs.

We previously met Father Embry Carter, the Rebel Kings MC chaplin, and Mateo Romano, the enforcer, in the first two books of the Rebel Kings series (which are required reading before this book). These two have had a close friendship – close as in they often share a bed platonically – for the past three years since Embry joined the club. They are viscerally attracted to each other, but each harbors a dark secret which prevents them from moving forward into a romantic, sexual relationship.

As chaplain, it’s Embry’s job to take care of the others but while convalescing from being brutally stabbed at the end of Saint’s Song, he finds himself in the unfamiliar position of having to be cared for by the others, especially Mateo. This is when they grow closer than ever, when their friendship takes a turn, even though they’ve been both dancing around it for years. Embry has never told a soul about his tragic past but he does eventually trust Mateo with it.

The worst had already happened and I’d survived. Because however messed up the world was, if the past came for me and beat me to the ground, Mateo would break my fall.

This is where the emotional aspect of the hurt/comfort theme takes hold. Mateo is so sweet. (Yikes! Did I just say that about a biker dude?) Embry doesn’t think he deserves Mateo, though, and can’t bring himself to admit that he wants Mateo. Embry, by the way, is the cousin of Joe – who has a cameo here – from Garrett Leigh’s Skins series.

Mateo has been in love with Embry since the day they met and has pined over him from afar all those intervening years. Although Embry is the only man he’s ever wanted to be with, he tells himself it’s okay if Embry can never give more of himself. When they eventually kiss, it’s a pleasure like he’s never felt before.

Mother of Christ. I wanted to kiss him so badly my lips felt like a separate entity from the rest of my body. It wasn’t even sexual— though it so fucking was. It was a primal reaction, like a wolf to its mate. My body needed his. I couldn’t fucking fathom how we’d lived in each other’s pockets for so long without banging each other senseless.

Mateo’s secret makes him feel like his soul is split in two. He disappears for days at a time several times a month. He’s clearly troubled but can’t talk to anyone. Embry, Cam, Nash, and Rubi have all tried to no avail. Mateo eventually gets caught in his lies, angering and disappointing all of his brothers for deceiving them. He could’ve dealt with the anger; disappointing them is so much harder to digest. And poor Embry is devastated. Even after Embry disclosed his dark, painful secret, Mateo didn’t trust him enough to confess his, leaving Embry defeated. He doesn’t know if they can move forward after such an egregious betrayal

I love love love the fraternal affection between the brothers on the council. This is where the series shines. All of the council members have important roles in this book. These are truly brothers, closer than most biological brothers in every way other than by blood. They display their love for each other candidly. This is one of the best chosen families I’ve encountered. We get to spend plenty of time with Cam, Saint, and Alexei. It was wonderful to see more of this impassioned triad. Alexei is now completely integrated into the Rebel Kings in a non-member kind of way, lol. He seems to be the club’s guardian angel playing a crucial role in dealing with gang and cartel crises. His past experience with the various bad guys gives him insight into how to fight back.

As for the biker club business, in this installment of the series the Rebel Kings get embroiled with all of the past villains out for their blood: the Sambini family including Lorenzo, Pavel Sidorov, the Dog Crows, and a not yet encountered European drug cartel. The fighting is violent, viscous, and deadly but it wasn’t as pervasive as in the other books.

One last thing, this is my favorite quote from the book: My face flattened to the dead-eyed stare our enemies saw in their nightmares, but Cam was unaffected. Dude only had to roll his head on his motherfucking pillow to find scarier freaks than me.

The epilogue shows us a slice of life for Embry and Mateo five months down the road. It’s a very satisfying ending to the book, not the series because Rubi and River’s story is up next and I can’t wait. This is a brilliant series and I’m happy to say Forgive Me Father (a perfect title for this book) is right up there with the first two. Garrett Leigh once again shows what an astounding author she is.

RATING: 

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