All Hail
by J. Bree
Self-Published
Book 1 in the Queen Crow Trilogy
The death of my serial killer father was supposed to free me.
After the horrors of high school my family has reluctantly left me behind to heal from my trauma on my own terms but since my kidnapping I no longer know the girl who stares back at me in the mirror.
The love of my life is avoiding me, desperate to keep me safe, and the man who should hate me won’t stop coming to my rescue. I’ve always known what I wanted but now I’m not so sure.
But the criminal underworld of Mounts Bay never sleeps and with new players on the board there’s all new threats and the stakes have never been higher.
But one thing is for sure.
I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees.
Genre:
I gotta say - I was excited for this one. I loved Avery in Hannaford Prep, and I was always so curious about her relationship with The Crow and obviously was curious about what happened when she was captured by The Jackal in the last Hannaford Prep book.
I like what we learn, and the rather unexpected romance. I honestly didn't think J. Bree would do another reverse harem in the Mounts Bay Saga, and I was frustrated, because I really wanted to see progress between Avery and The Crow, but J. Bree worked her magic, and I fell head over heels with Aodhan. I feel like he is a good balance for her high-strung personality, and gives her the freedom to be who she is. He understands that like it or not, she is in this world, and he has to let her find her way. It's the total opposite with Atticus, to the point where he pushes her away just to keep her safe. Atticus and Avery are very much alike in their need for control, so I understand why Avery needed Aodhan. While the start of their bond is obviously uncomfortable, it helps that Aodhan does his best to insure that he doesn't hate Avery.
As for the story ... meh. Interesting, I guess. I find the amount of power Lips, Avery and crew have is a bit ridiculous, but I'm not reading these books because they are realistic ... I'm reading them for an entertaining story and hot sex.
All Hail isn't a masterpiece, but if you enjoy the other Mounts Bay Saga books, you will enjoy this one too!
Aodhan: “You’re ruthless and you’re fierce. You’re unstoppable and you’re so fucking loyal that you won the Wolf’s friendship. The Jackal doesn’t fucking know who he’s messing with.” Thank God for the sound-proofing I thought to put into this place. There’re things a girl doesn’t need to hear her brother doing and my bestie is one of those things. Harley: "Ash isn't the only one who breathes for you, Floss. I’d level fucking cities for you, any of us would. If you need some quiet then it’s yours, just… just don’t drown in it.” I wish I wanted to go out and drink and find some stupid man to spend the night with. I wish I wanted to act my age for a minute but really, I just want to stay home and plan out how to take control of the Bay completely. How could drinking and sex compare to total world domination? Why is everyone I’m surrounded by in love and happy and complete while I’m desperately trying to scrape together the pieces of myself so I can just exist in peace? Great. The signature Blaise Morrison Pity Party has somehow infected me. Avery: “He’s not like that with me. He’s never acted like this before; he always treated me like I was important and my opinions mattered. The reason I’m furious with him is exactly that! I trusted him and all along he was lying to me. I thought I could tell him anything… and now I don’t know that. So, you add that along to my kidnapping and I’m just— I’m finding my feet again.”
Illi nods and hesitates with his hand on the door handle.
Illi: “You got ‘em right there. You just need to remember to trust them again, kid.” Illi: “Holy shit,”
he mutters and Illi huffs at him.
Illi: “Wipe your chin, for fuck’s sake. I’ll call Ash to come kill you if you pop a tent in your pants right now. I’ll fucking do it, just for funsies, because I don’t wanna see that shit.” Aodhan finally finds his words.
Aodhan: “You look fucking stunning, don’t listen to Illi. He’s blinded by his love for his wife, he can’t see just how fucking—“
Illi: “Did I not just say I’ll call the cavalry home? Keep running your mouth about her and you’ll be waking up in the morning to Ash gouging your fucking eyes out with his bare hands. I’ve seen him kill, you know? I’ve seen just how Beaumont he really is when you fuck with one of his girls and there’s a reason I trusted him with the Wolf’s safety while they prance across the country.” He huffs out a breath and scrubs a hand over his face.
Aodhan: “Illi mentioned you guys were heading out and I thought it would be best if someone was here to keep an eye on the place while you’re gone, just in case they wanna drop off another clue. Now I’m fucking glad I saw you before you left… fuck me.”
He says it like a prayer but I lean up into his space and enjoy the way he stops breathing.
Avery: “If you’re here when I get home… maybe.” Aodhan: “If that motherfucker hurt you, I’m calling Illi and taking his fucking fortress on. I’m sure we could take the suits out.”
