REVIEW: Under Locke by Mariana Zapata

OUR REVIEW:

Honestly, it's been years and years since I've read a novel by Mariana Zapata--not for any particular reason other than life happens so when Under Locke came across my timeline and it was crazy on sale, I bought it and quickly remembered why I enjoyed her previous novels. I truly think she's got to be one of the queens of the s-l-o-w b-u-r-n. I mean seriously. She gives us these two characters-Locke and Iris-and continues to throw them together. Builds all the tension. Drops all of the hints that things are happening, despite one of the characters being clueless. And just lets us simmer and simmer until BAM! They finally explode and it's glorious. 

The premise is probably not all that innovative--there's a motorcycle club, a money situation, threats, violence, and danger--so it's really the characters and their reactions to things that drive you to keep turning pages. You want to see the resolution of the drama, the resolution of family matters, and an idea of how Locke and Iris will make it all work and you get all of that in a way that can be torturous in the slow burn but soooo satisfactory too.

This may be an oldy, but Under Locke is definitely a goody. 

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SYNOPSIS:

He was my boss, my brother’s friend, a Widow, an ex-felon, and a man I’d seen casually with a handful of women. But he was everything that gripped me, both the good and the bad. Worst case scenario if things turned awkward between us, I could go somewhere else. I’d gotten over epic heartbreak before, one more wouldn’t kill me.

--

After moving to Austin following six months of unemployment back home, Iris Taylor knows she should be glad to have landed a job so quickly... even if the business is owned by a member of the same motorcycle club her estranged father used to belong to. Except Dex Locke might just be the biggest jerk she’s ever met. He’s rude, impatient and doesn’t know how to tell time.

And the last thing they ever expected was each other.

But it was either the strip club or the tattoo shop.

… she should have chosen the strip club.

--

“Babe, I’ve handpicked everythin’ and everyone in here. I know what I want and I get what I want,” he breathed. “And I keep what’s mine.”