Aestas Book Blog

Book Review – The Mighty Storm by Samantha Towle

September 2, 2012 by Aestas · 20 Comments

5 stars!!!

“I love you… I’ve only ever loved one girl, Tru – and that’s you. It’s always been you. I’ve loved you from the moment I knew how to love.“

*SQUEEEEE* ABSOLUTELY AMAZING ROCKSTAR ROMANCE!!! WOW!

I am totally in LOVE with this book! Freaking. Thrilling. Read.

A well-written, beautiful story that put me through a deliciously emotional angsty ringer, made my heart race and flutter and had me swooning like crazy over Jake Wethers.

I loved the writing style right from the start. It was vivid, clean, and got you right into Tru’s head. This book made me laugh, cry, squee, cheer, gasp, sigh, swoon, melt, fan myself, take deep calming breaths in order to move on, gave me goosbumps, made my breath hitch, made me read with misty eyes for like the whole final 15%, it just TOTALLY affected me. My emotions were all over the place and all of them were INTENSE!

My heart = the author’s yo-yo. I utterly LOVED IT!!

Tru and Jake were the best of childhood friends. They did everything together. And although they were too young to really understand it, they did fall in love. Everything was perfect until his family suddenly uprouted to a different country when they were 14 and they lost touch.

Now, twelve years later, Jake has become the world famous “ultimate bad boy of rock” – living a life full of booze, parties, drugs and women , while Tru has become a music journalist. Even though he’s hugely popular, she’s never told anyone that she knew him, wanting to keep that part of her memories private. So now, when her boss signs her up to interview and write an article on him, she absolutely terrified – she knows he’s changed from the boy she knew – will he remember her? What will they say? She knows about a dark part of his past that the world doesn’t now about. Maybe he won’t want to see her? And yet at the same time, she’s utterly excited out of her mind.

“Jake Wethers, the man who used to be the boy I loved.”

Ooooooohhmigosh, when they meet for the first time again, my. heart. was. racing!!!! I was smiling, grinning, and my heart was pounding. It was AMAZING!! I love books that affect me so strongly and I have to say that from the moment I met Jake, I fell in instant love with him. INSTANT.

And its clear from the start that the spark between them has never died. And he asks her to go on tour with them as the official biographer of his tour and then oh how the fun begins as Jake, subtly at first, and later not so subtly, works hard to rekindle the romance and show Tru the depths of the feelings he’s always had for her.

“It’s always been you, Tru. Always.” *melt*”

Now, here’s the hiccup, Tru has a boyfriend, Will- a wonderful, sweet, gorgeous, loving boyfriend. And dispite her feelings towards Jake, she isn’t quite sure how he feels towards her. She has a lot of insecurities, but I found them to be understandable – annoying perhaps at times because of how badly I just wanted them to get together, but they were not ridiculous. I think its easy for people on the outside to judge her initial reaction, but honestly, in her shoes, I’d prolly be having a lot of the same thoughts myself.

There IS a little bit of a love triangle going on for a part of the book, and yes, when Jake and Tru first get physical, there IS cheating. But, and here’s the big BUT, it did not bother me (*gasp* and I’m the person who utterly HATES any cheating in books). Why did it not bother me? Because it wasn’t long and drawn out. The cheating was understandable. Here are two people CLEARLY meant to be together who have honestly LOVED each other since they were kids, in a sitation where one of them is attached. It sucks. And they gave what they had between them a go and ended up telling Will within a few days of starting so there wasn’t this huge big long cheating time. Yes, it was messy. My heart was in utter turmoil. Yes, my heart hurt for Will. But there was just no denying how right Jake and True felt together. They were truely each other’s soul mates.

“You’re mine, Tru. I’m not sharing you with him anymore.“

And this isn’t a book about cheating. Its a story about a childhood love that never truely went away throughout years of separation, and how, once reunited, nothing will be able to keep them apart. The cheating thing gets resolved quickly and then after that its just about Jake and Tru.

