Lawless (Steel Demons MC Book 1)

What a fab start to this series! Want more!!!😊😍👍

Once again we are playing genre bingo in a way that doesn’t make me cringe. This was a really good book that blends genres seamlessly.The year is 2100 and in a small nursing college Mariposa is graduating with a nursing degree. The world is falling apart and the USA has Collapsed. The next day Mariposa goes to register for her licence only to be told that her home is now under new laws that forbid women having a medical licence of any kind.This is the changing face of the country in which she lives. Women are being rounded up and treated like chattel. They are sold as ‘wives’ to the strong, the rich and the corrupt. Somehow she makes it through the next three years travelling around trading her skills as a medic for room, board and safety.Then the outpost she is temporarily working in turns into a place she can’t escape from. The Steel Demons MC show up and take over the outpost. Their reputation is of ruthless murderers and rapists and Mariposa is terrified. This is when her world changes.This story is very nuanced. The world building is excellent and conveys completely the chaos and anarchy that would follow the collapse of government. The author draws on some of the events that are occurring in modern America with women’s reproductive rights being eroded by the men in power. This kind of environment could very well lead to women’s rights be completely withheld by the men in power, in 80 years time.I like that The Collapse isn’t caused by one big catastrophe, like a virus or alien invasion, but is caused a subtle and more gradual political and military change power.This book doesn’t take narrative shortcuts. It has depth and looks closely at the personalities involved within the world that has been built. The author takes the time to subtly reveal the characters of those within the story.At the end of the book, things have shifted for Mariposa, but not enormously. She has changed her mind about Reaper, but she still does not trust him completely. Her situation is still fragile and she still doesn’t know herself and what she is capable of completely. This book moves her forward in her journey towards self knowledge, but it’s a small step on the path.I really can’t wait for the next book, in this slow burn RH series. As this is the first book I’ve read by this author, I think I’ll have to look at others that are already published whilst I wait until December for the next one in this series.

What a fantastic start to Crystal's new series. I was gripped from the very beginning, by the story, the characters, the setting, the world building, just everything.This book is completely different from her other series, set in an unrecognisable America in the early 22nd century. The country has fallen apart and now consists of separate states whose borders keep changing as territory is annexed from neighbouring states. Women are second class citizens with no rights, more 18th century than 22nd. Warlords and biker gangs are to be feared.The world building is very good, the descriptions of the landscape were evocative, and the explanation of this new and not-so-shiny America was brilliantly done. The characters are distinct and are fleshed out enough to feel as though you have a good sense of who they are. Mari is a strong and very sympathetic heroine, and the men are suitably bad on the surface, but there are glimpses of hidden depths, and I'm sure they all have interesting back stories, which I'm eager to read.The relationships between the main characters are a slow burn, so don't expect a bucket-load of sex, but instead enjoy a great big simmering mess of sexual tension. They are connecting, learning, building a foundation for relationships, and this works perfectly in the context of this book, because of the temperaments and experiences of the characters, especially Mari.Although this is a dystopian story, there are some definite vibes that I'm sure Crystal will expand on as the story progresses but there is absolutely something more going on than is immediately evident. There a a few pointers along the way, maybe something supernatural? I can't wait.That cover is amazing, her best cover so far. It suits the story perfectly and made me want to read the story yesterday. I stayed up way too long into the night to finish it, so immersed in the story that I hadn't noticed the time passing or the pages turning! The Steel Demons logo is magnificent, and I can't stop picturing it on a certain enigmatic man-mountain's chest. Said man-mountain is my favourite character, along with the furred and the feathered 'boys'.I loved this book and think that Steel Demons has the potential to be Crystal's best series yet.

I love reading Crystal Ash’s Books and I know they’re never going to let me down and this one certainly didn’t!This was a fabulous start to a new series set with a Dystopian feel, where there’s no women’s rights and they’re literally second class citizens.The characters are fabulous Mariposa(Mari) our FMC who is strong and resilient has just graduated Medical school after being trained as a nurse so heads West where she can be a Medic.A chance meeting with four extremely hot strangers AKA The Steel Demons MC Reaper, Gunner, Jandro and Shadow. I loved watching the chemistry between these characters grow and can’t wait to see more in future books.This book had everything it had romance, fabulous characters some intrigue and an amazing storyline and I can’t wait for the next book!!

A look into Crystal's remarkable imagination into a dystopian, American, not too distant future.Some disturbingly real, well written scenes with women regressing into being possessions again and gangs roaming their territories in the open.The fantastical aspects in this isn't so obvious until the latter half of the book and I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes in the rest of the series