NINE MINUTES (Minutes Book #1) by BETH FLYNN
8 November, 2014
Our Review
‘I was no victim. Never had been. Never would be.’
J&G: One of our BEST reads this year!!! Imagine how gutted we were to find we’ve had this hidden gem sitting on our Kindles for a while! Thank you Beth Flynn! It’s been quite some time since we’ve felt compelled to pull an all-nighter on a work night but Nine Minutes wasn’t a book we could easily put down. Not even for a minute. It CONSUMED us. From the very first page and we mean from THE very first page this was a book that demanded our attention and who were we to deny it! Our mojo is back! This was one hell of a debut from this author.
‘Would he ever let me in? …I knew virtually nothing about him. Not his name, nothing about his past.’
The prologue was extremely powerful and set the tone and the mood for what was to come. There was a sense of foreboding, a haunting feeling, and a knot in the pit of our stomachs that never left us as we experienced so many emotions. One day later and we’re still stunned over the realness of the story, the talent of this author, not to mention the shocks and surprises throughout.
“Why me?”
There’s no doubt about it, this story was brutal, violent and gruesome. However, we never felt the violence was there as a means to merely shock the reader, it didn’t feel gratuitous. It was written in such a way as to provide the reader with a sense of realism, an insight into the dark world of this lawless brotherhood. And it did indeed feel disturbingly real. We were shocked, in shock and left shell shocked!
‘I kept forgetting that he didn’t get to be the leader of this gang by being soft. He was hard. He was cold-blooded. He was ruthless in his pursuit of what he wanted.’
The author tells Grizz and Ginny’s through Ginny’s eyes in such a way you feel as though you’re reading a person’s private diary, as though you’re living the moments with them firsthand and this, only adds to the emotion and horror you feel as events that unfold. We see through young Ginny’s eyes, from a young girl through to a young woman and her voice is resilient, strong, witty and loving. As her past unfolds our hearts broke. We hear it all. From the young giggles of infatuation through to the feelings of a young woman riddled with guilt over the deep seated love she feels for a man whose way of life abhors and frightens her. What she experiences is sometimes terrifying but she is one gutsy, sassy young lady and we adored her.
‘My love for him was causing me to hate myself.’
Grizz was a hard man. He’s the Prez of Satan’s Army MC Club exudes raw sexuality and can be charming when he wants to be, is a law unto himself. He’s tough and unforgiving yet where Ginny /Kit is concerned there is a tenderness to this man that had our hearts melting. How a man so feared and revered could be so overcome and obsessed by this young girl was incomprehensible and also oddly heart-melting.
“Does that surprise you, Kit? That I’m in love with you.”
Each character in Nine Minutes has a story to tell and each story was fascinating, heartbreaking as we came to know these rugged bikers and the bond that brought them together.
This MC book felt so different to others we’ve read. It had a suspenseful thriller aspect to it and the sex is fade to black. This author doesn’t gloss over dangerous biker culture Ginny finds herself a part of and we have to say the writing was stunning. We didn’t skip a single word!
We don’t want to go into a detailed review covering the book because you don’t want to hear that from us, you want to hear it from Ginny, you want to experience her life for yourself and far be it for us to ruin one moment of this story. Ginny’s recount of her life will leave you gasping!
‘I would see his brutality unleashed on many people over the coming years regardless of their sex, age or physical ability. It didn’t matter. I would see later that he never abused anyone for the sake of abuse. He didn’t enjoy it. It didn’t please him to hurt people. ‘Kit
Did we love this book? That’s a hard to use that word in conjunction with this story because it is so raw and gritty. It was an outstanding read. Compelling, powerful, haunting and it’s one we will be talking about for quite a while. WE ARE STILL REELING! We can’t recommend this book enough!See these faces? They’re the faces of two very happy, passionate readers experiencing a severe book hangover and what a fantastic feeling it is! This book is a clear example of the saying ‘never judge a book by its cover.’
Synopsis
On May 15, 1975, fifteen-year-old Ginny Lemon is abducted from a convenience store in Fort Lauderdale by a member of one of the most notorious and brutal motorcycle gangs in South Florida.
From that moment on, her life is forever changed. She gets a new name, a new identity and a new life in the midst of the gang’s base on the edge of the Florida Everglades—a frightening, rough and violent world much like the swamps themselves, where everyone has an alias and loyalty is tantamount to survival.
And at the center of it all is the gang’s leader, Grizz: massive, ruggedly handsome, terrifying and somehow, when it comes to Ginny, tender. She becomes his obsession and the one true love of his life.
So begins a tale of emotional obsession and manipulation, of a young woman ripped from everything she knows and forced to lean on the one person who provides attention, affection and care: her captor. Precocious and intelligent, but still very much a teenager, Ginny struggles to adapt to her existence, initially fighting and then coming to terms with her captivity.
Will she be rescued? Will she escape? Will she get out alive—or get out at all? Part psychological thriller, part coming-of-age novel, filled with mystery, romance and unexpected turns, Nine Minutes takes readers into the world of one motorcycle gang and inside the heart of a young girl, whose abduction brought about its fall.
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ltenag said:
One clicked this book when I saw your review and read it in one sitting. Loved it! Definitely a favorite and can’t wait for book 2.