Undaunted audiobook

Do motorcycle club romance novels need to be gritty and violent to be engaging? Ronnie Douglas’s Undaunted suggests they don’t. Her fresh take on the genre is possibly the sweetest romance with a biker I’ve ever read.Technically we could classify this book as MC light, but that’s not really an apt descriptor. Douglas has pulled from several hot tropes to craft an engaging, quick read that brings top-notch chemistry to each page.Aubrey’s a woman with plans that just aren’t working out. She completed two years of college before it was discovered her father was embezzling from work and her ability to pay tuition disappeared. She moves from what she knows in Oregon to a rural community in Tennessee. She is living with her grandmother, who she adores, and trying to develop a new plan that gets her back to Oregon. She doesn’t have time to be distracted by kissing bad boys.But of course there are gorgeous bad ones. Her attraction to Zion is immediate. He’s the enforcer of a motorcycle club, and Aubrey doesn’t really know what that means. She does know that he keeps coming to her rescue and it makes her go all weak in the knees every time.Her plan and his obligations to the club make their relationship difficult. While most of the obstacles are of their own making, every scene with Zion and Aubrey is electric. There is an arbitrary three-date rule in effect for the MC. He can only go on three dates with Aubrey. (Yes, it’s arbitrary and they are in their own way, but the journey is too delightful to be an issue for this reader.) So they instead try to maintain a friendship. The energy between the two as they fight their attraction is palpable. I read this novel in a single sitting and it’s the energy between the hero and heroine that kept me glued to the pages.While Zion’s MC duties cause a bit of a rift, the book doesn’t dwell on the dark deeds of the outlaw club or give any examples of violence where the MC members aren’t the good guys. Despite the backdrop of the outlaws, this novel is a sweet contemporary romance. New adult readers who might not typically go for the book with the motorcycle on the front will find themselves at home within the pages of Undaunted.

4.5 StarsUndaunted is a new adult romance from all-star author, Melissa Marr, writing under the pen name of Ronnie Douglas - and I could not put it down!Aubrey Evans is all about having a plan. A college plan. A career plan. A life plan. Her father getting caught embezzling money from his company and being forced to quit college to move to her grandma's home in small-town Williamsville, Tennessee, was not part of the plan. Neither was falling for the local motorcycle club's bad-boy enforcer. It doesn't help that every time Aubrey is in trouble, Zion rides to the rescue like a knight in beat-up leather, a Harley his trusty steed. Aubrey doesn't plan to stick around this town for long though and doesn't have time for a relationship. Not to mention that her new job at the Southern Wolves local watering hole has a strict three-date rule with their members. But as Aubrey and Zion work together to uncover the source of vandalism on her grandmother's and neighbor's home, it becomes harder and harder to hold onto the facade of "just friends."Undaunted was a fresh take on the normally abrasive MC genre; with a sweet couple that was easy to fall in love with, mild suspense between characters, and a light mystery running in the peripheral of the story. The motorcycle club aspect is not the prominent story line, as you might find with other more hard-core MC romances, which I found to be a nice change of pace. That's not to say that there aren't some bad-ass bikers and club rules, because there are, however I would think of this as MC-lite. What grabbed my attention in this story was the connection between Aubrey and Zion, and how their relationship built throughout the story from friends to lovers. It was a progressive shift and I was hanging on to the pages the entire ride. Their relationship was full of energy with a chemistry that was palpable. It was also all about the give-and-take, and compromises. Though that may not have seemed balanced at times, with Aubrey tilting the scales a bit in her favor, but Zion was more then willing to give that little bit more so it worked. Through a good majority of the book, there was a lot of building tension between Aubrey and Zion, along with a few steamy encounters, until it reached a sizzling peak. It was all beautifully written.The plot was well timed, nary a lull, which led to a quick, satisfying read. Both the characters and story were well crafted, and I enjoyed the club in the background as well as all of the side characters. The Southern Wolves seem like a good group and I actually hope we get to delve more into the club's dynamics with the next installment. The next story, Unruly, will follow Ellen, Aubrey's best friend, and a Wolf that we didn't see too much of in this story, Alamo. I'm really looking forward to Dash's book though, Zion's cousin and unofficial Wolf. Hopefully we don't have too long to wait for that one. The only thing that bothered me about the story, and what kept it from reaching that 5 Wine Glass rating, was the ending. Though Aubrey loved Zion the way he was, she was uncomfortable being with someone in a club who might have to do illegal things, especially after the mess with her parents. So Zion took steps to put her at ease, and without getting too spoilery, what he decided to do instead baffled me. Because while it might be on the right side of the law, it is still very dangerous and can take Zion away from Aubrey for long periods of times....and when a new couple is talking about forever I just couldn't get on board with the logistics of this conclusion. The long-term wasn't well thought out in my opinion but I'm interested to see how it works out in the future and hope that we still get glimpses into their relationship in coming books.All in all though, Undaunted, was an addictive ride where two unlikely hearts collide making a compelling read from beginning to end!

