Review: Out of Time

Out of Time by Beth Flynn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Out of Time will suck you in and keep you holding on to the very end. It doesn't matter if you have somewhere to be, things to do, or that you have to work tomorrow. You will absolutely need to finish this book now! Out of Time is written in three different time periods that alternate frequently. Luckily Flynn is awesome at making this transition easy. The first period of time is in the 50's with Grizz as a young boy, then the 70's when Kit is kidnapped and living at the compound, and lastly present day with Grizz's loved ones dealing with the aftermath of his execution. Out of Time is filled with secrets, and revelations, that will affect all of the people Grizz loves, even from beyond the grave.

***Spoilers***
In the beginning of the book we find out about Grizz’s early life with a sadistic father, and a vile stepmother. Grizz can take what they dish out, but even he can’t protect his little sister from the awful death at the hands of her own mother. Although he is very young, before he walks away, he ensures his father and stepmother’s deaths are equally as horrific. Leaving his home behind, with only a few belongings, and a picture of Ruthie he strikes out to form a life of his own. After living on the streets awhile, he ends up working at a motel for a man named Pop. Pop has secrets of his own, especially the one that lead him to murder a previous guest, after that same guest realizes Pop found his bag with almost a million dollars. This all happened before Grizz showed up, then going by the name Ralph. Weeks later, Ralph wakes up to Pop trying to molest him, and his gut reaction is to shove him away. He falls into a shelf holding the tv, which then falls onto Pop killing him instantly. He knew then that Pops wife hadn’t just walked out for no reason, she’d left to protect their son. For a while, Ralph continues on with his chores, and tells the guests his grandfather is bedridden, and he handles the day to day operations. Shortly after, a few bikers Red, Chops, and Dusty show up. Ralph overhears Red on the phone, and the man calling Red an agent. He tells Red he doesn’t care about the money, just find the bag. When asked, Ralph said he’s never seen an insurance salesmen there, but Red thinks Ralph may know something. He leaves Ralph info on how to contact him if he’s ever looking for work. Ralph tears the hotel apart, and finds Pops sons birth certificate, and he also finds where Pop hid the bag. He finds the money, and also the plates to make more. Sewn into the bottom is also a document. Red doesn’t know what it is, but he knows it’s important. After burning the counterfeit money, he hides the plates, and the document. Using the stolen birth certificate, Ralph then becomes Jason Talbot, and strikes out to join Red. This is the beginning of his life with the most notorious biker gang in south Florida.

At the end of Nine Minutes there were several secrets revealed. One of those being that Grunt is actually the father of one of Blue’s and Jan’s boys, and that they both played a hand in bringing down Grizz. We also learned that Grunt was actually Grizz’s son, and not Blue’s brother. This revelation, and the many secrets that follow shakes Tommy & Ginny’s once stable marriage. Ginny decides to stay with her friend Carter, who now lives with her husband Bill in the house that Grizz built for them. She couldn’t stay there, or let Tommy live there once Grizz asked her to marry Tommy, but could also never sell it. Being there brings up many memories of their time together, and the love they shared. She takes Grizz’s bandanna hanging on his motorcycle, and remembers the promise he made her that if she ever needed anything that Tommy couldn’t help her with, she could wear his bandanna and help would find her soon.

While Ginny is away Chicky’s daughter brings Moe’s diary that Chicky had held onto for years, and asked her to deliver once Grizz died. While reading it, Tommy realizes that the mysterious Wendy who orchestrated the brutal attack and rape of Kit (Ginny), was actually their good friend Sarah Jo. She tries to explain that she never meant for Kit to get hurt, they were only supposed to take her to the police so she could go home. That way Grizz would go to prison, and Tommy could finally have her. Tommy doesn’t believe that Sarah could possibly think Willow would have left it at that. He decides that Ginny can’t take any more betrayal, and tells Sarah to convince her husband to take one of the jobs he’s been offered outside of the country, and to let their friendship die. No one ever realized how much she hated Grizz, and blamed him for her father’s involvement with not only the gang, but lowlife biker whores. Before leaving he tells her “Jo, you should know better than to fuck with me. Especially now that you know whose blood is running through my veins. Get your ass out of town, or you’ll be sorry. This is your one and only warning.” Sarah Jo watches him walk away, and whispers to herself “Yeah, I know whose blood runs through your veins, and he’s gone for good. I never realized what an arrogant, scary son-of-a-bitch you could be, Tommy. If I’d known that, then I wouldn’t have tried to help you be with her. It’s me who shouldn’t be fucked with, and I guess you’ll have to learn that the hard way.”

