Book Review – Gutter Mind: Smoke Valley MC (Sex & Mayhem #12) by K.A. Merikan
Book Blurb:
Gutter Mind: Smoke Valley MC is book 12 in K.A. Merikan’s Sex & Mayhem series. Yes, you can jump in here without having read the others, but fair warning, you will absolutely want to go back and read them all. Mike is a biker who has never given men a second thought, until a pretty stranger at a gas station makes him question everything he thought he knew about himself. Arden is done with bad boys, done with being hurt, and completely unprepared for Mike to be this relentlessly persistent about changing his mind. What starts as a bet becomes something neither of them planned for. And when a threat from Arden’s past resurfaces, the fake boyfriend arrangement stops being fake very quickly. K.A. Merikan’s MC universe hits a lot of markers for me, and this one delivered.
Book Review
I was excited to read another book in the MC universe of K.A. Merikan. Books about motorcycle clubs hit a lot of markers for me, but Gutter Mind (Sex & Mayhem #12) in particular had me especially intrigued since it is a continuation of the Smoke Valley MC saga.
Mike was an interesting character, as he was so sexually aware that he was more concerned with hitting it than he was with labeling it. Recently, books that touch on the topic of sexual identity and not having to label oneself, especially when it comes to the fact that bisexuality exists, and not everyone has to be either straight or gay. So it was interesting to see how that played out in the story.
I enjoyed Arden’s femme character. Funny enough, he was such an old soul that he read as a much more mature character than someone who was not quite yet 19, not even old enough to drink. We discover that Arden had an unconventional introduction to his sexuality, and therefore, that may make him more sexually mature, and that is why he doesn’t read as a younger character. Which was fine.
Age is not much of a factor in this story. Chemistry is, and boy do Mike and Arden have it in spades. Unlike other slow-burning stories where it seems that the tension just drags and drags until the characters finally get together, the passage of time in this book makes sense and doesn’t feel unnecessary.
Arden has vowed to himself to attempt to preserve himself somewhat, and he is still recovering emotionally from the trauma of his previous relationship, so it makes sense that they don’t just jump in the sack together. If they had, I would have been disappointed.
The two characters are so meant to be together that the conflict toward the end, which forces their *spoiler alert* separation, feels a bit forced. Like, there had to be something, so this is it. It was a bit of a skip-ahead portion in the book since I didn’t care for them being apart and preferred they just be together.
My favorite part of the book is when Mike catches his first glimpse of Arden. He is so adorably confused by what his mind is seeing and how his body is reacting to it, but ultimately doesn’t want to spend a lot of time self-assessing and would rather spend his time possessing… fun stuff.
This book is another must-read from this author duo.
Gutter Mind by K.A. Merikan is available on Kindle Unlimited.
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