Viper’s Run

A Skulls Creek Novel, Book #1

By Stephanie Tyler

ISBN# 9780451470461

Author’s Website:  http://stephanietyler.com/

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Marianthi

This is proof that out of the ugliness of life, a beautiful and haunting love story can still arise.  The heroine isn’t always the sheltered, virgin princess and the hero doesn’t always ride a white charger. Sometimes he rides a motorcycle, has tattoos and even the occasional body piercing.

Calla Benson is the daughter of a billionaire and her life has been less than privileged. She has been betrayed by everyone in her life. Calla has wounds that would break a weaker woman.  She expects no charity (especially from her father, a man that she has never met).  Working at a private investigator’s office after the latest crisis, she makes the choice that alters her future forever: she answers her boss’s cellphone when he is away.

Cage wasn’t expecting a less than 20 minute phone call to change his entire world. Christian Cage Owens is dying. beaten, stabbed, and broken by a rival MC, his last act is to call a former Army friend, Calla’s boss.  Instead, he reaches Calla. Making a raw and deep connection with Calla, his world BECOMES Calla.  He promises to come for her and to right the wrongs that were afflicted upon her in the past. He is hers and she is his.  Calla memorizes Cage’s last message and begins her life on the run from a vicious MC.

Soon the problems of the past come full circle for both as Cage comes to get his Calla.   Both Calla’s and Cage’s pasts become intertwined.  The past refuses to stay buried and healing only happens when the scab is picked open and the infection is purged.

Following this thread throughout the book, the most enjoyable part of this book is the fact that it is not a typical love story.  The heroine and hero are deeply flawed, the secondary characters are also cut from the same damaged cloth, and it is in your face.  No excuses for behaviors are given.  No permissions are requested. It is intense.

The least likeable part of this book is that in order to build suspense of the heroine’s backstory, it feels like the secondary characters are more fleshed out than the heroes.  I understand that the big reveal comes at climatic point in the middle of the book, but there is a frustrating and frugal amount of character history given in the beginning.  Only hints and insinuations of a terrible secret are initially given.

Would I recommend this book?  Damn straight.  This book is most definitely an adult read.  I would not recommend it to readers under 18.  The book is graphic, unapologetic, and brutal in areas.  This is not a fairytale. It is a brash look at damaged people and their love story. It is one hell of a read.  Not a perfect 5 stars out of 5, but a very respectable 4 stars (due to character development).

*OBS would like to thank the publisher for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review*