7th Circle
Anarchy
Club 22
Timber
by Tate James
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Five years ago, I masterminded the infamous massacre of the Tri-state Timberwolves. The streets outside the Wolves HQ ran red with the blood of the old guard, and not one of those members loyal to my father were spared mercy. Not a single one. I let the media twist and distort the story. My new recruits eagerly proved themselves in spreading false news, in covering our tracks. To the general public, the Tri-State Timberwolves were extinct. But that couldn’t have been further from the truth. We changed, we grew, we evolved and came out stronger than ever. Now, I live, eat, sleep and breathe Timberwolves. I’ll do anything to keep my empire safe and thriving. To keep the people depending on me safe. So, what do I do, when it’s my own weakness that places us all in danger? When I let sex cloud my judgment, and my people pay the price? Simple. Kill the distractions. I’m called Hades for a reason, after all. | Five years ago, I made a choice that I haven’t regretted a day since. I protected the single most important person in my world, my little sister. I protected myself, and I seized control of the Tri-state Timberwolves. Since then, I’ve wielded that power with an iron fist. Done whatever it took to take care of my people. Kept us out of the public eye, and kept us safe. Now a ghost from my past is threatening my position. Challenging me. Peddling their poison and breaking my rules. Stabbing at me in the dark. Blowing up my fucking club. But this last attack has taken it one step too far. They have no idea the lengths I’ll go to protect what is mine. And Lucas? He’s mine. They want anarchy? They haven’t seen anything yet. | They say to keep your enemies close and mine are all around me. At the heart of it are four dangerously gorgeous men. The man who wants to light my darkness and already paid the price for loving me. The man who can handle my power and loves every dark inch of me. The man who has been my closest companion and now threatens to upend our carefully balanced world in pursuit of me. But the fourth man is probably the most terrifying. He wants to take the others away. He wants to tear the spinal column out my empire. Destroy my businesses. Destroy me. Why? Because the man who should have stayed dead wants me and he will stop at nothing until he’s carved out my bloody, beating heart and left me broken. He should remember who he’s dealing with…I’m not the girl he knew anymore. I’m Hades. This time when death comes for him, I’ll make sure it sticks. | Betrayed. My best friend, my right hand, the man I trusted above all others. Zayden de Rosa declared his love for me and pursued me until he shattered the walls between us. Then the man who loved me proved to be a traitor. I never saw that coming. Abandoned. My fierce lover, he died to protect me. Let me kill him and erase him so he could move in the shadows. He’s out there alone and he has no idea what’s happened. All he’ll know is that I’m not where I’m supposed to be. Something that might cost him his life for real. I have to trust him to survive on his own. He never saw that coming. Framed. My lighthouse. My lover. My Lucas. I love him so damn much and while I might be guilty of some crimes, the worst seems to be hurting him. The majority of what they arrested me for was a damn lie, but not that one. Hopefully the light he promised me will sustain through this time. We never saw that coming. Enraged. My ex is at the heart of this all. One assault after another. He didn’t break me before and he won’t break me now. I’m Hades. He’ll never see me coming. |
Spice Level (avg): 3.25/6 | Story Score (avg): 6.5/10 | Rating (avg): 4/5 |
This book was one of the 12 books recommended by 12 friends and was from my favorite buddy reader. We have very different taste in books in general. She likes series, I prefer standalones. She loves a good reverse harem; I ALWAYS have a favorite and I can’t understand why the the female lead doesn’t just pick them. She thrives on a cliffhanger, and I absolutely abhor them. She enjoys the tension of a slow burn, and I just get bitchy having to wait, lol. Even with all that said, we rant to each other about books like crazy people. So going into this, into reading one of her most favorite series, I was terrified I was going to shove my foot far enough into my mouth to choke. The whole point of this challenge though, of all my challenges really, is to branch out! Still, OTILIA, DON’T HATE ME FOR THIS REVIEW!
I’m going to review this as a series because it is a single story broken into 4 books and not a one of them works without the others. This went on my trope challenge as Criminal/Gang. This was NOT my first reverse harem, but it was my first Tate James book - even though I think I have 4 different series of hers on my TBR.
