Author: Jessica Prince

I loved the premise of this story: Farah Highland is the daughter of a steel tycoon, born into wealth and privilege but never could quite fit in. Farah dared to want a life outside of the normal expectations of good breeding. Her parents are completely uninvolved, detached and downright horrible people. Never being given an ounce of love from them, Farah has a uniquely close relationship with her only brother, Jase, and the family driver, Bennett, who has taken over the role of substitute father. A horrific incident & near death experience gives her the determination to walk away from her privileged life & her epic jerk of a fiancee who she actually walks in on, banging her maid of honor. Farah decides to build a life on her own terms, even if it means she is disinherited. She’s not poor by any means, she has a generous inheritance from her grandfather that her parents couldn’t take.

So where can a rich girl go to escape her horrible life? A small biker town in a place called Redemption, Tennessee. A place that is the polar opposite of everything she has ever known. Among her new life, she finds a job at a local biker bar called Bad Alibi, where she has to fight against stereotypes of being a typical rich girl, and learns to stand up for herself. She makes heartfelt friendships, and, of course, meets a handsome, rugged biker, and local mechanic Cannon Banks.

Cannon is the typical small town playboy, with a good heart and can’t help but want to get to know the hot new waitress. Then an ill-timed car crash, thanks to a wandering cat, puts them in closer proximity. Farah’s accident is witnessed by a lovely lady who insists on having the car towed to her husband’s shop, and no surprise, she is Cannon’s mom. It isn’t long before the two of them are coursing through some heavy sexual tension.

Then they play the cat-and-mouse game after they have an innocent shopping trip (she rescues the wandering cat) for supplies and then the next day they are supposed to meet up again, but she blows him off. There’s awkward avoidance, and he acts like a jerk. She apologizes and then he blows her off when he finds out about her family, but yet somehow they are crazy attracted to each other and he’s already using pet names and baby? I found they were clunky during this time and the story line went a little too fast here. I didn’t love how fast they ‘melted into’ each other after what seems like nothing but rude interactions (personally, I need some more time together. Not one shopping trip and googly eyes for weeks…) There wasn’t a lot of pull between the characters, considering their histories.

Needless to say, they work it out and get together and it’s instant and comforting, until the crazy ex comes back. He is an absolute douche bag and Farah stands up for herself despite battling her demons and PTSD. Which all reveals itself near the end. Obviously, they get their HEA, and to be honest, I like the last 1st & 3/4 of the book more than the middle section. It was really just the ‘start’ of the couple that didn’t sit right.

What I liked about the book is the starting over, and the friendships she makes! It truly felt small town and redemption was perfect for it, but the couple needed a bit more pull / time for me. There were parts of the book I really enjoyed and then parts it almost frustrated me with. For example, one of my pet peeves in a book is when the heroine who is smart, brave and sassy suddenly loses all gusto and wits because of a gorgeous man. The kind where she can’t think or speak? Really? She walked away from an entire life! Now granted, there is back and forth between them, but I find Farah is a little too much of a pushover with Cannon.

With that said, the book was a decent read and I will probably read the second book, Crazy Beautiful, for comparison. If you have read the book, or are going to… drop a comment, tell me how you feel/felt about it?