Under Locke

After becoming unemployed, Iris moves in with her brother and gets a job as a receptionist in Dex's tattoo shop. Being polar opposites, Iris and Dex are off to a rocky start.  That is, until the members of another bike club and the Croatian mafia show up to collect on a debt Iris's dad owes them. With her brother gone to look for him, Iris has to move in with Dex in order to stay safe. What could go wrong when a naive innocent pretty woman moves in with a hot dangerous grumpy man?
This was my third time reading Under Locke, and when reflecting on it, I found Dex to be too much of an asshole, and Iris was a bit too naive for my liking. And some of the humor is that of an 11-year-old boy. But don't get me wrong, I still love the book! I will probably read it again in the not-very-far future, but I think the characters in more recent Mariana Zapata books are more developed and likable.  The story itself is interesting, I like seeing the relationship development in Mariana Zapata's books going slowly from dislike to friendship to love. I think that is what makes me forgive all their personality flaws and root for them!

Esse é meu primeiro livro da Mariana e estou animada para ler os outros, mesmo não tendo gostado muito da história. Seria ótimo como uma leitura para passar o tempo, se fosse 200 páginas menor.
O Slow Burn, pelo que a autora é conhecida, é muito bem feito e sempre acho mais crível e realista os personagens começarem a se gostar aos poucos (embora nesse livro em específico eles até que se gostam bem rápido). Gostei muito de como a autora aprofunda os personagens, a primeira parte do livro foi bem interessante pra mim. Mas a linguagem... Não uso palavrões e sabia que obviamente haveria pelo background dos personagens, mas pra mim empobreceu bastante a prosa da autora. Achei os diálogos bem agressivos e misóginos e não me apeguei aos personagens. Mas, como algumas amigas me garantiram que vou gostar de vários dos livros da MZ vou persistir e partir pro próximo livro dela, Kulti!

⭐ Ponto positivo: o plot é muito bom e amei a coisa toda de “família que a gente escolhe”

❌ Ponto negativo: a linguagem

I loved the build up, the side characters, and the main characters. It was 4 stars, because It took me a minute to get sucked into the novel.

Absolutely all of the feminism left my body with this.

Tall tattoo biker man, with a temper, and the need to protect/posses? Oh hell yes.

Dex is so sexy I can't handle myself. He cares and protects Iris so well, and is so non chalant about it. “Yup this is happening” and we are all just on board.

Absolutely a knock out

2.5 ✨

2.5
I don't know what to say...
From “fleshly valuables” to saying “babe” on every page, the writing leaves much to be desired.
While the premise was interesting, the delivery was just not it and I will excuse Mariana because this was her debut novel. Thankfully her writing has improved because this book was a no for me.

5.00 for the AB / 3.00 generous stars for the story, and it's all Iris' faultSo how long was this book? The audio says 16hrs. and the ebook say 486 pg. but to me it felt like this went on weeks, months, years, eons??? I dunno. IT. WAS. ETERNAL. I liked [b:Kulti 24044596 Kulti Mariana Zapata https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1419402858s/24044596.jpg 43644221] and [b:The Wall of Winnipeg and Me 29367958 The Wall of Winnipeg and Me Mariana Zapata https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1456774327s/29367958.jpg 48358625], they're long and slow-burn, but H and h are people with rich, even if pedestrian, lives. People who, even when their being a**holes, have logical reasons for acting as they do, and the long stretch that it takes for the H/h to get together is logical and makes, the ultimate HEA, well earned & satisfying. In this case I can't say the same and the main reason is Iris Taylor. This girl! Ugh! She was exhausting! And the arc of her story, which only covered 3 months, felt like a lifetime. I think part of the problem might be that this is an earlier book from [a:Mariana Zapata 5760202 Mariana Zapata https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1330380214p2/5760202.jpg]. [b:Lingus 13500758 Lingus Mariana Zapata https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1330240154s/13500758.jpg 19047610] also didn't work for me, and for similar reasons. The male characters, despite being (sanitized versions) of MCs, which are not my preference in books or in RL, are at least logical in their actions and ultimately likable. I can't say the same thing for Iris. That girl tried my patience. On the one hand she was this virginal, but capable, long suffering, good girl. On the other hand she's a bit of a damsel in distress, which I don't mind, but also pretty quick to slut shame other girls, calling them whores, for flirting with her man or having once slept with him, a 30-something, ex-con, tattoo parlor owning, MC member. Shocker, right? I would've thought he had spent his time until he met Iris, saying his prayers. I feel bad disliking Iris, because she has a sadz backstory, however that is not a pass for being judgy and old-time Regency novel clueless. She gets better, but it was trying. Also, besides Dex's mother, Iris was the only likable or good woman on page. How convenient. All, and I mean ALL, of the men orbited around her. Perfect, angelic, good girl Iris. Ultimately [a:Callie Dalton 7438028 Callie Dalton https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1541784504p2/7438028.jpg] got me through this (I weirdly love her voice for men) and [a:Mariana Zapata 5760202 Mariana Zapata https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1330380214p2/5760202.jpg]'s signature humor is still present, but maybe this was a story that could've been novella length. Just a thought.

