Torque by Charley Descoteaux
Review by Lauren
Source: copy from Netgalley; all opinions are my own
Official Summary: Mick Randall is on the run, from the biker culture he grew up in and his impossible vision of love. Alaska should be far enough to escape his old life—until he rolls into a wrecking yard and gets lost in a pair of pale, bottle-green eyes.
Scotty Bell has spent years learning to channel his fiery temper into the heat of a welding torch. His sexual heat has always been slower to ignite, but one look at Mick rouses confusion alongside desire. In all his life, he’s only been attracted to one other person—his best friend, Mercy Taylor.
Mick lands a temporary job at the yard, and finds an uneasy crash pad at Scotty’s place…where the ragged ends of his emotions get tangled up in Scotty and Mercy’s relationship.
But when Mick hears a Harley engine from his past bearing down on him, his first instinct is to go back to the half-life he’d been living. Lest his secrets destroy the only two people who’ve ever made him feel whole.
Review: Since I’m doing the Goodreads challenge, I try and keep track of what I’ve read as soon as I’m finished so I don’t forget. I don’t give every book a star rating, since I don’t do star ratings on here, but for this one I think it’s worth mentioning that I gave this one two stars. No, it’s not the worst book in the world and yes, I did finish it. It’s not one I really liked though that much, so not a three star either.
Anyway, this book is about Mick Randall running away from his old life and a motorcycle gang he believes is following after him. He stops to work in a car garage though and doesn’t want to go further when he starts to fall for Scotty Bell, whose grandfather runs the garage. Maybe it’s just me, but I didn’t realize based on the summary that this was going to turn into a three-way romance. I don’t really mind that, but I didn’t realize that was this story. Also, and I don’t think this is a huge spoiler, but Mercy is transgender. Mick believes she’s a “typical” girl at first and he has feelings for her (Mercy) and Scotty, who already have their own different sort of relationship going on.
So yes, Scotty and Mercy randomly have sex here and there.
Mick comes to town and falls for both of them.
He eventually realizes that Mercy acts, dresses, and seems like a girl- but she still hasn’t had surgery to actually turn herself completely into a girl.
The three of them begin a relationship with each other.
Going in, I thought the romance was Mick and Scotty, but with the addition of Mercy, it just seemed off and I wasn’t really a fan. Again, I don’t mind three people in a romance but I like knowing that up front and deciding to read the book based on what I think of the summary.
Also, I felt that Mick’s past catching up to him was a bit anti-climatic. Not as much happened as you expect going in. It made the book more focused on the romance, even though Scotty has a side story with his father. I don’t mind romance-focused books, but again, I couldn’t really buy into this one with Mick, Scotty, and Mercy, and therefore, that didn’t even work for me.
I appreciate the chance to read the book though and I love many other stories published by Samhain!
Torque comes out tomorrow.
Sorry to see it wasn't what you ecpected it to be. I hope your next book is better
Sorry to hear that this one didn't really work for you. I belong to the school of thought that you give a review for those books that didn't work quite so well for you, as well as those that did so I thank you for your candour!
Interesting premise, though I'm not sure about the three-way deal… But I am curious and I'll keep an eye out for this one. Lovely review, Lauren, nicely done 🙂
Sorry that this one was pretty disappointing. I always find it hard to recover when a book is not what I thought it was going to be. I seem to hold that against the book and have some sort of bias against it and find it hard to give it a fair review. Sounds like this could have been a good story with just Mick and Scotty – or even with Mick, Scotty and Mercy, without the trans element. Between the trans issue and Mick's past it seems like there was a whole lot going on.
I'm sorry this one didn't do it for you, Lauren. I can't say it sounds like my cup of tea either. :/
xx
I am sorry to hear this one didn't work for you. I am not really against reading a three way romance, although I haven't read any so far, but I would like to know before starting a book. I think it's important to mention that in a blurb as some people might not want to read about it and others like the ahead warning. And that's too bad Mick's past catching up to him was a bit anti-climactic.
We can't like all the books we pick up. At least you finished.
Such an interesting premise and I love books that explore gender roles and societies expectations upon them. It's a shame that the romance sounds awfully messy though. I'm not one for threesomes or characters having multiple partners at once, it doesn't allow the reader to feel that emotional connection with a couple they can really root for. Glad you were still able to enjoy this somewhat though Lauren. Wonderful review <3
I wouldn't like the love triangle romance either
So sorry this didn't quite work for you.
Sorry it wasn't the best but at least enough to finish
I could never find enjoyment in menage. Lol. Sorry you had to force yourself.
Oh man, this is so not for me! I'm not crazy about love triangles or romance-focused plots so to find that this involves a three way romance … no thanks. Great review though, Lauren!
P.S. I haven't read Wolf by Wolf yet but I'll check it out to see what it's about. Thanks for the recommendation 🙂
Sorry it wasn't for you!
I enjoy a good tree-way romance, but I have to feel the chemistry between all of them. Sounds like this kind of missed the mark.
I don't think I've ever read about a motorcycle gang, so that intrigues me, and I like the theme of running away from our old lives.
That's a bummer. It stinks when you just can't buy into the relationship as a whole.