Mystery Man by Kristen Ashley (Dream Man #1)

While drinking cosmopolitans, Gwendolyn Kidd meets the man of her dreams. Then she takes him home. Then she wakes up alone. But her fear that she lost her dream man turns into a relationship with a mystery man when, night after night in the dead of night, he comes back for more. Hoping it will blossom into something real, she lets him. But she doesn’t even know his name. Gwen’s struggling with the decision to end their crazy non-relationship when her sister-from-hell, Ginger’s best friend pays a visit and warns Gwen that if she and her sister don't get smart, they'll both get d-e-a-d, dead. Gwen has no clue what’s going on but she’s used to Ginger’s antics and decides to lay the problem on her sister’s biker boyfriend's doorstep. Bad choice. She hits the Denver Underground radar with a big, loud ping. This means Gwen’s Mystery Man, Cabe “Hawk” Delgado has to step in to keep her safe. But when Hawk gets a dose of Gwen in the daylight, he makes the decision that he finally wants real with Gwen. However when Gwen gets a dose of badass, bossy, straight-talker Hawk in the daylight, she decides she’s done. Thus begins the head-to-head of the Commando vs. Cosmo Girl as Hawk woos Gwen in his own unique way, Gwen survives firebombs, drive-bys, kidnappings, hot pursuits by biker hotties and gorgeous police detectives and discovers the heartbreaking reason why Hawk kept her at arm’s length. And as all this happens, Gwen finds that her sister’s troubles are serious trouble and she must decide who to keep alive: her sister-from-hell or the man of her dreams.

First Impression: I really liked the Colorado Mountain Man series, so this series was next up on my list. And it had a martini on the front. I like martinis.
The Pros: This book was pretty much the Colorado Mountain Man series set in Denver. If you liked CMM like I did, you'll like this one too. If not, then this isn't the one for you.
Hawk. HAWK. I mean, come on. His name is Hawk. Can't get much hotter than that.
I liked the underlying theme of family, and what family means.
Tack seemed scary at first, but he was actually a good guy. He looked out for Gwen when she needed him, and didn't push any boundaries.
Epilogue. Incredible. Loved it.
The Cons: Gwen was a bit stupid. But we can't have a macho man without a tad stupid heroine, right?
Ginger Kidd. Seriously? Of all the things you can name a person, Ginger Kidd? 
I wasn't a huge fan of Mitch Lawson. Something about him just annoyed me.
The whole mystery man aspect in the beginning of the book was a bit too weird for me. Sneaking into her house? She never knew his name? But he knew everything about her? Creepy.
The Wrap Up: 3.5/5 Another solid Kristen Ashley novel. It has all of her normal themes: macho men, kind of stupid heroine, action, kidnapping, sex. I docked it a half star just for the whole creepy stalkerish beginning.
Favorite Quote: "You live in your head too much, you curl up and shut shit out and spend so much time doing it, you forget to live your life. You can't live your life in your head. That isn't living."
Buy Mystery Man by Kristen Ashley on Amazon.

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Deep in the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.

Initial Thoughts: This has been on my wish list on Amazon since I got my Kindle a year and a half ago. It had great reviews, but as soon as I saw the word "vampire" I was turned off. It felt like everyone and their mom had a vampire book out last year. I went through my wish list recently and decided that it was time I gave it a try.
The Pros: It felt like this book was a mixture of Harry Potter, a romance novel, and a dash of Twilight. I think that's good? Pretty sure it's good.
The historic detail in this novel was fantastic. I'm a big historical fiction fan, so this was awesome for me.
Harkness is a fabulous writer. No Stephenie Meyer nonsense here. Her descriptions left you feeling like you were in the book, not just reading it.
We read about vampires and witches all the time. Harkness adds daemons to this list. No werewolves. No fairies. No hobbits. Thank god.
I liked the scientific aspect of this book. Taking supernatural beings down to a DNA level was fascinating.
The Cons: I was confused about the daemons. What were they really? Do they have a different lifespan than humans and witches? Do they live forever like vampires? What were their talents, other than being slightly inclined to higher IQs?
The book had a slow start. Slow starts are not good for me. I tend to lose interest and walk away from the book. Luckily, I stuck with it, which was rewarding in the end.
Diana is an intelligent woman (she DOES have a PhD in something fancypantsy after all), but she acts like a child multiple times in the book,
Matthew was a bit overbearing for my taste. And I like macho men in my novels. So that's saying something.
The Wrap Up: 3.5/5 I liked the book, but I think it could have been trimmed down a little. It was a monster sized book (just under 600 pages!) and I think the attention to detail, while good, could have been cut back a little. Less overbearing with Matthew, and more strength from Diana, and this book would have been perfect.
Favorite Quote: "My life now has a beginning, middle, and an end. Everything before you was a preamble. Now I have you. One day you will be gone, and my life will be over."
Buy A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness on Amazon.

