Jagged by Kristen Ashley (Colorado Mountain Man #5)

2.5-3 Stars

I think this might be my least favorite KA book of all time.  I didn’t connect with any of the main characters and I don’t feel like the storyline that we left off with in “Breathe” was in any way connected.  The only redeeming quality that I found was that someone (the heroine) who had been crapped on her whole life got retribution and a happy ending.

Zara Cinders is the heroine and she comes from a family where her father verbally and physically abused her, her sister and her mother her whole life.  Her mother is a broken women who couldn’t save herself or her children and for this Zara cannot forgive her.  The hero is Graham Reece whom we meet in the The ‘Burg book #1 “For You”.  However, Zara does not call Graham either Graham or Reece.  Either would have been acceptable.  No…she calls him Ham.  Yuck! And do you know what he calls her?  Cookie!  Terrible, terrible names.  KA usually does a fabulous job in picking out both names and nicknames for her characters, but she missed the mark with these two. 

So Ham comes and goes as he pleases and he has women in all the many cities that he goes to.  The women know they aren’t exclusive (except when he is with them) and this is how he functions.  This is how we met him in “For You”.  However when Zara when Ham comes around again she has found a guy who will give her more and he walks away.  Of course, this can’t last.  We know this.  Her husband isn’t a bad guy but he isn’t Ham (yuck!) so it is doomed to fail.  When next Ham comes to town he finds Zara is even more broken than she was before (and that is saying a lot).  They do not have good times and bad things are said.  Beyond the story of Ham and Cookie (I think I just threw up in my mouth) the storyline revolves around a lot of drama and secrets in Zara’s family and these get resolved.  

Breathe by Kristen Ashley (Colorado Mountain Man #4)

5 Stars

I think that this is my favorite installment in this series.  I really like Tate (#2) but man could that guy be mean when he was mad and I thoroughly enjoyed Ty and Lexie’s (#3) beginnings but that guy has got a potty mouth on him, but I enjoyed every second of Chace and Faye’s story.  I loved how they both were pining for each other.  I loved how big of a nerd Faye was (I seriously read as much as her and like nerd shows) and I loved the way that Chace is a seriously good guy, but his protective streak is so big it’s almost a fault.  I loved the dual POV from Chace to Faye.  I loved that Faye was a virgin and how much that Chace appreciated this.  I loved the get-togethers with all the other mountain men.  I loved Deck and hope to get his story too. 

This book picks up where Lady Luck left off and the town is still trying to pick itself up.  The Elite are still out there and their dirt is still floating around and they want it back!  There is a side story with a little boy that brought tears to my eyes (that does not happen often folks).  Chace and his father are not bosom buddies and the night that Faye meets his mom and Chace gets upset and tries to be a turdling to my darling Faye was not awesome, but it was awesome how she handled it.  Perfect!     

That is all I’m gonna say.  It was great.  Loved every second of it. 

There is a little bit too much of the big speeches being made all around.  People don’t generally talk like this.  

Favorite quote:

“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 chocking after spitting out gum so no, I’m not all right.”  --Faye Goodknight to Chace Keaton

Lady Luck by Kristen Ashley (#3 Colorado Mountain Man)

4.5 Stars

I think the beginning of this book contains my favorite beginning for a Kristen Ashley book and is definitely one of the top contenders for awesomest beginning for a romance book of all time (for me).  I loved every interaction between Ty and Lexie.

This is the third book in the Colorado Mountain Man Series.  Tyrell (Ty) Walker is just released from prison and someone owes him big time.  To pay up, Lexie Berry is dispatched with a bag of stuff to escort Ty home.  Ty immediately likes what he sees but can’t see how the scum who owed him (Shift) was able to send someone like Lexie to pay his dues.  Still he needs Lexie for part of his Grand Plan O’ Vengeance.  Lexie agrees, but soon Ty’s plans are falling apart.  Lexie isn’t sticking to the play book.

Twice Ty hurts Lexie and the way it is written, I can feel her pain.  I can imagine the depth of her pain and how she feels.  While this sounds weird, those times were some of my favorites because it pushed Ty and Lexie beyond what they would have been.

Ty is a bit more crass than some of the other Kristen Ashley heroes.  At times works for him and its hot and at times it is jarring.  I would find it alarming if someone spoke to me the way Ty does Lexie, but it works for them.  I can’t include my favorite quote because it has too many curse words!

When Ty and Lexie make the end of their road trip and end in Carnal.  The Carnal PD is still as crooked as ever and are up to no good.  This is all I can say without giving out spoilers.  It is a long book, typical Kristen Ashley long.      

The Gamble by Kristen Ashley (Colerado Mountain Man #1)

4 Stars.

Not my favorite nor my least favorite Kristen Ashley book

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It isn't my favorite KA book and the hero and heroine weren't my favorites either. They didn't annoy me, but I didn't connect with them as much as other KA characters. I didn't figure out who the bad-bad guy was until very late in the game, but I wasn't surprised when he made his move because I had his number by then.