UNDAUNTED is a wickedly sexy, tease of a read. It delivers on its promise of knights in black leather with more than one hot guy on a Harley willing to step up to help out a damsel in distress. It introduces a motorcycle club whose members may be rough around the edges but not all of of whom are rough on the eyes. It tantalizes with what might be possible between its main characters, whose chemistry is incendiary, if things were different. And it hints at equally combustible past relationships between some of its other key players.Aubrey didn’t want to drop out of school to move to Tennessee to live with her grandmother. She had a plan for exactly how the next few years of her life would progress. But her father’s crimes and her parents fighting left her no other options. She had to remain in Tennessee and attend a local school until she could figure out a way to get back on track.She never planned on meeting someone like Zion. Someone who made her feel things she never thought possible. Someone who made her want things she had no business wanting. Someone whose life was so tied up in Tennessee, a place she had no intent to stay. Someone whose existence was dangerous and complicated and messy. Someone she would have to resist no matter how much easier it would be not to.Ronnie Douglas created a delicious and enticing first book in her Knights in Black Leather series. She builds up the tension, the attraction, the desire between Zion and Aubrey until both characters and readers are ready to erupt. She gives each of them a back story that allows readers to get to know who they are, where they came from, what their motivations are, and what they want out of life. She adds in a bit of a mystery that involves not only the main characters, which serves to develop and strengthen the secondary characters, the motorcycle club, and the series as a whole.UNDAUNTED is exciting and romantic and wildly entertaining. It offers a potential love triangle, two women who need rescuing, two positively gorgeous male specimens, the thrill of danger, the lure of the bad boy, white hot chemistry, will they/won’t they suspense, incredibly likable supporting characters, a not-so-likable Sheriff, one very steamy encounter, and several electrifying rides on the back of a Harley-Davidson. And while the world of the motorcycle club has yet to be fully explored, the glimpses given so far ensure that it’s a world readers will want to come back to again and again.Original GR comments:Loved this first book in the series. Zion was a total hottie. The chemistry was incendiary between him and Aubrey. I liked that it wasn't an alternating chapter back-and-forth between the two characters' POVs. Not even sure it needed Zion's. But it was nice to not follow the "formula."This story was definitely all about the characters and romance, and less about the motorcycle club aspect. (And I loved Aubrey and Zion's story and learning more about Maureen and Echo.) But I imagine we'll learn more about the club itself as the series progresses. And I'm so glad the next book is about Alamo - though I am curious about what Noah's story will be like.This story was also pretty tame for NA. Definitely refreshing. It was a total tease, which I loved. The anticipation builds throughout the story vs. scene after scene of hooking up, which can sometimes get a touch repetitive. The author definitely makes the reader (and her characters) wait. Poor Zion!Hot guys, an indecisive heroine who gets her sass back, a start to a series that promises to exciting. One I hope will give peeks at previous characters.

