Contemporary Romance

• Buy LOVE UNREHEARDER (Kindle)
• Buy LOVE UNREHEARSED (Paperback) 

5++ HUGE SWOONY STARS!!!!!

I. LOVED. THIS. BOOK. *dreamy sigh* Pure, heart-melting perfection!!!

“You’re my world, babe. Mine. Not theirs. They can have me, but they can’t have you, too…. I meant it when I said forever… You are it for me… The me that is standing in front of you right now is not the same me that’s out there in the spotlight… They only get the outside, not the inside. That’s for you.“

This book made my heart deeply happy and left me thoroughly contented and elated.  A huge reason why I loved it was that it had one of THE MOST FUNCTIONAL relationships I’ve ever read in it. It was SO refreshing to read a whole book about a functional, totally-in-love couple. I was blissfully wrapped up in their world with the HUGEST grin on my face while reading most of the book 😀

Right from the start, I easily slipped back into Ryan and Taryn’s world. Even though it had been quite a while since I read book 1, Love Unscripted, I had no problem instantly reconnecting with the characters and realizing just how much I had missed them.

The author perfectly captured the thrill of being in a relationship with a mega-celebrity, as well as the gritty realities that come with that world – the paparazzi, stalkers, invasion of privacy, constant media scrutiny – making Ryan and Taryn have to deal not only with their own personal life and issues, but also how all of those were seen in the public eye.

I loved how both of them learned from their mistakes. They weren’t perfect, but they both worked really freaking hard at being functional, at rationally dealing with everything and each other. It was truly a joy to read.

They had their share of issues to work through, but they worked through them so functionally that I found myself constantly wanting to just be like “f*ck yeah!!” It was like a breath of fresh air to see a couple actually talk through their issues, support each other, openly and honestly deal with things, handle things so maturely, and just love each other SO much. Their reactions, concerns, issues were all believable, understandable and I could totally sympathize with everything each of them went through.

Ryan Christensen. Definitely the sweetest and hottest Hollywood movie star to ever grace the pages of a romance novel. *swoon* *drool* *dreamy sigh* He was just so freaking HOT and PERFECT!! It melted my heart how utterly in love with Taryn he was and how completely he was devoted to her. Despite all of the pressures of his very public job, all of the gorgeous women throwing themselves at him, he always and only had eyes for Taryn.

“You’re my everything, Taryn”

Taryn was a wonderful heroine in this book. I loved that she had her own journey to go through as she dealt with the repercussions of being involved with a high-demand celebrity. I love how confidently she slipped into his world. It was daunting but she was strong and held her own and, of course, her deep love for Ryan was seriously heart warming.

I loved seeing them work through the highs and lows of the industry and the highs and lows of a relationship, supporting each other through their joys and fears and continuing to grow stronger and stronger.

I can honestly say that there is NO stupidity in this book. Seriously, you guys have NO idea how HAPPY that made me. I didn’t want to put it down – it kept me flipping the pages and totally engrossed in the story.

This book was filled with feel-good moments, emotional moments, heart racing and heart warming moments, functionality, swooniness, HOTNESS (let’s just say that now that they are traveling everywhere together, they have lots of lots of crazy hot sex and it is on FIRE!!), laugh out loud moments, moments that gave me happy shivers, and moments that made me clutch my heart and wipe my happy tears… and the ending left me with the most complete and contented feeling ever. That isn’t to say there weren’t moments of heart ache, but they were dealt with so well by the characters that it only added to the strength of the story 🙂 … and yes, there was a moment where I actually literally cried out “THIS BOOK IS AWESOME!!!!” when I was reading it right after squeeing loudly and thoroughly freaking my dog out, but I digress…

The ending was absolute PERFECTION!! I couldn’t have imagined a happier or more perfectly beautiful ending for Ryan and Taryn… after I ended it, I just sat there hugging my kindle with the biggest, silliest grin on my face. There are no loose ends, no unanswered questions, just a wonderful, heart warming HEA.

