✨Im Literary Anxious✨

𝗘𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲🕒: 2 minutes

𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿: Allison Aldridge✍🏻 𝗣𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁: 398 📖

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗤𝗨𝗜𝗖𝗞 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗗𝗜𝗥𝗧𝗬

𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘀: ⭐⭐.5
𝗦𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿: 🟦🟩🟨
𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁: Series 
𝗘𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗲: TBC
𝗡𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝘆𝗹𝗲: Dual POV

𝗧𝗥𝗢𝗣𝗘𝗦

♠️ MC Romance
♞ Enemies to Lovers
♠️ Crime Syndicates
♞ Possessive MMC
♠️ Hidden Identity
♞ Forced Proximity

𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪

I have never had such a conflicting reading experience in my life.

Have you ever started reading and felt super confident that “yes, this is going to be a good one.”

And next thing you know your kindle has betrayed you because, “what the actual fuck are you letting me read?” 

A quick disclaimer, this is an MC romance in the loosest sense of the word. As someone who has read a lot of MC stories, it took a bit to confirm “ah, yeah, it’s supposed to be an MC” 

So, if you like your MC men to come with a side of bikes… you might be disappointed.

Honestly, this read way more mafia than anything else. 

Out of Cards follows Acelynn, the presumed sole survivor of a crime family massacre, as she infiltrates the Knights of Lovelen to uncover the truth behind her family’s destruction and get revenge on the man she believes responsible.

Sounds good, doesn’t it?

Murdered crime family? Cool. Love them stabby.
Hidden identity? Nothing bad has ever come from pretending to be someone else.
A heroine seeking revenge? Let the bridges you burn keep you warm sis.
A morally gray motorcycle club king? Ma’am, that’s a double positive. 

Acelynn was easily one of my favorite parts of the book (granted, there weren’t a ton to pull from). She’s stubborn, mouthy, reckless, and has absolutely ZERO sense of self-preservation.

The woman sees danger and immediately decides to get closer to it.
She would 100% be the one running up the stairs instead of out the door when being chased in a slasher movie. 

Kaius, however…

Sir. 😒

There were (very few) moments where I absolutely understood the appeal. Protective, possessive, obsessed. You know, all the red flags any self-respecting reader completely disregards. 

The rest of the time I alternated between handing him a juice box and telling him to sit quietly in the corner or straight up throwing hands. 

Personally, the romance just wasn’t there for me.  I never fully bought into Kaius the way I wanted to.

But you know who I did buy into?

Nolan.
And Astoria.

The side characters somehow wandered into this book and stole 70% of my attention almost immediately. 

Every time those two appeared on page, I suddenly became very invested in whatever nonsense they had going on.

Which is honestly impressive considering this wasn’t even their story.

As for the plot… I enjoyed it.
But I also have questions.
A lot of questions.

Some of them were answered.
Some of them created three new questions.

That said, the book definitely kept me turning pages. Between corrupt cops, rival clubs, betrayals, hidden agendas, family secrets, and enough plot twists to give me whiplash, I was never bored.

Confused? Perplexed? Frustrated? Yes.
But never bored. 

And the times the story did land, it landed with some genuinely badass moments.

“I’m a Knight.”

Yeah, okay.
That one hit.

Would I recommend it?

If you enjoy “MC” romances, morally gray characters, crime-family drama, hidden identities, and a plot that keeps escalating until everyone is committing felonies and making questionable life choices, then yes.

Will I be reading Nolan and Astoria’s book?

Unfortunately for me, yes.

Because now I need answers.

And based on that epilogue, I have a feeling I’m only going to end up with more questions.