Undaunted was a fun, fast, entertaining MC read.Aubrey financial struggles send her back to live with her grandmother in TN. This is where she meets Zion, he is her rescuer during a drunken binge that could have gone very bad for Aubrey. Zion is the enforcer for the local motorcycle club. He is drawn to Aubrey but she plans on leaving TN so she refuses to accept a relationship with Zion.Working together to figure out who is behind the acts of vandalism in her grandmother’s neighbor, Zion and Aubrey find themselves drawn into a much deeper power play for the towns land and ownership.Sometimes you just need a simple, a flat out entertaining read, Undaunted just hits the spot becoming that read for me. Some mystery, a little heat and sexy bad mouth bikers just worked. I received this ARC copy of Undaunted from William Morrow Paperbacks - HarperCollins in exchange for a honest review. This book is set for publication September 15, 2015.My Rating: 4 StarsWritten by: Ronnie DouglasSeries: Knights in Black LeatherPaperback: 352 pagesPublisher: William Morrow Paperbacks Publication Date: September 15, 2015ISBN-10: 0062389602ISBN-13: 978-0062389602Genre: Contemporary New Adult RomanceAmazon | Barnes & NobleFor Reviews and More Check out: http://tometender.blogspot.com

3.75 The Plan StarI love you. You're Perfect. Now Change.

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie TalesQuick & Dirty: Sexy romance with very likeable characters, great tension and tons of drama. I would highly recommend this book to all new adult romance fans!Opening Sentence: The scream of a house alarm woke me.The Review:Aubrey Evans’ life has been turned upside down in the last few months. She grew up in Oregon and was an only child from a well off family. She spent the first two years of college at a very prestigious and expensive school in Oregon. But she father was recently indicted for embezzlement, which has caused her college fund to disappear. She doesn’t qualify for any kind of financial aid because her parents made too much money on the previous years tax return and to top that, her parents are now going through a messy divorce. Aubrey needs to get away so she goes to live with her grandmother in Tennessee.Aubrey has a plan and moving to Tennessee is just temporary until she can get her finances back in order so she can go back to school in Oregon. But her plan didn’t include meeting Zion, the irresistible man that is a member of the local motorcycle club. They have an instant connection and Aubrey can’t seem to stay away no matter how wrong Zion is for her. If they have any chance of making a relationship work they will both have to change and that’s easier said than done!Aubrey was a compelling character. At first I didn’t know if I was going to like her because she is kind of snotty and she has a pretty rigid personality, but as the story progressed she started to grow on me. Eventually, I ended up loving her and found all of her weird quirks endearing. In many ways she actually reminds me of myself when I was younger. She hasn’t ever really had much attention from guys, or at least she doesn’t think she has. When she moves to Tennessee she gets tons of attention and she doesn’t quite know how to handle it and at times she comes across as rude when in reality she is just ignorant when it comes to boys. She is actually a really sweet girl and I appreciate how logical she is. I didn’t connect with her right away but in the end I really loved her.Zion is ridiculously hot and I fell for him right away. He has bad boy written all over him with his broody personality and ties to the motorcycle club. He is also quite a ladies man and has never been interested in commitment before, but that all changed when he meets Aubrey. He is extremely charming and knows how to get exactly what he wants especially from the opposite sex. But he is also very loyal and respectful. He has quite a temper at times and there is no doubt that he isn’t someone you want to cross. He is the club enforcer and he didn’t get the nickname killer for no reason. His relationship with Aubrey is HOT and they have amazing chemistry. In so many ways they are polar opposites, but they also have a lot in common. There is tons of great tension between them and I adored them together. Zion is the perfect bad boy and I loved him.Undaunted is a sexy story filled with great drama, hot romance, and loveable characters. I am a sucker for books that feature motorcycle clubs so of course when I saw this book floating around the web I knew I wanted to read it and it did not disappoint. I was instantly drawn into the story and found that it was pretty difficult to put down. The pacing was spot on and the story overall was very entertaining. The only complaint I have was the ending. There was such a great build up filled with lots of tension and drama, but when everything comes to a peak it was very anti-climatic. Everything that happened felt a little too convenient and I found it disappointing. Did I still enjoy the story? Absolutely! Will I be reading the next book? Definitely! I thought that Douglas’s writing was wonderful and she really knows how to write an entertaining story! I would highly recommend this all new adult contemporary romance fans!Notable Scene:“They knew I read, but most of them never bothered to question what I read, so that was handy. Racy romances or King’s horror or classics. It was all the same to them.”I laughed. The image was simply too much. “Racy romances?”“Hell, yeah! No better way to figure out what women want when you’re fourteen and trying to get a little sympathy.” He offered me one of his panty-dropping smiles. “want a demonstration of what I learned?”FTC Advisory: William Morrow/HarperCollins provided me with a copy of Undaunted. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.

