Torpedo Ink is Aleksei “Absinthe” Solokov’s whole life. They’re his brothers, his family—his everything. But that doesn’t stop him from wanting something that only belongs to him. That’s why the tough biker has spent the last six weeks at the library, reading every book he can get his hands on and watching the prim and proper librarian who makes his blood rush.
For the past six weeks, Scarlet Foley has been fantasizing about the handsome, tattooed man whose eyes follow her every move. She senses he’s dangerous. She wants him to get close enough to touch. She wishes she could let him know the real woman, not the one she pretends to be. But Scarlet has a plan to carry out, and she can’t afford any distractions.
Absinthe is well aware that Scarlet is hiding something. She’s a puzzle he intends to solve, piece by intoxicating piece….
Release Date: Jul 7, 2020
Series: Torpedo Ink
Book: 4
Heat Level: Hot
Publisher: Penguin Group
Imprint: Berkley
Price: $7.99
Desolation Road is the 4th book in Christine Feehan’s Torpedo Ink series; it can be read as a standalone. I did read it as a standalone but I could see that it would really help to have read the previous books to give a bit more background into the character’s past. Desolation Road follows the story of Aleksei “Absinthe” Solokov and Scarlet Foley. The Torpedo Ink motorcycle club is Absinthe’s whole focus, they are all family and have gone through a lot together in the past and are helping each other heal in their own way. Absinthe still craves for a love that is just his own though, and when he stubbles upon Scarlet in the library he starts to spend more of his free time there watching the librarian that caught his eye.
I was very pulled into this book from the start but then it kind of fizzled for me. At the beginning there is so much to learn about both Scarlet and Absinthe. They both have trauma in their past that they are trying to work through in their own ways and I think they recognized this in each other and coming together helped them work through it as well. There was much more to Absinthe that what I had thought when I first started to read, I was pleasantly surprised to find that he was a big reader and that he doesn’t shy away from hard work. Scarlet was also surprising, she was not the uptight librarian that she displays herself as, and was actively working to get revenge for her past. When the two of them finally got together it was very heated but I found that I personally am not really a fan of BDSM, so I didn’t enjoy those scenes (and there was many of them) as much as other readers may. I did appreciate though how well it the erotic kinks were described in a mature way and I think that readers who are into BDSM will really like this story.
Another annoyance I had with the book was Feehan’s writing style of always repeating certain information. I would get so annoyed when the character’s thoughts or dialogues would repeat the same stuff over and over again. We get it! Readers can remember things, no need to keep pushing it on us. I also felt like there was so much heat and passion between Absinthe and Scarlet, both in their sexual preferences and with the past trauma they are trying to heal, that I almost don’t really believe that they have a true connection outside of those heated moments.
~ Harshita
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