Tag: Kristen Ashley (Page 7 of 8)

Fire Inside by Kristen Ashley

May 31, 2013 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: I received a review copy from the publisher via NetGalley. Of course, I had to read it immediately.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) Lanie Heron isn’t looking for love—no surprise, considering her last serious relationship nearly got her killed. So when Lanie propositions Hop Kincaid, all she wants is one wild night with the hot-as-hell biker who patrols with the Chaos Motorcycle Club…

For Hop, Lanie has always been untouchable. She’s too polished and too classy for his tastes. But when she gives Hop the once-over with her bedroom eyes and offers him a night in paradise, he can’t say no. And he doesn’t regret it when he finds that Lanie is the best thing that’s ever happened to him—in or out of bed. Now the trick will be to convince her of that.

What worked for me (and what didn’t): Hop. Hop worked for me. Big time.

“Yeah, I liked skank,” he bit off. “Liked the taste. Wild, free, and easy. Went back for more. Repeatedly. But that was before I had my mouth between the legs of a lady. You get that, you don’t go back.”

Tack is still my favourite but Hop is next in line from the Dream Man/Chaos series so far. He was most sighworthy. As much as I enjoyed Shy and Tabby in Own The Wind, I preferred this book. I guess in part, this was because Lanie’s backstory was caught up in Motorcycle Man (Tack!). But the rest, kind of surprised me. I hadn’t seen Hop that way before. In fact, in Motorcycle Man, he is a bit of a cheating cheatypants. In this book, there is an explanation which is much better than Ross Geller‘s even if there was something a little reminiscent of it.

“Fuck me, babe, seriously?” he ground out then threw a hand toward the bed. “You knocked yourself out to make me wild. You told me your fuckin’ self. Why, Lanie? Why the fuck would you pull out all the fuckin’ stops to make a man already drunk on you drunker?”

I like that Ashley mainly writes older heroes and heroines, even though I didn’t have any trouble relating to Tabby and Shy and I don’t feel like I enjoyed Own The Wind less because they were younger. Still, I can’t deny that I do enjoy the older protagonists here – it is still quite rare in romance I think to have a hero who’s 40 and a heroine who’s 39.

Own the Wind by Kristen Ashley

May 23, 2013 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: I received a review copy from the publisher via NetGalley. Also: Kristen Ashley.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) Too hot to handle…Tabitha Allen grew up in the thick of Chaos–the Chaos Motorcycle Club, that is. Her father is Chaos’ leader, and the club has always had her back. But one rider was different from the start. When Tabby was running wild, Shy Cage was there. When tragedy tore her life apart, he helped her piece it back together. And now, Tabby’s thinking about much more than friendship…Tabby is everything Shy’s ever wanted, but everything he thinks he can’t have. She’s beautiful, smart, and as his friend’s daughter, untouchable. Shy never expected more than friendship, so when Tabby indicates she wants more–much more—he feels like the luckiest man alive. But even lucky men can crash and burn…

What worked for me (and what didn’t): This is the first book by Ashley published through Grand Central with Amy Pierpont editing. It is a much tighter book than those I’ve read previously and there is less of the run on sentences (which I kind of missed actually). All of the sentences made sense and the copy editing was very clean. The book fell down for me a little at the end but that was about plot rather than anything else – it kind of fizzled for me rather than ending with a grand finale. I did love Shy and Tabby together and their interactions were the best parts of the book

“Do you wanna know why it’s you?” I asked quietly, my hand gliding up his arm to his chest.
“Don’t wanna piss you off, Tab, but I don’t give a fuck. I’m happy just rejoicin’ that it is.”

April Round Up

May 3, 2013 / Kaetrin

on Paper/eBook

Mystery Man by Kristen Ashley – B/B+ I have recently discovered the reading crack* that is Kristen Ashley. Her writing is not for everyone. There are very long run-on sentences (some of which don’t make sense), some abuse of tenses and apostrophes… but. But. The stories are strong and if you like the alpha protector type who likes dirty talk and laugh out loud funny heroines (and heroes for that matter), an authentic girl posse who drinks cosmopolitans and eat cookie dough and other fattening things, this might be for you.