If you want a book that’s going to make you happy and swoony, this is it!! HIGHLY, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!

(But be sure to read book 1, Love Unscripted FIRST!!)

**I also just wanted to thank Tina Reber for giving me an ARC to review and for writing this AMAZING book 😀

CASTING:

• Ryan –>Click here
• Ryan and Taryn –> Click here

READING ORDER & PURCHASE LINKS (both are currently available)

• Book #1: LOVE UNSCRIPTED — Kindle | Paperback
• Book #2: LOVE UNREHEARSED — Kindle | Paperback

• Buy CAPTIVE IN THE DARK for Kindle
• Buy CAPTIVE IN THE DARK in Paperback 

“I wrapped my arms around him and held on as hard as I could. He was my tormentor and my solace: the creator of the dark and the light within. I didn’t care that he would undoubtedly hurt me at any moment, right now; I just needed somebody to hold me… To tell me these exact words. Its going to be okay. It wasn’t of course, I knew that. But I didn’t care, I needed the lie.”

5  MINDFUCKING STARS!!

WOW. A dark and powerful read.
UTTERLY CAPTIVATING! UTTERLY DISTURBING!

This book blew my mind. I’m seriously disturbed at how much I loved it. And yet, I think it might end up being one of my favs now. Every scene in it led to more questions, made me doubt my feelings even more. In scenarios where right and wrong seemed so incredibly and unquestionably clear cut, it it just threw all my preconceived notions right out the window and just forcibly opened my mind to more and more perspectives, more and more questions.

The writing style is seriously phenomenal and mezmerizing!!! I felt like I just wanted to highlight the whole book! It was captivating, rich, vivid, descriptive… It put me right into the character’s heads. The story flowed beautifully, the dialogue was effortless and the plot was beyond gripping. CJ Roberts is definitely one of my new favorite authors!

The book centers around Livie’s kidnapping by Caleb. As part of a complex revenge scheme twelve years in the making, he abducts her with the intent of training her as a pleasure slave and selling her into slavery to the man he is trying to take down.

When Livie wakes from a drug-enduced sleep to find herself captive, her worse nightmare is coming true. Tied to a bed, with a strange man who calls her ‘pet’ and demands she call him ‘Master’, Livie is thown into a dark, twisted world, subject to deeply erotic, deeply horrific and disturbing violations against her will. But strangest of all are the feelings she begins to have for her captor. Is there a good heart behind the monster? As the lines between captive and captor are blurred, it leaves you questioning everything you feel…..

“Your entire life is going to change. You should try to accept that, because there is no possible way to avoid it. Like it or not, fight it or don’t, your old life is over. It was over long before you woke up here.” ~Caleb

I don’t view this as a BDSM book. This isn’t BDSM as we usually see it in books, this is real life BDSM. Its not a game, its not a lifestyle, not a choice, this is LIVING in it. Its raw, gritty reality. There is no safe word, no consent, no out. The main purpose isn’t getting off, the purpose is training. End of story.

“What’s going to happen to me?” I asked quietly, almost hoping he hadn’t heard. I wasn’t sure I wanted an answer.
There was no answer – then, “Whatever I wish.” 

Its just such an alarming blend of gentle and tender to harsh, brutal and controlling… and yet I was RIVITED. TO. THE. PAGE.

The author is seriously ballsy – she goes ALLLLL out in this. There is NO freaking stone left unturned… Yup, read into that ALL you want!! O_O

There were parts of the book where I was just in shock at what was happening. The purest HOLY SHIT moments you can imagine!

The whole initial concept of how easily someone can just disappear is deeply chilling. And the story starts off from Caleb’s POV. Watching him watch her, contemplate taking her. Wow. So creepy and yet captivating.

“As a slave trainer, he had trained at least a score of girls. Some were willing… Others… Coerced… But this particular slave, the one he eyed from across the busy street – she was different. She was neither willing, nor coerced, not sent to him. She was pure conquest.”

