Sleazy Rider

Karen S. Smith

Synopsis: When newlyweds Emma and Kit speed away on their matching Ducati motorbikes, Emma knows not to expect a conventional honeymoon. From the moment they meet a biker gang and the leader takes a shine to Emma, events take a turn for the bizarre. For the first time in her life she will be pushed to her limits as the gang's ideas for how to have a good time get more and more outrageous. With hard-drinking rock bands, hunky stuntmen, booze-filed biker festivals and a whole lot of kinky behavior on the agenda, Emma's taste for adventure is tested to the max – and Kit's not about to step in and save her from the wild bunch as he's having too much fun himself!

First line: I was pressed against the handrail, palms flat on cold metal, gazing across a calm, turquoise sea as the south coast of England receded into the distance.

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback; published by Black Lace, 2005; 225 pages; received from a Book Mooch member.

My thoughts: I haven't read the shades of whatever book, but I suspect that this book is a much more realistic portrayal of the BDSM lifestyle. Emma and Kit are on their honeymoon, biking across the countryside. In that opening line, they are having a sexual encounter on the ferry, when Emma catches a biker on the deck below watching them. For both her and Kit, this makes it just that much more exciting. Just before embarking from the ferry, the biker pins a badge to Emma's jacket, and gives her his card.

Emma doesn't expect to ever run into Max again, but after an impromptu race through winding mountain roads leaves Kit injured and his bike sliding down the mountain, a distraught Emma calls Max, knowing without really knowing why that he can help. Which he does, and thus begins Emma's real adventure. Kit is now laid up with a broken leg, and Emma finds herself punished for causing the accident and then “sold” to Max.

Prior to the accident, Emma and Kit run into Geoff, and old friend of Emma's, and at this point I realized that there was a history with Geoff that wasn't really laid out but seemed implied that the reader was aware of. So I had to put the book down and do some research, and sure enough, this is the sequel to another book about Emma and Kit, UP TO NO GOOD. That book is apparently about how they met, and fortunately I didn't feel I was missing enough back story to worry about having not read it first.

This is a Black Lace book, so obviously there is a lot of sex. It starts out fairly vanilla, then Emma has a night with Geoff that includes some light bondage. It's not until she is with Max that the serious shit goes down. Some of it was a little repetitive, and Emma constantly marveling at how she has no control over what happens to her got a little old. I mean, it's only a revelation the first time she's bound and gagged and violated in unexpected ways. Though having never been in her position I can't say that with any experience, and maybe it truly did strike her over and over.

In between the sex scenes, there is a lot about motorcycles and riding, including a race at a rally that is described in excruciating detail. The synopsis is a little misleading, as it suggests Kit being involved in the action but he is actually not even around for most of the book. The writing and narration flow, the sex scenes are fairly hot and well written, and I sped through the entire book in a couple of days.