Book Review: Lock & Key (Lock & Key #1) by Cat Porter

This book destroyed me... but in a good way. Intense doesn't even cover it. It was thrilling and exciting to read and had an exceptional build. Prepare for a heck of a journey with Lock & Key!

Lock & Key (Lock & Key #1) by Cat Porter

A steamy small town love story - A unique and full of feels second chance romance

One fiery night with a beautiful woman makes Lock feel alive again, but he doesn't realize it's her, his obsession from the past. His mentor’s widow.

When her biker husband was murdered sixteen years ago, Grace Quillen took off from her small hometown forever. But when tragedy strikes again, forty-two year old Grace must return to care for her sister and little nephew. One night she indulges in explosive heat with Lock, an attractive stranger she meets at a bar, but the morning after, she's shaken by her fateful mistake.

Why?

He’s no stranger.

Not only is he an officer in her husband's bike club, but the two men had once been close friends, although Grace had never had a chance to meet him. Fate is a twisted bitch with a bitter sense of humor.

Lock had heard all about Grace from her husband years ago, from his brothers, seen her in photographs. Hell, she'd become his ultimate dream woman. A fantasy.

Now that once-in-a-lifetime fantasy is his reality, and he’s craving more. A hell of a lot more.

But the club has other plans. For the two of them.

A brutal firestorm is ignited by a traitor in the MC, and suddenly Grace is in the thick of the dangerous life she’d once left behind. Yet she and Lock are on opposite sides of the mayhem. With her nephew’s safety at risk and so many volatile secrets on the line, she must summon all her determination and grit, while Lock is driven to find the fight in himself once more and do whatever it takes to protect Grace, whether she or his president wants him to or not.

Suspicions simmer, loyalties strain, hearts ache.

The truth hurts.

Once Grace and Lock had nothing.

Now, they both have so damn much to lose.

5 out of 5 stars

Lock and Key was an intense story with really unique and broken characters that pulled me in. It was a raw and gritty second chance romance and I was consumed by this world, the culture, and the dynamics taking place. An excellent read!

I loved learning Grace’s history and watching her fall in love with two different men at two different times in her life. It is an interesting thing knowing she lost her husband going in, yet reading the story and rooting for them, but at the same time rooting for this new guy. It made my heart hurt and feel full at the same time. I loved learning about Miller, he was so sweet and alpha but could be harsh and gruff. There was an amazing build, seriously sexy moments mixed in with the drama and grit. There was a lot of emotion happening and I was caught up in it all.

This story is not for the faint of heart. It’s unrelenting, dirty, and sometimes violent. It was filled with sexually explicit and hot scenes that very much went with the biker culture presented in the story. On more than one occasion I wanted to yell at these characters for some of the choices they were making but it made so much sense for their world even though it made me cringe. I was fascinated by the different roles, hierarchies, and politics.

The writing was great and I loved the build. It was incredibly detailed with lots of layers happening. There's also a nice suspense element involved and I had a million questions all the way through but by the end, they were all answered. A page-turner for sure!. This was my first time reading this author and I'm kicking myself for not starting sooner.