Steamy 🔥

This was a steamy and sexy step brother's romance

Wyatt Baker's voice had just the right amount of roughness that gave the characters more personality

The characters were complex and scorched the sheets!

This is definitely my favorite book in the series

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2 people found this helpful

A little bit Taboo

Wyatt Baker narration of One Step Too Close was entertaining. His delivery was upbeat and passionate. He sounded like he was having fun .

One Step Too Close is book six in the twelve book series Sex & Mayhem ; of those twelve , eight have been released in audio , thus far. I have listened and enjoyed them all.

I am a KA Merikan audiobook junkie . I love their unique brand of stories and storytelling. That said, I didn't love One Step Too Close. I liked it but I was expecting to be deliriously happy as with all others.

Why? Few things , among were the plot and many storylines; they weren't as tight and cohesive as with their other books and some went nowhere. They were introduced - in my opinion- forgotten and others illogically resolved. It took me a bit to warm up to Jed and Ryder, the MC . Jed , a 25 years old , was so impulsive and immature that it was difficult to connect with him . Ryder , I liked better though found him to be a difficult character to understand. Disliked all the side characters .

What I liked was the hot and I mean HOT AF sexy times. It had me burning up , in the most delicious way. I also liked how protective and caring Ryder was with Jed.

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1 person found this helpful

Solid MC M/M romance

Wyatt Baker has the voice for these type of stories, I don't think I would have enjoyed OSTC without his performance. That said, it was good for the moment but nothing about this particular romance between Jed and Ryder stands out enough to be memorable. 3 stars - I won't listen again.

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Only wish the ride was longer!

Long story short:
Wow! Just wow! Definitely one of my favorites from K.A. Merikan.





Long story long:
***SPOILERS RUN AWAY***




Last chance... Spoilers.

Merikan does it again with their compelling characters, gritty backdrop, and diverse character perspectives. Forcing the reader to see the world in shades of gray.

Perhaps the best part of this book is the character Jed. Jed is a fascinating combination of violence and deep sensitivity. A duality forged through years of trying to alter oneself.
I loved the way Jed's perspective was presented from a lgbtq+ perspective.

As a member of the lgbtq+ community, it was nice to see a character who was gay, but who had been living as a straight person and had been having sex with people of the opposite gender.

In books and media, gay people are often portrayed as being physically unable to have sex with the opposite gender (like it's some kind of physical impossibility or something?). The reality is not every person in the lgbtq+ community knows their sexual orientation from birth, or is in a position to do something about it.
In the book when Jed comes out to someone they say:"What? But I've seen you having sex with a woman before?!"
It was nice to see this perspective in a book. Thank you for writing it!

I only wish it was longer, or that it had a sequel with these two characters. I feel that there was more to explore with their life and the story wrapped up just a bit too quickly. But overall a wonderful read.

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It's...okay

I have to say, I’ve mostly kept away from this book for so long because the taboo aspect of their relationship did not interest me at all. But having just listened to the audiobook for the Guns n’ Boys book, Swamp Blood, that introduces Jed and Ryder, I thought I’d give it a shot.

Content notes include relationship between stepbrothers although not related by blood, mentions of a MC trying to have sex with a teenager, depression, suicidal thoughts, a suicide attempt, homomisia, misogyny, blackmail, violence, and dismemberment.

If you were searching for an actual stepbrothers type romance after finding out the truth about Dom and Seth’s relationship in Guns n’ Boys, this is the book for you. Jed and Ryder are part of a motorcycle club known as the Coffin Nails. While a lot of the books in this series takes place in the Detroit or California chapters, this story takes place in Louisiana.

Ryder’s father had been in a brief relationship with Jed’s mother back in the day when Ryder and Jed were kids, but one day Jed’s mother left him with Ryder and his dad and that was that. Ryder’s father, Axe, took Jed in and raised them Ryder and Jed as brothers. So while there’s no actual blood shared between them, they are stepbrothers and still feels ever slightly still taboo. Not usually my thing, but the authors have a way of making me read out if of my comfort zone.

While this book is meant to be able to standalone, I think there are parts of this book that might make more sense if you’ve been following along with the Guns n’ Boys series up to book 4. It just makes more sense as to WHY the story starts out with Jed in a fake relationship with Dana, because she’s blackmailing Jed for something he did at the beginning of Swamp Blood and why she’s staying with the Coffin Nails for the year. This book certainly answered some of MY questions about what happens to Dana before we see her again in the other series.

So, I don’t know. There’s definitely overlap where one story helps fill in gaps with the other. While there’s some overlaps throughout this entire Sex and Mayhem series with the Guns n’ Boys one, this book in particular has a more significant story and character crossover.

