Release Blitz / Review: Jack & Coke by Lani Lynn Vale

Reviewer's Rating: 4

4.0Overall score

Another Great Uncertain Saint's MC Novel!

Title: Jack & Coke

Series: Uncertain Saint’s MC #2

Author: Lani Lynn Vale

Genre: MC Romance

Release Date: May 6, 2016

Lies

Mig’s wife is a bitch.

How else do you describe a woman that lies, cheats and steals to get what she wants?

That’s exactly what happens when she traps him into a marriage he wants nothing to do with, saddling him with a kid that he knows doesn’t deserve to be in a world like his.

He’s doing a pretty bang-up job at ignoring everything but his responsibilities as a DEA officer and a member of The Uncertain Saints MC.

Then his neighbor knocks on his door, and everything he thought he knew is blown out the window.

Deceit

Annie teaches Mig that not every woman is out to get him.

Her love for Mig stretches past what’s appropriate for two friends, and Annie soon straddles that invisible boundary between appropriate and inappropriate.

Annie’s not a cheater, though.

When she tries to say goodbye, Mig won’t let her leave, and soon the tiny town of Uncertain blows up with the news of Annie and Mig’s innocent friendship.

Betrayal

Matters of the heart are foreign to Mig, and it takes Annie being gutted for him to see the wrong he’s done.

He waits too long, though, and Annie’s heart is broken.

She wants it all, or she wants nothing. She can’t take anymore half-hearted attempts at being just friends.

The heart wants what it wants, and it doesn’t take long for Mig to realize that.

But just when Mig finally has it all in the palm of his hand, his life is ripped to shreds by a new player in the game, and it takes all of Annie’s love and devotion, as well as help from the men of The Uncertain Saint’s MC, to put Mig back together again.

review

Reviewed by Deb

Another Great Uncertain Saint’s MC Novel!

Uncertain is the perfect name for the setting of Lani Lynn Vale’s Uncertain Saint’s MC series. The description of this Texas town conjures up all kinds of nothing to do but get into trouble. It borders on the Caddo River, such a hotbed of illegal trafficking in drugs and guns that the DEA and the Texas Rangers have men permanently stationed in this blip on the map. And, it’s these very men as well as other law enforcement types, who make up the rather small Uncertain Saint’s MC. Each man has a unique and mostly tragic personal history. Which always makes for a good story. It’s also what brought them together in the first place, forming the MC primarily as a coping and bonding vehicle. Lest you think these guys sit around and shoot the shit over Cosmo’s while braiding each other’s hair, think again. The Uncertain Saint’s are notorious for serving up their own brand of justice to the scumbags who have skirted around the legal system.

Ms. Vale gave us a few hints in Whiskey Neat as to who the characters would be in this one so I was excited for Jack & Coke. If you’ve read Whiskey Neat you will remember spunky Lenore, owner of the one and only sex toy shop in town. If you haven’t read Whiskey Neat you need to get on that. So…Lenore’s shop is next door to a salon owned by Annie. The two gals became fast friends in Whiskey Neat, which exposed Annie to the guys in the MC. By way of association, not in the dirty way your mind just pictured. When last we saw Annie, she was pondering the hotness of one Uncertain Saint’s brother named Mig. Cue the story of Annie and Mig.

Mig is an honorable guy. Even though his wife defines the words conniving, underhanded, bitch, he’d committed to seeing this marriage through for one reason. She’s carrying his baby. He doesn’t love Jennifer. He doesn’t even like her. And the way she trapped him into marrying her was pretty damn despicable. Mig knows what it’s like to grow up with parents who hate each other and it’s not anything he wants to subject his own child to. He’s finally realized there’s no way in hell he’ll be able to continue this sham. So, as soon as his son or daughter is born, he’s divorcing this shrew. Hopefully, it won’t be too late to pursue the woman he really wants in his life. Annie. His next door neighbor is adorable, sweet, kind, funny, and has a body made for…you get the picture. It’s torture seeing her every day, knowing he can’t have her. Especially since she kicked her no-good husband to the curb.

Annie has no regrets about divorcing her scumbag husband. She knew better than to settle, but she’s not one to dwell on her mistakes. She should get back out in the dating pool but the one man she really wants is married. Which is a mystery to her because from what she sees (not that she snoops or anything) they sure don’t look happy with each other. When Lenore tricks her into going to the MC clubhouse one night, Annie learns the sordid but true story of why Mig and Jennifer got married. Mystery solved. And when Mig up and walks out on Jennifer (after he’s had it up to here with her shit) and files for annulment, Annie doesn’t feel bad one little bit.

That, my friends, is the simple version of how Annie and Mig get together. There’s a whole lot of juicy stuff around the edges and in the middle of their story. Juicy stuff like bad guys involved in drug deals that Annie innocently stumbles into, threatening notes left with dead bodies, Mig going all caveman to protect Annie from harm, shocking surprises that will…well, shock the pants off you. And juicy stuff like Mig and Annie devouring each other in uncontrollable lust, which is my personal favorite kind of juicy stuff.

