Kristen Ashley

Combo review post…and yet, not

Posted by

0

OK, I have such a slacker in my postings. I would like to blame it one my fellow book lovers/enablers. And perhaps a bit of my OCD is leaking out. But these “friends” of mine tell me about series and then I get sucked in, and have to read every book in the series. I can’t seem to stop and post about any of them. I literally go from one book to the next, without even a breather. My poor family misses me.

Over the past month, I’ve been sucked into three separate series. All very good. All very addicting.

The first was the Kowalski series, by Shannon Stacey.
13249666
Those were freaking hilarious!!! I mean it’s all this crazy loving family who do activities “of doom” and are super crazy, while doing them. They have just the right amount of sauce for me and I even shed a few tears. Perfect.

The next was The Outlander series.
0010

I’ve only read the first three books, so far. I started it on January 1, and I’m totally addicted now. I’m one of those crazy Heughligans!! I even have the shirt!! 🙂 I loved the story so much I even made a pin and keychain for it. Reading these make me wish I could walk through stones and meet Jamie Fraser. Although I;d miss my family dearly, IT’S JAMIE FRASER!!!! Sorry, spouse. 😉 Seriously, if you haven’t read at least the first one, you should give it a whirl. But fair warning, toward the end, you may die just a smidgen. But it’s a series, so you know it will get better, even though it doesn’t look like it. As for Dragonfly in Amber, I wanted to quite. I was getting so confused. But I held on and then lost my mind at the ending. Seriously, sobbed my frickin’ eyes out. Which made me go straight to book #3, Voyager. Now I was happy with the way this one ended and decided to take a break for a bit. Did I mention that they are 800+, 900+, and 1000+ pages each?? You can see why I needed the break.

I needed a mental vacation and decided to try out the Rock Chick books.

6538757
Let me tell you, Kristen Ashley is an awesome author. She can make me cry, swoon, make me laugh and of course make me need to cool off a bit. 😉 I absolutely adored all these characters. I love seeing hot guys fall hard for their women. And these slammed. The chicks got into trouble all the time and the men just rolled with it. They’d do anything for them, including some not so legal things. Every book featured a new chick with new problems. Some were very hard to read about, but the guys always got revenge. So it all works out.

So now that I’ve got these out of my system, I hope to be on the straight and narrow now. NUTS!!! I just remembered the last Cat and Bones book release Tuesday!! So that means I have to do a reread of that whole series!! I am never getting back to normal. See ya on the flipside.

~Melpomene

Buy Exclusively Yours (The Kowalskis)

Buy Outlander: with Bonus Content

Buy Rock Chick

Review: Jagged, by Kristen Ashley

Posted by

0

15817361“…love is a show, it’s not a tell”

Ham Reece was always moving around. But he always came back to Zara Cinders. If she called him, he was there. If she was hurt, he’d fly to be with her. But when she found someone more stable, he walked away.

But three years later she finds herself alone and barely scraping by.

By some near death experience, they are brought together. And when he discovers how little she has and what she has gone through, Ham decides to help her. But she doesn’t want to get sucked into Ham again. It’s hard enough being near him, without all her feeling bubbling up to the top.

Ham wants her. He’s always wanted her. He waited til she was ready and now he’s going to show her how ready he is.

“I’m here, Zara, as in I intend to stay here…I like the people, I like the work…But this is mostly where I wanna be because your’re here.”

Ham gets her a job and takes care of her. But she tries really hard not to fall for him, but, of course, she does. How can you not. The man was sex on legs. HOT. The way he bosses her and talks to her, very hot. No nonsense kinda guy. Needed to fan myself a few times.

Of course there’s a HEA. This is a Kristen Ashley book. And we love her rough and sexy men who practically throw their women over their shoulders and make them listen. I’ll probably grab the first four books in the series, just for more sexy alphas.

I received this ARC for an honest review.

~Melpomene

Release date November 5, 2013
Forever(Grand Central Publishing)
Buy it now Jagged

Review: Fire Inside (Chaos #2) by Kristen Ashley

Posted by

0

imageLanie Heron just wants to hook up with Hopper Kincaid for one night. She’s not been with anyone since the death of her fiancé eight years ago. There’s always been an undercurrent of attraction between the two since they first met.
So the one night stand leads to many more nights together with Lanie, the drama queen, being resistant to any type of relationship with Hop.

