Review: Jagged by Kristen Ashley

Title: Jagged
Author: Kristen Ashley
Series: Colorado Mountain, #5
Publisher: N/A
Release Date: November 5, 2013
Pages: kindle edition, 345
Rating:

An old flame rekindled . . .

Zara Cinders always knew Ham Reece was the one, but he wasn't interested in settling down. When she found someone who was, Ham walked out of her life. Three years later, Zara's lost her business, her marriage, and she's barely getting by in a tiny apartment on the wrong side of the tracks. As soon as Ham hears about Zara's plight, he's on her doorstep offering her a lifeline. Now, it will take every ounce of will power she possesses to resist all that he offers.

Ham was always a traveling man, never one to settle down in one town, with one woman, for more time than absolutely necessary. But Ham's faced his own demons, and he's learned a lot. About himself, and about the life he knows he's meant to live. So when he hears that Zara's having a rough time, he wants to be the one to help. In fact, he wants to do more than that for Zara. A lot more. But first, he must prove to Zara that he's a changed man.

"You took me only as I could give because you knew that was the way it needed to be for me. You gave me that because you love me. And I took it, fuckin' up huge. But now, baby you get it all back. Now's your time to get everything you need."

When I started JAGGED I wasn't all that into it. I don't really know what happened, but the whole "Friends with Benefits" thing I didn't like and plus I'm not a huge fan of the past lover/already had met thing. But the more I read the more addicted to this book I got. My doubts were lost. Like many other Kristen Ashley books I read I could not put this masterpiece down! This book brought my inner Kristen Ashley fangirl craziness back out again!

JAGGED is the story of Graham Reece and Zara Cinders. They both have known each other for a long time. Zara has been in love with Reece forever, but Reece's motto is to going to place to place, never growing too close to any woman and he likes to keep it that way, but Zara and Reece had be able to separate that, being able to see each other and not let it get to personal until Zara can't take it anymore and needs to permanently remove Reece from her life. So and so years later Zara gets in contact with Reece and somehow they end up living together because Graham Reece is totally one of those Alpha Colorado Mountain Men!

I really liked Zara as far as Kristen Ashley's heroine's go. I had no such complaints with her. He life is falling apart a little bit. She decides to divorce her husband because she just can't take that relationship as husband and wife with that man, looses her shop, her house and ends up living in some crappy apartment with a beat up door that is so unsafe for a young woman. And Reece moves back to Gnaw Bone and offers to have her stay with him, well, he won't take no for an answer.

"I love you," I forced out in a whisper. "I know." He did not whisper. "No. I love you," I repeated. "I know, cookie." "No," I stated, his fingers still holding mine. I didn't move but kept my eyes locked to his. "I love you, Graham Reece."

The first impression I got from Reece in the beginning was that he was this "player", all sex and no committment. How wrong I was! I swear there's a reason for everything and as soon as Reece started to fill out the great Sexy Colorado Mountain Man role my frown turned upside down. Graham Reece is a man's man! He has been in hell in the past with women and a man has got to protect himself and his heart! And I am all for that. But when he shows he cares, you really want Reece to care for you! You want to be that woman he gives his love and affection to!

So I fell for Zara and Reece HARD! I loved they're arguments and fights! So cute! And I know that Kristen Ashley writes the best sex scenes, that is no surprise, but something about this book made it even more sexier! I enjoyed going back to Gnaw Bone! I FREAKING love this town and it's people. I loved our little Max and Nina moments we got! I missed them! I loved how Reece protected Zara from her bitchy ass family and fought her family. JAGGED was a pleasant surprise and I loved every moment of it and I am definitely looking forward to the next Colorado Mountain book!

read more

Review: Sweet Dreams by Kristen Ashley

Title: Sweet Dreams
Author: Kristen Ashley
Series: Colorado Mountain, #2
Publisher: N/A
Release Date: April 23, 2011
Pages: kindle edition, 562
Rating:

Nina Sheridan’s on a timeout adventure in the Colorado Mountains. She needs distance from her clueless fiancé, distance to decide whether she wants to spend the rest of her life with a man who doesn’t care enough to learn how she takes her coffee.

Arriving in a blinding snowstorm at the A-Frame she rented, she comes face to face with the most amazing man she’s ever seen. Minutes later, when he kicks her out of his house, she goes head to head with him.