Rock Chick by Kristen Ashley (Rock Chick #1)

Indy Savage, cop's daughter, rock chick and used bookstore owner, has been in love with Lee Nightingale, once bad boy, now the man behind Nightingale Investigations, since she was five years old. No matter what ingenious schemes Indy used to capture his attention, Lee never showed an interest and Indy finally gave up. Now Indy's employee, Rosie, has lost a bag of diamonds and bad guys are shooting at him. When Indy gets involved, Lee is forced to help. Complicting matters, Lee has decided he's interested, Indy's decided she's not. But she can't seem to keep Lee out of her life when she's repeatedly stun gunned, kidnapped and there are car bombs exploding (not to mention she's finding dead bodies). Indy's best bet is to solve the mystery of the diamonds before Lee. Lee's challenge is to keep Indy alive and, at the same time, win back her heart.

Initial Thoughts: Kristen Ashley has become one of my favorite authors, and Rock Chick is the first in her bestselling Rock Chick series. Badass girls and macho men? I'm SO in.
The Pros: I loved how this story has a history. It's not a boy meets girl, girl falls in love with boy, boy realizes he can't live without the girl, they live happily ever after, kind of story. Indy and Lee have known each other their entire lives. That adds a special something to the book.
Nightingale Investigations... can I work for you? And hang out with your bevy of macho men hotties?
Indy and Ally are hilarious. And huge troublemakers. This book had me laughing at many points.
Kristen Ashley's use of language varies between characters. It feels like they are really speaking to you.
The Cons: Indy could be annoying at times. I wanted to just grab her by the shoulders and say "STAY OUT OF IT!"
I didn't quite get the whole "Rock Chick" thing. Are they groupies? Are they not? Are they stuck in the days of 80's hair bands?
The Wrap Up: 4/5 I really liked this book. Funny, action packed, with a side of romance. I couldn't wait to read the next in the series.
Favorite Quote: "Your grandmother used to say that you were two souls separated in heaven. She mainly meant you were both trouble and deserved each other."
Buy Rock Chick by Kristen Ashley on Amazon.

Knight by Kristen Ashley

Anya Gage has learned that to get anything good in life, you have to work for it. She has no expectations, no dreams. Then she finds herself at a party where she doesn’t want to be and she meets Knight. Knight Sebring knows who he is, what he wants and what he likes. And he gets it. But he never expected something as sweet as Anya Gage to wander into his bedroom during a party he did not expect to be having to borrow his phone. Knight tries to leave Anya to the life she deserves of white picket fences and a man who watches football on Sundays – good, normal and clean. But when Anya comes to his nightclub and finds herself in a situation, he knows someone has to look after her, he can’t fight it anymore and he decides that man will be him. Knight teaches Anya that, just as with the bad, in life you should also expect the good. And he teaches her this by giving it to her. But Knight has a dark past and just as he desires Anya for exactly who she is, he fears when she finds out exactly the man he has become and always intends to be, she’ll leave him for good, normal and clean.