He examined the dildo in his hand, then looked back at me with amusement.
“It’s not mine,” I said.
He grinned.
“What kind were you using last night? Do you know that I have your apartment wired? I heard every single moan,” he moved closer. “Every single sigh.” Closer still. “And every single time you called my name.”
By the time he was finished, he had me backed up against the door.
His lower body pinned mine to the door, and I bit my lip as I felt every single inch of him.
Steel hard.

Lani Lynn Vale once again gives us a fast-paced, wild ride that hits the ground running and doesn’t stop until The End. I love that she packs so much action and suspense into the books in this series. I love these Uncertain Saint’s MC men even though I always want to smack them upside the head when they say, “I’m no good for you. We can’t be together anymore.” Sure, some of it is a bit over the top. But it’s entertaining as hell, sexy as all get out, and laugh out loud funny. Jack & Coke is another winner, and I can’t wait for the next book! OH, and you’ll just adore the bit about the baby!

♥♥♥♥

O Factor: Scorcher

Reviews for Lani Lynn Vale

“Jack and Coke is a must read for fans of romantic suspense with a whole lot of competent humor mixed in, and a romance that’s so real and raw that you can’t help but relate to the characters and their struggles.” ~Literary Treasure Chest

“WOW! A totally engrossing, beautiful, hot love story! I have read every book by Ms. Vale and with each book she gets better and better, she has a gift for drawing you in and holding you captive.” ~Guilty Pleasures

“Go get the door for the policemen I can see outside,” I called. “And tell them you have a DEA Agent in your house so they don’t try to shoot me when they enter.”

“I already did,” I heard Annie say as she got closer.

I saw her only a few seconds before she disappeared around the edge of the hallway into the entry way beyond it.

Then the door was unchained, unlocked, and swung open.

Three cops were the next to enter, and I nodded at the one I knew.

“Hey there, Officer Kirkpatrick,” I called to my good friend.

We had drinks every week, sometimes multiple times a week.

I had to do some creative thinking to get away from my wife, and Officer Kirkpatrick, a.k.a. Bullseye, was one of them.

Well, I didn’t do him…but I hung out with him.

Often.

And Bullseye had a hell of a wife that didn’t care if I was over there as much as I was.

“What’s shakin’?” Bullseye asked.

“These two men here decided to break into Annie’s house. I’m just here making sure that they don’t get off with anything valuable,” I answered.

The other officer, Antonio Juarez, I didn’t know very well.

He was new, and hung out with the young’uns instead of us old folks.

Well, I was thirty-four, which wasn’t ‘old’ per se, but it sure as fuck wasn’t young, either.

“What’s that in his hand?” Juarez asked.

I looked down at Howard Ryan’s hand, and narrowed my eyes.

“That’s Annie’s purse,” I answered.

Annie’s ‘purse’ was more of a beach bag, and I didn’t know how the hell she found anything in it.

But I wouldn’t know what to do with her if she didn’t have it with her.

She’d been able to supply me with an ice pack, and a water on two different occasions, so I wasn’t one to complain when it was beneficial to me.

“Well, boys, let’s go for a ride downtown,” Bullseye said, walking behind Howard Ryan and handcuffing him.

Ryan shot me an evil look as he left, promising retribution, and I smiled at him.

Bring it, little boy. You can’t handle this, my look said.

Forty-five minutes later, the cops were leaving with both men in the back of two separate cars, and I was left standing on Annie’s front porch with her next to me.

“Thank you,” she said, looking up at me with all sorts of promises in her eyes.

I touched my fingertips to her cheek and smiled down at her.

God, she was beautiful.

Long, wavy brown hair that went down to her mid back. Beautiful, full lips.

A smokin’ ass.

Light brown skin that was nearly the color of mine.

She wasn’t Italian like me, though.

She was Puerto Rican, and she wouldn’t let anyone call her otherwise.

I’d give anything to be with her but my life, and name, belonged to my wife.

God, if there was any way I could rewind a year, I’d do it in a heartbeat.

I would’ve never invited my now wife, Jennifer, to the club party.

Jennifer was the exact opposite of Annie.

Rude, opinionated, and selfish.

Now she was six months pregnant with my child, and I hated every fucking second of my life.

“You’re welcome,” I said roughly. “I’m gonna have a few men over here in the next few days to install an alarm and make sure nobody can ever do that to you again.”

“Mig, what the ever loving fuck are you doing over there?” My wife screeched.

I winced and slowly dropped my hand, looking over at Jennifer like one would a pile of fish heads and vomit.

Then I turned around when I saw she was dressed in little to nothing.

How not surprising.

I’m a married mother of three. My kids are all under 5, so I can assure you that they are a handful. I’ve been with my paramedic husband now for ten years, and we’ve produced three offspring that are nothing like us. I live in the greatest state in the world, Texas.