Caleb… *deep breath* what a complex character. I was utterly intrigued by him. There’s a constant counterbalance between his inner thoughts and feelings (that are more purely him) and his outer actions which are clearly the result of his rigorous, brutal and intense training and conditioning. His journey in this book is so interesting because even though he is ‘technically’ the villain of this story, he’s also the victim of his own (utterly horrific) story. I think he had a lot of humanity, but most of it though had been raped or beaten away and his journey is him struggling whether or not he can and/or wants to find it again. We watch him struggle with what he wanted to do versus what he felt compelled to do. And its a complete mindfuck because, yes he is brutal, but not in the way some crazy mindless rapist would be. So I just found myself questioning things over and over and over again…

Did I like him because he was the best in this fucked up world or did I like him because of him?  Is he the villain? Or is he too a victim of his own story? Should  you love him? Should you hate him? I thought I might be able to love him for a while, then I was really fucking sure I hated his guts. But not hate in the sense that I want him to die. I just want him to be less brutal and then I could love him? And then, a few pages later I sympathized with him again and started to like him again. A lot … Maybe? Gosh that sounds fucked up even to me lol. Urrrrgh!!

One minute he was gentle, the next he was a monster – almost as if the inner him, deeeeep down may have been gentle, but he is just so strongly conditioned to be a monster, that it becomes dominant. I kept alternating between almost thinking I was starting to fall for him, then he would do something that just totally fucked with my mind and, just like Livie, I just had NO clue what to feel.

“Why couldn’t he just keep being an evil, soulless bastard so I knew what his role was and I knew mine? Why did he continually have to switch back from cold and unforgiving, to comforting and warm?”

I mean, I know he’s the product of seriously mindfucking so does that excuse his behavior? Prolly not, but it makes me more sympathetic to him… I think? Or not… GAH!!! Moving on… you’ll have to read it for yourself to see what you think about it.

Livie… I loved her character. I totally felt for her. I loved her spunk and her fight. She never gave up, not really. And her inner strength, despite her nightmare-ish scenario made me totally sympathetic to her. She was never stupid, never made me want to throw my Kindle at the wall. Her thoughts and actions were totally understandable and relatable.

“He had tied me – naked – to a bedpost. To suffer. And he was somewhere in the house fucking some whore’s brains out. He wasn’t thinking of me. Of the pain I was in because of him. He simply did. Not. Care. Hot tears streamed down my face.“

I alternated between finding what I was reading hot, utterly gross, utterly disturbing and then, disturbingly cute. When Caleb would do something cute or tender, I felt myself melt a little. And that just made me want to slap myself and just go ‘Gah! what’s wrong with me?! He’s a kidnapper!! He did unspeakable things to her! But… He’s really cute. Wrong wrong wrong!! Aaaaaaaaa’

“…he stood me up and pressed my head to his chest, rocking me back and forth gently. I gripped him tightly, both arms holding fast to his waist. It had become natural for me to seek shelter in his arms, even if he had  just used then to hold me down and spank me….It wasn’t enough to fuck my body, he wanted to mindfuck me too. It was working.”

Both Livie and Caleb were inexplicably and wrongly (in both cases) drawn to each other and yet their feelings were also utterly undeniable. What was there was just SO. FREAKING. WRONG!!! … and yet, I just totally wanted to root for them. What is wrong with me??!!

The book was captivating and riveting from start to finish. It never dragged. It was just one scenario after another. Like Livie, you never knew what to expect. Total mind fuck.

I don’t know what else to say except if you can keep an open mind, READ THIS BOOK!!! Its absolutely AMAZING!! The ending is most definitely a cliffhanger with many unanswered questions, but the sequel is out so you can read straight through. I can’t wait to get to it in a few days… I’ve heard its even more amazing!