**Mutters to self: ‘Be honest, but kind!’**
This book is going to be hard to review above the spoiler line, lol.
Storyline: Tate James seems to love a twist and a cliffhanger. Obviously, she and I are now nemeses. The overall story was very interesting. It was dark but had a lot of substance. It was all presented in a way that wasn’t triggering for me even though there were triggers of child trafficking, sexual abuse, drug use/abuse, violence, and more. Honestly, the list of possible triggers in this series is pretty extensive, but they weren’t presented in a way that had me needing to puke or throw the book to get it away from me. The plot line was good and worth being told. My biggest issue with the story is the sheer amount of questions I was left with at the end. Dear heavens, I have SO MANY QUESTIONS. Questions I’ll just never have the answers to. Ms. James can take her concept of ‘some secrets go to the grave’ and kiss my butt. I don’t need that kind of cruelty in my book life, lol.
Characters. Whew. 1 by 1.
First and foremost, and my favorite, Lucas. If you read this story and Lucas isn’t your favorite, PLEASE LET ME KNOW HOW and WHY! If there was a more perfect character for this book, I’d pay you money. You wanna know why he wasn’t the only Hero in this book? Because it wouldn’t have had 4 books worth of drama. LMAO. He is sexy, willing, persistent, kind, strong, passionate, skilled… Lucas didn’t leave me questioning things and while there are overarching questions about him, there’s nothing about him that plagues me.
Cassiel: Cass was utterly necessary for this story. There was nothing about him that I disliked…he was very likable which was surprising given the role he represented. Where Lucas supported and braced Hayden through the trauma, Cassiel shoved her through it. They worked together so very well. Cass left me questioning a lot though, lol. I have so many questions where this man is concerned.
Zed. Motherfucking Zed. I’m not a Zed fan. The only thing I liked about Zed was his cooking and his penchant for watching and being watched. I sincerely believe that Ms. James was in love with Zed and therefore gave him way too much page-time. Unwarranted. Go on, fight me. Lol
Seph: This girl should’ve been murdered. If she had been, I wouldn’t have cared nor cried.
Hayden: Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh. It took three books (1300 pages) before I liked her. Lucas and Cass carried this story until then for me. I understand where the author was coming from. I understand other readers thinking she’s just a legit badass. I understand why she was the way she was. But she lied to herself so damn much that I couldn’t connect with her until ya know, tragedy. I needed her broken before I got in there and I’m pretty sure if you’ve read my other reviews, I don’t like when the objective of a story is to break a character. The way she put distance between everyone, the way she lorded over everyone, the selfish way she dealt with things just made this story hard for me. Now was she a good character? Yes. It was purely a personality clash on our part and I don’t think most people would have the same issue.
Chase: Honestly, probably one of the best villains I’ve read. I despised him.
Will I read more by Tate James? Honestly, I don’t WANT to, but I think I may HAVE to. She created some questions that are not story based for me that I really want answered. I want to know how her other characters compare to these. Hayden and Zed were unlikable for me for so, so long, but Lucas and Cassiel were incredible. The story was interesting. In a different set of circumstances, will she create a female character that I love because she doesn’t HAVE to be so hard all the time? She writes reverse harems…how many different guys can she create? I mean, most harems have a set make up, but do hers vary? I do think I appreciate the 3-man harem vs the 4, but maybe that’s just because it’s easier to picture the body parts, lol.
-SPOILERS-
Ok, plotline…THIS WILL SPOIL THE STORY.
Hayden is at her bar drowning her embarrassment from “throwing” herself at Cass and him rejecting her. Lucas, looking all fly, sidles up beside her having just not gotten the job interview he was after and she takes him to a bar in Cass’s gang’s territory and bangs him in a supply closet.
This is absolutely one of my favorite parts of the book, lol. I enjoyed Lucas from the get-go.
Zed, her bar manager and longtime bestie, calls Lucas for that job interview just to mess with Hayden. Boom! We learn Hayden is Hades. Lucas gets the job to be a stripper. (Disappointment #1: while Lucas is said to be a great dancer, we don’t get the full visual. Ever. *sigh*) The story continues. I sincerely don’t remember a lot else for a bit other than the fact that Cass gets security footage of them having sex in that supply closet and sends it to her. Lol.
