Haven Randall escaped her over-controlling father and ran away with her best friend Cora; on their way to freedom, they were captured by rivals of the Raven Riders Motorcycle Club, and eventually rescued by the Raven Riders themselves, who confiscated weapons from them. The girls are now holing up at the MC's compound; Cora's dad occasionally works for Randall, a known criminal, and Haven knows he'll do anything to get her back. Even though the bikers have been nothing but kind to her, Haven is still scared of them; she's led a very sheltered life, and mistrusts just about anyone except Cora. The Raven Riders' president Dare Kenyon also frightens her, but she is attracted to him in a way she doesn't quite understand. Dare knows only the MC life, although the one he made for himself is quite different from the one he grew up in: his Club is mostly law-abiding, although for the greater good, one must sometimes step on the wrong side of the law. Their goal is to offer protection to those who need it; Dare knows only too well how some people need outside help. Dare has never known love, but Haven makes him feel things he never knew he could.

The Raven Riders were part of the latter books of Laura Kaye's Hard Ink series, and RIDE HARD picks up the story where we left off, RIDE HARD does however work perfectly as a standalone. RIDE HARD fleshes out the main characters and introduces some secondary ones; Ms. Kaye's obvious grasp of the bikers' lifestyle is very impressive: the Raven Riders MC feels entirely authentic and their altruistic mission makes complete sense. Dare and Haven are intrigued by each other; Dare is 37, and Haven is 22, and although Dare acknowledges their age gap could be problematic, my issue was not with the numbers but with the fact that Haven behaves like a scared little mouse, and given her overly melodramatic backstory, it's understandable. At the beginning, Dare behaves in a protective, paternalistic manner towards her, and given that she comes off almost like a child, I thought it felt a little creepy; on the other hand, Dare's life story sounded entirely believable and touching. Haven has a list of things she wants to do now that she is allowed to live a little, and there is one item that she checks as done, and where unfortunately Dare went down a few notches on my hero-scale, unless it's up on the bad boy scale? To be honest, I much preferred Cora and her sunny personality, and I thought Cora would have been a better romantic interest for Dare, but I did enjoy very much the girls' friendship and their banter, it rang true. I must also say I was expecting more action, which comes late in RIDE HARD, but it's well worth waiting for, and there are a few unexpected twists.

RIDE HARD is a solid introduction to the new Raven Riders series, and I'm really looking forward to the next book, because Maverick and Alexa are featured, and they were my favourite characters in RIDE HARD, apart from Cora, and I wanted to know their story even while reading RIDE HARD.

Book Summary

Brotherhood. Club. Family.
They live and ride by their own rules.
These are the Raven Riders...

Raven Riders Motorcycle Club President Dare Kenyon rides hard and values loyalty above all else. He'll do anything to protect the brotherhood of bikers--the only family he's got--as well as those who can't defend themselves. So when mistrustful Haven Randall lands on the club's doorstep scared that she's being hunted, Dare takes her in, swears to keep her safe, and pushes to learn the secrets overshadowing her pretty smile.

Haven fled from years of abuse at the hands of her criminal father and is suspicious of any man's promises, including those of the darkly sexy and overwhelmingly intense Ravens' leader. But as the powerful attraction between them flares to life, Dare pushes her boundaries and tempts her to want things she never thought she could.

The past never dies without a fight, but Dare Kenyon's never backed down before...