Book Review: Persuasion by Violetta Rand

I’ve been so split on my opinions of motorcycle club novels, and I feel like I tend to be a little over critical of them. Yet I keep reading them because at this point, even though I’m not even sure if this is my genre of choice, I feel like they hold a special kind of reading crack that has drawn me in.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

One-Sentence Synopsis
A guidance counselor moves to Texas where she meets the president of a local motorcycle club, and despite her views on MCs, she finds herself drawn to the president. For a full synopsis, see this book’s Goodreads page.

The Friendship Factor
Lily spends a lot of time with her best friend, and this friendship was one of my favorite things. I liked the support they gave each other and their dialogue. There was a good contrast between Lily and Tina, with Tina being the party girl of the two. I’m hoping the next book in the series is about her and one of the other MC members.

Tell Me About It, Stud
At one point, Lily seems to be changing to fit Lang’s lifestyle, something that reminded me of the ending of the movie Grease. That made me wary, because while I love that movie, I’m not a huge fan of someone overhauling who they are for someone who can’t accept them for who they are. However, it never got that extreme. It’s more that Lily had a wild side that she’d kept hidden, and Lang allowed her to feel comfortable about exploring it.

Conflicting Personalities
I had a hard time really pinning down the characters. When it came to Lang, I felt the confusion worked because he was the MC president in one life but he also to take on the guardian role to his younger sisters. He was possessive of Lily, which fit with the general biker novel vibe, but then there were times when you felt he was way less intense than other characters in this genre.

Lily, on the other hand, was really hard for me to connect with. At times she seemed to be naive and shy. Other times she was forward with her feminist views, and her work persona was also different. It wasn’t that I didn’t like her, because I did. It was more that I never really settled on a personality for her.

 

The Romance Factor
The romance is sweet and believable, but it has a fairly low angst, and it’s obvious way before the end that both characters love each other and aren’t playing the “I don’t know how to love” game. What I enjoyed about this low-angst relationship was that Lang and Lily were supportive of each other when it came to outside conflict. 4/5

The Steam Factor
Where this novel shines is in the sexy times and the dirty dirty talk, a subject of which Lang seems to have majored in. While the sex scenes didn’t overpower the plot, they were super potent when they happened. 5/5

Final Thoughts
Though the book definitely had some grit to it, the opposites attract romance was well-paced and believable. I feel like things wrapped up a little too happily, but overall, I think this was a well-written, fast read.