Cass and Hayden have a crap ton of sexual tension for a long time. I don’t know that I ever understood the hangup. Zed is a judgmental, whiny bastard for Hayden banging Lucas. Turns out Lucas is an 18-year-old high school student that Hayden’s little sister, Seph, is crushing on. Lucas gives Hayden the best oral of her life and has the largest dick…take note! He alo reads her body like a map and reads her freaking mind at the best times. So tell me again why he isn’t the bees knees?
Anyway…Hayden was tortured by her ex as a teenager. Chase, the ex, enjoyed dosing Hayden with PCP and letting her drown in her own fears, then fed on her terror, screams, and such like a parasite. He raped her, he passed her around to people, he let other people rape her. Dude was possibly one of the worst villains I’ve read. After he talks her dad into selling Seph into sex slavery, Hayden snaps, and murders her dad, Chase’s whole family, and anyone loyal to them. But revenge doesn’t heal trauma.
Annnnnd, killing Chase didn’t stick. He comes back intent on taking her back as his…victim. She is his favorite victim. In the meantime, Chase kidnaps Lucas and tortures him for a bit for Hayden liking him. Chase is also outed to be working with/for the FBI.
After the break in to take Lucas, she moves in with Zed. When Lucas gets out of the hospital, she also moves Lucas in. Her and Cass hook up at some point in her (pretty sure it’s while Lucas is in the hospital). Zed is a bigger ass.
The two things Hayden doesn’t allow in her territory are PCP and child trafficking. Turns out Cass’s gang has been dealing PCP. She kills Cass. JUST KIDDING. It’s a fake killing. That one didn’t fool me! Haha, Tate James! You didn’t win that one!
Eventually Zed and Hayden get together. Then we find out that Zed is FBI! What?!
Ok, he’s not REALLLLLY, but Ms. James won that round. I was all kinds of fucked up after that one.
Chase kidnaps Hayden and abuses the shit outta her. It’s freaking rough. It’s not super detailed so it’s not hard to read, but it’s hard to think about later because you start clicking more details into place and you just KNOW how bad it was. When the guys rescue her, she’s very emotionally, mentally, and physically damaged and honestly, it’s well written even if still more vague than I prefer. After a bunch more twists and turns, Hayden gets Chase arrested and turns him over to a mercenary Guild to be tortured for two or three years. I don’t remember.
So as long as that plot outline is, it SKIPS SO MANY THINGS. There are SO MANY components to this story. You get teased with a bunch of talk about the Guild, the mercenary group. Turns out that Lucas’s uncle was a member, his mom was a baby-machine for their child-mercenary-project. You learn Hayden murdered Lucas’s dad before they ever met. There are a million and one things! Also, Seph is the most annoying thing this side of the planet.
You know what you don’t get though?
How many babies did Lucas’s mom have for this group? Alexi doesn’t ever get closure. What made Rodney switch? What was Diana’s story beyond the two sentences we got? What was Cass doing while he was out there dead? Why did Hades dislike Rex so much? How did Rex get through to Seph? How was Lucas’s uncle involved in hurting Sandra’s babies? What experiment was Brant Wilson? What ties did Brant and Chase have? Why does Ford care what happened to Diana? I wanna hear more about Nadia and Cass. I wanna hear about Cass’s fighting career. What did Zed tell Seph? What’s the deal with Zed and his mom? Where are my details for those three instances of car sex, Ms. James?! How the fuck did it take Hayden 5 years to work through disassociating Zed from what Chase did to her–then after Chase messes with her head all over again by pretending to be Zed–does she just snap back out of it and allow Zed to be the first person she sleeps with again? How does she lay in his arms in a dark room??
Seriously…that last bit really got me. I get her loving Zed to pieces in the first three books, but that last one should’ve been much more centered on the other two.
2000 pages and I still don’t like Zed.
4 Book Series | 2,042 Pages | Trope Challenge: Criminal/Gang |
He gave me a droll look. "No, I want to give you what you fucking want so maybe you can start thinking with your brain instead of your cunt. Clearly you need it."
- Cassiel, 7th Circle by Tate James
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