VIPERS RULE – Stephanie Tyler
A Skulls Creek Novel , Book 2
Signet Eclipse
ISBN-13:  978-0-451-47047-8
July 2015
Contemporary Romance

Skull Creek, South Carolina – Present Day

Maddie Wells caught her husband with another woman, and after moving out, he talked her into staying for the annual New Year's Eve party to put on a good facefor his company.  At the stroke of midnight, she gave Hugh back her wedding ring and jumped into her red Mustang GT and headed back home to Skull Creek, South Carolina.  Her father and grandmother and she lived on the good side of town called Jessamine, but the high school bad boy, Talon, lived in Skull Creek.  Maddie is determined to erase the mistakes of her past, and one of them is Tals.  She plans to contact Tals again to see where their relationship will take them now after ending thirteen years ago.  Quiet and lonely, he and his brother Tenn had joined the Vipers, the local MC (motorcycle club) run by Preacher.  As luck would have it, Maddie gets a flat tire on her way into town, and who is driving by but Tals? And he changes her tire.  She lets him know she is going to be in town and wants to reconnect with him, and she doesn't even feel snubbed when he lets her know she is a part of his past, a past he'd prefer not to think about.

Years ago during high school, Tals saved Maddie from a rape, and then she declined to press charges against the boy because of his family connections.  Tals and Maddie were never what you'd call boyfriend and girlfriend; they met every day under a tree at school and talked or had lunch together, but she knew her father and Grandmother would never accept Tals, a member of a motorcycle club. Despite knowing what a fine person he was, she wanted to make her own way in the world.  Now she's back, older and wiser, and determined to see if they still have any sort of connection. Then they go on a date and, afterwards, Tals finds a bomb under her car.  Her husband Hugh had made deals with some bad men, and now they are trying to get to him through her.  That's not happening on Tals's watch, so he moves her into the Vipers clubhouse, and everyone is set to protect her.

At the age of seventeen, Tals and his brother Tenn decided they wanted to be Vipers and asked Preacher if they could join.  Their mother had died, and the Vipers had a club house everyone lived in.  It was Preacher who really helped them grow up until Tals joined the service.  His relationship with Maddie was complicated, mostly talking and thinking about how he enjoyed being with her.  Then the night she was almost raped changed everything.  He took her red Mustang and went to beat up the fancy football player and his friends, and got arrested for assault.  Vipers and arrests don't go together, and the horror of that night lingers still with all the Vipers, especially Tals's brother Tenn who had to go bail him out of jail.  Tals figured when Maddie left town he should get on with his life.  It's been a long thirteen years, and despite thinking of Maddie once in a while, Tals lives for his job as the club enforcer.

Preacher is also involved with Holly, the old lady of a man in another MC who hurt her, and she has been pretending to be Preacher's old lady for safety.  Until she can accept him completely, Preacher tries valiantly to keep his distance.

Rocco is the lawyer in the Vipers and had a one night stand with a female police officer, who now tries vainly to dismiss it.  There could be something there, but will their lifestyles keep them apart?

I love Stephanie Tyler's strong characters and hunky men.  Not only is Tals with a motorcycle gang, but it is his family.  Nothing will separate them, and after Maddie got him arrested years ago, none of them like her at all.  Maddie feels she has spent her life trying to keep her father happy, and even dedicated her life to her work, just like he did all her life.  Maddie is still trying to decide if she can put herself under Tals's control, and wonders if he is really the perfect man for her, and can he forgive her for leaving town without so much as a goodbye all those years ago.  One thing did irritate me; at times the action jumped from one place to another with no lead in, and required a minute to decide what was going on.

Secondary characters are the Vipers MC: Preacher, the president; Rocco, the lawyer, who takes care of legal problems, Holly, Bear, and Tenn, Tals's brother.  None of them is so sure what Maddie wants with their club and Tals, but if Tals says she is his, the club will protect her just like everyone else.

VIPERS RULE is certainly riding on the wave of motorcycle club stories and does a very good job of presenting what they are all about.  Of course, the Vipers are a good gang and take care of their members and their town.  Tals is afraid to believe Maddie could care for him, but when danger comes, he will do what needs to be done to save her.  Maddie soon realizes she must make a decision: does she want to please her father and grandmother, or herself, and is the Vipers where she wants to be?  VIPERS RUN (July 2014) features other Vipers members, Cade and Calla.  Knowing some past happenings might make VIPERS RULE a little easier to relate to, but altogether it is a standalone book.  Get ready for an exciting ride, and snap up VIPERS RULE this month.

Carolyn Crisher