I people who just see Dana appear in this series don’t like her because her motivations are unclear or muddy at best, but I like her! It’s just that Jed had the unfortunate luck to meet Seth and Dom while trying to record himself having sex with a teenager and then got stuck with Dana. Jed, for his part, highly HIGHLY regrets trying to have get a blowjob from a teenager.

I thing I wasn’t expecting was for how DARK this book is. Like, exceptionally darker when it comes to the homophobia. Jed is intensely depressed because of the situation he finds himself in with Dana and the fact that he’s gay and in love with someone he considers his brother. He is seconds away from killing himself and the whole thing is just…a lot. This book is very intense and everything works out FINE and everyone is OKAY, but if you need to step away, do that and take care of yourself. Because this book doesn’t shy away from the intensity of that build up and that moment is maybe too much.

I thought the whole relationship between Jed and Ryder was just okay. Obviously, they can’t let people know about them. So, it’s kind of bittersweet. The story doesn’t really have any other characters from the Coffin Nails showing up since Louisiana isn’t one of the usual Coffin Nails chapters. I kind of wished they crossed paths with Grim at some point? Since Grim really the most likely character they would come across based on the ending.

The audiobook for this was fine, but a little jarring. Having listened to the first 4 audiobooks for the Guns n’ Boys series first and narrated also by Wyatt Baker, I didn’t realize this was narrated before those? So Dana definitely sticks out as sounding the most different between the series if you’re listening to them back-to-back.

The book is…fine. We meet Toro. We figure out what happens to Dana. We get closure on the whole Jed and Ryder tension. I think this is best read as a spin-off for those reading the Guns n’ Boys series, and not necessarily for those who are trying to only read just the Sex and Mayhem books.

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Wyatt Baker can never...

4 and 1/2 stars . Wyatt Baker can never retire. Period! Baker and Aiden Snow are hands down the best narrators for MM romance. Goosebumps ya all. Goosebumps! The story was pretty freaking 🔥. The MC and brothers were a mess but in the end it all works out. This is probably the only novel I've ever read/listened to that I did not like ANY of the side characters. They made me wanna scratch their eyes out. That's the only reason I took a half star away. Definitely still worth a credit.

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Jed and Ryder

Jed is gay and in love with his "step-brother" Ryder. He's in fake relationship with Dana, who has blackmailed him with a video of him with another man and wants him to spy on the club. Ryder is bisexual and, in the closet, is in a relationship with Jess and is Sargent at arms for his club. He is smart, responsible and takes care of everyone. Jed comes out and he confesses everything, the blackmail, his sexuality and his love for Ryder. Ryder's reaction was simple, he kisses Jed the man he loves. I loved Jed and Ryder together their passion and interaction was amazing. I received an ARC of this audio for my honest review.

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Long awaited audio—definitely worth the wait

I love this kind of story, step brothers-bi awakening and finding each other. There are definitely ups and downs and sooooo much happening in this story and their Chapter. I do have to say Wyatt baker is magic and that I adore these two. I highly recommend however you should read possible trigger warnings.

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Semi taboo MM step brother MC romance

KA Merikan did it again with the MM romance. Places in the background of homophobic MC environment, the two main characters who are step brothers struggle to fight their attraction to each other, then once they are together, struggle to share it with their family and friends. The character development was very good and the narration and was great.

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An Awesome MC Romance from KA Merikan

Once again KA Merikan delivers an outstanding motorcycle club romance. ‘One Step Too Close’ takes us to the Louisiana chapter of the Coffin Nails MC where we experience the brilliantly written story of step-brothers and fellow MC brothers-in-arms Jed and Ryder.

What brings me back to Merikan’s stories time and again are the wonderfully real characters they create. Jed and Ryder have grown up in the MC culture of toxic masculinity and homophobia, yet are capable of intimate love with each other. These men go through crises of self-loathing and self-identity to come out stronger together. It’s a gorgeous love story from beginning to end.

Ryder and Jed are step-brothers--some would call it taboo love. For me, as long as there’s no power imbalance, emotional manipulation, or coercion going on, I’m OK with sibling--pseudo or real--incest. Jed and Ryder are 100% consenting adults when their relationship starts. The club violence gets a little intense toward the end, but I don’t think it’s worse than mafia/MC/zombie violence depicted on a cable-TV program.

Merikan expertly writes beautifully emotional love-making scenes.

Wyatt Baker’s performances have grown on me over the course of the several books I’ve listened to him narrate. I’ve come to recognize how truly suited his voice is to Merikan’s stories and look forward to many more.

This audiobook was given to me, by my request, as a free review copy. I am now voluntarily submitting this opinion of ‘One Step Too Close’.

Highly recommended.

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