RIDE IT OUT (Desert Dogs #4) by Cara McKenna-Review and Excerpt
Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / Chapters Indigo /
About the book: RELEASE DATE September 19, 2017
There’s a new deputy in town, and she’s a law unto herself.
Jeremiah Church is still aching for justice to be served after his father’s murder. Though the killer has been caught, the authorities are no closer to knowing why the Churches were targeted—and if the family’s still at risk. When Miah receives an anonymous letter hinting at a darker conspiracy, he decides it’s high time he seeks justice on his own terms, with the help of his fellow Desert Dogs.
Patrol Deputy Nicki Ritchey is new to Fortuity, and hoping to make a clean start for her and her son. Involved in the Church’s case, she’s kindled a friendship with Miah that’s evolving into something more. But Miah is crossing lines with his personal vendetta, and Nicki’s attraction is making it tough to tell right from wrong
••••••••••
REVIEW: RIDE IT OUT is the fourth and final installment in Cara McKenna’s contemporary, adult DESERT DOGS erotic, romantic suspense series focusing on the town of Fortuity, Nevada, and a group of motorcycle riding friends who call themselves the Desert Dogs. This is ranch foreman Jeremiah ‘Miah’ Church, and single mother/ deputy Nicki Ritchey’s story line. The Desert Dogs series is NOT a series about a motorcycle club, but a series about a family of brothers and their friends who like to ride. RIDE IT OUT can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty; any important information from previous story lines is revealed where necessary but saying that there is an ongoing premise throughout the series as the main characters struggle with the loss of their friend police officer Alex Dunn and the murder of Jeremiah’s father.
SOME BACKGROUND: Eclipse Resorts and Casinos have made many enemies in the sleepy, small town of Fortuity, Nevada as they forge ahead with plans to build and open a new casino. Most of the townsfolk have some issues with the company, and with it will comes threats of a personal nature.
NOTE: There is a prequel novella available –DRIVE IT DEEP-that looks at the prior relationship and life long friendship between Jeremiah and Raina.
Told from several third person perspectives including Jeremiah and Nicki RIDE IT OUT is the culmination of four story lines that focuses on the hunt for the truth. Months earlier Eclipse Resorts and Casinos made enemies of the town of Fortuity, Nevada, and in the ensuing time lives have been threatened and lost. With the arrival of former Chicago PD police officer Nicki Ritchey, Miah Church is hoping for more than the solving of his father’s murder but for a relationship with the woman that calls to his heart. What ensues is the search for a killer, and the building romance between Miah and Nicki.
Miah and Nicki are kindred spirits both having lost their fathers to a killer; two unsolved crimes that have left our leading couple in a world of hurt and heartbreak. Miah has assumed responsibility for the family ranch but with his father’s murderer still on the loose Miah is desperate to take action on his own. With his friend’s as backup, Miah begins an investigation that will lead directly to everyone involved.
The relationship between Miah and Nicki is one of immediate attraction that began months earlier as our heroine as called into the investigation on the death of patriarch Don Church. Nicki is a divorced mother of a twelve year old boy, and is reluctant to settle in a town whose conservative and racist attitudes are a slap in our heroine’s face. The $ex scenes are intimate and intense without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.
All of the previous story line couples play secondary and supporting roles including Vince and Kim (Lay It Down), Raina and Duncan (Give It All), Casey and Abilene (Burn it Up), as well as Jeremiah’s mother Christine, and Nicki’s son Mathias, and her mom.
RIDE IT OUT is a story of love and loss; desperation and greed; family and friendship; second chances and moving forward. The premise is intriguing and energetic; the characters are colorful and dynamic; the romance is passionate and uplifting. The epilogue fast forwards the series approximately two years where we get a glimpse into the future.
Reading Order and previous reviews
Drive It Deep .5
Lay It Down
Give It All
Burn It Up
Ride It Out
Copy supplied by the publisher through Netgalley.
Reviewed by Sandy
Excerpt supplied by Penguin Randomhouse
Only not.