So, now, back to Jake *pauses a moment to SWOON*… Jake Wethers, perhaps the sweetest and hottest rock god to grace this earth. I haven’t had my heart this much a-flutter since Kellan and Gideon. Let me tell you, I was hyperventilating and swooning to the MAX. What is it about rock stars that is just so. Freaking. THRILLING?!

The chemistry between Jake and Tru… oh dear lord *fans self*, it sizzles. You can feel it come right off the page. Totally undiable. Totally INTENSE. From the start, you can just FEEL that its ‘right’ between them. And the intensity between them just slowly builds from their first meeting to the point where it just couldn’t be held back any more. Made you feel for them that much more strongly.

The book is steamy – very steamy, but not erotica steamy. Its there, but not overpowering. Personally, I thought it was just the right amount for this story.

Once Jake and Tru were together, yes, they fought, yes, they had their moments of stupid, but c’mon, who doesn’t? Personally, despite reading some of the scenes and just going “FUUUUUUUUCCCKKKKKK”, I didn’t find that the drama overshadowed the story, but rather brought it a sense of realism. They have a lot to deal with – paparazi, public image, various things that happen in their private life… and so naturally, it affects them. But they do work through their issues… and them together just utterly melted my heart *dreamy sigh*

The pacing of the book was mostly excellent. But if I had to complain, I’d say that there were a few scenes that were alluded to, but skipped over in detail that I’d really have wished to read in full. The time jumps are a little jolting, making you momentarily disconnect from the story line, but it quickly picks up again and didn’t take away from my overall reading experience.

This book deals with a lot of serious issues – drugs, cheating, death, commitment, the effects of fame. But its a romance at heart… and an abolutely beautiful one at that.

The ending was a totally swoony HEA but was a little abrupt. I loved it, but… I WANT MORE!!!! NOW!! Please?! Ms. Towle, pretty please????!! *begs*

oooo and we are treated at the end of the book to one chapter from Jake’s POV. Its the scene where they meet for the first time and can I just say that that might actually be the BEST guy POV I’ve ever read. You got RIGHT into his head. Literally every thought. It was BRILLIANT. I hear rumours that there will be more of his POV in the sequel so…. *SQUEEEEEEE*

If you are looking for a rockstar romance that will totally take over your heart, try this one out!

Also, if you liked this book, you will most likely love Thoughtless, and vice versa… if you are a big fan of Thoughtless, RUN out and get yourself this book. Cuz… just WOW!! 😀

Jake Wethers… you are my rock god <3

READING ORDER

#1 The Mighty Storm
Kindle | Paperback

#2 Wethering The Storm
Kindle | Paperback

CASTING:

I found a picture of this guy that looks EXACTLY like how Jake was described in the books (just add blue contacts and tattoo him up a bit in your minds :P). What do you guys think? Is he HOT or what?

Book Review – At Peace (The Burg #2) by Kristen Ashley

August 29, 2012 by Aestas · 7 Comments

“You’re mine, the girls are mine. I’m stakin’ my claim with you right now…”
“You’re unbelievable,” I snapped.
“I’m yours.”
That socked me in the gut… Taking advantage, his face dipped close and his hands curled around both sides of my head.
“First fuckin’ time you smiled at me in my bed, that’s when it happened,” he murmured.“

Buy AT PEACE on KINDLE (Amazon)

**SQUEEEEE** O.M.G what a SENSATIONAL book!!!
My heart is filled to bursting here. Love love LOVE ♥

This is a gorgeous book about a second chance at love, life, family and healing. Kristen Ashley never ceases to amaze me with utter brilliance of her books. Just one winner after another!! Damaged Alpha male hero, strong heroine, beautiful story… whats not to love??

