Review: Ride Steady by Kristen Ashley

Title: Ride Steady
Author: Kristen Ashley
Series: Chaos, #3
Publisher: Forever
Release Date: June 30, 2015
Pages: 640
Rating:

The ride of her life . . . 
Once upon a time, Carissa Teodoro believed in happy endings. Money, marriage, motherhood: everything came easy---until she woke up to the ugly truth about her Prince Charming. Now a struggling, single mom and stranded by a flat tire, Carissa's pondering her mistakes when a vaguely familiar knight rides to her rescue on a ton of horsepower.

Climb on and hold tight . . . 
In high school, Carson Steele was a bad boy loner who put Carissa on a pedestal where she stayed far beyond his reach. Today, he's the hard-bodied biker known only as Joker, and from the way Carissa's acting, it's clear she's falling fast. While catching her is irresistible, knowing what to do with her is a different story. A good girl like Carissa is the least likely fit with the Chaos Motorcycle Club. Too bad holding back is so damned hard. Now, as Joker's secrets are revealed and an outside threat endangers the club, Joker must decide whether to ride steady with Carissa---or ride away forever . . .

Kristen Ashley is always a hit or a miss with me. But I have to say I am quite surprised that I freaking devoured this book. I'm not a huge fan of biker books. I have read a few and hated them, but there has been a few I have liked. And I didn't really like the first two books in this Chaos Series all that much. But, oh.my.freaking.god. This one was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!

RIDE STEADY was so much more than a biker book. It was a story about two people with tortured pasts who have been in love with each other since High School and now it's there chance to finally be happy with each other. Carson Steele aka "Joker" had a abused childhood. Mother left early on and father beat him, abused him physically and mentally. His plan was to get out as soon as he could and he did and became part of Chaos.

Carissa Teodoro married the High School Jackass, I mean jock, had a baby boy with him and now she's divorced. He won't her at all and is fighting for custody, He's basically abusing his power his family has as a great lawyers. he cheated on her many times and left her for a model and now that she's with Carson he's trying to win her back just to win and prove to Carson that he can. Again I say, JACKASS!

It was lovely reading Carson and Carissa come together. It took a while. Carissa was the last person Carson saw before he left town all those years ago and upon meeting again she doesn't remember him. So he plans dumb, goes by the name Joker now and is very distant towards her even though she obviously wants to be with Joker. And even when they get together he still doesn't tell her that he is Carson. That was annoying. I thought he should've told her from the start. And he is so sweet too wanting to wait to have sex with her. Every time it's like she's the horny one wanting sex so bad. It was funny.

Anyway, RIDE STEADY was a very heartwarming story. It has your typical Kristen Ashley formula. Beautiful Heroine, Bad ass Alpha Hero, Funny as Hell & Nosy Family and Friends, and a Jackass Ex trying to screw up shit for the heroine. Books that end up loving by Kristen Ashley makes me so happy that she publishes more than 2-3 books a year. Thank god for that!

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Review: The Will by Kristen Ashley

Title: The Will
Author: Kristen Ashley
Series: Magdalene, #1
Publisher: Smashwords
Release Date: April 8, 2014
Pages: kindle edition, 375
Rating:

Early in her life, Josephine Malone learned the hard way that there was only one person she could love and trust: her grandmother, Lydia Malone. Out of necessity, unconsciously and very successfully, Josephine donned a disguise to keep all others at bay. She led a globetrotting lifestyle on the fringes of the fashion and music elite, but she kept herself distant.

While Josephine was trotting the globe, retired boxer Jake Spear was living in the same small town as Lydia. There was nothing disguised about Jake. Including the fact he made a habit of making very bad decisions about who to give his love.

But for Josephine and Jake, there was one person who adored them. One person who knew how to lead them to happiness. And one person who was intent on doing it.

Even if she had to do it as her final wish on this earth

“Josie.” My name shook with his amusement and it was annoying because the way it did sounded lovely. “She gave me you.”

I was very worried before I began this book, because many KA Fans did not like this book so much, so I was dreadfully nervous. But Oh.my.god. I'm in the minority yet again! I FREAKING LOVED this book. And I can't wait for more Kristen Ashley books to follow. THE WILL is about Josie Malone, whose grandmother has passed and upon hearing her will it was declared that her grandmother gave Josie to Jake Spears. And her reaction? HORRIFIED!