• Buy CAPTIVE IN THE DARK for Kindle
• Buy CAPTIVE IN THE DARK in Paperback
  

** SERIES READING ORDER **

Book #1: CAPTIVE IN THE DARK
Buy for Kindle| Buy in Paperback

Book #2: SEDUCED IN THE DARK
Buy for Kindle| Buy in Paperback | Read my Review

Book #3: EPILOGUE
Buy for Kindle | Buy in Paperback | Read my Review

 

“Live this with me, just live it, whatever happens, however it happens, just live it with me…”

• Buy GOLDEN TRAIL on KINDLE (Amazon)

**HAPPY DANCE** oooo how I loved this book! It literally made me tremble with joy (yes, literally… and my husband is still teasing me about my incessant squeeing 😛 ). But seriously, its another gorgeous, swoony, emotional beautifully written KA book that had me in happy tears and clutching my heart more times than I could count.

Tanner Layne wakes up in a hospital bed after being riddled with bullets to find Rocky at his bed side. To say their history was a mess is an understatement. 18 years ago, they had a beautiful, know-in-your-heart-this-is-meant-to-be-forever kind of romance until suddenly, with no reason, Rocky left him. Devastated and unable to find the reason why, Layne left the ‘burg and moved forward with his life while leaving his heart behind. Heart broken and angry over Rocky’s unexplained departure from his life, his condom breaks one very drunk night giving him a son he adores but saddling him with a bitchy wife he feels duty bound to stand by. Trapped for years in a loveless marriage, the only good thing left in his life becomes his two sons. Now, in present day, his ex-wife has hooked up with a real asshole he doesn’t want around his two teenage sons, and he has come back to the ‘burg in an effort to give them a better life. But when he wakes up in the hospital and sees Rocky there for him, and then they start working together to bring down the dirty cop who shot him, it reawakens his feelings for her that were buried so deep by the hurt of their past that he didn’t realize how truly strong they still were.

“Layne knew he was in love with her. Not only that, he’d never stopped loving her. Not once, not for a second, not for twenty-one years.
Fuck him.”

The whole vibe of this book is a little different than the last two in the series (For You and At Peace). It really snuck up on me because while it seemed a lot quieter and more subtle in its intensity, it packed quite the emotional punch. I cried several times (usually happy or just overly emotional tears), squeed, laughed, swooned and really just felt a lot while reading it. Something about it really spoke deep. Deep family connections, deep bonding, deep love and healing. Just. So. Freaking. Gorgeous.

And while there is still very much of the typical ‘badass’ feel that all KA books have, it has that while being very strongly family-relationship focused. It felt very real. There is a lot of family stuff that is just utterly gorgeous and because Layne has two sons (the oldest being 18), its basically a badass KA Alpha man raising KA Alpha boys – total mega swoon going on there!! I cannot possibly tell you guys how much I ADORED seeing Layne and his sons bond. Definitely led to a lot of tears and heart clutching <3

Another thing that’s different is that the whole book is from Layne’s POV! I loved seeing the life, thoughts and actions of a KA Alpha man so continuously. By always seeing the story from his POV, you totally sympathized with his lack of knowledge about the break up and were just as curious as he was to uncover the reason behind it, and you saw him fall back in love with Rocky and got to see the romance build through his eyes.

The romantic relationship part of this story is a slow, subtle but beautiful build. Its not like they see each other and the clothing articles go a-flyin’. The romance creeps up on them as they slowly and naturally ease back into the “forever” couple they were always intended to be while working out the issues left over by so many unanswered questions. *dreamy sigh* … oh, and the sexy times were HOT!! “Hands to the wall.” *fans self*

There IS  a bad guy, but, unlike in previous books in this series, he isn’t really directly targeting Layne or Rocky, but rather actually serves to being them closer to each other as they work together to bring him down.

And then there is the whole issue of Rocky’s big secret – why did she leave Layne 18 years ago?? We don’t find out until late in the story – the build up is subtle but intense! As the theories started piling up in my head, I was on emotional overload. Full body chills, tears, the whole shebang!

