“We’re gonna explore this and I hope to God that feelin’ I got is not wrong because I tried time and again to make it feel wrong but all it ever felt was right.”
SO. MUCH. EPIC. SWOON!!! Yet another GORGEOUS, touching, heart warming story about love and family. Seriously, Kristen Ashley can do no wrong! Every time I start one of her books, its like I instantly relax and am at peace and every time I finish one of her books, I am left with the absolute most happy, full feeling. It literally gives me shivers of joy.
Dusty has loved Mike her whole life. But as the little sister of his high school girlfriend, they didn’t exactly have a fairy tale start. Towards the end of high school though, Dusty suddenly went off the rails and left town the moment she was free of school. No one understood why, not her family, not Mike, not anyone… But this was over 20 years ago. Now, when tragedy hits her family, Dusty returns to the ‘Burg and while everyone else seems to blame Dusty for her rebellion when she left town, Mike can’t help but wonder if there wasn’t more to her story than she’s letting on. Mike himself hasn’t had the easiest time of it. After going through an ugly divorce, he is now very wary of trusting anyone in a relationship. And after fighting for full custody of two wonderful kids, he has kept almost every relationship he’s had at arm’s length…. until Dusty 🙂
I have to say that I loved a lot of characters in this book, but my first love actually has to go to Dusty. She was an AWESOME heroine. I. Love. Dusty. There I said it. I still like guys, all the way, but Dusty would be my girl-crush if I were to have one. She was just so laidback and yet totally together! She was upfront about she was and wasn’t afraid to hide her thoughts, feelings or opinions. Totally 100% open. She didn’t hold anything back, told it as she saw it, didn’t back down for anything, wasn’t afraid to stand on her own and a heart of pure gold.
“I was me. I thought what I thought. I liked what I liked. Life was exhausting enough with all the ups and downs and bullshit people kept trying to feed you. Expending that kind of effort for essentially no purpose seemed a ridiculous waste of energy.“
Mike Haines. Another gorgeous swoony Alpha cop. He was thoughtful, HOT, creative in bed and an amazingly swoony macho Dad. “…bossy, alpha, and badass in a good guy up way up top, bad boy underneath…” I totally loved everything about him. I loved that he called her Angel. I loved how safe he made her feel in every possible way. She was a strong, independent woman, but everyone loves the feeling of knowing that someone is 100% there to have their back. I loved that he held her when she cried, but respected her opinions, that he would stand up to her but also wasn’t afraid to admit he screwed up and was wrong. He messed a few things up in the beginning, but his reasons were understandable. His ex took away any trust he had. But he was able to own up to being as ass and any guy who can deliver a heart felt apology that spans a few pages is pretty awesome in my eyes…. He was through and through an Alpha, so he definitely had his bossy, in control moments. But they were in the sweetest way that made my heart melt.
“Are you asking me to marry you, honey?”
“No, I’m tellin’ you by the end of this year you’ll be wearing my rings, bearing my name, and probably, pregnant with my baby.”
The depth of his love, attention and devotion for his kids just made me clutch at my heart and swoon. It was just gorgeous to read. He really was the perfect Dad.
I also loved that right off the bat, Dusty and Mike were FUNCTIONAL!! Yes, with several screw ups, but I loved the way they worked it out. Gah, nothing makes me smile more than a couple who is open and honest with each other – no bullshit, no games, no beating around the bush, who are willing to compromise and do everything in their power to make things work.
“Dreams don’t happen and that’s it. You have to feed them and keep them alive…. I’m not going to be ninety years old, looking back on my life and regretting that I gave up that dream.”
“We’re gonna explore this and I hope to God that feelin’ I got is not wrong because I tried time and again to make it feel wrong but all it ever felt was right.”
And their sexy times were shiver-enducingly hooottttt. He may be a good guy on the outside but he had a fuckhot dirty side too. *faints*
“Thus commenced me learning something new about my childhood crush, good guy, excellent father, responsible citizen, courageous cop Mike Haines.
He could get dirty.”