Mystery Man is the first book in the Dream Man series (but I started with book 4, Motorcycle Man because I’d heard that is the “gateway drug” – I’d heard right by the way).

Gwendolyn Kidd has been having the strangest relationship – 18 months earlier she met a hot sexy guy in a bar and with very (and I mean very) few words, found herself having the best sex of her life with him. They don’t exchange names or conversation. And he keeps turning up, every few days for more hot sex, in the middle of the night, then he says “Later, babe” and leaves. Matters come to a head when Gwen’s sister Ginger gets in a lot of trouble with a lot of bad people. Her Mystery Man, Cabe “Hawk” Delgado is a commando type and rides to the rescue.

Lady Luck by Kristen Ashley

April 30, 2013 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: It was the next one in the series. 🙂

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) Ty Walker was wrongly imprisoned and for the five years he was inside, he honed his plan so when he gets out, he has nothing but vengeance on his mind.But then he walks straight to stylish, leggy, beautiful, goofy Lexie Berry and he suddenly has something else to think about. He knows within seconds he wants her and within days he can love her but with the filth that was flung at him clinging; he also knows he can’t have her.Since birth, Lexie Berry has been Lady Luck’s favorite toy and because of that, Lexie is cautious. But within a day, she senses Ty is something special. With her luck, however, she can’t trust it. Then she finds out what was done to Ty and she’s willing to do anything to make it right.

Even what Ty will never forgive her for doing.

Ty clings to vengeance and Lexie goes all out to give him back the time he lost. But Ty is battling demons within and they’re up against dirty cops and criminals who will stop at nothing to sway Lady Luck against them. All Ty and Lexie have is hope Lady Luck will finally swing their way.

What worked for me (and what didn’t): Of all the Kristen Ashley books I’ve read so far, this one is my least favourite. It’s not that I didn’t like it; I did. But there were some things which bothered me and that detracted from my enjoyment of the story.I did like the mixed race hero (he’s half African American, half Caucasian) and race was an issue and theme throughout the story. I did like that Lexie didn’t blink an eye at being in a relationship with him. She didn’t see his colour as any kind of barrier. I also liked that Ty’s friends didn’t either. I liked that there was more racial diversity in this book. Continue reading

Sweet Dreams by Kristen Ashley

April 24, 2013 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: Continuing my glom. I bought the whole series and also the first 4 Rock Chick books. KA addiction, I have you. I started with this one because Kati D told me that Tate was a bit like Tack (ie yummy). I still like Tack better but Tate was pretty special.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) Lauren Grahame has spent her whole life thinking something special was going to happen. She didn’t know what it was, she just knew it would one day be hers. But she learned the hard way that special wasn’t on offer.So, after divorcing her cheating husband, Lauren searched for nothing special and she thought she found it when she landed a job as a waitress in a biker bar in Carnal. It was perfect: a nothing job in a nowhere bar in Nowheresville.Then Tatum Jackson walked in. Part-owner of the bar, he took one look at high-class Lauren and wanted nothing to do with her. And he made this known, loudly.

Tate’s angry insults seared in her brain, Lauren decides the feeling is mutual and she doesn’t want anything to do with the gloriously handsome Tate Jackson. The clash of the bartender and barmaid begins but, even though Tate makes his change of mind clear (in biker-speak, a language Lauren is not fluent in), Lauren is intent on going her own way.

Until a serial killer hits Carnal and Lauren finds out Tate isn’t a bartender, he’s a bounty hunter. He stakes his claim for Lauren before he goes on the hunt for a killer but Laurie doesn’t speak biker nor does she understand bounty hunters and Tate comes back from the hunt to find his old lady has moved on.

