I’m over at AudioGals reviewing Motorcycle Man by Kristen Ashley, narrated by Kate Russell. Tack is my favourite KA hero. Click the link to see my thoughts about Tack on audio – I have many!
Tag: Kristen Ashley (Page 6 of 8)
Why I read it: I received a review copy from the publisher via NetGalley.
What it’s about: (from Goodreads) Sexy, gifted, and loyal, PI Jacob Decker is a tall, cool drink of perfection who had Emmanuelle Holmes at “hello.” His relationship with Emme’s best friend kept them apart for years, but things have changed. Now that a case has brought him to Gnaw Bone, Colorado, the road is wide open for Emme and Deck to explore something hotter and deeper than Emme dreamed possible. So why is she sabotaging the best thing that’s ever happened to her?
It isn’t easy to catch Deck off guard, but Emme does just that when she walks back into his life after nine long years. The curvy brunette had her charms back in the day, but now she’s a bona fide knockout . . . and she wants to rekindle their friendship. Deck, however, wants more. Emme’s always been the one; she excites Deck’s body and mind like no other woman can. But a dark chapter from Emme’s past overshadows their future together. Now only Deck can help her turn the page-if she’ll let him . . .
What worked for me (and what didn’t): I ended up enjoying this book but it wasn’t my favourite Ashley. I did like that Deck and Emme got together quickly and that if felt natural for it to be that way. Because they had a history of a very strong friendship some years earlier, it was much easier for me to accept they’d get physical early. I also liked that Emme was in an actual sexual relationship with someone and that Deck waited to even kiss her until she was out of it.
“So, summin’ up, you got until Sunday to get your head together about McFarland. On Sunday, you scrape him off. On Sunday night, the boys are gone, you learn the true meaning of me callin’ you ‘baby.’ ”
Why I read it: I received a review copy from the publisher via NetGalley. Also I have read and enjoyed, to one degree or another, the other books in this series.
What it’s about: (from Goodreads) An old flame rekindled . . .
Zara Cinders always knew Ham Reece was the one, but he wasn’t interested in settling down. When she found someone who was, Ham walked out of her life. Three years later, Zara’s lost her business, her marriage, and she’s barely getting by in a tiny apartment on the wrong side of the tracks. As soon as Ham hears about Zara’s plight, he’s on her doorstep offering her a lifeline. Now, it will take every ounce of will power she possesses to resist all that he offers.
Ham was always a traveling man, never one to settle down in one town, with one woman, for more time than absolutely necessary. But Ham’s faced his own demons, and he’s learned a lot. About himself, and about the life he knows he’s meant to live. So when he hears that Zara’s having a rough time, he wants to be the one to help. In fact, he wants to do more than that for Zara. A lot more. But first, he must prove to Zara that he’s a changed man.
What worked for me (and what didn’t): Those who follow me on Twitter, will know I’ve been under a bit of stress lately, with my stepdad coming toward the end of his life in fairly sad circumstances. Maybe that’s why I am a reverse-outlier here. Maybe I just needed some ridonkulous in my life. I haven’t read any Kristen Ashley books since I read Fire Inside (which I enjoyed – Hop!) and I was out of the habit of reading Kristen Ashley-ese. There is a somewhat unique syntax to her books. Her publication by Forever has cleansed it in some ways but there were still sentences which only made sense after I read them a few times and some which made no sense at all (how does colour radiate OUT to the pupil from the iris?) – and this included the time after the babel fish was returned to my ear. The traditionally published books are shorter and there is less of the female friendships which (to my surprise) I adore but Ashley still sounds and feels like Ashley so I’m glad the editing hand is fairly light.
Why I read it: I bought this one a while back and I decided to finish the series (so far) as a little reading treat.What it’s about: (from Goodreads) In order to protect a father he does not respect, in Lady Luck, we learned that good cop Chace Keaton went bad, sacrificing his career and his future. But when the local police department’s secrets are revealed and the wife he’s forced to marry is murdered, Chace finds himself the town of Carnal’s hero. Knowing how deep in the mud he was forced to sink, Chace feels he’ll never get clean. The quiet, content future he envisioned of the love a good woman with whom he could build a family was now beyond his reach. The only thing he can do is find his wife’s murderer.But he isn’t the only one looking.While searching for new leads, he runs into Faye Goodknight, the town’s quiet, shy, pretty librarian. Chace has long since had his eye on what could possibly be the town’s last remaining virgin but he has also long since given up hope he could make her his. Faye is pure and clean and Chace refuses to dirty her with his sordid past.Pure and clean Faye may be, but when the shy librarian is forced to go head to head with the man who she’s had a crush on since he hit her hometown, Chace finds Faye is full of surprises. And he doesn’t know what to do with her.
What worked for me (and what didn’t): To be honest it took me a little while to get into this one. I felt my reading mojo was missing initially and I was getting too distracted by Twitter. But, by about 1/3 in, I felt I had hit my straps and things were looking up. By the end, I had mixed feelings. I enjoyed the romance but the subplot involving the Elite was too opaque for me and the parts involving the children mixed with so much cheese as to render me lactose intolerant.
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I like Vegemite^. A sparing amount over freshly made and hot buttered toast, can be just the thing for breakfast if I’m in a toast kind of mood. Other than that I grew up eating it and I like the flavour of umami reasonably well (or, possibly, just saying “umami”), I really can’t explain it though. I don’t expect you to understand. It is almost black and thick and kind of … greasy. It is a by-product of the beer brewing process. (And it LOOKS like a petroleum by-product.) But I like it. It is okay for me to like it. It is also okay for you not to like it.
If you’d like, I will try and explain why I like Vegemite but if you don’t “get it”, it doesn’t mean I have failed you. I’m not obliged to keep trying to come up with new ways to justify to you why I like Vegemite. I am not a Vegemite-Evangelist. I’m a Vegemite-Live-and-Let-Live-r. Vegemite, like many things, is something that ultimately, you either “get” or do not. And LOADS of people DON’T. LOADS.
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.
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.
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