Review: Walk the Edge by Katie McGarry

Title: Walk the Edge (Thunder Road #2)

Author: Katie McGarry

Date of publication: 29 March 2016

Genre: YA/NA romance, bikers

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My rating: 4 Stars

Synopsis

One moment of recklessness will change their worlds.

Smart. Responsible. That's seventeen-year-old Breanna's role in her large family, and heaven forbid she put a toe out of line. Until one night of shockingly un-Breanna-like behavior puts her into a vicious cyber-bully's line of fire—and brings fellow senior Thomas "Razor" Turner into her life. 

Razor lives for the Reign of Terror motorcycle club, and good girls like Breanna just don't belong. But when he learns she's being blackmailed over a compromising picture of the two of them—a picture that turns one unexpected and beautiful moment into ugliness—he knows it's time to step outside the rules. 

And so they make a pact: he'll help her track down her blackmailer, and in return she'll help him seek answers to the mystery that's haunted him—one that not even his club brothers have been willing to discuss. But the more time they spend together, the more their feelings grow. And suddenly they're both walking the edge of discovering who they really are, what they want, and where they're going from here.

Review 

This is the second book in Katie McGarry’s Thunder Road series of YA/NA motorcycle club stories. I haven’t been reading much YA lately but I love Ms McGarry’s books and though the first one in this series was not a big hit with me, I was excited to try the next one.

I can honestly say I loved this one. It was so real and emotional, nothing light-hearted and easy about it. Its depth and seriousness were convincingly presented and the author made me care deeply about the characters.

I loved both Breanna and Razor and their romance was such a pleasure to follow. They seem complete opposites and two people who have nothing in common, yet they turned out to be just what the other needed.

I liked how the story explored serious issues they both face – her difficult family situation, the isolation even from her siblings and parents, all her hopes and dreams crushed because of  family obligations, her parents' lack of care or proper concern about Breanna’s feelings. Her family were not downright bad, just complicated, well-meaning but also oblivious and missing a lot of what was going on with their kids.

Razor’s troubles and issues were much heavier in a way – troubles with the motorcycle club, his distrust of those closest to him (and it was well deserved because they were all keeping secrets from him, which was the least pleasant element of the story for me and one I really disliked), problems at school, the unresolved issue of his mother's death and the public opinion of him as crazty, unstable, dangereous bad boy biker.

Ultimately, what brought Breanna and Razor together was a mix of their own issues and just a little help of a truly nasty classmate. The whole blackmail situation was very interesting and highlighted a problem common for many young people, online harassment/bullying. I think the author handled the issues really well drawing attention to its importance in present day and how difficult it is for young people to fight it.

I also really loved the romance in the story – tender and tentative, first-time love, some naivete, some misunderstandings, but so much heart-warming love and desire to be together despite everybody’s disapproval. Things didn’t magically work out for Razor and Breanna. They issues they had were serious and needed time and interference from all the adults around them to be properly solved by the end.

It’s a story of personal growth, of first love, of (re)building family relationships and building your way into the future.

Depth and profoundness, a YA romance that deals with real issues many young people face. It’s tender and sweet but doesn’t shy away from the rougher edges of life, especially keeping in mind that Razor is a member of a (legitimate) motorcycle club.

It explores ideas of image and appearances, how the other see and judge you and how you see yourself and finding your way into adulthood.

Ms McGarry is my to-go author for YA romance and heartily recommend all her books for her realistic and compassionate treatment of the many of the issues young people face today. There will be more books in this series and I can’t wait to see what she has prepared in store for us with them.

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