After her cop husband’s brutal muder a year ago, Violet moved to the Burg with her two teenage daughters. One night, at 3:33am, she’s tossing and turning in bed, unable to sleep because someone is blaring music. In a huff, she stomps out to figure out where its coming from and give whoever was playing it a piece of her mind when she meets Joe Callahan. He’s big, tall, rugged, striking, scarred, gorgeous, blunt, badass, and Alpha-out-the wazoo! But he kind of acts like a bit of a jerk (though not in a way that’ll make you hate him) and needless to say, despite her intense attraction to him, Violet pretty much dislikes him… though, not for long 😛

Who’s the big guy next door?”…
“Joe Callahan.”
“Good neighbour to have.”…
“Why?”
“Looks like he could crush a rock with his fist.”

It was really heart breaking because you felt how strongly Vi missed her husband. Hell, after a few paragraphs, I missed him. He sounded like such a perfect KA man – gorgeous, caring, protective. And she’s struggling and trying to start a new life – working as hard as she can to keep her and the girls afloat in the aftermath of such a senseless tragedy.

Joe’s work takes him away a lot, but every time he’s back, Vi and him have some sort of interaction. And so begins their on-and-off-ish, swoony-to-us yet perhaps frustrating-at-first-to-Vi relationship.

“You already think I’m a dick.”
I felt my heart beat faster and I whispered. “Joe-”
Joe cut me off. “So don’t matter tomorrow morning you still think I’m a dick, ’cause now, even though you’re drunk, I’m gonna take you inside and fuck you ’till you ache.”

Seriously though, every time they met, even from their slightly rough start, I was grinning like an idiot and squeeing right out loud (often quite loudly).

“And I was in that truck with Joe Callahan. Joe Callahan who was scary and thrilling all in himself. He was more man than I’d ever know and I spent most of my adult life around cops. His maleness filled the cab, dangerous, assertive, assaulting my senses.“

And they come together (hmm, meant literally and figuratively *winks*) FAST!!! This book differs from most KA books (except perhaps Mystery Man) in that the hero/heroine sleep together (or, I should say, have wild, rough, hard, passionate, crazy hot, sexy-as-hell, sex) very close to the start of the book. In this story, the sex (or, honestly I should say f*cking lol) happens first, and the relationship develops second. What they have is explosive, undeniable, and freaking H.O.T… and it doesn’t stop… very soon she’s spending every night in his bed.

But Cal has gone through something tragic in his past that makes him unable to establish a permanent emotional connection and give himself fully over to any relationship even if its what his heart wants and as soon as his feelings for her grow too strong, he breaks both their hearts by leaving and breaking off the relationship.

But when Vi’s husband’s murderer comes back on the radar with his creepy-stalker-eye set on Vi, that isn’t something he can just stand by and do nothing about, so its up to him to do what he can to protect her and the girls, even though he has his work cut out for him to make her trust him again.

And so begins the beautiful craziness of this book – with a seriously SWOONY romance, crazy drunk ex’s, crazy creepy murderer/stalkers, the crazy fun of 2 teenage daughters, the craziness of amazing neighbors and family… and as Vi learns to love again, and as Joe learns to trust again, they both learn to find healing, comfort, love and security in each other … and an absolutely perfect happy ending 🙂 *melt* *squee* *swoon*

Joe. freaking. Callahan. *swoon* has definitely made my absolute top list of guys… lol, especially after he worked his issues out. It was so sweet and heart warming watching him struggle with his emotions, wanting more, but not trusting, trying to do right by Vi and her girls, trying to protect their family. He might be rough around the edges, but he sure-as-hell could be ridiculously sweet and thoughtful. He just had a lot of walls up, guarding himself against future hurt that might mirror a past he’s spent 17 years trying to forget. And when his back story finally comes out, you get it. Its horrible, tragic, and made me cry. It totally explained his behavior, his attitude and his reluctance to get fully into a relationship.

And since their relationship wasn’t clearly defined for a while, there is a bit of a love triangle thing going on for part of the story, but its always clear who ends up with who especially since the other guy is the hero of book 4 of this series 😛 … but can I just say, that judging by his swooniness, book #4 is gonna ROCK!

