Book Review: Vipers Run by Stephanie Tyler

Title: Vipers Run
Series: Skulls Creek, Book 1
Author: Stephanie Tyler
Genre: Contemporary Romance, MC Romance
Sensuality Rating: Steamy
Source: review copy provided via NetGalley
Published: July 1, 2014 by Signet

The Vipers Motorcycle Club has strict rules for their brotherhood and the women who enter it. Now one Viper is about to find out how much trouble one woman can be…

Former Army Ranger Christian Cage Owens joined the Vipers Motorcycle Club for its sense of brotherhood. In return, he pledged to live outside the law, protecting club members and their families, as well as keeping other MCs out of Skulls Creek. But when Cage discovers that a rival MC—one Cage has an all too familiar past with—plans to push meth into his town, he calls an old Army buddy turned private investigator who’s helped the Vipers in the past. By doing so, Cage endangers both his friend and Calla Benson, a woman who works in the PI’s office. Now he’s made it his mission to track Calla down and do whatever it takes to protect her.

Thanks to the phone call with Cage, Calla knows she’s formed a deep connection to a dangerous man. She quickly discovers that although he may live by a different set of rules, Cage is an honorable man who wants to be more than her protector—if only she can accept his dangerous lifestyle. But Calla comes to Skulls Creek with her own set of secrets…secrets that threaten to tear her and Cage—and the Vipers MC—apart. As they put their newfound love to the ultimate test, Cage will risk everything he cares about to save her…

Why I Read this Book: I’m addicted to MC romances and Vipers Run sounded like a good read.

What I Liked: The book started off with a bang and hooked me in. When that phone call takes place between Calla and Cage, my eyes were glued to the book.

The scene with Cage and Calla in Tenn’s webcam filming room was hot! Cage took matters into his own hands, if you catch my drift, and Calla was behind the camera filming it all. One thing Cage had going for him was his pierced peen. Sadly though, I was more interested in Tenn’s world than I was in Cage’s MC world.

What I Didn’t Like: Cage and Calla have plenty of sex and not once was a condom used. They never talked about it or showed any kind of concern. I read as an escape but I can’t help but wonder what the hell Calla was thinking having unprotected sex with a guy she hardly knows. It’s dumb.

I didn’t believe Calla and Cage were in love. Their relationship started off after a brief, yet intense phone call. There’s was an insta-love romance that lacked chemistry. With Cage repeatedly telling Calla that she was “his”, there was more telling going on than showing. And even at the end of the book, Calla still felt like an outsider to the MC world, not part of it.

Calla’s scandal was just too much. It was used at every possible chance to move the plot forward. If this single story arc would have been the only main story arc going on in this book, I think it could have worked.

When Calla shows Cage the email threats she got, Cage says he has to look at the pictures in the email. I didn’t understand why he felt the need to see the pictures. He knew what the pictures were of and he knew how uncomfortable Calla was about the whole situation. His insistence on seeing the images made ME uncomfortable. What really made no sense to me was that even though Calla didn’t want Cage to see the pictures, she had no problem showing them to Tenn.

There was just so much going on in this book, it felt like the author tried to resolve everything in a quick manner, no matter how crazy it sounded. The way Calla’s father took to a specific situation was unbelievable and corny. Another conflict, a major one, was taken care of way too easily and conveniently. And the situation involving Eli was handled too easily as well. There wasn’t enough page time to expand on all of these story arcs and it felt like the author took the easy way out, and the book suffered greatly because of it.

Overall Impression: Vipers Run had such a great start. Unfortunately, there was too much going on and this book was all over the place with no real direction. Also, this book should come with a trigger warning, as there is a rape scene that is told in graphic detail.

Brianna’s Rating:

Add to Goodreads  |  Buy on Amazon