I didn't like Josie so much in the beginning, but later on I warmed to her. The problem with her I had was her language. She talks like an older middle-aged woman from England with her speech. She says things like "unhand me" and "vexed". It was nice to have a whole different heroine, but good god. But in the end I got used to her weird language. She has a very horrible attitude in the beginning, which changed quickly as she warmed up to Jake and his children.

“You see, a woman who knows herself and her worth knows that her time is valuable and her heart is precious. She doesn’t give either to a man who can’t respect the gifts he’s being offered.” 

Jake Spears is supposedly Josie's dream guy according to Grams. He is a classic Kristen Ashley alpha male hero. He was kind, gentle, protective and sweet! Also, he isn't afraid to tell it like it is. He has three kids and has been married three times. His kids were awesome. I always love when kids are in the mix in Kristen Ashley's books. And I loved his kids.

I was seriously over the moon when we got things, not other Josie's POV, but also in Jake's. That is complete AWESOMENESS! I greatly enjoyed how all the secrets about Grams and Jake came out in the end. The turn out was heartbreaking and just plain EPIC like many other Kristen Ashley books. In the end, I thought THE WILL was another great Kristen Ashley book. And I am looking forward to more!

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Review: Law Man by Kristen Ashley

Title: Law Man
Author: Kristen Ashley
Series: Dream Man, #3
Publisher: Forever
Release Date: December 11, 2012
Pages: kindle edition, 508
Rating:

Sweet, shy Mara Hanover is in love with her neighbor. For four years, she has secretly watched her dream man from afar. Handsome police detective Mitch Lawson is way out of her league. She's a girl from the wrong side of the tracks, and there's no way a guy like Mitch would want anything to do with her. But when Mara has a leaky faucet that she can't fix, it's Mitch who comes to her rescue.

Mitch has been eyeing his beautiful neighbor for a long time. He jumps at the chance to help her, and soon their formerly platonic relationship gets very hot and heavy. But when Mara gets a disturbing phone call from her cousin's kids, she gets pulled back into the life she's tried so hard to leave behind. Can the hot law man convince Mara to let go of her past-and build a future with him?

When I started LAW MAN I really ended up loving it a whole lot, which was great. The plot, and the characters were awesome. But, there was something that ruined the book for me, where I couldn't enjoy it to the full extent. I, for the life of me, COULD NOT STAND THE HEROINE!

My problem lies with Mara, the heroine. At first she comes off as really shy, which I was okay with, but after a few chapters, her real character comes out. She is a real insecure, fucked up, dumb-ass. She is so stupid, that if I was reading an actual print book I would've thrown the book across the room. Problem #1 lies with her inability to care properly for the kids. Her niece and nephew were in a bad home for many years and she does NOTHING! They could've fucking died.

Thank god, Detective Mitch Lawson was there to clean up that mess. Grow a fucking backbone, woman! And also, when Mitch offers help with the kids. She won't accept his help. This ticks me off majorly because she has a full-time job. Who the hell is going to take care of the kids, huh? She decides to take the kids, but she hasn't thought anything over. I for one was glad Mitch was there being the classic KA Alpha Male that he is and setting this woman straight!

“Then you’re wrong and I’m right. I do know everything about you. Because out here in the real world, there aren’t ‘kinds’ and only someone twisted and fucked up or just plain stupid thinks there are.

And my second problem with this woman is the way she views life. She grew up in a bad home with a bad mother and people treated her like a trailer trash whore, because her mother was one. She got away from the shit and has a good life and she still thinks low of herself, that she is not good enough. She puts herself down all the time and her reason for not being with Mitch is because she believes she is way out of his league. One thing I hate more than anything is when a woman puts herself down all the time without reason. There was no reason for this. And this went on through almost the whole book.

“Don’t mind me. Have your moment.” Mitch leaned back, letting Billy go and grinning at me. “Men don’t have moments.” “You do,” I returned. “I’m witnessing one.”

I have to talk Mitch Lawson now! Mitch was awesome! I loved him. He had a lot of work to do with Mara and had to deal with her bullshit and craziness. But, man! He is definitely my Dream Man! And I loved the kids. I loved how Mitch was with the kids. Even though they are not his kids, he cares for them like he is the father and it touches me so much when KA Alpha men are so sweet with the kids in these books. Makes my heart melt. LAW MAN wasn't perfect, but it was still a pretty damn good book.

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Review: Knight by Kristen Ashley

Title: Knight
Author: Kristen Ashley
Series: Unfinished Hero, #1
Publisher: N/A
Release Date: April 7, 2012
Pages: kindle edition, 413
Rating:

Anya Gage has learned that to get anything good in life, you have to work for it. She has no expectations, no dreams.