Beyond angry because she’s flown half a world away to start her timeout adventure, not to mention her sinuses hurt, she heads back down the mountain and ends up in a ditch. Unable to extricate herself, she gives up, hopes for rescue and falls asleep in the backseat.

The next morning she wakes up in the amazing man’s bed and she’s sick as a dog.

Holden Maxwell spends days nursing her back to health and then he spends the next two weeks trying to convince her to take her Colorado adventure further, in other words, make it permanent and take a gamble on him.

Nina has a tough time fighting her attraction to Max, especially when it seems all Max’s friends, her mother and stepdad and the whole town want them together and both she and Max get embroiled in the murder of Max’s ex-friend and the town of Gnaw Bone’s most detested resident – a man everyone has motive to kill, especially Max.

“Tatum Jackson, you’re lucky you’re a smokin’ hot, badass, biker, bounty hunter who looks good in jeans and is a good dad and I love you or you would seriously not be worth it.”

I have tried this book four times and I have finally made it past a point where I enjoyed it. It was like having a battle. SWEET DREAMS felt dead. I'm going to refrase that. It felt dead in the first half of the book to me. I despised the first half of the book. I"m going to be honest. I hated the first half of the book. I think this book had took a complete 180 turn where I didn't expect that we would be thrown into a completely different town and atmosphere compared to the first book. And I wish it revolved around the first book, the same town, the same characters. Me not liking this whole new change, is an understatment.

Now the second half of SWEET DREAMS was more my style and I"m glad that I made it to that part of the book to continue on because the second half was beautifully written and at that point I could not stop reading. What I didn't like in the beginning. The heroine, Lauren was such a bore and she felt like her life ended, because her husband cheated on her for five years, so she moves to a crappy ass town and becomes a waitress. Like what? I"m just going to say I didn't really connect with her that much. She came off as annoying the first half.

“His forehead dropped to touch mine. “I’m gonna piss you off ‘cause I can be a dick. That’s who I am. And you’re gonna piss me off ‘cause, babe, you got attitude. That’s who you are. And that’s who we’re comin’ out to be together. And I’m all right with that because, with what I had before, even when you’re a bitch, I like it. But when you’re not, it’s a sweetness the like I’ve never tasted.”

Tate and Lauren are fighting through the beginning of the book or not getting along because Tate was a FUCKING JERK and suddenly, like that with a snap of a finger, they are all like baby this and baby that. I mean, where the hell did the character/relationship development go?! And I swear if Lauren says sorry one more time I'm going to go bonkers. I guess I wished the first half of the book could of went differently.

And now the second half of SWEET DREAMS we had a good storyline with Tate's ex causing trouble and Tate's son in te mix and I had my eyes glued to the page from that storyline. Tate's ex, Neeta was a total bitch and Tate's son, Jonas was so adorable it was hard to believe he was only 10 years old. I love when children are thrown into the mix in a book, because it mixes things up and they are always o cute. I fell in love with Jonas!

SWEET DREAMS was a hell of a book and it did have it's moments, but I wish the first half of the book could have been written a bit differently or something. For me the first half didn't sit well and it caused me to wanna drop this book so many times, but I'm glad I stuck with it, because the second half made it well worth my while. I'm looking forward to more from the lovey, Kristen Ashley.

read more

Review: The Gamble by Kristen Ashley

Title: The Gamble
Author: Kristen Ashley
Series: Colorado Mountain, #1
Publisher: N/A
Release Date: April 18, 2011
Pages: kindle edition, 629
Rating:

Nina Sheridan’s on a timeout adventure in the Colorado Mountains. She needs distance from her clueless fiancé, distance to decide whether she wants to spend the rest of her life with a man who doesn’t care enough to learn how she takes her coffee.

Arriving in a blinding snowstorm at the A-Frame she rented, she comes face to face with the most amazing man she’s ever seen. Minutes later, when he kicks her out of his house, she goes head to head with him.

Beyond angry because she’s flown half a world away to start her timeout adventure, not to mention her sinuses hurt, she heads back down the mountain and ends up in a ditch. Unable to extricate herself, she gives up, hopes for rescue and falls asleep in the backseat.

The next morning she wakes up in the amazing man’s bed and she’s sick as a dog.

Holden Maxwell spends days nursing her back to health and then he spends the next two weeks trying to convince her to take her Colorado adventure further, in other words, make it permanent and take a gamble on him.

