seriously romantic: biker b*tch by andie j. christopher

i've read andie christopher's miami-based series and have really enjoyed those novels, so when i saw that biker b*tch was available for request i jumped at it even though i'm on the record as having issues with motorcycle club romances. i don't usually comment on the level of edit on galley proofs, because i know that they are not the final versions of the manuscripts, but in this case it has to be said that i hope this was an early version and that the final version will have some substantive editing because there were copious errors and misspellings, but even beyond that it was clear that the manuscript still needed some tightening.

the basic story is that skyler and travis grew up together and have basically been in love with each other forever without admitting it. when skyler turns eighteen her life goes to hell. her father is arrested for being a bad guy, the leader of a motorcycle club known for its illegal transactions, for bringing the drug trade to their town, and for getting travis's older brother killed. skyler was also arrested although even at the time it was clear that she wasn't involved with anything nefarious. so on her eighteenth birthday she and travis get it on, only he stops before he can take her virginity and basically rejects her.

she's humiliated and leaves town and never looks back. until a decade later when her best friend bought the travis winery for skyler to develop and run. coming back home she's forced to face the demons of her past as well as her ongoing feelings for travis. these feelings are complicated by the fact that he is the founding member of a new motorcycle club, and skyler doesn't want to be part of the motorcycle club lifestyle as she assumes they all skirt the law in some way.

but the reality is that travis actually works with police to keep drugs and bad things out of their town. and from the moment he sets eyes on skyler again he knows that he will make her his. there's no other choice. in ten years he's never forgotten her effect on him. and now it's the right time to do something about it.

here's the thing, i enjoyed the romance. the problem was that the sections dealing with the two rival motorcycle clubs were confusing. there's supposed to be a mystery but it's clear who the perpetrators are, but their motivations are never clear and the resolution does little to explain things. for example, at some points deacon, one of the rival gang members, seemed like he was an undercover agent of sorts, so it was super confusing to realize that he was actually just a bad guy.

this is one of those manuscripts that i think needed more polish before being sent out for review, so it feels unfair to grade it. there's a lot of good material here, and the characters are good, but it's hard to overlook the problems given that it's not clear that they will have been fixed before publication.

**biker b*tch will publish on july 11, 2017. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/barclay publicity in exchange for my honest review.