Breathe ~ Kristen Ashley

Breathe by Kristen Ashley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Another 6 star book from Kristen Ashley!!

This book was probably the most emotional reading experience I have had all year. So beautiful, so heartbreaking, so uplifting. My emotions have run the gamut, and after reading this book I am completely convinced that Kristen Ashley is a Goddess among women, and has now rocketed up to the top of my favorite author list.



I have to admit, the previous book in this series Lady Luck was my least favorite. Not that I didn't end up enjoying that book, because I definitely did. My main problem was the fact that I wasn't able to connect to the hero Ty, in the way that I had with the leading men from the first two books in the series. But having said that - one of my favorite things about Lady Luck was the glimpse we got to see of police officer Chace Keaton. In fact, one of the best scenes in that book was towards the end when Lexie is having lunch with Chace and notices the way he looks at the shy, quiet, librarian Faye. The level of emotion and longing that KA managed to covey in such a short scene with a secondary character was so moving to me. I absolutely could not wait to dive into Chace & Faye's story.

This may sound silly, but literally from the first chapter I could tell Breathe was something special. So much so that I attempted to read this book slowly in order to truly enjoy the story and the characters. While I am a newbie to the KA universe (this is the 4th book I have read by her) this was without question the best of the bunch so far and I could easily sit here and gush about every little detail that I loved about the book, but I will attempt to keep myself under control. Now, having said that...

I FRAKING LOVED THIS BOOK!!!


Soooo much to fangirl over, so little time....let's start with a girl after my own heart...Faye. KA has a habit of writing amazing female protagonists and I have to say, she outdid herself here. Faye is a librarian by profession, and a book nerd and geek at heart. She constantly has her nose in a book, she adores Battlestar Galactica, Psych & Firefly, has a crazy family and is a 29 year old virgin. And she has been carrying a torch for troubled police officer Chace Keaton for 13 years. I immediately felt connected to Faye for many reasons, especially because of her love for books and all things geeky. She was just a fantastic heroine and I loved her to pieces.

And then there's Chace. *SWOOOOOOOOOOON*



He has a troubled past and many demons. And thankfully KA didn't decide to make us read through hundreds of pages of angst while Chace battled his desire to have something good in his life. Almost from the beginning Chace decides he's not going to let anything or anyone stand in the way of what he wants. And what he wants is Faye.

The love story is pretty much perfect and Chace and Faye's chemistry is off the charts. She's goofy to his serious, and they make the perfect couple you can't help but root for. There are many things standing in the way of their happiness. But once again, I was so happy with the way KA handled the obstacles. All of the ups and downs of their relationship were handled in a believable way, and instead of needlessly ripping the two of them apart again and again just to add drama to the story, Chace & Faye handled everything thrown at them intelligently and most importantly, they handled the problems together.

As always, KA's knack of bringing us a cast of wonderful secondary characters holds true. It was wonderful seeing appearances by the main characters from the previous 3 books in the series (as well as a surprise appearance from a few favorites from another KA series).

I have to make special mention of the character of Miah. He was responsible for a lot of the tears I shed throughout reading this book. The story line involving him and his sister Becky were one of the things I loved most about an already beautiful book. But my gosh...the anguish I felt reading certain parts.



Some of my fave quotes:

"You're beautiful, a good kisser, this is our first date, my bed is in the room, I'm nervous as all heck and I just thought I was going to die after spitting out gum so no, I'm not all right."


He loved her calling him Chace.
But, her calling him honey was something else. Something pure. Something magical. Like the first snow of the season falling at night....
It was a little common miracle but even common, that made it no less miraculous.


"All mine", he muttered. "Christ, finally, all mine."


"You do not sleep without me" he paused then finished, "Ever."


The best heroes always have scars.





