Undeniable by Madeline Sheehan
Undeniable – Madeline Sheehan
Far from the norm, this book had me both loving and hating the characters in equal measure. But I set myself out to read all 3 books in the series, since I had heard so much about Deuce.
I had to get to know the man myself!
This is the story of Deuce and Eva and to all intents and purposes it is most definitely a love story – in all its craziness it proves that the heart wants what it wants and there is nothing that us mere mortals can do to change its!
We first meet Eva when she was 5 years old and visiting her father in prison – her dad being the president of a MC club. Deuce was 23 and as with Eva, he too is visiting his father in prison. They have a momentary conversation nothing more than an adult engaging with a child as a common courtesy you may think but Eva even from that very tender age was entranced by the man and as she grew up nothing changed. Deuce gave her his father’s tags on that very first meeting – again as a soothing gesture to a child but they became her most treasured possession one that she never removed.
Throughout her childhood the pair are often at the same events and in the same company, Eva had never forgotten Deuce and knew in her heart that she loved him but to Deuce his feelings were far from simple – he was captivated by the young Eva and when she was just 16 years old they have their very first intimate experience together. Deuce is 34 at the time and two years later, he takes what he believes to be his, no matter how wrong it may seem to those on the outside and at just 18years old, Deuce takes her virginity.
I don’t profess to understand the world of the Motorcycle Club but from the story it appears that they definitely have a hierarchy that is almost dictatorial. Eva’s father shoots Deuce for being with Eva but as he is the President of a fellow club he doesn’t kill him – why not – what father in his right mind would watch (and yes, I mean watch on a CCTV camera while a man almost twice your daughter’s age is intimate with her in a stairwell of all places!)
The complexities if the club was sometimes lost on me as was the fact that the story is actually told over several decades.
But what I did get from it was the endurance of how they felt about each other. It was completely outside of their control, visceral you could say. It controlled and determined their fate in every way. The love between them was tangible and despite that fact that Deuce really was quite the arse to her for most of the book – there was no denying that he loved her and that she loved him.
The book was raw in it natural form and that made it a compelling read. I wanted to see what happened next, I wanted to know what fucked up thing Deuce was going to do – to see whether she would finally give him his marching orders and tell him to fuck off or if really there was something beyond the laws of nature that anchored her to this man.
The book contained plenty more besides just Deuce and Eva. The workings and dealing of the club are prominent throughout the story as are a plethora of supplementary characters, some of which I found quite endearing – if not the situations they were in. And some of which I would have quite happily taken a bat to their heads.
No prude by any means, some of the situations and the use of women was a little to near the knuckle for my liking but if that is true to life then it is a shame that some people are prepared to live like that. The infidelity and promiscuity is holy cow – epic – how on earth is there not a slew of little bikers around their compound or a plethora disease riddled beings! Please people reign it in!!!
Overall, I got the love between the pair of them though at times I was loathed to be able to understand it but when it was good, it was the type of love that make the pain worth having.
Rating 4 out of 5