Title: Walk the Edge (Thunder Road #2)
Author: Katie McGarry
Publisher: HarlequinTEEN
Release Date: March 29, 2016
Source: ARC from Publisher
One moment of recklessness will change their worlds.Smart. Responsible. That’s seventeen-year-old Breanna’s role in her large family, and heaven forbid she put a tow out of line. Until one night of shockingly un-Breanna-like behavior puts her into a vicious cyber-bully’s line of fire—and brings fellow senior Thomas “Razor” Turner into her life.Razor lives for the Reign of Terror motorcycle club, and good girls like Breanna just don’t belong. But when he learns she’s being blackmailed over a compromising picture of the two of them—a picture that turns one unexpected and beautiful moment into ugliness—he knows it’s time to step outside the rules.And so they make a pact: he’ll help her track down her blackmailer, and in return she’ll help him seek answers to the mystery that’s haunted him—one that not even his club brothers have been willing to discuss. But the more time they spend together, the more their feelings grow. And suddenly they’re both walking the edge of discovering who they really are, what they want, and where they’re going from here.
Katie McGarry is without a doubt one of my favourite authors and her books are all among my favourites. Every time I get my hands on a new Katie McGarry book, I can’t help but drop everything to read it. That’s what I did with Walk the Edge and I loved every moment of it.
Breanna has always been the reliable one, the daughter her parents could always count on to take care of her younger siblings now that all her older ones have left home. But she doesn’t just want to be the smart and reliable girl anymore. She wants to stop being invisible and finally be herself. She just never expected that doing so would bring Razor, one of the members of the local motorcycle club, into her life. Razor has always been all about the Reign of Terror motorcycle club. They’ve been there for him since his mother’s death and he would do anything for the club. But when he finds out new information about the night his mother died, Razor starts to doubt everything he’s been told by the people he calls family. The one person who can help him is Breanna, the girl who’s become the victim of a cyberbully because of a picture of the two of them together. Razor will help Breanna with her blackmailing bully if in return she helps him crack the mystery around his mother’s death. But while looking for answers, Razor and Breanna discover they need each other for more than they ever thought.
It’s no secret that Katie McGarry is one of my favourite authors and, as such, has written some of my all-time favourite books. She is, after all, the person who created Isaiah Walker. But that’s not the point right now. The point is that Katie McGarry writes some fantastic stories that are both gripping and captivating and that take you on an emotional ride. For me, there’s nothing quite like diving head first into a new Katie McGarry story. Even though every story is different, I just know going in that this is going to become a favourite. That I won’t be able to stop reading until I’m all the way through, no matter how much I might want to slow down to make the story last longer. That’s exactly how I felt with Walk the Edge. I wanted to read the story so badly, I wanted to know what would happen to these characters I came to love, but I also didn’t want the story to end. I got caught up in this story, flipping the pages (well, technically, clicking the “next page” button) until I had made it the whole way through. And there was so much that I loved about this story. I loved all the different family dynamics, whether it was Breanna’s actual blood family or Razor’s motorcycle club family. How those family dynamics played in to the greater story. And as with any book written by Katie McGarry, the romance just worked and I bought into it right away. It wasn’t exactly hard to root for Breanna and Razor. And it really wasn’t hard to love them.
Before I even read a single word of Walk the Edge I already wanted to know more about Razor. The whole time I was reading Nowhere But Here last year, I wanted to know more about Razor. There was just something about him that caught my attention. He intrigued me and I just knew that there was a whole lot more to him than what everyone seemed to think. And I was so right. Razor is officially right up there with Isaiah when it comes to my favourite Katie McGarry boys. I loved how much he cared, sometimes to the point of extreme stubbornness. I loved his fierce protectiveness of the people he cared about, his determination to do whatever it took to keep those people safe. And I love who he was and how he was with Breanna. Breanna was such an interesting characters. I was so fascinated by the way her brain worked and the way it affected her life, especially when it came to her family life. So many times while I was reading I wanted to yell at Breanna’s family for the way they treated her. All she wanted was for someone to be there for her as opposed to being the person who’s always there for everyone else or has to wait in line behind all her siblings. So I loved that Breanna got to be herself with Razor and that Razor understood her in a way other people didn’t. They were perfect for each other and I loved reading their story. I only wish I could have kept reading their story forever.
Once again, Katie McGarry blew me away with Walk the Edge. This book is most definitely a new favourite even if it has left me absolutely desperate for more. And I cannot even begin to explain how much I am looking forward to reading Violet and Chevy’s story in the third Thunder Road book.
Excerpt
Her face is white against her raven hair. Ghost white. I’d bet my left ball she hasn’t breathed since I spoke. Her hand is outstretched toward the busted cell on the ground, but her wide hazel eyes are cemented on me. I turn my head and I’m greeted by the amused faces of my brothers from the Reign of Terror who stand next to their bikes in the parking lot. They’ll be harassing me on this for weeks. Fuck me for trying to be chivalrous.“You okay?” It’s a variation of the question I asked a few seconds ago, but this one she seems to understand as her body trembles to life.“Um…” she stutters. We’ve been at the same schools since elementary age, otherwise I’d wonder if she was a foreign exchange student with limited English. “I only have twenty dollars.”The muscles in the back of my neck tense. “I’m not going to jack you for your money.”She quits breathing again.“Nice to know your current bank account status,” I bit. “But I asked you if you were okay.”Color returns to her cheeks as I pin her with my gaze. She accused me of trying to rob her. I know it, she knows it, and she’s now informed I’m not the asshole in this scenario.“Yes,” she finally answers. “I’m okay. I mean no…I mean…I broke my phone.”She did and that sucks for her.Her eyes flicker between me and the phone like she wants to retrieve it, yet she’s too paralyzed. Saving us from his torture, I swipe the pieces of the cell and lean against the wall.The distance between us relaxes and that gulp of air was audible as she tucks herself tight in the corner fattest from me. This reaction isn’t new. I’ve seen it since I was a child whenever my father or anyone from the Terror entered a room full of civilians. To everyone outside of the club, we’re the evil motorcycle gang bent on blowing the house down.People and their hellish nightmare folklore involving us piss me off. I don’t know why I told the guys to give me a minute. I’m late for plans I made with Chevy and some girls, plus I’m on call in case the board chooses to meet sooner rather than later to discuss Detective Jake Barlow.But something about how this chick appeared alone and frightened messed me up. It reminded me…The thought stalls and the emotional speed bump causes a flash of pain in my chest. Screw it, her expression reminded me of Mom the last time I saw her—the night she died.My mom. I shake my head to expel her ghost. One visit from one bastard trying to use me and I’m being haunted by a past I can’t change. That’s what the detective was salivating over—to use me for info on the club. He’s one of too many who believes our club is the devil’s prodigy.What he doesn’t see is that we’re a family—the type of family that comes when called. Obviously not like this girl’s family.“Is it yes or no?” It’s damn difficult to shove the battery in now that the frame is bent.“Yes or no what?” her long black hair sweeps past her shoulders. She has the type of hair that would have to be pulled up if she rode on the back of my bike. Gotta admit, I like her hair, especially how it shines under the lights of the school’s overhang.“If you’re okay.” I survey the mostly empty area to prove a point. “If we leave, you’ll be alone, and I don’t care of that. There’s some real psychos out there.”