Joe was just so damaged and totally Alpha, the perfect tortured badass bad boy. And once he figured all his stuff out and finally accepted that he couldn’t ignore or deny what he and Vi had, he went all-out possessive claimy Alpha and stopped at nothing to prove his intentions, his love and his dedication to both her and her girls. Dear Lord, its hard for one heart to handle that much swoon!! *dreamy sigh*

“Joe burst out laughing and I froze, listening to the richness of it. I wasnt even certain he could laugh. He was my hot-as-shit, bad boy, player, next door, security to the stars booty call. He was a serious, scary, rugged, sinister, alpha male. Men like that didn’t laugh.”

If you want a book with steam, this is it. Its is SMOKING HOT!!! The steamy fan-yourself hotness starts at about 8% of the book and pretty much never lets up, in fact it pretty much just builds as the emotional factor increases as the story progresses.

I have to say, the only thing I didn’t really like was how he called her ‘buddy’ – that’s just a little weird and not exactly hot to me. But hey, if that’s my only possibly complaint about the book (and it is), I can definitely live with it.

This book really sneaks up on you. There were twists that had me rocking back and forth crying, some utterly beautiful scenes, epic badass moments… Loss. Healing. Betrayal. Trust. Family. Friendship. Loyalty. Bonding. Love.

Seriously. KA is a genius. The depth to which she just “gets” deep connections between friends, family, lovers, is just sensational. You can’t help but feel totally connected to them, be totally sympathetic to them, and you end up knowing them so well and feeling for them so strongly that its hard to believe they are not real. She has a magical way with words. Speaks straight to your heart.

I thought it was so beautiful how Joe never tried to replace Tim (Vi’s husband) either with Vi or the girls. He was something different. He was special. He loved them for who they were, not for who he wanted them to be to him. He really was Superman <3

Joe and Vi had have their share of hotness and swoon, but they also had their share of of heartache, of mistakes, and of misunderstandings. Watching them work together to learn to trust each other and develop a functional relationship just melted my heart.

“I’m gonna piss you off, honey, probably enough for you to want to leave. I’ve got a temper and so do you, we’re gonna clash…. But… we’ve both learned, this, what we have it’s worth getting over it…. I won’t give up on you, Joe, I promise. I just need you to promise the same thing.“

This book really makes you FEEL!!! I had lots of misty eyes and several tears. Not just from a sad event, often just because the level of emotional I was feeling for a scene was just so strong, it overflowed.

Also, I loved how Colt and Feb (the hero/heroine of book #1) were integrated into this story. They live on the same street as Joe & Vi and we see them a lot. I love when an author doesn’t forget about the beloved characters from previous books. Its so wonderful to see the development of their happily-ever-after, even if its from the outside.

And Oh. My. God, the ending is intense!! It starts building slightly sooner than the classic KA 90% mark and your heart just goes right in your throat. Its absolutely epic – filled with cops, mafia, stalkers, murders, kidnappings, plenty of badass… just totally epic, emotional and thrilling!! *mega grin/squee*

“Semper fuckin’ fi.”

LOVE LOVE LOVE this book!! If you haven’t read it yet, GO GO GO!!!!! Get book 1 (or read this one alone, it does work either way technically) and join the swoon-fest. You won’t regret it!

Rating: 5++ stars!!

CASTING for Joe

Buy AT PEACE (Kindle)

** SERIES READING ORDER **

#1 FOR YOU (Colt & Feb) — Buy for Kindle | My Review

#2 AT PEACE (Joe & Vi) — Buy for Kindle | My Review

#3 GOLDEN TRAIL (Layne & Rocky) — Buy for Kindle | My Review

#4 GAMES OF THE HEART (Miky & Dusty) — Buy for Kindle | My Review

#5 THE PROMISE (Benny & Frankie — Buy for Kindle | My Review

Book Review – Unlovable (Port Fare #1) by Sherry Gammon

August 28, 2012 by Aestas · Leave a Comment

Buy UNLOVABLE (Kindle)

3.5 stars

“When I said I loved you, I didn’t mean for a week, or maybe a year, I meant always, in the good times and the bad, through thick and thin. I’m playing for keeps here, Mags.“

Overall, I thought the story was good, and its under contract to be made into a movie now which I think is fabulous, but I wasn’t totally blown away by the book itself.