Jesus, when was the last time she’d worn a dress? It looked nice, flattered her shape, but the woman in the mirror also didn’t look like her. It all felt far too formal, and in the end she chickened out and changed back into the jeans and sweater she’d been wearing all day.
She stopped by Matty’s room with a goodnight kiss and a warning to get to sleep ASAP. As far as he knew, she was meeting a friend for a drink, and how about that? She hadn’t even had to lie. No doubt he assumed it was a female friend, and luckily he wasn’t interested enough to ask for details.
Out in the kitchen, however, her mother was interested. Nicki offered a curt nod and incriminating, “No comment.”
“Just don’t come home pregnant,” her mom advised, more joke than warning.
“Not funny. See you in the morning.”
Knowing brown eyes made an inventory of her, head to feet. “You look nice.”
“Thanks, Ma.”
“He’d better say the same.”
Nicki smiled at that. “Yes, he’d certainly better.”
She’d kept busy all day, kept the butterflies at a safe distance, but any cool she’d mustered vanished the moment she buckled her seatbelt and turned the key. As soon as the car was in motion, so was her stomach. She spent the twenty-minute drive deep breathing, and not to much avail.
The ranch’s front lot was as empty as she’d ever seen it, just Miah’s pickup and motorcycle, plus the little Toyota sedan she imagined belonged to his mother. Nicki parked way out near the entrance, feeling, only half irrationally, like this was some kind of scandal. She was a big-city girl, but she knew how small towns worked—much like her old neighborhood. Word got around, and the last thing she wanted was word getting back to Matty.
Tote bag in hand, she slammed her door as gently as she could, paused, ran her hands over her hair, over her hips, blew out a long breath. As she headed for the house, she saw him—Miah, sitting on the porch swing, hands in the kangaroo pockets of a hooded jacket, one ankle resting on the other knee in that cocky, cowboy way. She felt her face burn, knowing he’d seen her little primping session. So much for playing it cool.
Like he doesn’t know damn well I’m here to mess around with him. And that thought warmed her in an entirely different way.
“Evenin’,” he said as she reached the steps.
“Evening. You catch me grooming?”
“No idea what you mean.” He got to his feet. His dark eyes moved over her, down and up again, and when she came close, he drew her against him. His lips were cold when they brushed hers, but thrilling all the same. She held his shoulders, wanting to rake her nails over his skin, fist his collar, throw him down on this porch and devour him whole. Instead she retained the last of her dignity, accepting his brief, teasing kiss, then stepping back.
She licked her lips and smiled up at him. “Been waiting up for me?”
“Maybe. My mom’s in bed, so I thought I’d save you having to use the doorbell. Since this affair is strictly hush-hush, right?”
“Very sneaky—I like it. Invite me in?”
He nodded, stepping aside and waving his arm.
She preceded him inside, and they held their tongues as they slid their shoes off in the front hall. Nicki wondered if his mom’s room was up the nearest set of stairs. As they made their way past the kitchen, Nicki whispered, “I feel about seventeen.”
He laughed softly and took her hand, leading her to the big, open den. She loved this room. It felt like some rustic old lodge, two stories high and overlooked by the second-floor landing, punctuated by thick floorboards and the fat beams buttressing the ceiling. A massive stone fireplace dominated the far wall. A modest television was mounted off to the side, relegated to a clear runner-up position as focal pieces went. Leering from here and there were the mounted heads of elk and antelope and God knew what else. Those were a little weird, but she’d be able to block them out as soon as things got handsy, she trusted.
“Make yourself at home,” Miah said. “Can I get you something to drink?”
“You may.” She set her tote on the hulking wooden slab of a coffee table and pulled out a bottle of white wine, still cold from her fridge.
Miah hefted it by the neck and studied the label.
She smirked. “You scrutinizing my taste?”
“Just taking notes,” he said. “Might come in handy, knowing what to have stocked if I want to keep tricking you into spending time with me.”
Her smile deepened. “It’s cute you think I’m here for the wine.”
He raised a rakish eyebrow at her. “Touché, Deputy.”