Listened to the audiobook in 2022.
Still like it but still think for someone who doesn't hold grudges she really holds grudges over stupid things and does stupid things – but at least she knows she's being stupid.
I think my biggest complaint this time around is how often the main character calls over women whores and hookers -_-“. She has no female friends on-page except maybe Blue who is rarely mentioned and barely talks. I get this was written almost 10 years ago now, so things have definitely changed with me, with the world, and the book world.

Re-read Oct. 2019
I actually liked this one much less than my first read through. I feel like Ris who supposedly doesn't hold grudges held the biggest grudge over something quite...small? I mean not terribly small, but after the amount of apologizing Locke did I just felt like she was being ridiculous – especially as she continues to say she doesn't know what it's like to hold onto something or over-inflate things. Girl, no.
She does have a few TSTL moments which she even agrees to being stupid later.
And yet, I still enjoyed reading this book. There is something about the writing I'm really drawn too.

I'd totally read a book about Sonny though. What a guy.

————
4.5 stars

I really enjoyed this book, and after two books featuring Trip I really wish he would get his own book :)

Unfortunately it has been over a month since I've read this and all I remember is how much I loved this book – I don't know if I even put it down when I went to the bathroom or ate dinner. Nothing else exists when I read Mariana Zapata books, BUT I binge read a ton of her books, so I'm worried some of the books are overlapping in my mind so I don't want to say anything incorrect.

I'll just have to re-read this at a later date and give a better review. What a shame... :D (do you hear my sarcasm??? )

Had to read another one of Zapata's books after reading The Wall of Winnipeg and Me. Had the same issue with too much unnecessary boring details and skim read the majority of the book. I didn't like Dex and Iris in this one as much as I liked Vanessa and Aiden in the last one. I enjoyed the biker setting and the related drama was very believable but Vanessa was a bit too childish for the independent background that the author wrote for her. There were just some things about her history that just didn't match up with her personality. Consequently, I didn't think the relationship between she and Dex was believable partly due to her immaturity. I also didn't think it was believable because their relationship seemed like it was primarily based on sexual tension. There was no root to their connection, nothing to ground them as possible love interests.

In comparison to the last book, there was more attention paid to the drama that was going on with Ris's dad than the relationship between the two main characters. While the plot was somewhat intriguing, I wish it had focused primarily on creating a tenable connection between Dex and Iris.

It pains me to rate this book so low because I have loved every other book Mariana Zapata has written. Under Locke just didn't do anything for me. The writing was sort of a mess and the story was hard to follow at times. Iris was beyond annoying and even though she's supposed to be 24, the way she acted and spoke reminded me of a teenager. I've also concluded that maybe motorcycle club books just aren't my thing because I'm not here for big, burly caveman-type dudes who speak in grunts and resort to fighting and violence when things don't go their way.