Vicious Cycle by Katie Ashley

Narrated by Vanessa Edwin and Jay Crow (with Jameson Adams in Epilogue)

While Katie Ashley is pretty well known in the contemporary romance world, Vicious Cycle is Ms. Ashley’s first foray into MC Romance.  Being a big MC Romance fan, I decided to give the first book in the Vicious Cycle series a chance, and I have to say that overall I was quite pleased with the result. Although not as gritty or overly erotic or dark as the more typical MC romances, Vicious Cycle still bore enough grit and a semblance to the typical outlaw biker world to come off as convincing, while at the same time combining compelling characters and an opposites attract romance trope to entertain the more mainstream romance fans.

Imagine your whole world changing in an instant. That’s what happens to Deacon Malloy, the Sergeant at Arms of the Hell’s Raiders, when he finds out that he has a young daughter named Willow that he never knew he had. Even worse, her mother has been murdered, and a rival biker club has its sights set on obtaining revenge via the little girl.  Deacon does the only thing he can, and takes in Willow, though he doesn’t have the first inkling of how to raise her. Fortunately, between his adoptive mother and his other brothers and MC family, he knows they can find a way to raise her together. However, with a target on her head there’s no way he can let Willow out of his sight, which means school is a no go.

When Alexandra Evans, Willow’s teacher, comes to the clubhouse seeking answers for why Willow has all of a sudden mysteriously stopped attending school, Deacon mistakes her for an ATF agent. As if having a big, strong biker manhandling and interrogating her isn’t bad enough, Alexandra can’t figure out why she reacts the way she does to this menacing man. Instead of running away though, Alexandra becomes even more determined that Willow, a smart little girl who has barely spoken since starting at her school, needs her help. So Alexandra offers to tutor Willow at the clubhouse after school.

Thus begins the start of Deacon and Alexandra’s bonding experience. Initially it’s only about doing what is right for Willow, but before long, Alexandra starts cracking down the walls surrounding Deacon’s tough exterior. Not only does Willow benefit, but both Deacon and Alexandra begin to realize that the last thing they may have thought they needed may just be the thing they’ve been waiting for.

Vanessa Edwin and Jay Crow narrate Vicious Cycle in the typical contemporary romance fashion where the male narrator narrates the chapters from the hero’s perspective and the female narrator narrates the chapters from the heroine’s. Vicious Cycle also employs an interesting mechanism of providing listeners with an advance cameo by one of the narrators of the next book in the series (Redemption Road), which will be narrated, in part, by Jameson Adams, who is introduced in this book’s epilogue.

Both Ms. Edwin and Mr. Crow deliver solid performances. As is frequently the case when this style of narration is employed, I found that each narrator excelled in the delivery of characters of their own gender. Mr. Crow, for example, rendered a convincing menacing and deep and gravelly biker voice for Deacon, while Ms. Edwin had Alexandra’s parts down pat. In that regard, I thought Ms. Edwin did a fantastic job at making Alexandra sound like the naive and idealistic, yet incredibly noble, teacher that Katie Ashley portrayed in her writing.

Additionally, each narrator was able to create distinguishable voices for the other characters. From slight changes in intonation to convey characters of the same gender to the trickier, higher or lower pitched characterizations for opposite gendered roles, both Ms. Edwin and Mr. Crow delivered an above-average performance. I also thought both narrators paced their deliveries well to match the particular mood of the scene.

All in all, I enjoyed Vicious Cycle. In typical MC Romance fashion, while the hero at first exhibits very distinct character flaws – making him an unlikely choice for the naive heroine – I enjoyed watching both characters grow and bond over their shared concern for the hero’s daughter. As a mother, I’m a sucker for stories that show how the love for a child can bring out the best in people. Vicious Cycle definitely struck this cord and the talented narration helped bring it all to life, making this a good choice for an audiobook if you’re look for a middle of the line (not too dark and not too light) MC romance.

BJ

Narration: Vaness Edwin B+/Jay Crow B+

Book Content: B+

Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in

Violence Rating: Fighting

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Recorded Books

Vicious Cycle was provided to AudioGals by Recorded Books for a review.