Seth is an undercover cops posing as a student at Port Fare High School in an effort to bring down a ring of heroine drug dealers that have been on the rise in the last few months and have been recently reaching out to dealing to kids with devastatingly results. Maggie is a student and visually, with her near-skeletal frame and dark circles under her eyes, could be the poster child for Heroin Chic. No one realizes that she comes from a dirt-poor home and barely has enough money to keep food on the table because her alcoholic, verbally abusive mother drinks away any money that they have. And yet despite this miserable home environment, Maggie maintains stellar performance at school, and is a wonderfully sweet girl that everyone likes.

When Maggie’s name comes up as one of the people who could potentially lead them to the drug lord (based on her outward appearance), Seth is assigned to “get close” to her. But his personal feelings are getting in the way. Aside from his job, he already has feelings for her and he struggles with the balance of doing his job and going for what his heart wants.

Maggie feels unlovable. Her mother constantly berates, abuses and rejects her, so wrapped up in her alcoholic world that she has no time, patience, or love left to give her child.

“Get out of my house! I regret ever giving birth to you, you unlovable nothing!” She picked up a glass from off the coffee table… I turned and left as it hit my shoulder.”

But still, Maggie cares deeply for her mother, wanting desperately to feel worthy of her love, and having seen, first hand, the destruction caused by alcohol, Maggie want nothing to do with it (or drugs).

With her lack of self-worth, Maggie can’t fathom what Seth sees in her. How could someone unloved by their own mother be worthy of any love at all? And so it takes her loooong time to come around to actually believing that Seth is truly interested in her. Their relationship is slow building as Maggie slowly learns to trust him.

“It felt nice to be in his arms, as if someone actually cared about me. He listened, never judging, nor criticizing, just listening as I told him what had happened with my mom.”

But Seth understands how wary and un-trusting she is and is willing to be patient with her. He goes far out of his way to make her feel safe with him, to protect her, to find subtle ways of caring for her when there are basic things that she can’t even afford, and to find a way to convince her of the depth of his feelings for her.

“Please don’t hurt me. When you’re tired of me, just let me know. I promise not to be a clinging vine”…
I was sick and tired of being alone. I was also very much in love with him. It frightened me beyond words.
“Maggie,” he said, stroking my hair. I’m not going to get tired of you, and I certainly don’t plan on hurting you, not on purpose, anyway. But I don’t just want to be here,” He kisses me softly on the lips. “I want to be in here too.” He brushed by head with his lips. “And in your heart. I’ve never loved anyone like this before.”

And while they are figuring out their feelings for each other, the drug dealers are stepping up their game, murdering people, students, hurting them, desperate to make a name for themselves and to get back at the cops for bringing down one of their brothers in a prior assignment.

The story is told from alternating POVs (including the drug dealers) so we get to understand all sides of what is going on.

But I did have a few issues with the story. I thought the plot was a little unbelievable at times (like for example how quickly they went from cautious flirting to absolute head-over-heels love literally overnight with very little build-up to that level of intensity), I found the dialogue a little stilted at times and it didn’t always flow very well (for example, from the guy’s POV, him saying “My face warped into a tortured expression…” hmmmmm, just doesn’t sound like something a guy would say. Or, her doctor asking her “How long were you unconscious?” … *squints skeptically* REALLY?????? O_o ), and there were definite moments of stupid decision making and childish reactions on the heroine’s part – just a lot of things that made me sigh to myself or roll my eyes.

I also wasn’t fully satisfied with the ending – yes, its a happy ending, and, yes, they end up “together” as a couple, and I guess we’ll see more of their relationship development in the sequel (although, it isn’t directly focused on them) but I didn’t like the decision they made at the end – it just didn’t make sense to me.

The steam factor was very, very low – definitely a tame YA read. The hero doesn’t believe in sex before marriage, and for a goodly chunk of the book, she’s 17 and he is 21 (and a cop) so they pretty much only kiss throughout the whole book.