I loved watching them come together, watching Rocky open up to him again, watching him making her feel safe, and seeing them meld their lives back together.

“I remember, Rocky. I remember everything. I remember every… fucking… thing.”

Layne was such a gorgeous Alpha. But he was open, honest, fair, loyal, no bullshit, no lies, no games. Just seeing him pass on his wisdom and teaching his sons to be the best men they could be both through his words and by practicing what he was preaching and always being there for his woman, respecting her, loving her, protecting her… helping those in need, bringing his family together… absolutely beautiful, totally swoony, and heart-melting!! <3

“Seen a lot of things, done a lot of things, wounds to the flesh hurt but they heal fast. Wounds to the soul never go away. It’s how we cope with a pain that never dies that makes us the people we are. Daily, people demonstrate acts of courage just so they can get through the night.. there are warriors and then there are warriors. In your Dad’s bed lies a warrior. Learn from her, boy.”

Rocky was a wonderful heroine. She had guts, was strong on her own, stubborn and driven. She drove Layne a little crazy sometimes with how strong she was, but that was great fun to read cuz it brought out his swoony extra protective side. But she also had a lot of buried hurt, a lot of deep understanding for love and a beautiful heart. She was the perfect match for Layne.

There were so many times in the story when I’d just be sitting there reading with tears in my eyes and my hand over my mouth… beautiful, emotional, deep. Love, love, love!

The story also ties into the previous two books in the series. We see a lot of Colt & Feb and Cal & Vi and their girls… them all living in the ‘burg together and all being in the business of protecting people, their lives intersect a lot. And its totally awesome!

I know I’ve said this a few gazillion times before, but seriously. KA writes THE. BEST. MEN. EVER. (who am I kidding, she writes pretty much the best EVERYTHING ever, but I digress). My heart just overflows with the emotions that their stories and actions wring from me and their stories settle so deeply in my heart, I feel like I know these characters personal. Utterly BRILLIANT writing. That woman has a true gift. Her writing style is just so badass. She makes absolutely everything seem larger than life and epically cool and yet so down-to-earth, real and intimate that it feels like its just you and the world you are reading about and you can just lose yourself in the words and feel like you are right freaking there.

Oh, and there is a GORGEOUS epilogue at the end of this book featuring all the characters we’ve seen in this series so far… KA’s epilogues leave you with the most wonderful, happy, full feelings ever. They leave you with the knowledge and deep certainty that everyone in them has the beautiful happy ending they deserve. *happy tear*

Rating: 5 stars!!

CASTING:

• Here’s how I see Layne –> Click here
• and again here –> Click here

• Buy GOLDEN TRAIL (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

 

MY RECOMMENDED READING ORDER FOR ALL KRISTEN ASHLEY SERIES

“I know you love me, Jocelyn, because there’s no fucking way I can be this much in love with you, and not have you feel the same way. It’s not possible.“

• Buy ON DUBLIN STREET (Kindle)
• Buy ON DUBLIN STREET (Paperback)

I feel pretty torn about how to rate this book. The guy was HOT!! I loved him. He reminded me a lot of Gideon Cross. But that being said, to me, the heroine’s actions and denial of their feelings for each other brought the story down for me. I still did like the story a lot, but the heroine’s issues and reluctance to commit to the relationship just prevented me from connecting more strongly with the story than I otherwise might have.

When the ultimate tragedy strikes Joss’s family, she needs a fresh start and moves to Scotland. Right near the beginning of the story, we meet the hero when he and Joss accidentally end up sharing a cab… and can I just say: deep, gravelly voice + Scottish accent *shivers*!! He comes off as a arrogant (in a lovable way) and unapologetically charming and just totally fuckhot and while Joss is very physically attracted to him, she refuses to allow herself to become emotionally interested in him.