See this review and more on my blog, After Hours at LilybloombooksUndaunted, was one of my most anticipated reads this year. I love books that focus on a MC (motorcycle club) and I am always on the look out for a new series!Right off - I knew this was a story I would thoroughly enjoy. Even though Aubrey was hard to like at first - her character felt REAL and she grew on me. She is bitter about moving to Tennessee and has THE PLAN to focus on to get back to Oregon and her life there. Of course, THE PLAN kind of goes haywire due to Zion.Zion, aka Killer, is an enforcer of the club -- and is drawn to Aubrey. Their interactions were entertaining, fun and quite low on the angst, which I enjoyed and appreciated. Aubrey and Zion have this non dating relationship going on. It's different - not something that I am use to reading in a NA but it worked for the characters.Set aside the romance and these two -- there are other elements of the story that made Undaunted wholly entertaining. I loved meeting all the characters, especially Echo and Marleen (Aubrey's grandmother). It was interesting how everyone's story intertwines and I can't wait discover more about these characters in future installments!It's light on the MC side -- which is fine and perfect for those curious about them. All in all -- Undaunted is quick, fun read and I am excited for the remaining books int he series! I recommend it!I received this book for free from The Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

This is not your usual MC book on crack and violence... it is much lighter and was a delight to read.This story is about Aubrey, a college student that is forced to leave school and live with her grandmother as her parents are divorcing due to her father getting caught embezzling... She is a bit stuck up, not wanting to be in a small town, dealing with people not to her station she thinks she is at in life. Basically she is young and dumb even if she is educated.. she has a lot to learn..Enter gramma.... not your typical gramma, but god i love her!! full of real life wisdom and some seriously wicked connections with the local MC.That brings us to Zion... our MC hottie.. who is falling hard for Aubrey but he is not in need of commitment and tries his best to stay away from her... he of course has his own issues and how he gets it finally in his head to pursue her was a miracle! lolThis was seriously a very light MC book.. great for those who don't like all the violence and darkness!

Aubrey ends up in a small town in Tennessee as her college fund was frozen due to her father's illegal activities. Zion is the enforcer for the local MC and comes to Aubrey's rescue at the fair after she tries to push away an overzealous Quincy.At times Aubrey was a bit too mealy for my tastes. However, she's only 20 and is dealing with her precisely mapped out life not going according to The Plan. There's good parts in seeing her figure herself out and challenge her beliefs about Portland and MC. A bit too much 'push/pull' with Zion and any other MC guy likely would have given up on her.Stereotypical alpha MC guy putting his 'yet to be acknowledged' girl under his protection. I am admittedly a bit of a sucker for the tough guys who take a big of time recognize the girl as something special despite immediately sensing something is 'different'. Enjoyed the writing style and backstories between other characters that is interwoven. Story is atypical for a MC book as the author doesn't get into the grittiness of MC life. Illegal activities are mentioned, but not described in any great detail.Liked it enough to queue up the next book in the series (Unruly).