It was still a good book, I just felt a little ‘meh’ about some aspects of it. It did keep me interested from start to finish though, but it didn’t make me laugh, didn’t make me cry and didn’t make my heart race. But it is under contract to be a movie and I can definitely see how it would make a much better movie than it did a book. Its one of those kinds of stories that you can totally visualize as a movie in your head with very few changes made to it.

The sequel, Unbelievable, will be released in December 2012 and follow the story of another of the main characters from this book.

Buy UNLOVABLE (Kindle)

Sad, But Important Announcement

August 27, 2012 by Aestas · 23 Comments

To all my lovely blog followers,

It is with a pretty broken heart that I have to announce that I will no longer be able to post character photos directly on the blog or on the Facebook page. The blog isn’t in any kind of trouble or anything official, but this is a precautionary measure.

I guess it was easier for it to not think about this when I was a smaller, unknown little blog but now that its popularity and regular visitors has grown considerably, I just can’t take the risk of posting them.

The plain truth of it is that, unless you own the rights to an image, it is subject to copyright laws which legally do not allow ANYONE to post it for ANY reason without the express permission of its owner. And yes, that means that sites like Pinterest, many Facebook pages etc that have gorgeous yummy pics for us to drool over are, in fact, technically, illegal.

It sucks. There is no way around it. But the fact is that in the last while, ever since the explosion of image sharing, there have been law firms that have opened up with the express purpose of shaking down the little people for minor photo violations. Its not like a ginormous multi-billion dollar law-suit, but its $4,000 here, $10,000 there… and it adds up for them and is pretty devasting for the blogger.

So I kinda came to the conclusion that honestly, I can’t take that risk. It doesn’t matter that I wasn’t making any money off them (which I wasn’t), it wouldn’t matter if I put a disclaimer, it wouldn’t matter if I gave full image credit or even linked back to the original source, there is literally NOTHING I could do that would make it legal short of getting the express permission of each photo’s copywrite owner. And the truth is ANYONE who posts an image that they do not own ANYWHERE is taking a big risk. If you are a blogger/author/reader who has some such pictures up, I’d strongly recommend reading some of the laws, cuz they are S.C.A.R.Y.

Seriously, its breaking my heart to do this. I can’t tell you guys how much I truely, with all my heart, LOVE casting the books I read at the end of my review. It completes my review to me. But, hosting those images on my blog is not legal and if I want to keep my blog running, I have to make some hard choices.

So… where does that leave us? The blog and all its reviews/quotes etc will keep running exactly like it always has – nothing about that will change. I will still be reading and reviewing 3-5 new books per week and still be hunting down all the swooniest stories to share with you, I will still be hosting giveaways every few weeks, I will be maintaining all my ‘Top 10 lists’ etc and basically everything else that you see normally on the blog will continue as usual.

The only thing that unfortunately will have to change, is that there won’t be character visuals directly in my review 🙁 … however, what I WILL be able to do instead, is to post links at the bottom of the reviews where the character images used to be to the images that I find that best look like the characters that you can click and go to if you would like a visual, but the image just won’t be hosted directly on my site.

Bear with me with that feature. I have a lot of work to do to make that feature available back through all my past reviews on top of keeping up with my regular to-read lists.

I’m also going to start expanding certain areas of the blog to make, for example, a bad boy zone, a YA zone, erotica zone, PNR zone, contemporary romance zone etc, and also an ‘if-you-loved-this, you-will-love-that’ area… and hopefully be able to tack on other fun stuff along the way as the site grows.

I’m really, really sorry to those of you who loved this aspect of the Facebook page and blog. I loved it too. No, I LOVED it. I feel like I just spent all day building a gorgeous, elaborate sandcastle just to have it smushed down by a giant wave. But thats the reality of the law, and those are the risks that come with a site that gets progressively more traffic.