After finding herself a gorgeous new apartment, she find that it comes with an even more gorgeous perk – her flat-mate’s swoony brother: the taxi guy, Braden Carmichael. At first, there is just a long period of flirty banter but Joss resists quite a lot, until finally they come to a friends-with-benefits arrangement that Braden agrees to, but really is just using it to try and convince her to be in a relationship with him.

His grip on my chin tightened, quieting me. “I’ll come over tomorrow night.”
This was not happening. How could I let this happen? “Braden, I don’t want anything to happen between us.”
He raised an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced. “Tell that to your damp knickers, babe.”
I narrowed my eyes on him. “You are such a dick.” 

The writing starts out quite strong and just totally immerses you into the world and sweeps you into the story. The thing about this story is that on the outside, its kind of flirty and sexy, but you can sense the multiple undercurrents of hurt in everyone’s buried back stories. They are all coping with their own personal hell – especially Joss.

Although Joss and Braden meet right at the start of the story, their relationship is very slow building. And because of how strongly she resists him, he has his work cut out to woo her. But he does it quite subtly – as if he senses how something in her past is causing her pain, and knows not to push until she’s ready.

Braden was just a totally gorgeous character – both inside and out. He was swoony, protective.. and did I mention fuckhot?! And you just gotta love a man who is bossy in the bedroom but also loved to snuggle. In the relationship, he does make mistakes, but he apologizes for them and does his best to keep Joss from spiralling downward into her personal hell.

Joss was very independent, very emotionally closed off and so very deeply hurt and affected by the tragedy in her past that her efforts to shielf herself from ever reliving it leads her to many moments of stupidity on her part. Luckily, for most of those times, Braden is there to call her on it and keep her facing the reality of the increasing intensity of their growing relationship. When she slips, he does his best to bring her back.

At first, I very much got a Bared To You feel from this book, but having finished it, I’d say it veers off in quite a different direction.

I’d say that I loved the first 5% or so, then the next 30%, I was pretty sure I liked it – but I wasn’t sure, and then BAM!! The hotness hit and I was in love with it for a while, but then it took a bit of a downward turn for me again as Joss’ insecurities took over her life and caused her to make a bunch of decisions that I really didn’t like.

Joss takes a long time to fight her demons and learn to be ok in a relationship. I loved that Braden would push her to the edge of my comfort zone, but never over it. BUT, I felt that she took WAY too long to finally give in to the relationship.

Overall, I adored the “fuckhot Scot” (teehee).  And at first, I found Joss’s “moments of stupid” more forgiveable because at the same time as having her issues, she recognized that she had them and was seeing a therapist to try and work through them. But eventually, her inability to admit she had feelings for Braden despite  her CLEARLY having them brought the story down for me and there wasn’t enough time of the book dedicated to her and Braden being in a functional relationship after she finally was through them.

If you are ok with reading through stupidity from the heroine, you’ll probably love this book, but I think part of what annoyed me was I went into it expecting them to have fallen into a bit of a functional relationship for at least part of the book. And I kept wait and waiting and waitng. Then around 30%, I thought I got a wiff of one, then even more at 45%. But then it wasn’t until the late 90%’s that she finally gave in. I guess I’d I had expected that from the start, I’d have liked the book more but that just wasn’t the kind of book this was.

This being said, I think this is the kind of book that would make a really awesome movie (haha and not just cuz I want to hear the Fuckhot Scot’s voice ;P )

Rating: Almost 4 stars.

• Buy ON DUBLIN STREET (Kindle)
• Buy ON DUBLIN STREET (Paperback)

CASTING:

• Braden –> Click here
• Joss –> Click here

Click covers to purchase.

• Buy THE MIGHTY STORM for Kindle
• Buy THE MIGHTY STORM in Paperback

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?

• Click here
• Click here
• Click here
• Click here

 

“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

   

MY RECOMMENDED READING ORDER FOR ALL KRISTEN ASHLEY SERIES