Lone Rider (Mass Market Paperback)

Dallas Haynes rode through the night with the light from his motorcycle cutting a swathe through the darkness. Up ahead on the desolate highway, he saw the flashing lights of a vehicle parked by the side of the road just as his headlight picked up the sight of two gigantic elks standing in the middle of the road. He laid down on the brakes, his motorcycle skidding, almost laying over. As he brought his bike under control beside the vehicle, the car door opened and a vision of loveliness stepped from inside.

Tess looked up at the biker who had nearly run over the elk. Long dark hair tied back in a ponytail, silver eyes gleaming, a fierce expression on his face as he glared at her. A nightmare come true. Then she saw the headlights and the roars of the other bikes as they came upon them. The nightmare truly began.

Is it a thriller or a romance? Lauren Bach does an excellent job in combining both in LONE RIDER. This is a page-turner book if I have ever read one. Lauren Bach is one hot writer - in more ways than one. Bach has earned herself a place on my most favorite author list and is there to stay. I highly recommend this book not only to romance readers but to fans of the thriller genre as well.

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Reviewed by Kristie Leigh Maguire...

This is not a bad book, it's an easy read and Ms Bach definately has the 'sizzle' factor tied down, but our beautiful blond heroine managed to irritate me constantly, starting with travelling over deserted country without a mobile phone, without letting anyone know her itinery, in an expensive car and forgeting to either check her gas, or the distance to the next gas station. And she also cries. A Lot. Granted I'd probably bawl my eyes out if I was faced with the prospect of being gang raped by a bunch of ugly, murderous drug dealing bikers, but that along with the fact that her sole display of strength of character was pulling a nail out of a window and killing a rat with her shoe, failed to endear me. The sex is hot enough but does she HAVE to be a virgin? Especially a gorgeous 26-year old virgin, whose ex-fiance was too interested in his career to think about sleeping with her? Yeah right!(And by the way, ever since the movie "The truth about cats and dogs", I am convinced that there is no such thing as a good 'phone sex' scene and Ms Bach, I feel, could have left that one out).

All in all, I found our heroine didn't deserve the patient but somewhat lifeless hero and the plot flat not delivering the excitement it promised. What would have saved this book is humor. Cherry Adair wrote the same book but better, its called "Hide and Seek" and it's full of humor with the writer keeping her tongue firmly in her cheek. Ms Bach seems to be taking the whole thing way too seriously and looses the opportunity to present us with a gritty heroine that has the presence of mind to play the 'biker-babe' and win our hearts - shame. I'd say read this if you've finished all Karen Robards contemporary novels, have ran out of Linda Howard's and have already read Susan Andersen's "Exposure". You can always put this one in the shopping basket and 'save until later'... much later.