And SQUEEEE!!! To make the book even more awesome than it already was, we are treated to a secondary romance on the side as Dusty’s nephew, Fin, and Mike’s daughter, Clarisse fall in crazy beautiful love. Its TOTALLY sweet and adorable! Fin stole my heart. I loved how tender and patient, supportive and protective he was. He was gorgeous, natural up and coming Alpha who totally ‘got’ everything that came with being one – the respect, the loyalty, the responsibility and of course, falling hard for his girl … and Rees was a beautiful, yet quiet girl who adored utterly him. What wonderful characters. All of them have gone through deep pain and are in need healing and seeing them all find support, love and family in each other… oh, it just made me melt!!
Honestly, I just wanted to highlight every piece of dialogue the kids were involved in. Absolutely brilliant!!
Said by Mike’s son: “its true. Totally. He’s a guy. He’s single. He’s tall. Trust me, girls all like tall guys, I know this for a fact. And Dad’s tall. And girls tell me he’s hot.” He grinned and finished, “I wouldn’t know, seein’ as I’m a guy but I look like him and I’m smokin’ hot so he’s gotta be hot.” LOL
I gotta say, there is just something about Kristen Ashley’s writing style – the words she chooses, the way she uses them, that just touches my heart SO deeply. Its not just the emotional scenes, its everything. Its because she gets that its a macho guy dad thing to for Mike to stand and hold his arm high on the door to let everyone pass underneath – little, subtle things like that. Her words just make my heart feel full. I don’t know how else to say it but it just feels full to bursting every single time I read one of her books.
And oh. my. gosh. the CAMEOS in this book are off the wall!!! We have scenes with Colt, Cal, Tanner, Mike, and Merry all together. Some beautiful little snippets of Vi & Cal. And a lot of changing perspectives. That isn’t to say that this book isn’t focused, because it totally is, but the little snippets of all the different POVs allow you to more full understand where everyone is at so much better.
And I have to give a little shout-out to Rivera. He’s another utterly swoony cop friend of Dusty’s who honestly made me squee or laugh in every single scene he was in. I’d love to read his back story one day.
“You got the touch, bro, layin’ her shit out then talkin’ Dusty around in a night, cementin’ that shit by sendin’ her flowers. One day, my woman is plotting your murder. Next day, I get asked why she doesn’t get any flowers… Fuck, your killin’ me. I haven’t bought Jerra flowers since I pissed her off when we were datin’ and fell asleep durin’ some crappy-ass movie she forced me to take her to sayin’ that movie was Hollywood’s version of us. How could I fall asleep watching the story of us, she asks. And, bro, if that was us, we are borin’ as shit.”
The pace of the book is very even and calm, but in a way that totally keeps you engaged in the story. It very character driven, and much less focused on intense action or thriller-y bad guys. It still has a whopper of a scary moment at the classic 90% mark where my heart stopped completely. Actually, it felt like whole world stopped, but I figured if I said that, you guys would just think I was being over dramatic. I’m not. I swear. It totally stopped. Buuuut, then the EPILOGUE… majorly swoony!!! Tied up ALL the loose ends, had a beeeeaaauuuutiful HEA for both couples and left me with a huge smile on my face.
Honestly, I don’t know why but I was kind of reluctant to start this series… for some crazy unknown reason (which I am now kicking myself for), I thought that maybe I wouldn’t like this series as much as the others. But I’m tempted to say its actually my fav of all the KA series I’ve read so far. Well, Rock Chick is another fav, but still, this one would definitely be tied. Its absolutely GORGEOUS and if you are for any reason holding off like I did, go go go and start them!! 😀
Unfortunately, I am now at the end of the books that are available in this series, but I KNOW I’ll be dropping anything and everything for book 5 when it comes out. I’m utterly addicted 😀
Rating: 5 stars!!
** 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
Jessie L says
Wow!!!! What a great review. You haven’t steered me wrong yet & I cannot wait to dive into this book. And I’ve added the others in the series to my TBRs. Thanks a bunch. My TBRs keeps growing instead of getting smaller. LOL
P.S. Cannot remember if you read “On Dublin Street”. But if you haven’t, you will definitely enjoy the book. I just finished it & wanted more.
[email protected]
Aestas says
Thank you Jessie!! LOL, my TBR is absolutely out of control. I’ve given up trying to tame it and just squared myself with the likelihood that I’ll never catch up 😛
I have read and reviewed On Dublin Street. Braden was seriously scorching HOT!!!
Jennifer Ha says
oh this one sounds interesting i would love to read this one!!