RELEASE BLITZ: REVIEW AND EXCERPT: Counter To My Intelligence by Lani Lynn Vale

Title: Counter To My Intelligence

Series: The Heroes of the Dixie Wardens MC #7

Author: Lani Lynn Vale

Genre: Adult, Motorcycle Club Romance

Release Date: January 6, 2016

Sometimes the heart wants what it can’t have.

That’s the motto Silas Mackenzie, the president of The Dixie Wardens MC, has lived by since he was a young man.

Now he’s well on the way to middle age, has three grown children, and he’s lusting after a woman he should definitely stay away from.

Especially not one that his ex-girlfriend had given birth to, and happened to be only twenty seven years old.

Sawyer isn’t a young girl at heart, though.

She’s seen the inside of a jail cell for eight long years, and every one of them she spent paying for a crime she didn’t commit.

Silas Mackenzie knows as soon as he sees her that the girl has sacrificed enough.

And maybe…just maybe…so has Silas.

It’s time for Silas Mackenzie to get what he deserves, and put a little bit of happy back into Sawyer’s world, one rough, bearded kiss at a time.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26858323-counter-to-my-intelligence

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iBooks: https://goo.gl/AIxdBc

“I like your vest.”

“It’s called a cut,” he muttered laughingly.

“What’s a cut?” I asked.

The hail and rain got worse, hitting the roof and the side of the garage like tiny little battering rams.

“A leather vest,” he quipped.

I giggled against his chest, turning my face so it could rest against his neck.

He growled when I kissed his exposed throat, but otherwise didn’t move.

“Joking aside, it’s my club. The cut is me. The top rocker, which is the white banner at the top, is our club name,” he said.

I felt along his back as he spoke, feeling what he was saying as he explained what each one was.

“The bottom rocker is our club’s location. We’re in Benton. We have other chapters all over the south,” he explained. “On the front is my name, club title, and the city again.”

I knew he was explaining this to me to get my mind off the fact that the roof was shaking around us, literally.

“I can’t believe Dallas hasn’t at least come to check on me,” I muttered darkly.

He tangled my hands in my hair, and I looked up at him…or where I thought he was.

“Your brother is a shit head. And I don’t think he even realizes that he is. Because if he did, he wouldn’t be telling your parents anything about how you were. My guess is that he really is worried, but he doesn’t know how to handle that worry. So, he closes himself off, telling himself that by telling your mother how he thinks you’re doing, he’s helping. Which, in reality, he’s not,” Silas said. “Maybe it’s time you had a talk with him, let him know you don’t appreciate being treated as a child.”

I agreed, and I’d already planned on doing that.

“I was going to do that today, but then he had that huge freakin’ party,” I told him darkly. “And I had to park in the street.”

He lowered his mouth down to mine.

“Well, then it’s a good thing he’s preoccupied, because right about now I could really fuck you on top of his car and he’d never even know,” he said tightly, lifting my body off the bench and laying me down on the car’s hood.

I laughed. “You know,” I said as he stripped my shorts from me. “This is my brother’s pride and joy.”

“Well your brother’s pride and joy is about to become our fuck stand,” he growled, then he was on me.

When you’re an MC President, your name alone carries status, and if you fought like hell to put your club on the right course and do everything in your power to protect those you love and cherish, your persona becomes larger than life – in both positive and negative ways.

This description fits Silas Mackenzie, the president of The Dixie Wardens MC, perfectly, but it doesn’t show the whole man…it doesn’t show who he is on the inside that made he make the choices that he did in order to save himself and his family. And if people, like some of his children, don’t bother to look beyond the façade…beyond the hard to understand actions then they’re only going to see a crass man who’s lived a hard life and had to do things he’s not proud of, not understanding that every deed has been in the name of justice and love.

I’m a bit late to the game when it comes to Lani Lynn Vale’s The Heroes of the Dixie Wardens MC, so I was completely unaware of Silas’ backstory with his family and the club, but I didn’t feel like I needed that information; in fact, it might have helped me more not knowing his past actions because I went into his text with an open mind and allowed him to explain to me why everything in his life played out the way it did, and to me, regardless of how “inappropriate” people may think his relationship is with Sawyer Berry, a woman 24 years younger than him , is, she’s exactly who Silas needs to realize that he deserves all of the love, support, and acceptance Sawyer’s willing to give him.

Sawyer Berry is not your typical 29 year old. A tragic mistake cost her 8 years of her life and turned her into a woman whose demons make her feel worthless and alone. She doesn’t believe she deserves anything good in her life because of what she did and those feelings are only made worse by a community who refuses to see past her mistake and treats her like shit.

But Silas becomes Sawyer’s champion, and with his particular skills and connections, Silas is a man who gets things done, working behind the scenes to ensure justice for those he loves, not expecting anything in return just believing that things needed to be set right, and he was the man to do it.

Silas is an absolute gem of an alpha hero, and he finally gets his happiness after all of the shit that he’s gone through for his job…for his club…for his family. I love how Lani Lynn Vale shows the two sides of Silas; it allows readers to fully understand what makes him the man he is, and it also gives his children what they need to make amends.

Sawyer and Silas’ chemistry is off the charts and even though Silas is a few decades older than Sawyer, that only works to both of their advantage because he knows how precious the gift is that Sawyer’s willing to give him and he’ll handle it with care and make her not regret her decision to be all in with him.

And a happy ending is what both Sawyer and Silas deserve after the hell they’ve been through, and despite the shitstorm that they have to meander through to get there, readers can be assured that a man like Silas will get things done in order to give Sawyer EVERYTHING!

A complimentary copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 Poison Apples

I’m a married mother of three. My kids are all under 5, so I can assure you that they are a handful.

I’ve been with my paramedic husband now for ten years, and we’ve produced three offspring that are nothing like us. I live in the greatest state in the world, Texas.