Fortunately Hop is persistence and patient and handles her well. He helps deal with her troubled parents as well the guilt that she still holds over the death of her fiancé. Also, we get to know what really happened in regard Hop cheating on his ex. Finally, we learn that Hop is a rock star who can melt Lanie’s heart with a Bob Seger.

This book’s timeline runs concurrently with Tab and Shy’s. So don’t expect a resolution to storyline of Benito Valenzuela wanting to take over Chaos territory.

Overall, it’s an enjoyable read. I loved getting to know Hop better and could tolerate the high drama that Lanie can bring. As always, the epilogue worked well to add additional happiness to Hop and Lanie’s HEA.

This is the second book in the series. I highly recommend that you start with the first book, Own the Wind before diving into this one. The motorcycle club is huge and lots of characters are involved. I would hate for you to be confused.

3/5 stars

ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley.

~Thalia

Buy Book 1 Own the Wind: A Chaos Novel

Buy It Now Fire Inside: A Chaos Novel

Review: Rock Chick, by Kristen Ashley

Posted by

0

6538757

Why did I read this?? In the back of my head I knew I was gonna like it, but I didn’t wanna get sucked into yet another series. But, silly me, I was sick of seeing it staring at me, when I scroll through my kindle, so I decided to give it a shot. Guess what happened???

That’s right, I LOVED it!!!

Indy Savage has loved Lee Nightingale since she was five. But he never looked at her like that. To him, she was a little sister. She has been avoiding him, for the past 10 years, out of embarrassment. But she seems to have gotten herself in a pickle and he decides to help her. She doesn’t want his help, but he seems to take no for an answer.

She finds herself in many Stephanie Plum moments, that had me cracking up. Stun gunned, dead bodies, stolen diamonds, and the occasional kidnapping. She lives her life like she hasn’t a care in the world.

Lee was the perfect Ranger/Morelli. He owns Nightingale Investigations and is trying to keep Indy in one piece long enough to show her how he feels about her.

It was super fun to read. The banter was hilarious.

“Your grandmother used to say that you two were two souls separated at birth. She mainly meant that you were both trouble and deserved each other.”

The romance was sweet.

“I intend to marry you and spend the rest of my life with you. If that freaks you out, tough, because now that we’ve started this, there’s no goin’ back.”

The romance was HOT.

“I could be on assignment, in a desert as hot as an oven, in a jungle as close as fuck, and sometimes I’d get through it dreamin’ of you saying my name like that.”

Since I’ve read her Mystery Man, Unfinished Hero and Chaos series, I just HAD to like this one as well. Now I have a glimpse into a few of the guys we’ve seen in the other series. Looks like I’ll be going on Amazon to grab the other seven books. 🙂

~Melpomene

Buy it now Rock Chick

Review: Own the Wind: A Chaos Novel by Kristen Ashley

Posted by

0

imagePrior to this one, the only Kristen Ashley book that I have read was Motorcycle Man. I was curious about Shy & Tabby, which prompted me to request this book.

What I liked about this book:
1) No rambling sentences that inhibited my ability to understand what was going. Thank you, KA’s editor!
2) The romance between Shy & Tabby after they declared their love for each other. For me, the book really took off at this point. You just knew no matter what happened, they had each other. There was a great combination of sweet & sexy moments.
3) The way Shy & Tabby handled the club’s reaction to them. Also, when Shy had an opportunity to be promoted in Chaos, I liked the choice he made and his decision behind it.

What I didn’t like:
1) The time jumps in the beginning. It hindered my ability to connect w/ Shy & Tabby.
2) I wanted to see more of the development of them being friends.
3) The liberal use of the word “bitch.” It was used 60 times, as an adjective, a verb & a noun.
4) Tyra was also called Ty-Ty & Cherry. Sometimes she was called two of those names in the same paragraph. It became confusing.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I think it’s helpful that you read Motorcycle Man, but I think there’s enough information given to read this book as a standalone. The paperback is less than $6. The Kindle book is less than $4. It’s worth the risk to venture into this motorcycle club.

Thalia

Buy It Now Own the Wind: A Chaos Novel