Deacon by Kristen Ashley (Unfinished Heroes #4)

3 Stars

I have typically not enjoyed this series as much as this authors other works.  I am finding with her most recent writings that not a lot is happening.  Part of what I loved about her usual work was that we meet these great characters and we watch their relationships blossom, usually under duress, but BIG things happen along the way.  I loved the bombings, kidnappings, and murder attempts found in the Rock Chick Series and the Fantastical Series and the Three Series and the early ‘Burg Series and Colorado Mountain Man Series.  I loved all the books that took place in England.  The Three Wishes is one of my favorite books! 

I’m just not sure how much more of these new books I want to keep reading.  I can’t wait for the finale of the Three Series so I am crossing my fingers that it is as wonderful as the rest of those books.

Deacon is the hero (or anti-hero) of this book.  Apparently he is from the Colorado Mountain Man series but he is not at all the man that was portrayed during those books.  I would not have thought he would even warrant his own book.  I kept trying to make sense of this new side of Deacon.  We pretty much saw him only quietly sitting in the bar prior to this.  Anyway, he comes to Cassidy’s cabins repeatedly for six years.  He gives her no signs or encouragement but Cassidy still puts herself out there for him (although rather vaguely) and Deacon shuts her down.  But he keeps coming back.  Eventually something happens that means Deacon has to step into the situation.  Obviously we know it is a KA story so I am not giving anything away by letting people know that Deacon and Cassidy get involved.   And being part of this series we know that Deacon will have some baggage.  This baggage has kept him from making any meaningful relationships for a very long time and he is resistant to changing this. 

I just wished something else happened…anything of a bit of action. 

Raid by Kristen Ashley (Unfinished Heroes #3)

4 Stars

I read the first 3-4 chapters from the author’s website (P.S. she does this with all her books so if you want to try it before you buy it, just visit her website) and became obsessed.  I needed to know more about Raid.  I was a little bit surprised to find that he was from the “Unfinished Heroes” series.  This series is a little grittier (with more in your face smexy stuff) than her other series.  It also seemed shorter than some of her other books, but make no mistake it is still listed at 292 pages (this author writes super long winded books). 

Hanna has been in love with Raiden Ulysses Miller since she was six.  He does not know she is alive and looks right through her.  He is back in town and Hanna has realized that she needs to start living her life and have some fun.  She buys a new car, buys new clothes, gets a new hair style and a ridiculous bicycle.  Wonder of wonders, Raid notices our girl and decides she is his reward for what he has gone through in his life.  We never quite find out what that is, but it involves most of his buddies in the marines dying in some specific situation.  He has nightmares and DOES NOT like to talk about it.  I wanted to punch him the first time that Hanna brought it up.  I wasn’t sure how the author was going to get Raid back on my good side after that, but have no fear…she did and he is. 

Raid has a scary job.  It isn’t exactly legal and Hanna has to decide whether she is ok with his.  This is going to sound weird but some pretty awful stuff happen to Hanna because of this connection to Raid’s job, but I loved, loved, loved how Raid handled it.  It isn’t exactly spelled out how he handles it, but we KNOW that he handles it and permanently. 

Overall, Raid and Hanna aren’t my favorite KA heroes and heroines, but they aren’t my least favorite either.  I think my favorite part was the first few chapters at the beginning that I got to read free, but of course I had to know what came next and that next part was awesome too.  Then it got real…fast. 

Creed by Kristen Ashley (Unfinished Heroes #2)

3.5 stars

This is the second book in the Unfinished Heroes series.  As the author says, this series is a little different than her other series in that it is about the “anti-hero”.  Knight is a much better anti-hero than Sylvie as he is basically a pimp (although that word is never used).  Sylvie works for Knight sometimes so I guess that is where her “anti-hero-ness” comes in.   Oh, and this series has more of the smexy stuff than her other series and by that I mean it is more graphic and…hmmm how to say this…more adventurous?  We will go with that…more adventurous.  This story is about Sylvie and Creed.  They were childhood sweethearts and were torn apart right when it should have gotten good for them. 

