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 | Bikers' Pretty Little Property: A why choose dark romcom (Song-Smith Sequel Series Book 1) by Cate Roi ★★½☆☆ (2.75) Read: November 11, 2026 316 pages |
Thank you to the author for the ARC. All opinions are my own.
I wanted to love this one. A dark rom-com where a black cat mechanic who tells everyone exactly where to shove it, a golden retriever biker prez who refuses to hear the word no, and a shy hacker who's been texting her under a fake name for two years? Sign me up. And some of it delivered.
Will is the heart of this book for me. He spent two years keeping Viv fed, housed and alive from the other side of a phone without ever giving her his name, and that kind of quiet, sideways devotion is my weakness. Every time he blushed his way through a scene, I melted a little. I also loved that his prosthetic leg is part of who he is without being his whole story. He's desirable, he's capable, he has his wheelchair days, and Viv's first instinct is to geek out over the hydraulics. That's disability rep done with warmth. The cast is wonderfully diverse too, with several characters of Filipino and Korean descent, and you can feel the author writing from her own background in those details.
Viv's voice is a delight. She thinks in car parts, and every POV has its own rhythm, which I really appreciated. Kurt is pure chaos in flip-flops, and some of the funniest moments in the book are his. Will's thinks in computer parts and Trav is all mushy inside despite his gruff exterior.
But I struggled. This is sold as first in the series, readable on its own, and technically it is, but the beginning throws the whole extended family from the Song-Smith books at you at once. Siblings, in-laws, an old prez, a full crew and a history. It was overwhelming. I didn't have the family tree straight until past the halfway point, and a lot of moments clearly meant to land as reunions just left me asking who these people were. If you haven't read the earlier books, I'd honestly start there.
The bigger issue for me was the why choose itself. Two of the four men are a couple (and if you know me, you know I love MM in books!), and their connection with Viv never went beyond attraction. There's plenty of group spice, but without feelings underneath it, the dynamic felt more like regular gang-bangs than a relationship I could root for. Some emotional beats resolved much faster than they were built, and forgiveness got handed to people who hadn't earned it. Also, as someone with a medical background, a lot of details pulled me right out of the story.
There's a fun book in here. The humor works, and Will deserves the world. If you've already read Cate Roi's earlier books, I think you'll enjoy seeing everyone again much more than I did. It just didn't come together for me.
Trigger warnings: foster care · minor sexual abuse (past) · drugging · dubious consent · memory loss · coma · carbon monoxide poisoning · murder · dismemberment · fire · loss of limb · death of a parent · poverty · drug dealing · gun violence · homophobia
Tropes: why choose · MM between love interests · Motorcycle club · mechanic FMC · hacker MMC · anonymous texter · he fell first · golden retriever x black cat · age gap · found family · small town · second generation
I wanted to love this one. A dark rom-com where a black cat mechanic who tells everyone exactly where to shove it, a golden retriever biker prez who refuses to hear the word no, and a shy hacker who's been texting her under a fake name for two years? Sign me up. And some of it delivered.
Will is the heart of this book for me. He spent two years keeping Viv fed, housed and alive from the other side of a phone without ever giving her his name, and that kind of quiet, sideways devotion is my weakness. Every time he blushed his way through a scene, I melted a little. I also loved that his prosthetic leg is part of who he is without being his whole story. He's desirable, he's capable, he has his wheelchair days, and Viv's first instinct is to geek out over the hydraulics. That's disability rep done with warmth. The cast is wonderfully diverse too, with several characters of Filipino and Korean descent, and you can feel the author writing from her own background in those details.
Viv's voice is a delight. She thinks in car parts, and every POV has its own rhythm, which I really appreciated. Kurt is pure chaos in flip-flops, and some of the funniest moments in the book are his. Will's thinks in computer parts and Trav is all mushy inside despite his gruff exterior.
But I struggled. This is sold as first in the series, readable on its own, and technically it is, but the beginning throws the whole extended family from the Song-Smith books at you at once. Siblings, in-laws, an old prez, a full crew and a history. It was overwhelming. I didn't have the family tree straight until past the halfway point, and a lot of moments clearly meant to land as reunions just left me asking who these people were. If you haven't read the earlier books, I'd honestly start there.
The bigger issue for me was the why choose itself. Two of the four men are a couple (and if you know me, you know I love MM in books!), and their connection with Viv never went beyond attraction. There's plenty of group spice, but without feelings underneath it, the dynamic felt more like regular gang-bangs than a relationship I could root for. Some emotional beats resolved much faster than they were built, and forgiveness got handed to people who hadn't earned it. Also, as someone with a medical background, a lot of details pulled me right out of the story.
There's a fun book in here. The humor works, and Will deserves the world. If you've already read Cate Roi's earlier books, I think you'll enjoy seeing everyone again much more than I did. It just didn't come together for me.
Trigger warnings: foster care · minor sexual abuse (past) · drugging · dubious consent · memory loss · coma · carbon monoxide poisoning · murder · dismemberment · fire · loss of limb · death of a parent · poverty · drug dealing · gun violence · homophobia
Tropes: why choose · MM between love interests · Motorcycle club · mechanic FMC · hacker MMC · anonymous texter · he fell first · golden retriever x black cat · age gap · found family · small town · second generation
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