I choke on a sob.
Avery: “He didn’t. We had sex but I wanted to… even if that’s not a smart thing to do and now here I am, telling you about it so I’ll lose you too.”
It just slips out of me, that little bit of hope that I have that all of this touching and flirting and cheek kissing means something so I tense up while I wait for him to cut me down. God, even if he did want me, I’ve just given him the best opportunity to walk out of here and forget about me. He opens the shower door and reaches in to turn the heat of the water down with a scowl.
Aodhan: “Just because you’re hurting doesn’t mean you should boil to fucking death in there.”
I glance down and find my skin way past rosy red and into that bright lobster shade that my OCD tendencies love so much.
Avery: “I need to get clean.”
His eyebrows draw together and his voice dips low.
Aodhan: “Then grab some fucking soap. Stop hurting yourself over some motherfucker who doesn’t deserve you and don’t worry about something as stupid as me leaving. You think I don’t know you love him? You think that shit will scare me off? Queenie, nothing affects you and me except you and me. He’s not going to ruin this for us, get that through that gorgeous head of yours.” Avery: "What are you doing back down here?”
He groans and pulls me in close.
Aodhan: “I got distracted; I can see your nipples through this thing and fuck if it doesn’t make me hungry for you. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about how your skin might taste or how sweet your pussy must be. I’ve never spent so long obsessing over anything in my life and then I come down here to say goodbye and you’re twirling around like a wet dream. Game over, if you hadn’t stopped when you did, I was probably going to get started without you.” Illi: “I brought coffee and a whole new set of ‘what the fuck is going on’ for us to figure the hell out,” Avery: "The entire MC is a mess of old rivalries, betrayals, and business deals gone wrong. The only ones up there who aren’t a mess are Wyatt, the cop, and Noah because he’s dead and it’s hard to be a pain in my ass when you’re already in the ground.” Lips: "Fuck. I just miss you, okay? I miss you a lot and it’s fucking weird living with this many guys and being the only girl. I got my period last week and Harley was the only one sober enough to take me to the store for supplies. Literally no one had a fucking tampon, not the bus or the venue… it’s like uteruses aren’t a thing on tour and I was pissed. I raged out a bit and then Finn said it was hormones. Avery, he almost fucking died.” Aodhan: “I was hoping to do this without ropes this time around, but if you don’t quit overthinking every little thing, I will tie you to the bed and edge you all night long. If you’re into that then keep pushing because I’m a man of my word.” Aodhan: “No fucking way. Get the dress off and get on the bed, I want to taste you not your fucking soap.” Aodhan: “I’m not giving you up for fucking anything, Queenie. Nothing would make me let you go… but if you want him as well, then I can live with that. I want your heart to be whole, not torn in half.” I sound jealous but really, I’m just pissed that while I was off surviving a war between the most dangerous crime lords in the country, this bitch was sinking her claws into the pawns of my board, the one I was born to rule. She’s eating at my fucking table and shitting all over my space. I won’t have it. Atticus: “Have dinner with me. We can finish this discussion over good food,”
Atticus says as he helps me out of the car. I shrug at him.
Avery: “I’m not sure there’s much more to say.”
He pulls me into him, ignoring his people around us shifting away from the display.
Atticus: “There’s always more, Avery. Between us, there will always be more.” Avery: "I love you, Mounty. Hurry up and finish that tour so we can plot our global domination and grow old together.” We follow him into the building and I thank God that I haven’t been forced into this building before and I pray I never have to set foot into it again because the smell… the smell is fucking foul. I gag. Illi chuckles at me.
Illi: “Yeah. The sweet stench of stale beer, cigars, and pussy. It’s not really your scene, Queenie.”
I choke the words out past the sleeve of my blazer that I press over my nose.
Avery: “We’re burning this place to the ground the second Lips is home to help out. I won’t be able to sleep tonight knowing it’s sitting here, stinking like this, in the same state as I am.”
Aodhan chuckles at me and tucks me into his side a little more securely as we walk past a large table of bikers, gambling and drinking together like this place isn’t the pits of hell.
Aodhan: “You wouldn’t have survived the Bay. Liam’s place was worse than this. Still is, we haven’t done a thing with it since we buried the asshole.”
Unacceptable.
Avery: “Illi, add it to the list. We’ll take it out as well.” I’d trust her with so much more than my twin’s life at this point. My life would’ve been so much easier if we’d both been lesbians and I could have married her by now. I sometimes think we’re the real high school sweethearts of the family but I would never say that to any of the guys. They whine too much.