I really hope that you guys will stick around. I love chatting books with each of you both on comments here on the blog, on the Facebook page, and on Twitter, I love hearing your inputs, getting/giving recommendations, and just sharing in the joy of reading 😀

Thank you all for your support, for your participation, and for just coming around and reading the blog. I see the number of people that check in every month and it just makes me so, so happy to see how many of you love it here.

Happy reading everyone!!

~Aestas

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Book Review – Acheron (Dark Hunter #15) by Sherrylin Kenyon

August 24, 2012 by Aestas · Leave a Comment

6 stars

I just a re-read of ACHERON. It is book #15 of the DARK HUNTER series by Sherrylin Kenyon. If you haven’t already tried them out, they are, hands down, my absolute favorite paranormal romance series out there – the perfect blend of very tortured heroes (literally and figuratively), strong heroines, engaging plot, intricate mythology, heart touching moment, steamy love scenes, some of the funniest moments you will ever read in a book, and the absolute sweetest HEAs.

But be sure to READ THEM IN ORDER!!! (lol, yes, shouty caps were necessary 😛 ) This book is not book 1.

For the complete DARK HUNTER reading order, click HERE.

I can’t say much about the book because literally everything that happens in it from start to finish is basically one giant spoiler… but it tells the story of Acheron, a deeply tortured, powerful, heart-stoppingly gorgeous and yet utterly mysterious character who we have seen over the past 14 books.

It is one of my favorite books EVER written. It will break your heart into more pieces than possible and then put it back together better than it ever was to begin with.

The first half of the book tells his back story. From birth to adulthood, what happened to him is heart wrenching. Unspeakably horrific. Incomparably violent. Sickeningly abusive. Both physically and emotionally shattering. Acheron is without a doubt, THE most tortured character in the history of paranormal romance… or maybe just, ever.

The second half of the book tells his present day story… and what leads to his beautiful happily-ever-after. To have a character go from a place of the ultimate suffering, the ultimate humiliation, and the ultimate torment to a place of ultimate peace, happiness, healing, love and acceptance was heart-warming to an extreme. So beautiful. Having seen all the horrors that happened to him, it makes you appreciate every moment of joy as beyond precious. If ever there was a character that deserved a happy ending, its Ash. Love you Ash <3

Really guys, if you haven’t read this series, and you are are looking for an amazing PNR series, run out and get yourselves book 1. Its WAY worth it!! 🙂

Book Review – For You (The Burg #1) by Kristen Ashley

August 23, 2012 by Aestas · 3 Comments

“Since I was three, there’s never been a day when I wasn’t in love with you.”

Buy FOR YOU on KINDLE (Amazon)

Woah! What a roller-coaster of a book!! It went from creepy to intense to hot ‘n’ steamy to sweet to sad to beautiful… it had twists and turns and a story built in layers forward as well as dug in layers backwards…. quite the ride!! And I loved it!

So the back story that you go into this book knowing from the blurb is that Alexander Colton and Febuary Owens were always meant to be together – they were together growing up, together in high school, everyone knew they were destined for each other… but something happened and Feb left Colt. No one knows why, but now, 20 years later, the story begins.

Right from the start, the tone of this book is grittier, more intense, and more serious than some of KA’s other series (especially considering it starts off at a chilling, grisly murder crime scene at Feb’s bar that Colt, now a cop, comes to investigate), but its still pure, brilliant KA writing that sucks you right into the world. I love that her writing style is just so familiar to me, its like coming home to start one of her books – such a wonderful feeling. LOVE!!

At the scene of the gruesome murder, the reader is introduced to Feb and Colt and their shared and, at the time, unknown history. As the reader, we know that whatever happened to them years ago was heart breaking and sad, but we don’t know exactly what it is.

Its clear that, throughout all the years of separation, neither Feb nor Cold have let go of their feelings for each other, but at the same time, aren’t able to give into them, leaving you wracking your brain trying to figure out what could possibly have ever come between a couple so clearly meant for each other.

