Stevie‘s review of Sinner’s Revenge (Sinner’s Creed, Book 2) by Kim Jones
Contemporary Romance published by Berkley 19 Jul 16
I read and reviewed the first book in this series before becoming aware of how divisive the story was amongst readers. For the record, I loved that one, although I know many people hated it, not least for the way it ended. So I was looking forward to the sequel, with a little trepidation as to how the author was going to top what was for me an outstanding concept, or whether she was going to back off a little and produce something more mainstream that would satisfy a wider variety of romance readers. In the end I mostly wasn’t disappointed.
Following the events of the first book, Shady is determined to hunt down all those responsible for what happened to Dirk: his best friend and fellow member of Sinner’s Creed MC. With that in mind, Shady has temporarily left his club’s hometown and is living undercover close to where most of his targets can be found. Everything goes according to plan initially, but then he meets a woman who seems almost as messed up as he is, albeit in slightly different ways.
Diem is something of an enigma. We spend a little time in her point of view: enough to learn that she’s attracted to Shady, but not enough to learn much of anything about her background. She tells Shady that she’s in pharmaceutical sales, although her subsequent behaviour hints at that being a lie; then again Shady hasn’t told her his real name and is claiming to be a web site designer. Diem acts out big style, and I found myself unable to stop reading for wanting to know what she’s going to do next. I’d hate to live within 50 miles of her in real life, of course.
Meanwhile, Shady’s killing spree is interrupted by a summons to his club’s national headquarters, where he’s offered Dirk’s old job as their enforcer. Several clubs have been defaulting on their obligations without Dirk to keep them in line, and someone has to go ’round and sort things out. Diem appears oblivious to why Shady keeps vanishing, although her erratic behaviour gets worse during his longer trips away, even as it becomes ever more apparent that there’s something not right about the story she’s told Shady.
When the big reveal comes, it’s all rather farfetched, but then the whole story is wonderfully over the top. It’s like a Romancelandia Robert Rodriguez movie: you know the entire plot is completely bonkers, but you’re swept away by it anyway. The one part that didn’t work for me was the hints of a supernatural aspect to the final resolution to Shady’s feelings over what happened to Dirk. I get that he had to find some kind of inner peace over that to get his happy ending with Diem (and even that required a little bit of disbelief suspension), but I’d have liked it to be a little more on the back burner, in the way that side of things were shown at the end of the first book.
All in all, a solid book that didn’t quite live up to my expectations after the first one. On the other hand, readers who hated the way that one ended might prefer the resolution to this one.
Grade: B
Summary:
Shady has spent the last eight years of his life dedicated to the Sinner’s Creed Motorcycle Club. But after losing the man who was both his brother and his best friend, he has a new purpose—to avenge the death of the greatest nomad in Sinner’s Creed history.
His plan is flawless. His mission is simple: seek and destroy. There is no room for distractions—especially a distraction like Diem.
She’s infuriating. Demanding. Complicated. Impossible. And for some reason, Shady can’t stay away. But he only has space in his heart for one love: Sinner’s Creed. And the club always comes first. Always.
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