** spoiler alert ** When I saw that this book was written by Melissa Marr, I downloaded it without a thought. I quickly learned a LOT of people who read this book were extremely frustrated by a few things. I liked Aubrey as a main character. She seems strong willed and determined. Her not dating was referred to as “immature” and “ridiculous” by other readers, but I disagree. I didn’t date much as a teenager either until my met my husband. I was very much like Aubrey, and I can understand why someone would feel this way. She had never had a good intimate relationship, but having had one intimate session with a friend, she thought sex in general wasn’t worth it. I knew many girls like this until they met the right person.The love triangle, to me, was not unexpected. Melissa Marr is kind of known for them (Wicked Lovely being the main contributor to this). Aubrey doesn’t fall for both guys and doesn’t expect both of them to fall for her. She feels a connection to Zion, and trying to rid of that connection, she attempts something easy and “no strings” with Noah, who basically pushes her several times until she relents. It doesn’t work and she moves on, telling him she can’t go through with it. Understandable.At no point in this book did Aubrey “force” Zion to change or leave the Wolves, as other readers stated in reviews. Her father was arrested and put on trial for embezzlement. She consistently throughout the novel discusses how her family was torn apart because of her father’s actions. She explains to Zion that she doesn’t want to be in that kind of situation or have someone else she loves doing something illegal for a living. He chooses to leave the club for her. She even tells Echo that she did not force him, and that he can force Zion to stay, as to not break up their family. Echo uses Aubrey’s grandmother as an example for how a girl shouldn’t force a guy to change who he is. Aubrey answers that she’s not forcing Zion, and her grandmother is alone, only half committing to her life and her husband. She states she does not want a life like that. She even tells him she doesn’t want Zion to leave the Wolves- she just can’t get past the illegal work they do. Fair.“Asking him to change his entire life for me wasn’t fair. But I couldn’t change mine either.”- Aubrey“I shouldn’t ask you to change and give up your family just for a chance at us.” –Aubrey“I don’t remember you asking me to.” – Zion“I might not be a college student, but I can do something else to take care of us if this work. Something legal.” - ZionIn my opinion, Zion leaves his family for her because he finally found a reason to live. He states as so when explaining how much he lived just to appease Echo, who didn’t really raise him and never truly acknowledged being his father. The army was a bit of a twist, but Zion wanted to move on, and wanted something different. Maybe it was dangerous and made him feel important. Maybe he’s a character in a book that wants to grow.Long story short, judge the novel for what it is- not what you wanted it to be.

Aubrey Evans is trying to reset her life after her parents made a mockery of it. Staying with her Grandmother is a bonus but she intends to earn enough money and move back and go to college. When she meets Zion after an unfortunate incident, there is a spark she cannot deny but she doesn't want to get involved with anyone knowing she has a plan to leave. However, Zion for the first time wants something with Aubrey and when they keep getting pushed together he finds his chance. Will Aubrey give Zion a chance or blow it before it starts?This was a bit of a surprise. I liked Zion a lot because you couldn't really get a read on him at first and was a bit of a mystery. Story had a little bit of angst particularly Aubrey bit I am definitely checking out more in the series. A page turning MC story that had a few surprises.

first time reading this author...very good story aubrey (red) and zion(killer) she leaves her family ;;;;her father embezze;ed// moves to grandmas in tennessee...biker town she is new here and wants to meet people goes out with sheriffs son gets drunk and zion rescues her...takes her home etc etc...she feels her granny has ties with the wolves someway...sure enought zion's father is president and she had an affair with him yrs ago.....red knows zion is into heavy stuff and does not want to hook up with him but definitely feels for him and vice verser....great story of the biker life onto next one in series

I picked this up at BN on sale and I love MC books so figured why not. Well, this was more angst than MC. Aubrey was hard to connect with mainly because she was so wishy washy with Zion "Killer". She wanted him then an hour later didn't and then back to wanting him. I was happy to hear Zion's POV for a few chapters because he was just as frustrated as I was with Aubrey. All in all this was a good story.

This was such a great read. The romance between Zion and Aubrey was rocky at first but ended up great! The only downside to this book is that there isn’t a true epilogue. I wish there was one to get more closure. Overall this was a great, well-written read.