We also learned about Tommy’s final meeting with Grizz before the execution. He explains that he had forgiven Tommy for the billy club lie, and that he knew Tommy wasn’t involved in bringing down the gang. He also knew Jan wasn’t smart enough to pull it off, and he’d recently realized who had been helping her. Matthew Rockman was Ginny’s friend from school, who never got over Grizz’s warning to stay away from her. He knew Grizz was responsible but could never prove it. He found out too late, but had given Blue explicit instructions on how to handle Jan, and Matthew Rockman. He also told Tommy not to be surprised when he was questioned for Jan’s upcoming murder. There was a plan in place, and it will look like it might lead to Tommy, but they won’t. Instead it will look like Rockman trying to frame Tommy, and when questioned, he can offer up information to further implicate Rockman. He also tells Tommy of the one secret that hasn’t ever been revealed, and can never be shared with anyone else. The bag he’d found as a young boy contained a document, that would bring down the worlds ruling elite. This elite group was more powerful than the US government, or any government. They were the ones calling the shots, from who was positioned in the white house, to the world’s economy. It also contained a timeline of future events things like the Berlin Wall, Vietnam War, future president’s etc. These events started in 1961, and Grizz had come across these documents in the 50’s. He had used this knowledge to get away with many things over the years. He had told them that if he died, that document would go public. He was surprised they didn’t get him out of jail when he was arrested for Kit’s kidnapping, especially when he was given the death penalty. Instead, they played him. He was to make sure that Kit and the baby moved on, so it wouldn’t look like she was waiting on him. He only expected to be in jail a few years, and be out long before Mimi remembered Tommy as her father. Instead they let him rot in prison for 15 years. He also explains that they had been bugging Tommy & Ginny’s house for years to make sure Grizz hadn’t ever told them anything. Since they never spoke of the past, it seemed like they were hiding something. Tommy needed to bring Kit home after the execution, and tell her everything he remembered about growing up at the motel. Enough information that they would accept Grizz was telling the truth about Tommy and Ginny not knowing anything.

Ginny returned to Carters to start cleaning out the garage which held all of the memories of her past with Grizz. Carter gave her a package that had been delivered for her containing her bible from when she was a child, with a letter from her mother. Delia explains that her real name is Alice Crespin, and she had been married to David Dunn her real father. They gave birth to twins, Josie and Jodi. Jodi had to stay in the hospital longer than Josie, and a few nights after they came home David was involved in a protest that went horribly wrong killing himself and many others. Some of his friends told her she needed to take the baby and run or she might face charges herself. When faced with losing both girls, she took Josie, and left Jodi (who was also called Cricket behind). She later learned Jodi died a week later. She renamed herself Delia Lemon, and Josie’s new name was Guinevere Love Lemon. After reading the letter she went out to the garage, and found Grizz’s favorite bike was gone. Carter confirmed that Grizz did somehow make it out, but didn’t want to put Ginny in the position to have to choose between her family and him. She also confirmed that it had been her that Grizz had watching over her all of the years since he’d been gone.

In the last chapter Grizz is riding the roads heading to Louisiana to find some connection to Kit, the only woman he’d ever loved. After a few days of riding back roads, he stopped in a diner to eat, only to find a sign that said “Bikers not welcome.” Of course he went in anyway. Inside he found a carbon copy of Kit, only this one had blonde hair, blue eyes, a foul mouth, and a British accent. Her name was Crickett, and he knew immediately this was Kit’s twin. The twin that was supposed to be dead. He was deciding if Kit should know about her or not, when he heard the news report on the TV. “A married father of two in South Florida still in critical condition, and barely clinging to life after police believe he tried to intervene in a convenience store robbery that left the store clerk dead, and the perpetrator still at large. There are no witnesses but police believe the 41 year old architect from Fort Lauderdale…” He looked at his pager to see if she’d need him, but it was off. As soon as he turned it on, his pager went off with message: She needs you. He was going home. To her. It was about fucking time.

