Published: 19th January 2014
Publisher: Self Published
Pages:497
Format: Ebook and audiobook (Purchased)
RRP: $4.97aud (ebook from Amazon)
5/5 Stars 
He was my boss, my brother’s friend, a Widower, 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, impatient and doesn’t know how to tell time.
And the last thing they ever expected was each other.
But it was either the strip club or the tattoo shop.
… she should have chosen the strip club.
Under Locke was the first Mariana Zapata book I read; it is also the book that has spanned a deep love for everything Zapata has written and firmly cemented her place on my MUST BUY list forever more.
You’ve gotta be the best thing I never knew I wanted.
Iris Taylor can not catch a break. After six months of unemployment and no job prospects insight, she is biting the proverbial bullet and moving to Austin to live with her half brother, a casual biker with the Widowmaker’s Motorcycle Club. When her brother hooks her up with a job at a tattoo parlor that one of his club members owns and runs, Iris is skeptical – her good-for-nothing father had once been a member of the Widowmaker’s , and it wasn’t exactly a place she wanted to be associated with – but being desperate and lacking any other viable option, she is forced to take the job. The rest, as they say, is history … and one of hell of a big learning curve for sweet naive Iris Taylor as she learns about the fire breathing dragon of a boss she now answers too.
I really loved Iris’ character. Despite being rather naive and incredibly stubborn, she is feisty and has a great sense of humour, but she is also desperate for a job and isn’t afraid to do what she needs to get herself out of the red. She is capable, smart, and she certainty doesn’t need no Prince Charming that’s for sure, even when one clad in black leather, welding a tattoo gun and sweating control issues presents itself. More often than not, I found myself laughing at her antics and smiling at her unique and openly optimistic way as she tried to take the world on (even though she knew it to be anything but sunshine and roses all day long). She was incredibly resilient in the face of the shit storm the world had been throwing her way all her life, but she was also vulnerable and isolated, making her prone to tears that she wished everyone would ignore when stressed, panicked and just plain sad. Overall, I found her to be a rather likeable and well-rounded heroine; one worthy of the hard-ass alpha Dex Lock that’s for sure.
Dex Locke.
Be still my beating heart.
On a serious note, when the book started out, I didn’t like Locke at all. Couldn’t stand his arrogant and bossy alpha ways, and I totally sided with Iris and prayed she got out of doge quickly. As the pages kept turning, and Locke started to show his real colours though, I feel slowly and steadily under his spell and recognised his brash ways for what they were, an armour plate covering his soft heart. Don’t get me wrong, Locke isn’t a softy exactly, but he’s a man dealt a hard past and with coping mechanism that only go so far against a prejudice society.
Under Locke is not your typical biker romance; and while I do really love those more typical bad boys by the likes of Nina Levine, Kristin Ashley, Joanna Wylde, River Savage and those featured in shows like Sons of Anarchy etc, those bikers are very much missing from Under Locke. The Widowmaker’s Motorcyle Club is a reformed club trying to make it along more legit lines these days. That said, the men in the club still share a tight bond and live by their own unique set of rules that to an outsider like Iris, and by extension by myself, seem absurd. Locke is still a bad ass that one neither wants to encounter pissed off or in dark alley in the wrong part of town, BUT he is ‘softer’ that those harder stereotypical bikers that dominate popular fiction and our Television screens. He is quick to anger, cranky and moody and likes things done his way or the highway; but he isn’t above the law, and the last thing he wants is to go back to jail. He is also incredibly protective of what he deems is ‘his’, his employees and their safety. Traits I think we can all agree is certainty honourable, despite their sometimes questionable nature and his lack of communication skills.
Babe, I’ve handpicked everythin’ and everyone in here. I know what I want and I get what I want,” he breathed. ‘And I keep what’s mine.
Prior to reading Under Locke, the only thing I knew about Mariana Zapata was that she was the QUEEN of the slow burn romance. Having finally read more than one of her books now, I honestly have no idea why I hadn’t binge read them all earlier. Especially since I was fortunate enough to meet her at the Sydney Author Event in 2016, where I picked up signed copies of her books on the recommendations of some close reading buddies. I honestly feel like a fool for not having read them sooner. So if you haven’t read her books yet, get on them ASAP and don’t be an idiot and wait like I did.
Coming in at 497 pages, Under Locke is not a small book but any stretch of the imagination. I implore you to take the chance on it though, as it truly is a masterpiece to behold. Zapata has such a way with words, that you don’t notice the page numbers and in little to no time at all, she has you completely held captivated under her spell. I burrowed into this book like no other, and am not ashamed to admit that when I came up for air, I was disappointed to find the book coming to an end quite so quickly.
Under Locke is a complete stand alone novel that will leave you more than satisfied for the time and effort you’ve dedicated to this beast of a book. It reads quickly and seamlessly and is just a beauty to behold. Another cute quirk of Zapata’s books, is that while each and every book exists in it’s own right as a stand alone, various characters continue to pop up with small cameos in later books.
The Never Ending Bookshelf 