Bang Gang by Jade West

This was something different from Jade, something dare I say a tad more main stream and not at all what I had thought it was going to be.

I liked the characters both Jodie and Darren and I am making a point of saying that because despite the activities that Darren and his mates are engaged in the whole book just seemed so normal. The conversations were what you would expect to hear in the pub, in the café and most of all between friends. The scenario when relating to the guys and their services might have been the talk of the town but for Jodie and Darren their talk was never really about that at all. They had history, and as much as they had tried, it was and never had been completely over!

This was their second chance, the opportunity to rekindle a love that while it had been splintered it had never actually gone away. They shared so much of their lives not only their past and the pain that being apart had caused the pair of them but also the fact that neither had truly been able to move forward, Jodie tried but her relationship with Brian had been doomed from the get-go…he wasn’t Darren and speaking of the man himself, his attempts to move on were far from stellar and again it was because his heart was never in it – he had one woman that own him and for far too many years she hadn’t wanted him…or so he thought.

The guys and Darren’s side-line is his way of providing a future for his daughters, their education but when what they are getting up to is suddenly the focus of attention of the village, there was no way that Jodie and/or the girls weren’t going to know what was going on.

But there is more to the situation that Darren is ready to let her in on just yet but will he be able to hold his tongue when she signs up for an evening with the gang? Now this bit I really struggled with, I thought he would have stepped up sooner but then again who am I to judge, he did what he felt he needed to in order to give the woman that held his heart what she wanted, even though it was killing him inside. He was so alpha male in many ways but Jodie was his Achilles heel. She was his future but it was one that he wasn’t ready to claim, well not at that point anyway.

I found the emotion of the book was its most tantalising feature, they need each other but seemed too hesitant to commit, they flirted and skirted around the situation and even when it was blatantly obvious to those around them where this was heading they just didn’t seem able to pluck up the courage to make it real, it was painfully romantic at times watch them, two grownups who loved each other unequivocally behave like shy kids.

I cannot fault the depth that Jade ploughed into the pair of them, Darren was the most amazing father, he loved his girls without exception and was there for them every step of the way, the connection between him and Ruby and the time they spend together in the garage had the biggest smile on my face, she certainly was her father’s daughter! Mia was pitched to absolute perfection and again I can only commend the author for managing to insert a solid reality check on the bullying situation into the story, I don’t know any father who wouldn’t have reacted the way Darren did.

They guys in the gang/garage were a mixed bag, I liked Buck and I think I might quite like to ready his story but the others well I was very much inclined to leave them be. But I will say that as with any great book there has to be a villain and Jade managed to dish up a belter…Lorraine is simply abhorrent!
I think this sits comfortably in the contemporary romance category – albeit with a leading man that has both a filthy mouth and a serious disposition towards dropping the F bomb, this was a great read, seriously well written.