Now that i have finished this book, I definitely look at it as a gift. I have stated this in other reviews of KA's books, but she is absolutely responsible for bringing back my love of reading. I am so grateful to have discovered her books, and if there is one downside to it all...I am now a full fledged KA Addict and I know there is no cure in sight. But honestly, this is one addiction I can be proud of. :)

Lady Luck ~ Kristen Ashley

Lady Luck by Kristen Ashley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was definitely my least favorite of the series so far, but overall I still really enjoyed it even though the story line and leading man didn't completely capture my heart.

This book definitely had a different feel to it from the previous two books in the series, The Gamble and Sweet Dreams. The story line was much grittier and a lot darker. We find out pretty early on that our hero is a completely different breed of leading man. Ty is much quieter, and far more serious than either Max or Tate. And his past was far from pretty. He had a horrible childhood (both main characters did), and than this horrible injustice was done to him resulting in his spending 5 years in jail for something he didn't do. So...the man has a reason to be angry. However....he occasionally steps over the line and crosses over into asshat territory more than once. And this was the reason I had a hard time falling under the spell he seems to have cast on many fans of this series. There were 2 instances where he did or said something to the heroine, Lexi, that left me completely speechless by their cruelty. Yes, I realize that he had his reasons, but still...he crossed a line both times and i found it very hard to forgive him.

Having said that, I can say I did end up warming up a little to him towards the end of the book, and was happy with the way that Ty & Lexi's HEA played out.

"My Ty."
Christ. Fuck.
Two words. Just two words. Walker had no clue that two words could mean so fucking much. He'd never belonged to anyone. He'd never belonged anywhere. Never thought he wanted to.
Until he heard those two words.

Because if you don't know how good something can be, you don't how bad you'll miss it when it's gone.

The two best aspects of this book were definitely LEXI (she was beyond awesome in just about every way) & I also loved getting to see Tate, Laurie and some of the other citizens of Carnal that we were introduced to in Sweet Dreams. We even had a bit of Nina & a passing mention of my beloved Max (swoooooon).

So, let me just make it clear. I enjoyed this book. KA's writing style is so engaging and addictive that even when I have issues with the story i still keep turning the pages because I can't wait to find out what happens next. So, even though it didn't rock my socks off as much as the other books in the series did, it was still a good read.

And finally...even though I wasn't the biggest fan of Ty, I did have a certain image of him in my mind, and even though this is probably far away from how KA imagined him....especially considering the hair...this was MY version of Ty Walker.


"Never had light in my life, never, not once. I lived wild but didn't burn bright until you shined your light on me."

Sweet Dreams ~ Kristen Ashley

Sweet Dreams by Kristen Ashley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

6 stars!

My second KA read turned out to be nearly as enjoyable as my first!

My Tate


So, going into this book I knew it would be almost impossible to surpass the love I had for the first book in the series, The Gamble. And while I had some issues with Tate in the beginning, and never quite warmed up to Lauren the way I did to Nina, this book still ended up blowing me away.

Let me just put this out there :
THIS BOOK IS HUGE.

Technically The Gamble is slightly longer, but I have to admit Sweet Dreams felt like a much longer book. Not because I found it to be boring in any way...just because there was just so much going on. In fact about half way through I literally had to take a break from the book for a few hours just because I felt like I was trying to process too much information at one time and needed to give my poor brain a rest!

Tate is a much different breed of Alpha then my beloved Max was in The Gamble. First of all - Tate is an all out, balls-to-the-wall badass biker mofo. He was also much moodier and more dangerous. And in the beginning he said something about the heroine that I honestly didn't think I would be able to forgive him for. But thankfully I did manage to get past it (as did Lauren), and came to discover that with all his faults, Tate was indeed a wonderfully complex, if slightly cranky Alpha who I definitely ended up falling for in the end.

As I have already said, I was never able to quite warm up to Lauren completely. There were several little things that annoyed me about her personality, and I am never fond of the heroine that every male within a 100 mile radius falls in love with. But having said that, Lauren and Tate's romance was a beautiful thing to watch unfold. I also loved her interactions with Tate's son, Jonas (who completely stole my heart).

