Reviewed by Kat

TITLE: Bay

SERIES: The Smoky Vale Alliance (Book 1)

AUTHOR: Gianni Holmes

PUBLISHER: Coco Nutz Publishing

LENGTH: 412 pages

RELEASE DATE: April 25, 2023

BLURB:

From USA Today Bestselling author Gianni Holmes comes a bi-awakening biker romance with a huge age gap.

I’ve been a politician, husband, and father. 

But I never counted on being a biker’s plaything—a biker who’s almost half my age.

As the former mayor of Smoky Vale, I hinged my campaign on getting rid of all bikers.

They are everything that’s wrong with our town. Everywhere they go they breed crudeness, chaos, and carnage.

Then my son fell in love with not one, but two of them.

Now I have no choice but to interact with the very people I tried to take down.

My disapproval of their lifestyle wavers when a spawn of Goliath backs me into a wall, kisses me senselessly, and makes it clear in the most vulgar way possible what he wants to do to me.

Bay is fierce, frank, and the only man who’s ever made me burn.

He teaches me how to tap into base desires I didn’t even know I had. And it intrigues me how a man so volatile and obscene can be equally protective and affectionate.

Those hands that shed blood now make mine boil in my veins.

When my ex-wife continues to ruin my life from behind prison bars, it’s Bay’s ruthlessness I once despised that I must now lean on to keep me and the ones I love safe. But what my ex-wife gets me involved with goes higher up than I could have ever imagined. Are some things better left in the dark, or do we expose those at the top of these heinous acts, even if it means risking our lives?

Bay is a 110k+ word full-length novel that can be read as a stand-alone. This is the first book in the Smoky Vale Alliance, a spin-off from The Grimm Tales of Smoky Vale series. Some familiarity with that series is recommended (but not necessary) for an even greater enjoyment of these books.

REVIEW:

I am so exited about this series and getting to go back to Smoky Vale!

Gerald is the father of Fable and who was Smoky Vale’s ex mayor had to that drop out of the race after his wife tried to kill their only child to get sympathy votes. His life is in shambles. His now ex-wife is in prison, his partners force him out of his practice and want nothing to do with him. His so-called friends have abandoned him. The only bright spot in his life is his Fable and their relationship. But he feels major guilt over what happened to him behind his back. So when Fable asks him to come to one of his “daddies” birthday parties at the MC clubhouse he feels he must at least try to make an appearance even though everyone knew his platform while mayor of Sunny Vale to rid their town of those kind! What he doesn’t expect is the massive young man that seems to have set his sight on him. Or the feelings that burst forward from that kiss!

I wasn’t a fan of the naïve mayor when all went down with Fable. He seemed so manipulated and meek for the position he was in as town mayor. More like a puppet of his wife’s. But watching him and Fable reconnect on a deeper level was awesome. And him taking the initiative to sit down with Zak and discuss his personal concerns was huge. Watching him transform from the totally naïve and sheltered man into a more openly accepting and less judgmental person was awesome. The author didn’t rush Gerald either but allowed him to transform at his own pace. I’m sure Bay would have liked him to Street-smart up faster but it wasn’t in his character. But watching him begin to understand and, eventually accept, the dynamics of the MC club and it’s brotherhood was wonderful. Yes, Bay and his love and protective/giving nature when it involved Ger was a major part of it. But also witnessing how the MC rally around and protect those that are their own, first with Fable and secondly himself, had a huge impact in his change of view.

Bay did it for me. One moment he is fierce and the next so tender and loving. He was wise beyond his years but the story of why he was was so heartbreaking. But that made him who he was and how he worked. Don’t mess with what is his…period! But his developing love, something he had never experience and doubted he would, for his Ger made him a major keeper in my book and maybe my new favorite…at least within the Blood Hounds. I did like that the two MC clubs were forming an alliance. I know members are leery of the joint alliance but I believe we will see a shift coming to the great good for both MC Clubs, the Blood Hounds and the Grimm Reapers.

I will state that reading the original series and the free extras novellas would be extremely helpful in understanding a lot of what is going on. We get to see a lot of our old favorites and their significant others while being introduced to new characters or ones that were minorly mentioned on the side in past books. I really, really loved this book. Yes, it is violent, what MC Club isn’t, however it is a lot less gruesome than ones in the past. And the building relationship of Bay and Gerald is a true treat. I’m sure we will see much more of them in the future along with past favorites.

RATING:

BUY LINK:

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