Initial Thoughts: I have grown to LOVE Kristen Ashley books. I have read the entire Colorado Mountain Man, Mystery Man, and Rock Chick Series. I'm currently working my way through the 'Burg series, but this one by her caught my eye, so I took a break from the 'Burg to read this one.
The Pros: This book was completely different than Ashley's other novels. It was a refreshing change of pace for her.
Ashley left behind her normal Denverite speak for this one. I can't decide if that's good or bad, I think I've grown to like it.
Knight was MUCH hotter than KA's other novels. Much. Much. Much much. 
There were some really sweet quotes from Knight that made me go all "awwwwww!" 
The Cons: Anya calling Knight "Daddy". Um. Ew?
It felt like a Fifty Shades knock off, and not in a good way.
Knight's actual  business was SHOCKING. And how could Anya stay with him after that? She barely even thought about it.
The whole novel felt a little rushed. Maybe she should have broken it down into two books and took a little more time on character development.
The Wrap Up: 3/5 I think I like Kristen Ashley's typical novels better. This one just seemed a little too forced for me, and the "Daddy" bit creeped me right out.
Favorite Quote: " 'Wars fought over a face like this,' he murmured like he was talking to himself, my heart stopped beating and his thumbs moved lightly across my cheeks. '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.' "
Buy Knight by Kristen Ashley on Amazon now.

The Gamble by Kristen Ashley

Nina Sheridan’s on a timeout adventure in the Colorado Mountains. She needs distance from her clueless fiancé, distance to decide whether she wants to spend the rest of her life with a man who doesn’t care enough to learn how she takes her coffee. Arriving in a blinding snowstorm at the A-Frame she rented, she comes face to face with the most amazing man she’s ever seen. Minutes later, when he kicks her out of his house, she goes head to head with him. Beyond angry because she’s flown half a world away to start her timeout adventure, not to mention her sinuses hurt, she heads back down the mountain and ends up in a ditch. Unable to extricate herself, she gives up, hopes for rescue and falls asleep in the backseat. The next morning she wakes up in the amazing man’s bed and she’s sick as a dog. Holden Maxwell spends days nursing her back to health and then he spends the next two weeks trying to convince her to take her Colorado adventure further, in other words, make it permanent and take a gamble on him. Nina has a tough time fighting her attraction to Max, especially when it seems all Max’s friends, her mother and stepdad and the whole town want them together and both she and Max get embroiled in the murder of Max’s ex-friend and the town of Gnaw Bone’s most detested resident – a man everyone has motive to kill, especially Max.

Initial Thoughts:
This book kept popping up at the top of my GoodReads recommendations, but I kept putting it off. Much like I did with Gabriel's Inferno by Sylvain Reynard, and we all know how wrong I was in putting that one off. I think the cover of this one bored me. What can I say? I'm a visual person.
The Pros:
"Macho, macho man. I want to be, a macho man." That's what I had in my head the entire book. HEL-LO. 
Max is the ultimate macho man. And sweet at the same time? Too good to be true. It IS a romance novel after all.
For some reason, Nina being partly British was interesting to me. I like their accents. I am vain.
Max taking care of Nina while she was sick, without knowing a thing about her, was so sweet. 
This book is funny! I now call girls I hate "she bitches from hell" thanks to Nina's lovely comments about Max's ex.
The side story lines in this book are so well thought out, they could be stand alone stories. 
Epilogue! I love epilogues. I crave closure in books, and I love when I get to see everything come full circle.
The Cons: Max's deceased wife probably should have been discussed much earlier in their relationship. That just isn't healthy.
At times, the book got a little outlandish and hard to believe. But it's fiction, so whatever.
I didn't love the "Duchess" nickname. It kind of freaked me out.
The Wrap Up: 4/5 A great, LONG, romance read. There are some steamy scenes thrown in here and there, but this book has some serious substance with some lasting life lessons. A must read!

