Title: Point of Return (Nordic Lords #1)
Author: Stacey Lynn
Release Date: April 22, 2014
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Synopsis
Deceit.
Destruction.
Death.
Olivia Masters grew up familiar with all of them. The daughter of the President of the Nordic Lords Motorcycle Club, Olivia always knew she wanted nothing to do with any of it. Her plans were made to leave the town she grew up in as soon as she and her boyfriend, Daemon Knight, turned eighteen.
But then Olivia was shot. Her mother killed in front of her. Fleeing became her reality.
Forced to return to her hometown of Jasper Bay five years later, events beyond Olivia’s control put her directly back into the life she swore she’d never return to.
Her dad wants her back in the family. Daemon wants her in his bed.
But just as Olivia begins to accept her destiny, history finds a way to repeat itself.
This time, will Olivia be strong enough to fight for the family she once turned her back on? Or will she once again flee from the only life that has ever felt like home?
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Review
What happens when the place you truly belong is the one spot you flee from because the pain of betrayal and loss are too overwhelming? What happens when outside forces threaten everything you worked to hold on to after an act of violence destroyed your family and your happily ever after with the love of your life? These are the questions Olivia Masters and Daemon Knight struggle to answer in Stacey Lynn’s Point of Return.
Olivia Masters
She’s an MC princess who wants nothing to do with the club she was raised in because club business took her mother’s life and almost hers as well. For five years, she’s done everything in her power to escape her old life and the memories that go with it, but fate has a way of bringing people back to their unfinished business, and Jasper Bay, Daemon Knight, and the Nordic Lords Motorcycle Club are not ready to give her up for good.
I have to admit, I had a hard time with Olivia at the beginning of the story. She comes back to Jasper Bay, gets involved with a man who is the complete opposite of the one man she loves, and is merely surviving instead of actually living, and it just doesn’t sit well with me. I want her to fight for what she wants, not succumb to what she thinks she needs to live. She’s attempting to settle for a life and a man that really do not fit her. I understand that she doesn’t know how to get beyond the betrayal, but she doesn’t even attempt to look at the bigger picture. There were so many people affected by the situation that killed Liv’s mother, but she only looks at her own pain. The way she handled things makes me want to shake her, but as the book progresses, Liv’s eyes are enlightened, and she starts to understand that everything is not as black and white as she thought, and slowly but surely as she wises up, my opinion of her changes.
Daemon Knight
He’s the epitome of a badass motorcycle VP. He’s cocky and bossy; he takes what he wants when he wants it regardless of what anyone else says about it. He may not have wanted the job, but he knew he needed to step in when everything went to shit five years ago. The biker life defines him, and readers are shown through him what the motorcycle brotherhood truly means. He’s never stopped wanting and loving Liv, but now he has to get her to see past his betrayal all those years ago and realize that she belongs with him and the Nordic Lords. I have to admit some of his actions made me want to punch him in the face, but the biker lifestyle is raw and gritty and they make no excuses for their actions because it’s just the way they live. Watching him step up for Liv, though, really showed the kind of man Daemon truly his; he protects what’s his even when doing so makes a bigger mess than there already is.
Point of Return is so much more than a simple biker romance; in fact, for most of the story, Olivia is fighting her feelings for Daemon by keeping him at a distance. Their relationship is definitely a slow burning flame that doesn’t get fully lit until the end, but that works for me as a reader because there is so much chaos going on around them and so much for them to work through that they shouldn’t automatically get back together. Olivia needs to get past her confusion, spite and feelings of betrayal before she can give herself fully over to Daemon, and Stacey Lynn does a fantastic job of illustrating her path to forgiveness not just of Daemon but the biker lifestyle as well.
The supporting characters and subplots also add to the success of this story. There are so many places the Nordic Lords Series can go with Faith/Ryker, Jaden/Jules, and the mysterious Finn – even the fate of the motorcycle club itself is left up in the air at the end of the text. It may seem like there’s too much going on at the same time, but the writing makes it all make sense, and all of the secondary characters are necessary to show the depth of the brotherhood in the club as well as the damage that occurred from past events. I can’t wait to see what Stacey has in store for her bikers as well as her readers as this series continues. One thing’s for sure – It’s going to be one hell of a bumpy and messy ride!
A complimentary copy of the text was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review
4.5 poison apples
Deleted Scene
“Good evening, Olivia, I’m Doc.” He was older, maybe in his fifties like my dad. But his eyes held a tenderness even though I knew he held a bucket of secrets in them at what he had seen. If he was a doctor for The Black Death, there was no way of telling the things he knew. His graying hair was pulled back into a low ponytail at the base of his neck and I saw a variation of a club’s tattoo on his neck. The letters “BD” prominently displayed with an arrow woven through them. He wasn’t just a doctor. He was a member. “It’s nice to finally meet you. Heard a lot about the Prez’s daughter over the years.”
My shoulders tightened at hearing about my dad. I said nothing as I watched him carefully.
