Silver Bastard by Joanna Wylde

silver bastardNarrated by Allyson Ryan and Johnathan McClain

Silver Bastard is the first book in a new series which is a spin-off from the Reapers Motorcycle Club books, but it has cameos from many of the Reapers members and it is firmly in the same world. Readers/listeners of the other series will recognise Puck Redhouse from Reaper’s Stand. *spoiler alert* In that book, Painter (from the Reapers) and Puck (from the Silver Bastards) were caught by the police with illegal guns. They both went to jail for fourteen months and the book begins when both Puck and Painter are celebrating their release on parole. Puck was a “prospect” (not a full member) at the time he went down and the first thing that happens when he gets out is that he’s made a full member of the Silver Bastards. He has earned his “cut” (the leather vest they wear identifying them as a brother of an MC) by doing time and keeping silent.

The members of the Reapers and the Silver Bastards who have come to collect their brothers in California have a party with the Longnecks, an allied MC. “Teeny” is a hanger-on and a brother (as in actual brother) to a member of the Longnecks and hosts the party; Becca Jones is Teeny’s stepdaughter.

Puck sees Becca and is deeply smitten. He spends the evening trying to get into her pants. He also makes the not unreasonable assumption that she’s there willingly. There’s some graphic and explicit sex and the scenes are fairly confronting, particularly when it is revealed shortly after that Becca is only sixteen and that Teeny pimps her out. Outraged, Puck beats Teeny and then takes Becca back with him to Idaho where she will be safe and protected by the Silver Bastards. He deposits her with Regina and Earl, a couple who live in Callup, Idaho, and who become loving foster parents to Becca. And then he keeps his distance because even though he is deeply attracted to her, she is too young.

The story picks up five years later. Becca is now twenty-one and is a few months away from graduating beauty school. She waits tables to earn enough money to continue in school and to pay her way. On a semi regular basis, Becca’s mother or Teeny contact her and ask her to send money. Becca hates Teeny of course, but has deeply conflicted feelings about her mother. Her mum is a meth addict and is in an abusive relationship with Teeny (he regularly beats her). Becca urges her to leave him but she never does. Becca’s mother has been a poor excuse for a parent but she still made sure Becca was on the back of Puck’s bike five years earlier, so she is not all bad. (She’s just nearly all bad.)

Puck has been keeping a not-so-covert eye on Becca over the years. Now that she’s twenty-one, he feels it’s time to make his move. Becca, for her part, has conflicted feelings about Puck too. On the one hand, he saved her life and got her out of California and into a safe and loving home. On the other hand, he was a part of the nightmare of her life in Teeny’s house. Albeit unwittingly, Puck essentially raped her. Puck didn’t know she was unwilling because she pretended to be willing. (It is clear Puck would not take an unwilling woman). He didn’t know she was underage. He is well aware that having sex with a sixteen year old Becca made him a statutory rapist and he’s not happy about it. To make things more complicated again, Puck is the only man who ever brought her to orgasm (I’d venture to guess he’s the only one who ever even tried) and she is desperately attracted to him.

Problems arise when Becca’s mother contacts her to say that she fears for her life and begs for money so she can get away from Teeny. All of this coincides with her burgeoning relationship with Puck. Also bubbling away in the background is war between the Irish mafia and the unions and the Silver Bastards over the future of the Laughing Tess silver mine – the lifeblood of Callup.

It’s a pretty dark book. I tend to read MC romances as a kind of urban fantasy. They’re so different from my world they may as well have werewolves and vampires in them. In this way, I can cope with storylines which would otherwise be deal breakers for me. Even so, Ms. Wylde has a habit of taking me to the edge of my comfort zone. This is not a book for everyone. It is dark, gritty and explicit. It deals with rape, child abuse, domestic violence and a criminal MC. There will be listeners for whom the subject matter will be just too much. The language is confronting and so are the things which happen in the story. Puck is not a “hero” in the traditional sense of the word. He’s Becca’s hero but he’s also a criminal and definitely not a guy I’d want to associate with in real life.

I listened to this book over the course of two days. It was that compelling and engrossing, I just had to keep listening and I kept finding excuses to do so. The narration is great. Allyson Ryan narrates the sections from Becca’s POV (which comprise maybe 60-70% of the book) and Johnathan McClain narrates the sections from Puck’s.

Mr. McClain uses a softened tone for Becca and the other female characters. I can’t say that it sounded believably female but it was easy to tell who was talking and I was able to go with it. I have to give props to Mr. McClain for delivering some of Puck’s lines without dying of embarrassment. Puck is blunt and he doesn’t use pretty words. (His favourite word for Becca’s ladybits is the C word.) Boonie, the leader of the Silver Bastards, had a kind of low whisper-y voice and Teeny sounded exactly like the weasel he was.

Both Ms. Ryan and Mr. McClain delivered the emotion of the story well. It was not only the text which built the tension and compelled me to keep listening.

Ms. Ryan had excellent male character voices – all different – and the same for the female cast. I was able to tell who was speaking almost all the time. I really enjoyed her portrayals of Danielle, Becca’s best friend and Darcy, Boonie’s “old lady”, as well, of course, as Becca herself.

Becca had been through a traumatic few years with Teeny. Oblivious listener that I am, it took me a while (and it being spelled out) to realise exactly how horrible Teeny was. Once she was safe in Idaho, Becca was loved and protected by Regina and Earl but I can’t help but think she needed significant counselling. I didn’t quite believe she could so easily, even after five years, have rough (albeit fully consensual) sex with Puck without flashbacks and emotional trauma. I was ambivalent about whether she should be with Puck at all, given his association with what was a series of rapes to which Becca was subjected. I’m not sure those things were resolved quite enough for me in the book.

Most of the action of the book takes place over about two weeks so the romance is pretty whirlwind and I can’t say that I was entirely convinced that they wouldn’t quickly fall apart. There is an epilogue which takes place six years after the main action and which provided me with comfort in that regard, but things definitely were not hearts, flowers and sparkly rainbows for Becca and Puck for most of the novel.

I enjoyed Silver Bastard. The narrations were great and the story was compelling. I had some discomfort with aspects of the content, but I usually do because let’s face it, these guys are criminals. But, as I’ve come to expect from this author, it was a wild ride well worth my time.

Kaetrin


Narration: B+

Book Content: B

Steam Factor: For your burning ears only

Violence: Graphic – All of the Trigger Warnings

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio

 

Silver Bastard was provided to AudioGals by Penguin Random House Audio for review.

11 thoughts on “Silver Bastard by Joanna Wylde

  1. All right! No more stalling. You’ve convinced me that this must be next up for me. I’ve had it here since its release, but other things distracted me. No more!

  2. Great review! You vividly portrayed how this story is gripping, sometimes repellently dark, while compellingly listenable.

    1. I find that to one degree or another with Joanna Wylde books. I’m attracted and repelled all at once but they’re so compelling. The narrations here just added to the experience I think.

  3. You completely captured my experience Kaetrin. I didn’t think I’d make it through the book after a particularly disturbing opening but I kept going after giving myself a break. For a motorcycle romance, this one is solid. My grades match yours.

  4. I read Silver Bastard recently and really enjoyed it! I didn’t think I would really like a motorcycle club book story line, but actually I was one over mainly because of the narrators who both made it a real experience rather than one narrator playing the voices of both the female and male in the storyline.

    This was a steamy and hot romance with just average people, who aren’t rich and who have real struggles. The romance between Puck and Becca was awesome. Highly recommend this audio book!!

    1. I didn’t think I’d like MC romance either (and I am fairly picky about which ones I will try) but the right author can take you some surprising places!

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