"Think about who you want to be standing next to if the rest of the world went to hell, and you've got your man." 
 3.5 stars. "Just go with it" is the train of thought which I'll be falling back on during my review. The sub-category of 'biker' romance has been around for a while, but has gained in popularity recently because of the show Sons of Anarchy. My comparisons of Defiance are going to be alongside other MC (Motorcycle Club) romance books, instead of contemporary romance as a whole. 
 It wasn't so much that they were wrong about what happened behind closed doors, but being a part of the culture and peering through the looking glass were two distinctly different things. 
 First, I need to get my one major gripe out of the way and it has to do with the post-apocalyptic setting. The only reason I picked up this book is because it wasn't a straightforward contemporary romance. Unfortunately, I was not a fan of the natural disasters being used as an explanation for the setting and not much else. If you're going to write post-apocalyptic, write it. Commit to it. Research it. Develop it. Don't use it as a crutch to half-heartedly explain a world in chaos. I had trouble buying the "missing sun" concept because the explanation given was sparse. 
 Then the Chaos hit and the lights went out, including the sun. 
 You may ask the reason why I was bummed that the book read more like a contemporary romance than a post-apocalyptic book. That's simple : I wanted to see some survival skills and real problems to overcome - not just the same old misunderstandings, fights, and kidnappings which appear over and over in this type of contemporary book. 
 Surprisingly enough, I did enjoy my reading choice, even though I didn't quite get what I was hoping for. While I cringed a little at some of the stuff which went on in the first few chapters (for a moment, I didn't know if I would like the female lead when she played into the very role which she was trying to run from), once I got past that, I enjoyed the rest of the book. The drama level was dialed pretty far back for what I've seen from other MC books. You can't/shouldn't get rid of all questionable behavior or completely change the dynamics of a lifestyle, but this author didn't do that, thankfully. However, you can show characters learning to treat each other with respect. And I found more of it here than I'd been expecting. 
 If you struggled with books like Undeniable or Reaper's Property because of the high-level of angst, or even feel like you've never been able to get on board the Kristen Ashley train because something isn't working for you, there's a chance that you might be surprised at how Defiance takes some of the same vibe as those books and turns it into something less likely to make you roll your eyes at every turn. Sure, there will be some ridiculousness. Absolutely, there will be some alpha behavior. Most definitely, there will be some questionable behavior. But for some reason, it didn't feel as overblown as I've seen it in other, similar books. 
 Some of this might have to do with the main character Caspar. If you've watched the show Sons of Anarchy and witnessed the main character Jax's struggle to do right by the people he loves, while still managing to keep his club going at the same time, you'll understand Caspar. Right is not always good, and wrong is not always bad. Lines are blurred. The characters do the best that they know how. And I appreciate that about Caspar. He isn't just another egotistical, sex-crazed asshole, even if that's a part of his character. He fights for what he believes in - and what he believes in is his love for Tru. 
 "I think it could change. I think it should." 
 I'm going to wrap up with one big disclaimer. If you can't handle reading male chauvinism in any form, even if a big portion of it is coming from side characters, this book would not be one I'd recommend. However, if you can handle some bad behavior as long as it's tempered with true character growth, you might find that this book would work for you, even if you've been burned by MC romances in the past. 
 Defiance was sexy and intense. I enjoyed the sexual chemistry, and liked the characters well enough, even if I didn't fully connect with them. I'm hoping that Mathias (who was featured as a side character with his own PoV chapters) will get his own book. I haven't read many books with a deaf male lead, and I'd like to see more of this character who is funny and personable. I'll definitely be reading on in this series. 
 A couple of end notes. This sentence in the book just made me laugh because I don't think it was the author's intent to reference these artists. Or was it? 
 Hammer and Lil'jon were there too. 
 Some of the character phrasing and stilted sentences made me laugh because it was too close to KA for comfort. I wonder if these authors all get a similar inspiration for their phrasing, haha. 
 Tru. Smiling. 
 Fuckin' Technicolor.