Book Review: Undeniable by Madeline Sheehan

Title:  Undeniable
Series:  Undeniable (Book 1)
Author:  Madeline Sheehan
Genre:  Contemporary Romance

Warning: This is not a "typical love story". This is an all-consuming, soul-crushing, tear-your-heart-into-pieces story. It’s intense, gritty and raw, dark and disturbing, and it doesn’t happen overnight. This is an epic love story that knows no boundaries and has no time limits. It grows and develops—with hurt, sacrifice, and heartache—over the span of a lifetime. ~ Madeline Sheehan's book description from Goodreads.

Undeniable is one of those books you often see featured all over the place with a disclaimer that it is AWESOME!  It has been on my "to read" list for quite some time and as usual, I fall prey to the hype and have to pick up a copy to see if it really is "that business." 
The disclaimer provided above is listed everywhere I see reviews for this book, however for some reason I didn't take it seriously and started the book only to get the SHOCK of my life!  Madeline Sheehan's description provided for this book encompasses all of the intensity of the book and then some.

The hero (Deuce) meets his heroine (Eva) when she is 5 and he is 23.  Both were visiting their fathers in prison, and both characters have been raised in a motorcycle club and lived the "club life" for so long that's all they know. Sheehan starts their interactions as sweet and innocent and takes readers through a series of encounters that happens during motorcycle club events.  Readers get an inside look at Eva as she ages and becomes more mature, but they also get insight into Deuce's internal dialogue that results from his encounters with Eva. Deuce sees Eva as sweet and pure and agonizes over how much of the "club life" her father has exposed her to.  He doesn't want to see Eva tainted by the sleaziness of the motorcycle club.

I won't recant the story because I think it is one of those that you really should experience for yourself, however I will say this book forced me to stretch my boundaries and to make a conscious effort to think more open minded.  I will also admit my initial reaction towards the huge age difference was a complete turn-off and I had to work really hard not to stop reading the book altogether.  Although Sheehan doesn't write the story in a way that introduces an "icky" factor, she does allow Deuce to cross the lines of acceptable behavior when Eva reaches the age of 16.

If you were older darlin', I'd have you on the back of my bike and in my f*****' bed and you'd be not just likin' it but lovin' it, beggin' me for more. ~Deuce to Ava when she was 16

Eva and Deuce's relationship most definitely doesn't follow the traditional relationship trends where boy meets girl, boy thinks girl is the shit, boy falls in love with the girl, and boy forsakes all others....blah blah blah!  Deuce does meet Eva and thinks she's the shit, and Deuce also falls head over heels in love with Eva, but he definitely doesn't do the forsaking all others bit!  Additionally, Deuce is a criminal, he's violent, and he's mean!

Eva starts out sweet and innocent and she acknowledges that she fell in love with Deuce at the age of 5 because she thought he was beautiful, but being in the "club life" she has learned hard lessons and seen a lot of bad stuff go down.  She also inherits a possessive semi-sibling that latches onto her and thinks he can't eat, sleep, shit or breath without Eva by his side.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. I couldn't put down and had to force myself to stop reading so that I could sleep and go to work. Once I got over my hangups regarding the age difference, and the constant use of the words bitch and the dreaded "C" word to describe women, I was okay.  I'm on the fence about whether to continue the series just because it was such a tough read for me.  In my real life I'm a therapist and I have seen so many abused teenage girls so the treatment of Eva by Deuce was difficult to swallow, as were some of the other issues covered in the book. I do admit that I'm intrigued and will most likely continue the series at some point just because I'm curious about the other characters.  Hats off to Madeline Sheehan for taking a risk and writing a book that represents some tough realities!  I definitely had to stretch my boundaries and be open minded to finish this book.  So much of my reading romance novels has been about escaping into an alternate reality where real life issues don't happen and this book forced me to allow some reality into my dream world! This one gets a solid 4 notes and 5 flames!

~Rockin Review by Nettie