The secondary characters were wonderful (I especially loved Shambles and Sunny) and the suspense element in the book worked very well, even though the actual conclusion of that part of the plot seemed a teeny bit rushed. Although considering this book was nearly 600 pages long nothing about it was too rushed. :P

Unlike many other reviewers, the fact that KA is so detail oriented in her stories (descriptions of what the characters are wearing etc) doesn't really bother me. The constant repetitiveness of certain phrases ("sorry?" "Come again?" etc) was a little bit bothersome, but again, KA's story was just so damn engaging that I was gladly able to look past the imperfections and just embrace my love for the characters and their world.

Once again I find myself sooo glad that I decided to give KA's books another try because I haven't enjoyed reading this much in far too long. I can't wait to dive into Lady Luck next!

The Gamble ~ Kristen Ashley

The Gamble by Kristen Ashley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

6 stars!!!

It's rare that I finish a book and can't wait to write a review for it but at the same time I haven't a clue what I should say about something that touched me as deeply as this book touched me. Many others have given incredibly eloquent reviews for this book, so I will bypass trying to sound like I know what I'm talking about as far as story line and world building goes, and instead focus on talking about the many things I loved about this book and these characters.

Shortly after finishing this book tonight a song popped up on my iPod that pretty much captured my version of Max & Nina and their amazingly beautiful relationship.




I walked, through the thickness of your heart
Straight through the middle of your deepest, darkest dream
I wrote the melody that brought you back to life, love
Come hear it for yourself



Who says we're wrong for opening the wrong doors?
Lock up, swallow the key
You'll never replace me.
'Cause back then I told you, if you fall I'll fall too
Wake up and feel the breeze
You'll never replace me
~Replace Me by Andrew Belle

That's always been one of my favorite songs, but now it will forever have even deeper meaning for me.

Things I loved About The Gamble:

First and foremost?
**MAX!!!

"Yes, I was right. Max was becoming more wonderful and I was in trouble."

You and me both, sister! Holy....cow.
I recently wrote a review for another book where I mentioned that there was a difference between being a strong Alpha Male and being a bully. In my opinion...Max is the epitome of the perfect Alpha Male. Dominant? yes. Possessive? Hell yes. But mean and cruel? Never. Max literally adores Nina practically from the moment he first sees her, and he doesn't have any problem showing how he feels. Be it the fact that he is always touching her in some way, even in front of both their families. Or the way he remembers the small things, like how she likes her coffee, or if she drinks in the evening she'll be passed out dead asleep within a couple of hours. Or, most tellingly...and this comes at the very beginning of their relationship...the way he takes care of Nina when she is delirious with a fever. I mean, could there be a more perfect man?

"Found somethin' I want, don't tend to fuck around when that happens, Duchess. Ever."

"You think to slide back, settle for something that made you run away because you think it's safe, because it's familiar, because you're scared of taking a gamble on me. I'm warnin' you now, Duchess, I'm not gonna allow that."

Yeah...like I said...he's pretty much perfect. <3

**NINA

"Only Holden Maxwell would think my neurotic was cute."

God, I loved this woman! And I think part of the reason I did was because I could somewhat relate to her. We have similar insecurities and I understood why she warred with herself over letting herself get close to Max, expecting that she would always be 'second best' to him. Which made their HEA that much sweeter. <3

And speaking of that HEA...


**The Epilogue
Without giving anything away, all I can say is Swooooooooon!!!
It wrapped up Nina & Max's story perfectly and I have to say I adored getting a glimpse inside the mind of Max at the very end of the book. It just capped off what had already been one of the most enjoyable reading experiences I have had in a really long time.

Funny thing is, several months ago I attempted to read this book and gave up without even making it to the end of the first chapter. I'm not sure if i was just not in the mood for a romance, or hell...maybe i was just in a crappy mood that day. Whatever the case may be, I am so glad...so glad...that i decided to give this book another shot. Because I absolutely loved every minute of the ride this time. And I can't wait to dive into more books by this author!