Beneath me, Daemon’s arm tightened and then let me go. “He has to check you out, Liv.”
I bristled at the nickname only he had ever been allowed to call me. Liv. Live. The one thing I had never truly done.
I nodded and shifted on the bed as the covers were moved and then adjusted over my lap. I closed my eyes but gripped Daemon’s hand with mine.
My head turned to the side, away from both of them as the pain caused tears to flow down my cheeks again. At least I didn’t throw up again.
A few minutes later, the blankets shifted again and the weight on the bed told me Doc was done. His warm hand rested on my thigh and I turned my eyes back to him.
“You’re a brave girl. I can’t see anything that’s wrong, but I’m going to give you a shot of Pitocin. It will make your muscles contract and stop the hemorrhaging.”
“No shots.” I hated the idea. I hated needles. Ironic that I worked in a tattoo parlor, I knew that.
He just nodded and Daemon’s hand gripped mine tighter. “It will only hurt for a second.”
And then a searing pain shot through my thigh. It happened right after the warning and I wasn’t given the time to prepare. I also wasn’t given the time to tense up.
“Ahhhh!” I cried out in pain and squeezed Daemon’s hand so tightly I was certain I could break his bones. He said nothing, but I noticed he was grinding his teeth together. And then the pain and the needle were both gone.
Doc gazed at me with sorrowful eyes. “Sometimes it helps to not know exactly what’s coming. Sorry for scaring you.”
I shook my head and squeezed my eyes shut to prevent more tears from falling. I had cried enough in the last ten hours to last a lifetime. Probably more than I’d cried in my lifetime.
“You shouldn’t be alone for the next twelve hours at least.”
“I’ll stay with her.”
I glared at Daemon. Maybe I was thankful he came to help, but I resented him so easily ingratiating himself into my life. “No. You won’t.” I turned to Doc. “I’ll be fine.”
He wrote his cell number on a card and dropped it in my lap. “Call me if you need me.” He nodded at Daemon and then he was gone as quietly as he came.
“Your dad will put me to ground if I don’t stay. I’m not leaving you alone again.” He shoved his hands through his hair, dislodging his ponytail. I watched his hair fall and frame his face, almost brushing my forehead he stared at me so closely. “Shit. I never should have left before. I knew that prick wouldn’t take care of you the right way.”
I sat up and pushed him away. I ignored the pain in my abdomen and the dull ache in my thigh from the needle. “Shut up. You don’t get to say that shit about Travis. He’s always been there for me.” Like you weren’t. I let the last of my thought linger silently between us.
A muscle in his jaw clenched. “You don’t know shit about what happened. And I’m not leaving until I know you’re okay.”
“Of course,” I replied smugly. “Heaven forbid the son my dad never had walk away from the daughter he never wanted.”
His lips pressed into a line so thin they disappeared. I watched his chest heaving deep breaths. He exhaled forcefully, and I smelled his breathe. Booze and smoke mixed with….sex.
I gagged. “Get your pussy breath away from me.”
“Jealous?” An eyebrow rose.
Absolutely not. The lie twisted in my stomach. I knew the familiar fire in me that once told me he belonged to me and only me and I’d kick any girl’s ass who looked at him the wrong way. Growing up in the Black Death, everyone learned to fight; even the girls. “Disgusted,” I sneered and rolled away from him. “There’s an extra tooth brush in the bathroom cupboard. Use it and you can sleep on the couch.”
“I’ll use the brush,” he spoke softly and rose from the bed. “But I’m not sleeping on that couch.”
“Then go home.”
“Liv,” he scolded in that demanding and confident voice he hadn’t possessed when we were younger. I turned my head slowly, unable to ignore him. “I’m not leaving. I’m going to brush my teeth, climb into your bed, and take care of you the way a man should. Just because you’ve been with that prick for so long, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t know what it’s like to have a real man around.”
“And you’re going to teach me, I take it.”
“I’ll teach you everything you want to know.” He smiled seductively.
“Fuck off.”
“We can do that, too,” he muttered under his breath as he walked toward the bathroom.
I ignored it.
I also ignored him when he climbed back into my bed in only his boxer briefs and pulled me to his chest.
Then I ignored the way my heart skipped a beat at the feel of his arms wrapped around me and his warm, fresh minty breath on my neck, and the way the scruff of his cheek tickled my sensitive neck skin.
I hated him. I hated his life and everything he stood for. I hated the way he left me, feeling used and tossed aside for the promises made by my lying asshole of my father.
Mostly, I hated that my heart clearly didn’t think the same things as my head. Wrapped in Daemon’s arms felt too comfortable, too much like the safety of home I hadn’t had in years.
So I ignored all that too and closed my eyes.
About the Author
Amazon Bestselling Author of Just One Song and Just One Week, Don’t Lie to Me, and Remembering Us.
I am a wife, a mom, and a writer. I can often be found curled up on the couch with a good book, or obsessively eating Skittles in a very complicated and organized manner. No joke.
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