Life throws curveball after curveball at Laurie and Tate. As secrets are revealed, women are brutally murdered, and Lauren tries to find her inner biker babe.

What worked for me (and what didn’t): There are some unusual things about this book if you compare it to what’s around the place generally in Romancelandia. Firstly, both the hero and heroine are in their forties. Next, Lauren, when she first arrives in Carnal, is a bit overweight and almost the first thing Tate (our hero don’t forget) says about her (which she overhears) is that she’s “fat, old and sorry-ass”. And she kind of is. Lauren has been driving around for months, trying to find a place to settle after being betrayed by her husband and all of her friends (he was cheating, they all knew it and no-one said anything to her). While Lauren is close to her sister and parents, she has been distant from them for the past few months while she’s been trying to get her head together. She’s looking for a place where she can just be but she’s not expecting anything special in her life. Tate’s comment (which he later does apologise for, fully realising he was out of line – although he gets impatient that she doesn’t forgive him immediately upon apology – something I had quite a bit of sympathy for by the way) spurs Lauren into taking a bit better care of herself. She doesn’t get a makeover to try and attract a man, but rather she realises that she’s let herself go a bit and she decides, almost by osmosis, to start looking after herself. She doesn’t ever do it for anyone other than herself. This is very good. And, it has to be said, that even upon arrival, when she wasn’t at her best, the townsfolk thought she’d be exactly Tate’s type – I got the impression that Tate was happy enough with the way she looked all the time, notwithstanding his out of line early comment (which was actually not much to do with Lauren at all).

Wild Man by Kristen Ashley

April 20, 2013 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: Continuing my glom… (Really, the books are priced so as to make it very easy to go on a spree.)

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) While filling her display case in her bakery, the bell over the door sounds and Tessa O’Hara looks up and sees the man of her dreams. Within thirty seconds he asks her out for a beer. Thirty seconds later, she says yes. But after four months of falling in love, she discovers he’s an undercover DEA Agent investigating the possibility she’s involved in her ex-husband’s drug business.Obviously Tess decides this means it’s over.But DEA Agent Brock Lucas disagrees. A man on a mission who’s really committed to his job, he’s spent years in the underbelly of Denver with the dregs of society. And spending four months with Tess who’s as sweet as her cupcakes, he seriously enjoyed his job. But during Tess’s interrogation, Brock learns the devastating secret Tess is carrying and he’s determined to be the man who helps her heal as well as take her back as she walks on the wild side.

As wild and sweet mix, they face challenge after challenge of family struggling with history and terminal illness. Not to mention, Tess’s ex-husband, the drug lord and Brock’s ex-wife, who has a very big playbook are scheming to tear them apart.

But Brock Lucas has wild in him and once in his past on the trail of vengeance he let that wild loose, making a mistake that he would have no idea years later will put his sweet Tess in the position to pay his penance.

What worked for me (and what didn’t): This was my third Ashley book. I’ve noticed quite a few similarities; the heroines are funny and a little bit screwball (in a good way, IMO), the heroes are uber-alpha protector types who like the dirty talk and have a bit of a rough edge, even though they are devoted to their ladies once they find them. That might sound a bit like I have been reading the same book. But I have noticed some differences too. It may be that they are too subtle for some people to enjoy however. It’s not a problem I’m having however. Out of the three heroines I have read so far, Gwen (Mystery Man) is the funniest, Tyra is the gutsiest (Motorcycle Man) and Tess (Wild Man) is the sweetest. Her version of screwball is a little toned down as compared to Tyra and Gwen. In term of the narrative arc, Wild Man is, I think, much different to the two MMs. Even though the title is “Wild” Man, the book has a long period in the middle of courtship and relationship development without a hail of bullets. There are issues that the couple deal with – a lot of family drama involving Brock’s father and Brock’s ex-wife and two sons but, unlike the other two books, there is a large section of calm. That’s not to say boring. Just, as compared to the rollercoaster that was the other two books.