Naturally, of course, there is a way found for Feb to end up moving in with Colt (completely platonically, of course, *nods seriously*.. for protection. *continues nodding* mmhmm.. we all know where this is gonna lead now don’t we? *grin*) and one thing leads to another and soon they are on their way to an adorably swoony reunion <3

I loved how this story highlights that if the love is pure and real, no amount of years of separation will ever really dull it. Totally beautiful concept.

“There’s no words to explain how big it was, what Colt and I had, or how much it hurts when something that big in your life is swept away, or how empty that place is that he once filled, or how impossible it is to find something to fill it…“

The more Colt and Feb came together, the more I began to squee and sigh over them, but remember that throughout it all there is the under current of mystery with not knowing who the killer is, and with waiting to figure out what happened in their past.

But once things start to build for them, oooooooohhh boy does the HOTNESS begin!! Nothing like a build up of 20 years to make the sex fan-yourself intense!! And once Alpha Colt has claim to his girl, his pulls out all the swoony, bossy, possessive stops while at the same time making my heart melt and go awwwww 🙂 I just loved seeing the two of them come back together again *dreamy sigh*

“Your mother doesnt fuck around,” Colt remarked.
“I hope you didn’t have anything in there that was precious.”
Colt looked at her and said, “The only things precious in my life breathe.”

*swoon* freaking LOVE that line!!

The psycho murderer in this is “without a moral compass” and just totally way-the-freaking-hell creepy in a deeeeeeply chilling way – making me alternately shudder and go ewwwwwww. This one is actually smart, disturbed, who has thought out what they were doing. Have I mentioned creepy and chilling yet?? The murders are very interconnected, personal and now the cover of the book makes sense to me *shudder*

The story is told in alternating POVs, but it was Colt’s POV that was the most interesting to me because he was not only trying to solve the murder, but was also trying to piece together the puzzle of his and Feb’s past and trying to understand how, somehow, the murder and those events might be tied together.

Of course, I won’t tell you what it is, but I will say that my heart was POUNDING when the explanation comes out! Its told from Colt’s POV and you experience the shock and realization as everything clicks into place for him. Its huge!! I just love moments like that in books!

The wonderful thing is that once the muck and turmoil of the past was finally figured out, it left Colt and Feb open to go for what they both really wanted all along – each other 🙂

“Romeo and Juliet, say they didn’t die but Juliet got pissed and took off. Everyone would know it was Romeo and Juliet, would always be Romeo and Juliet, even if later Romeo hooked up with Nancy. No one ever heard of Nancy, doesn’t even sound right, Romeo and Nancy. Everyone knows Romeo’s meant to be with Juliet. Even if Romeo loved Nancy, Nancy would always know she was never Juliet.“

I actually really loved that neither Colt nor Feb were perfect characters. Yes, in a perfect world, if they made perfect decisions, then the decisions they made in their past would have been different. But they both fucked up. They both paid the price. They both knew it, admitted it. And they were both ready to move on and not dwell in the past, but to live in the present. I really admired that about both of them and I love that they had a second chance at their love.

“Then in my ear, he said, “I remember everything about you and I remember all the reasons why I loved you. Never could forget even when I tried… Who knows, baby? We had all that time together, I coulda got used to it, learned to take it for granted.” His arms gave me a squeeze. “Now, that’ll never happen.”

And I just can’t say enough how much I JUST FREAKING LOVE Kristen Ashley’s writing style!! I think she could make a scene about paint drying riveting (not that I’m at all comparing this book to that, just saying that she works magic into her words). Her writing style totally connects you to the story, and the characters, no matter what is going on in the scene.

The book didn’t make me cry ever although I did get a little chocked up twice near the end, which, as usual, left me smiling, awww-ing and grinning… there wasn’t an epilogue in this book but KA writes the best endings and this was was no exception.

An amazing start to this series… I cannot WAIT to get to book 2 since everyone is RAVING about it!! *squee*

**oh and can I just throw a shout-out out to the character of Graham Reece who was only in a few scenes of this book but TOTALLY made me SWOON!!! I am SO looking forward to his book (which is the next book in the Colorado Mountain series). YAY!

Rating: 4.5+ stars!!

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