Blurb:
Nick Sebring has issues. Born feeling like an outsider in his own family, growing up under the shadow of a brother who could do anything, Nick isn’t that great of a guy. But when this culminates with Nick lashing out to hurt his brother through the woman he loves, Nick turns inward and makes some decisions about the man he intends to be.
And as he does this, he falls in love and truly learns the man that he’s grown to be.
When his love is murdered right before Nick’s eyes, Nick knows he has to avenge her. He knows how he’s going to avenge her. And he has no qualms using Olivia Shade to exact that vengeance.
Olivia Shade has grown up on the outside of her family too. Her problem is that they don’t want her outside. They want her all the way in, right under their thumbs. She pays the price for seeking escape and learns her lesson—she’ll never see a dawn where she wakes up free.
Then she meets Nick Sebring, and even as she fights it, the hope that died years ago starts to blossom. She can find love. She can have a man of her own. She can be happy. She can be free.
Olivia hopes while Nick schemes.
However, as Nick peels back the layers of all that is Olivia Shade, he finds something surprising. He understands its fragility. He falls in love with its beauty. He seeks to protect it.
But he forgets to protect his Livvie from one thing: Nick Sebring.
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Kristen Ashley
Contemporary Romance
446 e-book pages
Mix of 1st & 3rd person
Series, book 5
January 11-12, 2016
Kindle Edition
Rating: ????????
Ratings are 1 to 5 stars and based mostly on GoodReads standards.
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Review:
Kristen Ashely did it again. No surprise, really. She does it every single time.
Every. Time.
Except…
I don’t think this is my favorite K.A. book. Which is weird, because every single book of hers has automatically skyrocketed to become my most favoritist favorite until the next one comes along to take pride of place. And then I go back and reread one of her books and then it’s my most favoritist favorite again. It’s a vicious cycle of my love of Kristen Ashley’s mega-hot-hotty-faced-alpha-badass hotties.
Nick Sebring.
The character I most loved to hate, and the character I most hated to love.
This guy…
Yeah, okay. So now I love Nick Sebring.
Mostly.
I’m being stubborn about giving him my aaaalll my Rock Chick love.
Nick was a douchebag of the first order in previous books. I’m not a big believer that people grow and change as much as he appeared to grow and change. I don’t think any of the douchebag dudes that’ve been in my life ever have to such a degree–or at all even. Maybe so…but long after I cut ties and was no longer around to see their redemption.
Okay, one. My best friend’s husband was a complete ass when they fist met. Arrogant, disrespectful, and a snake. GAWD I hated him. She broke it off with him after three dates. I danced in the street. They got back together about a year later and…it’s like he was an entirely different guy. Get this! He said no girl had ever dumped him before. That’s the degree of arrogance he had…and my girl woke his ass up. They’ve been married 20 years now–and he is the best. THE BEST man, husband, dad, coach, uncle, and friend I know. And he has never stopped busting his ass to keep my bestie happy. Also…he knows how much of a dickhead I thought he was back in the day–we joke about it. And he agrees. So…it can happen.
There’s a lot of Nick’s growth that takes place outside of the books and there were some snippets here and there in other books that might’ve been a hint at the man he would become. So I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. ‘Cause in the end…. Good god almighty that ending.
This made me laugh. This made me cry–way earlier than I expected to cry. Good lord did I cry. Several times.
Ugly tears.
I don’t know what kind of woman I thought Nick would end up with because I don’t think I ever, through all the books of the series, imagined Nick redeemable enough to ever get his own book. Especially with all his womanizing antics in “Knight.”
Olivia. I don’t know that I ever truly and fully warmed up to her. As Nick’s love interest, I think they were perfect for each other. But for a gangster’s daughter as caught up as she was in her daddy’s nefarious deeds–even if it was mostly on the fringes–I kind of had a hard time buying into her sweet side after getting used to her tough side. She worked the tough-chick thing though, and that kind of ice makes it hard for any man to break through.
Nick damn sure didn’t need easy.
Easy is boring.
I love the inside jokes and intimate, teasing humor that always builds and grows between Kristen Ashley’s characters. There’s always something sweet they pick on each other about and it’s always little bits of normal life, tiny, inconsequential quirks. I love that because that’s what we do with the one’s we love. It’s not harmful, especially when delivered with a sexy grin.
There’s a teeny, tiny, element of kink here. Just a little bit. And, uhhhh, well, I wish that had been explored a little bit more–because HOT. But, I just read my Rock Chick newsletter from the Premier Rock Chick herself and it looks like we’ll maybe have an erotic book coming our way soon. She says maybe. My vote is PLEEEEAAASSE!
Kristen Ashely can write anything. I’m convinced.
Also, another epic epilogue to end the book and bring this series to a close.
What a finale.
This review also posted on GoodReads and (partially) on Amazon.