Then she finds herself at a party where she doesn’t want to be and she meets Knight.

Knight Sebring knows who he is, what he wants and what he likes. And he gets it. But he never expected something as sweet as Anya Gage to wander into his bedroom during a party he did not expect to be having to borrow his phone.

Knight tries to leave Anya to the life she deserves of white picket fences and a man who watches football on Sundays – good, normal and clean. But when Anya comes to his nightclub and finds herself in a situation, he knows someone has to look after her, he can’t fight it anymore and he decides that man will be him.

Knight teaches Anya that, just as with the bad, in life you should also expect the good. And he teaches her this by giving it to her.

But Knight has a dark past and just as he desires Anya for exactly who she is, he fears when she finds out exactly the man he has become and always intends to be, she’ll leave him for good, normal and clean.

You know, I'd thought I'd like it. I was prepared to. And I was really liking KNIGHT. But big problems arouse. Big problems, even before the whole daddy stuff. I was liking KNIGHT up to about half of the book and then his true color surfaced. I love my big and bad boy alpha males who have control and possession issues, but this was way over the top in the control area.

Even before Anya even had any say in the matter he decides she is his woman. And he stops her from having any control over her life whatsoever. She cannot tell him no, or he will punish her, If she refuses a direct order, his men will come and lock her in his office and she has to explain herself. She has to obey him in everything. Anya is basically his fucking slave.

And Anya is no better, just because the guy is drop dead gorgeous, and is sweet a lot of the time, doesn't mean the other stuff IS NOT A PROBLEM. It is. I like my heroine's to at least have a little self-respect and she has none. All she sees in a hot guy he is nice and sweet, so the other scary and control stuff is okay, right? Dear, god. What the hell is wrong with you, woman? This is the 21st Century and men do not tell women what to do , how to dress, when you can have a drink, if you can dance and how to behave. That is just fucking ridiculous. If they think they can, get the fuck outta my life.

I know all Kristen Ashley's books don't do it for me, but this is the one that brought out the inner angry madwoman. I may check out the other Unfinished Hero books. I just had a problem with the major control in KNIGHT.

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Review: Broken Dove by Kristen Ashley

Title:  Broken Dove
Author:  Kristen Ashley
Series:  Fantasyland, #4
Publisher:  N/A
Release Date:  December 27, 2013
Pages:  kindle edition, 396
Rating:  

Far too young, Apollo Ulfr lost Ilsa, his wife, the love of his life and the mother of his two children. The grief of her loss does not settle in his soul, it solders to it. But when he discovers there is a parallel universe where his wife may have a twin, he feels there's hope and sets about bringing her to his world so he can have her back.

But Ilsa Ulfr of our world is married to the parallel universe's twin, Pol, who is not a good man. Not in any way. She's on the run from him and the last thing she wants is to be transported to a fantastical world and be forced to take his side as his wife, even if he is not Pol. And Apollo finds the broken, bitter Ilsa nothing like his beloved and he further wants nothing to do with her.

But darkness is looming and evil is amassing. Apollo must protect his land and keep his family safe, including the new Ilsa

I may attempt to cry. I'm just kidding, no really! I know that all Kristen Ashley's books don't work out for me. I guess it's just the luck of the draw. My issue's with BROKEN DOVE was that it was so incredibly boring and dull. And I have to add that the character connection was so not happening. There was no magic romance connection happening here. Zilch. Nada. None.

The beginning of this book started out wonderfully, but as soon as I got a third into it, it started dragging and I lost interest in a blink of an eye. I felt like nothing really happened. As far as the characters, I was not down with the way that Apollo decided to bring Ilsa back and then after a day or night, he completely abandoned her, because she is nothing like his Ilsa of his world. That really pissed me off. I can go on and on about how messed up that was, but I won't.

Oh, wait! And then his Second-in-Command shows an interest in Ilsa or Maddie as they call her, and suddenly Apollo decides to fight for her and make her his. Like Back off, she's mine. That only sent the message that, since another man showed interest in her he decides he needs to make her his. It was so jackass-like. Apollo did have his moments, but he has nothing on Dax Lahn and Prince Tor. Apollo didn't make me swoon with his utter romantic-ness in this book as much as the other two did in their books.

I do love Kristen Ashley and her books, but some of them just don't end up working out for me. I think some of the books that don't work out for me is because they drag on too much. Hopefully the next one ends up being better.

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