Nina has a tough time fighting her attraction to Max, especially when it seems all Max’s friends, her mother and stepdad and the whole town want them together and both she and Max get embroiled in the murder of Max’s ex-friend and the town of Gnaw Bone’s most detested resident – a man everyone has motive to kill, especially Max.

“You just need to know, I gotta fight to keep what we got so we can build on it, I will. Him, your Dad, you, I don’t give a fuck. In my life, I’ve learned when to let shit go and when to fight. This, babe, what we got, I’ll fight for.” 

There is no way, I repeat, no way, no words that can present themselves to how FUCKING AMAZING this book was. THE GAMBLE was one of the best contemporary romance books I have ever had the pleasure of reading. I admit that I was nervous at first seeing that this book was 624 pages in ebook form. That is long for a book to me and what if I don't like it. Quickly into the book, my worries were lost. I can't believe I read such a long book in 2 days, I rarely ever do that! But honest to god, I have never loved a book so much in a while!

I knew before I even took this timeout that Niles and I were never going to work and I realized that I’d known that for a long time. I’d either fallen out of love with him or he’d bored the love out of me.

Nina Sheridan is on a timeout from England, from her fiancé, Niles, who seems not to care at all. Nina wants more in this relationship, despite being with Niles she still feels alone, so she takes a trip to Colorado and rents this beautiful house only to get there and the owner, Holden Maxwell kicks her out and begins the showdown of Nina and Max! Nina later is caught out in the cold and got sick and Max ends up bringing her back to the house to take care of her and somehow she ends up staying at the house with him together, thus begins Max wooing Nina.

“I was your man, you were halfway around the world from me, honey, I’d fucking phone you … If you told me you needed a timeout, first, I wouldn’t fuckin’ let you have one. Second, I wouldn’t give you reason to fuckin’ want one. And last, you took off anyway, I’d fuckin’ phone.” 

Holden Maxwell is everything I want in a man! He is sweet, gentle, kind, funny, entertaining, loves to tease his woman, A LOT! And he is 100% Alpha Male Material! I fell in love with this man early on, I mean right away. And how many times did this man make me smile, giggle and fall out of my bed laughing? Well, let's see....Hmmmm...ONLY ABOUT 100 TIMES! Max has lived and been through a lot and when Nina comes into his life, he finally finds happiness again and doesn't hesitate to fight for it! And Oh.my.god. I love it when he calls her, Duchess!

I wondered if I could make it to Denver then to England before anyone discovered Max’s body. Then I wondered if anyone would bother with extradition if they figured out it was me who did the deed.

Nina is a girl who is lost and looking for an answer to if she should just settle and marry a man, who doesn't even know how she takes her coffee after all of this time. At first, you don't really see it, until you get a little bit more into the book, but Nina has been through a lot! She has been through hell and back and she deserves to get happiness too and feel secure and not alone. Nina fights what could happen between Max and her a lot through THE GAMBLE where I am banging my head against the wall. Woman, don't you see he is the man for you?! But Max fights for it and wins it!

“Babe,” he replied, grinning then said no more. Still being helpful, I explained, “I know you think that word speaks volumes but, I have to tell you, it actually doesn’t.”

Together these two are so HOT! I seriously could not get enough of Max and Nina! And plus the sex is so hot! Yum! I Love Max and Nina's bickering and Max teasing Nina and calling her Duchess and Baby! And when he says, Babe like it answers Nina's every question. I most likely had about 52 swoon moments in this book! How can a couple be so freaking adorable? It was hard to read Nina wanting to leave Max and not talking to him about the things that were bothering her. I wanted to SCREAM at her, TALK TO HIM! Just don't give up! But Max saved the day more times than one!

“Haven’t had breakfast,” Jeff replied too casually. “Well, that’s just awful,” I noted, making this news sound dire, my eyes going to his hands. “No wife to fill your belly before a hard day of the God’s honest work of tackling crime?” Max’s head came up and he made a strangled noise which I hoped was him choking back laughter because he thought I was cute. “Nope,” Jeff answered through his grin.” 

Max and Nina were not the only reason I loved the book! I absolutely love it when an author is able to get me to love the book with absolutely everything she throws in. I loved the side characters and their problems and drama going on and I love how everyone knows everyone in this town and everyone is in everyone's business, knowing everything, gossip, whatnot! So there was never a dull moment in this book. I enjoyed it immensely. Many WTF moments, which this girl right here loves! I loved this sexy Mountain Man and I want MORE! I cannot wait to dig my claws into the next Colorado Mountain book!

read more