In the epilogue, from Carter’s point of view, she is sitting in the waiting room surrounded by bikers, architects in business suits, and their friends from all walks of life. A loud wail caught her attention, when Sarah Jo walked into the room, and dramatically launched herself in Ginny’s arms. She told Ginny she caught the first plane into the US when she’d heard. She overhears Ginny say “Thank God you and Stan haven’t moved yet, Jo. I can’t imagine dealing with this without you.” Sarah Jo tells Ginny “We could never move now. I would never move and leave you here to deal with this. We’re staying.” Carter noticed something wasn’t right with Sarah Jo, she was crying but there were no tears. Ginny still had Grizz’s bandana in her hair. Carter had watched Ginny for years, and that bandana had always stayed with Grizz’s bike. Ginny had been wearing the blue bandana at Jason’s basketball game, and Carter had excused herself to go to the restroom to send Grizz the page within twenty minutes of seeing it. And that had been twenty-four hours before Tommy had been shot…


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Review: Alpha

Alpha by Regan Ure
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I was lucky to find this book on Wattpad for free! Aside from all of the errors, it was a really good book. I was sucked in pretty quickly, and was able to relate well with Scarlett.

Scarlett lost both of her parents at the age of ten, and has since been raised by her fathers best friend, Gary. Before starting her senior year of high school, they move to a new area. Once she starts school, she learns quickly that things, and people are a bit different there. She meets Blake pretty quickly, and he finds her sarcastic attitude hilarious, which wasn't what she was going for. His best friend Cade is as intense, as Blake is lighthearted. She decides quickly that she doesn't want anything to do with either of them, even though she can't deny that she and Cade have an unmistakable chemistry. Meeting Keri gives her more to look forward to, especially since Keri knows what it's like to be the new girl in this school where everyone falls into their own group.

***Spoilers***
Cade tells Scarlett he can explain why she started noticing changes in herself when she turned 16. At first she is shocked, because only Gary knows about her strength, and senses increasing after her birthday. The reason she was given is probably the last thing she expected, but the more answers she gets, the more things start to fall into place. Regan has an interesting take on werewolves, and the rules that go along with being a member of the pack. Not only does she learn that she is a werewolf, but that she can only shift once she has found her mate. Of course Cade is her mate, because that makes everything perfect. Scarlett is still a little unsure about all of it, especially since she is used to doing whatever she wants, and she already had a future mapped out. Cade is extremely overprotective, and it drives Scarlett crazy. On the plus side, Keri and Blake seem to hit it off. Even though they can't ever be together, the four of them enjoy spending time together. As if all that wasn't enough of a bombshell, she also learns that she has a brother, Kyle. Her father was the alpha of Kyle's pack, when another alpha, Victor decided that he wanted Scarlett's mother. Victor's mate had died, and he was a lunatic. Since their pack was small, and had no chance of going against Victor's pack, they decided to leave to keep the pack safe. They knew Victor would come after them, and since he didn't know about Kyle, they left him to be raised as his uncle's child. When Scarlett was ten, Victor finally caught up with them, and killed her parents. She wasn't with them, and he never knew they had a daughter. He had spies in the other wolves territories, that he had given wolfsbane to hide their scent. To anyone else they smelled human. Keri is one of those spies, and also his daughter. When she tells her father there is a new female wolf in the area, Victor immediately recognizes her as her mother's daughter. He won't stop until he has her for himself. At the end of the book he kidnaps her, and beats the hell out of her. While trying to dose her with wolfsbane to keep her from shifting, she is able to get the syringe, and give it to him. With him unable to shift, she shifts to her wolf and kills him. but not before he injects her with air. Cade finds her right as she collapses, and her heart stops. He performs CPR, and thanks to her healing abilities, her heart is able to start beating again. Keri, and the other traitor who helped take her are brought back to Cade's territory with them. When Blake realizes that Keri was a spy for Victor all along, he is hurt, but when he finds out she is also his mate, he is devastated. The next book is their story!

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