Summary:

Nina had moved to England so although she was American, she had an English accent which led to her nickname of Duchess (which I did like). Max (full name Holden Maxwell, loved the name Holden so I am not sure why he went by Max, but whatever) lived in the Colorado Mountains, built a house on his own land their and took long jobs away from his home. Because of this he rents out his home when he isn't there. There is a mix up and both Max and Nina are slotted to be there at the same time. The book description does a good job of telling the reader what happens during that encounter, but sparks fly (angry sparks, not interesting sparks).

A man that no one in town seems to like (except of course his wife) ends up murdered and the rest of the book is spent with dealing with the aftermath of that, reading his will, catching his killer, etc.

There is an interesting (I say interesting the way that it kept my interest) with a friend of Max's, Mindy. This story line took up a good deal of the middle of the book. Mindy's ex-boyfriend is bad news and makes many cameo's spotlighting his jerkiness (and he has it in for Nina).

The very end of the book is where all the action happens as far as catching the bad guys. I wished that part took up a little bit more of the story line, but KA doesn't like to leave her heroine's too long in the clutches of the evil-doers.

I found it odd that Nina's dead brother would talk to her in her head. At first I thought that this was Nina's way of keeping Charlie close, but at the end Charlie says things that Nina wouldn't know (for example, Max is looking for Nina and Charlie tells Nina to yell because Max is close) so it's not just in Nina's head. I guess it was his spirit or something talking to her.

I got bored about 80% of the way through this and started reading another book. I did come back to it fairly quickly, but I feel like there could be a good many pages eliminated from this book and it would have been better. The entire book took place in a matter of two weeks. I have a hard time reading KA's descriptions of clothes. For one thing, it is too descriptive and another it is soo not my style that what I picture in my head actually makes me cringe thinking of people wearing these clothes (this is true mostly for all of KA's books, except for the Fantastical series which took place in another world so I loved their clothes). I have started just skimming her clothes descriptions and put my own images in my head to keep my heroines hip and cool in my head (not that I am super hip and cool, but I need my heroines to be).

The other annoying thing was that Nine would get interrupted constantly and she started all her sentences with "Mom-" or "Max-" and be interrupted three or four times in a row. Maybe this only annoys me because being interrupted is one of my personal pet peeves. Or maybe the problem was that Nina was interrupting people before they were done so they just kept talking, either way, it was super annoying to read that through the entire book!

I have already starting reading Sweet Dreams and am very much into those two characters. I don't think that you need to read The Gamble before you read Sweet Dreams, even though they are in a series I don't think any of the characters overlap.

Also, be careful, KA tends to use religious swear words often and it can be jarring to read them.

Sweet Dreams by Kristen Ashley (Colerado Mountain Man #2)

4 Stars

This is one of my top KA books, but since there are a gazillion of them, it just means that Sweet Dreams is in the top 10-ish. I did really like Tate and Lauren both and Jonas is my favorite kid from any of the KA books so far. He was hilarious and precious!

Summary: This will be very brief because this book is mammoth with so much back story that it is hard to make a summary that will do it justice (but I will try) without spending hours recapping.

Lauren: Just spent 4.5 month on the road looking for a nowheresville town and when she drives into Carnal, CO to a biker bar named Bubba's, she thinks she's found it. She gets a job at Bubba's as a waitress.

Tate: has been hooked to Neeta since he can remember and has a kid with her (Jonas). Neeta is a hot mess and I mean that in the worst sense of the word. Tate decides he is done with her and the next day walks into his bar (Bubba's) to see Lauren there. He, for some reason, doesn't want her working there and says to the other owner, "Krys, maybe you wanna talk to me before you hire some sorry-butt, old, fat, suburban b-word." (insert the proper expletives). He defends this behavior by saying that when he gets mad he says things he doesn't mean, which he continues to do through the rest of the book. I had the hardest time getting over that sentence. He didn't even say it to me and it hurt my feelings! Then, of course, he takes a liking to our Lauren.

During this time, the May-December Serial Killer is on the loose and appears to be escalating. One of the waitresses ends up dead (and in a bad way!). Tate (who is also a bounty hunter) goes after the guy but comes up with nothing. The whole town is on edge. Lauren continues to make friends and another of those friends is attacked (but gets away).

The book was a little long and I felt like there could have been a lot that was trimmed out. I have started skimming sections with descriptions of clothes and feelings.

I totally didn't even guess who the killer was. I knew it was going to be a guy we had met, but he wasn't even someone I was considering. Manly because he had such a small part and was completely absent from 95% of the book. I would have liked a few more clues into who the bad guy was.

I can't even get into all the characters that I liked, because I liked so many and the ones who you were supposed to like (Neeta, her posse, Brad, Hayley, etc) I really didn't like.

Favorite Quote (I will admit this is a strange favorite  quote, but it makes me chuckle so you will just have to deal):

"Take you hand off me," I hissed.

"Shut your trap," he clipped back, opened the door and pulled me in.  Then he shut the door and maneuvered me so my back was to it and he was close to my front.