in the end of this story, Joker and Desiree demonstrate that real love can endure even under the most trying circumstances. Barbara Nolan's Past Redemption/Joker captivates the heart, gives hope, then all falls apart. What's worse is that Joker is kicked when he is down after having the rug torn out from under him. One of those outlaw bikers, Joker is not just attractive but also has a good heart hidden beneath a hard appearance. Desiree has a heart of gold, and she is incredibly protective. Readers will find this duo endearing. Particularly with their son Derek, it's an epic type of love that comes naturally and without conditions. Sadly, Joker's history comes up with him and poses a threat to separate them. Desiree is eager to support him, but as they struggle to maintain their union, their bond is put to the test.

You might need a tissue box to deal with the flood of tears

Good story!

When Joker's loser father, Ace, gets invited to be apart of an MC Club, he takes his teenage kid with him to live in the club. Joker has never relied on anyone else but himself, his father is an abusive person who only cares about himself. When an another member takes Joker under his wing, teaching him how to restore bikes and cars, he learns to becomes money savy as well.

When Desiree's car breaks down the street from the clubhouse, a runaway 18 year old, the couple fall of in love with each and later have a son. But ten years later, when she becomes a pawn between the Russian Mob and their MC, Joker loses everything. Now he just wants out of the club, to live safely with their son. But he has one last job to do. Is it a setup for failure?

A must read!

This is part of Barbara's Serpents MC Las Vegas series and focuses on Joker’s story before he became a Serpent. It wasn’t an easy read. Here we learn what made Joker who he is and gives the reader his and Desiree’s beginning. what made Joker who he is. It gives us Joker and Desiree’s early journey. Barbara Nolan has delivered a great read that had this reader rooting for them. If you enjoy dark MC books, you won’t regret this one.

Thank you NetGalley, Barbara Nolan and BooksGoSocial for the copy of this book which I voluntarily read and reviewed. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I feel very neutral about this book. I did not overly enjoy this one, but I also did not hate it. The story line was moving rather quickly for my taste. I felt like the story was missing some parts because the timeline would jump sporadically and in big chunks. I loved the plot of the story and how at some points it pulled on my heart strings.

Thank you to NetGalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

My, my, my, this one took me on a journey. First of all, there was a lot of time covered in such a short read, so there were some abrupt time jumps, but nothing that was too distracting thank goodness. Joker and Desiree were an opposites attract duo from the start and I enjoyed their relationship for the most part. It was a bit one dimensional, which is fine, but due to the fact that there was so much depth to the personalities of the characters, I thought it was odd that their relationship was so cookie cutter. For all the sunshine and rainbows that was their relationship, this story itself was dark, not for the overly sensitive. Then again I doubt that the overly sensitive would be reading MC romance anyway so there you go. I don't have any issue with the story albeit was a bit sad, by the end of it, I did want to see what became of the characters. This steamy scenes were nice, if not out of this world. Overall its a good quickish read to pick up on a rainy day.
Story: 4 out of 5 stars
Spice: 4 out of 5 peppers.

Thought the book was all over the place. It moved so fast through his life that it was mostly an overview. Would have liked more of a story then jumping around. Then it ends on a cliffhanger, not a big fan of that either.

*WARNING* harsh language, sexual situations, rape and suicide.
I enjoyed this book. I feel sorry for the character "Joker". As a child he had a terrible life. His life starts to get better and tragedy strikes again. This poor guy just can't catch a break and still with abandonment issues with his mother. He has questions that Shirley may be able to answer. If you're looking for a happy ending, this isn't the book for you. Rough characters. Drugs. Bad language. Bad attitudes. Trauma and heartbreak. This biker mc books is pretty emotional and the author does well to make this reader feel them. Well written, but I'm not fond of the cliffhanger ending.

Quite enjoyed this bad boy meets innocent girl story! Such a gripping sons of anarchy type of storyline!

