Audiobook Review – Under Locke by Mariana Zapata

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 and impatient, and he doesn't know how to tell time. And the last thing they ever expected was each other.

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I’m back with another “Listen While I Work on my House” read. I enjoyed Mariana Zapata’s Wall of Winnipeg in Me (My Review) overall, so I decided to pick up another of her books. Like in Winnipeg, Zapata’s brews a slow-burning romance packed with tattoos, piercings, motorcycle gangs, and a frustratingly sexy alpha hero in UNDER LOCKE.

Iris gets a job in Dex Locke’s tattoo shop, thanks to her brother, Locke’s best friend. But Locke isn’t to happy to see her there. He’s kind of a dick to her at first, but the more time they spend together, the more she’s cracks his hard exterior and finds a sweet guy underneath it all. Dex is part of the same motorcycle gang as Iris’s estranged father. Her father’s dangerous past comes back to haunt them, and Dex steps in to protect the woman he’s starting to fall head over heels for.

I hadn’t read any of Zapata’s other books prior to picking up Winnipeg and this one, but I’m starting to see a pattern with her books. This is the second book of hers that has had a REALLY long and drawn-out slow-burning romance with a hero who is a complete jerk to the heroine for no apparent reason. Slow-burning romances with jerky heroes don’t bother me per se. However, what Under Locke needed desperately was editing, a more compelling plot, and a better conflict. I reached a point in this book where nothing was happening. Like in Winnipeg, there was way to much fluff and unnecessary content. Unlike in Winnipeg, the plot and characters weren’t nearly as compelling to help keep me interested in the middle of all the stagnant fluff.

Have you read any of this author’s books? If so, I’d love to know which ones you liked the most. Any other contemporary romance recommendations?

* I borrowed this audiobook from my local library.