Freebie: Bare-Knuckle Love by K.A. Merikan


Bare-Knuckle Love by K.A. Merikan, MM Erotic Romance
Jason is back in his home town and trying to make money the only way he knows - in an illegal MMA fight. Bare knuckles. Hardly any rules. All he needs to do is... lose.

The Rabid Mongrels Motorcycle Club bet against him, and they are set to make a killing, but when Jason spots his high school crush in the audience, he can’t bear to lose. All he wants is to have Hyde notice him. He gets more than he bargained for when Hyde turns out to be the president of the MC, now out for his blood.

To survive, Jason will have to make a deal with the blond devil. No matter how manipulative and vicious Hyde can be, he is a dark wet dream come to life, and Jason can’t keep his hands to himself. Soon enough, the self-destructive lust he has for Hyde becomes a dangerous obsession that takes Jason to the most forgotten corners of his soul.

WARNING: Adult content. Explicit gay sex, strong language, violence, mentions of past animal abuse, mentions of past child abuse. Reader discretion advised.
I'm giving this a 3 out of 5 and here's why:
Hmmm, how to rate that this one? I'll start with a 3 and see what I end up with once I spew out my thoughts.

Bare-Knuckle love is a little too weird to be believable. Jason is out of cash, unemployed and agrees to lose a bare-knuckle underground cage fight. During the fight he spots an old high school crush in the crowd and his pride forces him to throw common sense out the window and he wins the fight.

This isn’t the weird part.

The weirdness begins when it disclosed that the crush, named Hyde, is the leader of a big, bad motorcycle club. He’s straight (or at least pretends to be) but then forces Jason to get on his knees and do a very naughty thing because he’s sooo very mad that Jason didn’t throw the fight. Jason does what he’s commanded because Jason has no self-worth. Hyde has filmed the whole thing and uses it against Jason. This is sad and a little strange but I’m easy and went with it.


But then, oh but then . . . Hyde (it's a good name for him, really, kudos to the author) decides to take Jason home and it is here that the WTFery truly begins. Hyde, you see, is married to a lesbian whose lover lives in the same house all cozy-like. Hyde and his wife have a little boy. Hyde is allowed to have lovers but not make sexy noise within hearing range of the boy. Hyde lives a very normal life at home that is almost sweet. Into this little bubble of non-reality he brings an illegal MMA fighter without a second thought?! What on earth?

Sooooo tell me if this scenario makes any kind of sense or if I’m just having a really bad comprehension moment.

Hyde is basically holding Jason prisoner to his sexual whim (though Jason doesn’t seem to mind the sex part) and he’s also forcing him to throw another fight because he has that humiliating little sex vid of him. Jason does whatever Hyde demands because he’s terrified of the video getting out and because he has no self-confidence. His inner monologue sounds like a beaten and bullied teen and it made me so sad.

Jason, however, knows that this big bad MC leader is keeping a secret life that would destroy his standing in the MC and would destroy his life if word got out.

Hmmm, I’d say Jason totally WINS this smack-down by a landslide. Sadly Jason is not bright enough to realize this. Or he’s too blinded by the sex and can’t think straight. I dunno.

Anyhow, this is the premise which, if you ask me, is all kinds of terrible. Still, I read it to the very end and have to admit that it was kind of sexy in a completely awful way.

2 ½? 3? I’m still on the fence. The writing wasn’t horrible and I'd read this author again because despite my dislike of most of the story, it managed to draw me in. I disliked Hyde and felt that the Jason was too weak a character. He needed a hug and a nice guy. Instead he got stuck with Hyde. Ah well. Insta-lust will do that to you.



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