I loved the story, which had a couple of unexpected turns. There was a lot of emotions and lots of spice. I'm definitely going to read the series if it's accessible. What a fun read!

This is definitely a book that I enjoyed. I liked the storyline, which had a couple of unexpected turns. There was emotion, adult content and I'm definitely going to read the series if it's accessible via Amazon. A great read which left me wanting more...

Emotional read.
Growing up in poverty and neglect, Joker only hopes to make it to the next day. Abandoned by his mother, and left with Ace, his abusive father, survival challenges him daily.
When Joker patches in to the Raiders MC he vows to make the club his family.
His only commitment.
Until Desiree.
Joker’s world flips sideways when Desiree, a runaway waif stumbles into the clubhouse looking for refuge. First love is intoxicating and Joker falls hard. He tries to shield Desiree from the violent side of MC life, but when an old grudge surfaces, she becomes a pawn in a dangerous game of greed, and power.
Time is running out~~Or is it already too late?
I would love to read further books. Her writing is fantastic and kept me guessing what would . happen

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC. I truly enjoyed this story but i was unhappy that from one chapter to the next, years had passed. I wanted to see the inbetween. It was a surprising ending and i didnt see it coming. But i did like it

Past Redemption/Joker by Barbara Nolan.
Serpents MC Las Vegas Book 1.
Growing up in poverty and neglect, Joker only hopes to make it to the next day. Abandoned by his mother, and left with Ace, his abusive father, survival challenges him daily.
When Joker patches in to the Raiders MC he vows to make the club his family.
His only commitment.
Until Desiree.
Joker’s world flips sideways when Desiree, a runaway waif stumbles into the clubhouse looking for refuge. Bruised and beaten, clothes way too big for her frail, fragile body, yet she lights up Joker’s dark road letting him see a future he didn’t know exists.
First love is intoxicating and Joker falls hard. He tries to shield Desiree from the violent side of MC life, but when an old grudge surfaces, she becomes a pawn in a dangerous game of greed, and power.
Time is running out~~Or is it already too late.
Really good read. I liked Desiree. 4*.

This was a pretty decent MC book. I went in blind so I wasn’t sure what it was really about other than it being about a motorcycle club. It stretched quite a few years and the whole thing read like a huge prologue. I feel like my assumptions were confirmed when the series is called Serpent MC Las Vegas and the entire book took place in upstate New York. One of the things I didn’t like was because it moved so fast (it could span years in a single chapter) it was harder to connect with the characters and at times read like a summary instead of a book.

Stars: 3
POV: single, 3rd perso
HEA?: no
Cheating: no
Cliffhanger?: yes
TW: rape, violence
Tropes: motorcycle club

I picked this book up because I thought it would be a quick fun read and it reminded me of another series that I enjoyed. Unfortunately, I did not like this book and will be rating it 2 stars. The story was moving very quickly, every few pages or sections within a chapter being anywhere between weeks to years later. Because of this, I felt like I was being whipped all over the place and the story was hard to follow. It also made the book feel like 10 different story lines was happening. I did not have a connection to any of the characters so when something bad happened, a death for example, I didn't feel as emotional for the affected characters. Overall, the story has promise but could have been executed better.

Sadly, this was a miss for me!

The whole MC-club and Joker felt like a bad caricature of SOA...

And the time passing was weird - within like 10 pages 7 years had passed, and this is where I lost the small connection, I had with the main characters...

Hopefully others will have a better experience with this book.

Well, I devoured this one. It was a quick read and I grew to quickly love some of the characters (Joker, Desiree, Sammy, Shirley, Flash), but I felt like it was a bit too quick.
It had all the classic MC Romance tropes and even a sneaky "who did this too you"
The last third of this book emotionally wrecked me (be sure to check triggers before diving in).

Joker is fast paced, thrilling story is so seductive and also quite charming. Fantastic writing! I gladly gave myself to the angst, the suspense and the sensuality of it.