Throughout the story we get snippets of how Sylvie and Creed started.  I actually think those snippets were my favorite part of the entire book.  Usually, I hate when authors do that and I can’t wait to get through passages like that, but I could. not. wait. to read those sections.  We get to see when Sylvie and Creed meet when she is six and he is eleven and get to read about most of the major events in their young lives. 

Anyway, they were separated when they were young and it was tragic for both of them, and by that I don’t mean that their little hearts were broken (although they most certainly were), I mean that they were both abused/tortured is terrible ways.  Neither has known what the other went through and they haven’t seen each other for sixteen years.   That is pretty much the beginning of the book. 

Those are my favorite parts of the book.  I loved reading about little Sylvie and little Creed.  I think my absolute favorite is when Creed realizes he likes Sylvie but she is still too young to be with him.  And I loved hearing about the tragedy that took them apart.  That sounds weird  because they were both seriously abused and almost killed, but I liked that it wasn’t some stupid “I thought they would be better off without me and so I left”.  It was well thought out most people would react the way that Sylvie and Creed did. 

What I didn’t like about the book was the rest of the storyline.  There was a little drama at the beginning with Knight needing some help and a little at the end with Hawk Delgado (from Mystery Man, whom for the record I love, love, love).  Besides that, nothing much happens and it is all about Creed and Sylvie working through their demons and I am sorry but it was b-o-r-i-n-g!  I actually skimmed a couple pages and I NEVER do that. 

The other thing I didn’t like was that Sylvie was too much of a KA man character.  She dressed like a guy and talked like a commando.  Yuck.  But I get that it was part of what happened to her to make her hard, I just didn’t like that she spoke like every other KA hero.  You with me? (That is a joke.  That is Sylvie’s phrase in this book.)

As I said in a previous post, I pretty much read this one to get to the next one.  Raid is supposed to be out February 28^th and I am getting a little worried that it won’t be released then…but I guess I can’t complain because it popped up on my radar unexpectedly.  There is a couple free chapters on the author’s website. 

Favorite quote:
"You feed your cat once a day?" he asked and I stopped opposite the bar and planted my hands on my hips.  "Yeah," I answered.  "She says two," Creed informed me.  Shit.  He spoke cat.  This was not good.  Gun knew all my secrets.

P.S. don't google "Creed" images.  It is not PG...or PG 13...or R.  In fact, it is probably XXX.  Now that I said that you are probably all going to do that, but I am telling you…just don’t. You can’t un-see that.

Knight by Kristen Ashley (Unfinished Heroes #1)

4 stars

This book is a little different than a lot of other KA books. She does have a disclaimer on it saying that it is a bit more intense sexually than her other books although it is not erotica (per her disclaimer, I don't know what qualifies a book as such).  It is definitely saucier than her other books.  Buyer beware. 

Most of KA's books have a heroine in distress at some point who finds herself in deep enough that she requires saving. This book doesn't have that and in fact, doesn't have much action at all. Anya is the heroine and she is essentially without family. She has been taking care of herself for a long time and is working hard to open her own spa. One of her friends convinces her to go to a party. Enter Knight. He is a night club owner and has decided he wants Anya. He has a few rules that Anya must agree to and if she does, he will (essentially) give her anything. I could tell that there was something we still didn't know about Knight as we moved through the book (and KA does not hide this as Knight is described as very private and tells Anya he will tell her about himself when he is ready). I actually guessed at what the secret was, and while Anya was ok with it, I am not sure that I would be. However, I am not Anya and don't have to be so for a story, I enjoyed it. I would relate Knight to Marcus (from Rock Chicks) the most. And KA does describe Knight as the anti-hero and he certainly is.

I did enjoy reading this (as evidenced by the fact that it took me only 2 days to read it), but it is not in my top list of KA books. I would have liked it better if there was a little more action, but I can understand that the author was trying something different.

Favorite Quote (a little dramatic but I liked it):

"A man would work himself into the ground for it, go down to his knees to beg to keep it, endure torture to protect it, take a bullet for it," his eyes came to mine, "poison his brother to possess a face like this."