Gabriel's Rapture by Sylvain Reynard

Professor Gabriel Emerson has embarked on a passionate, yet clandestine affair with his former student, Julia Mitchell. Sequestered on a romantic holiday in Italy, he tutors her in the sensual delights of the body and the raptures of sex. But when they return, their happiness is threatened by conspiring students, academic politics, and a jealous ex-lover. When Gabriel is confronted by the university administration, will he succumb to Dante's fate? Or will he fight to keep Julia, his Beatrice, forever? In Gabriel's Rapture, the brilliant sequel to the wildly successful debut novel, Gabriel's Inferno, Sylvain Reynard weaves an exquisite love story that will touch the reader's mind, body, and soul, forever.

Initial Thoughts: You can read my review of the first book, Gabriel's Inferno, here. I love love LOVED that book, so reading the follow-up was a no brainer.  The Pros: Okay. Let's get this straight. Sylvain Reynard is a PHENOMENAL writer. Each sentence felt like poetry. As in the first novel, the continued references to literature, art, and architecture were not only interesting to read about, but I felt like I was actually learning along the way. Imagine that, LEARNING from a romance novel! (Although, I did learn the geography of the Portland area through 50 Shades...) The scenes in Italy were straight out of a fairy tale romance, even with a villain :) The fact that Gabriel and Julia had to face responsibility for their actions was refreshing. Many novels you think, "you would never get away with that in real life!" and in this one, they didn't get away with it. They had to face devastating consequences. Julia finds strength through the challenges she faces, growing from the immature college student, to a mature woman. Like in the first, passion is key in this novel. Everything from a simple kiss to the sex scenes conveyed the passion they felt for one another. Cons: What happened to Paul? What happened to Christa? I felt like there were a few ends that weren't tied up. Julia kind of made me a little crazy in this book. She seemed a little immature. Gabriel made a few rather large decisions about their relationship without consulting Julia. Not cool, buddy. The protective man-ness can only be considered hot up to a certain point. Then it's just annoying. The Wrap Up: 4.5/5 Another outstanding read from Sylvain Reynard. It was almost as good as the first, but really, how can you top that? Favorite Quote: "She is not my equal; she is my better. She is my sticky little leaf."

Insanity by Lauren Hammond

Sometimes love...can drive you crazy. Adelaide Carmichael and Damien Allen couldn't be more opposite. Adelaide's mother abandoned her when she was ten years old, leaving her to be raised by her abusive and alcoholic father. Damien on the other hand came from a wealthy family, was a local celebrity, and seemed to have a bright future ahead of him. Despite their differences, Adelaide and Damien were young, wild, and fiercely in love. And they had a plan. They were going to run away. Be together forever. And their plan was set in motion, until tragedy struck and for some reason, Adelaide wound up in The Oakhill Institution for the insane. Adelaide has no idea what she did to wind up at Oakhill, but she knows one thing for sure... She wants out. And after Damien follows her there to aid her in escaping, Adelaide slowly begins putting together the pieces of her memory that are missing. And it doesn't take Adelaide long to figure out that sometimes... That one true love never dies.

Initial Thoughts:
A romance set in an insane asylum? I'm in.
The Pros:
The flashbacks between her life then and her life now painted a brilliant picture of psychiatric care in the past.
The characters inside the insane asylum were so interesting.
Her Romeo and Juliet-esque romance with Damien was cliche, but sweet.
How she dealt with the monster that is her father for that long, I have no idea.
Is she crazy? Is she not? This books keeps you guessing.
The Cons:
There were parts of the book that left me really confused. I know there are multiple books in the series, so 
I'm hoping my questions are answered in future books.
It was hard to read about some of the "treatments" they used back then. It left me haunted.
The Wrap Up: 4/5
Wonderful start to an eerie series. It really gives you a history of psychiatric care and what love can do to a person.
Favorite Quote: "I love her son like he's the oxygen in my lungs, the plasma in my bloodstream, and the rapid pulsating beat of my heart. Sometimes I feel like I love him so much it aches when I'm not near him. It's like tiny pricks from a sewing needle jabbing into me repeatedly. I miss him so much that since yesterday my heart has felt like a towering inferno and there isn't any water or a fire extinguisher around to put it out. I'm burning, burning, burning. I want to burn eternally."