Mystery Man
The Dream Man Series (Book 1)
by Kristen Ashley
Genres:
Erotica, Mystery, Suspense, Romance
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Teasers
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Synopsis
Night time is the right time...
Gwendolyn Kidd has met the man of her dreams. He's hot, he's sexy, and what started as a no-names-exchanged night of passion has blossomed into a year and a half-long pleasure fest. Sure, it's a little strange that he only appears in her bed at night, but Gwen is so sure he's the one, she just can't turn him away...
Hawk Delgado knows more about Gwen than she could ever imagine. She's gorgeous, headstrong, and skittish about relationships. But Hawk is facing his own demons, demons that keep him from connecting with anyone. Yet when Gwen is drawn into Denver's lethal underground scene, Hawk's protective nature comes out full force. The problem is, when Gwen gets a dose of Hawk's Alpha attitude in the daylight, she's not so sure he's the one anymore....
Star Rating
(5 Stars)
Review
As
I've said, I'm the new kid on the block here on the blog so there's something
you don't know about me: I'm a HUGE
Kristen Ashley fan. Yes, her writing
style has its quirks and to enjoy her books, you really have to like alpha
males. Kristen Ashley is whom I turn to
when I have a book-hangover, or when I need to spend time with "an old
friend," or just simply want to reread a favorite book. Whereas I will probably eventually review
most of her books, I'm starting with Mystery Man. For anybody who does not know her work, this
isn't necessarily the ideal place to start reading. Others of her books happen prior to this
(timeline wise) and some of those characters make cameo appearances in this
series, but that's okay. You can start
here and go back without difficulty. I
do recommend, however, if you read her books, you start at the beginning of a
series and read that series in order.
You'll enjoy it more. The other
thing about her books...the women always kick ass! Kristen Ashley believes in sisterhood between
women. She develops not only the primary
love relationship in her books, but these women seem to become a part of or
have their own posse...other women who are their sounding boards and are
supportive friends who have each others' backs. It's frankly refreshing to not deal with petty nonsense that can exist
between women in other books. So I
started with Mystery Man. Why? Because it's my favorite thus far. I'd started two books in the last few days that
were DNF books and I just needed some KA therapy. What better place to start than with my
favorite?!
This
book makes me laugh, a lot. Gwen, the
heroine is a kick! Talk about quirky;
the girl practically defines it. In this
book, her guy, Hawk (I'll get back to him in a minute), is a commando who has
had Gwen under his radar for a while and is watching over her, trying to keep
her safe. Generally, this is not a
difficult task as she's a book editor and hangs out with her core girlfriend
posse. However, Gwen has a sister,
Ginger. Ginger is trouble. And Ginger brings trouble to Gwen's
doorstep. Once Gwen gets word her sister
is once again causing problems, the story ensues.
I
pulled my purse off my shoulder and tugged it open, muttering,
"Ginger. A pain in my ass since the
day she cut all the hair off my Barbies. She was three. I was too old for
Barbies but they were mine. She couldn't leave them alone? What's with cutting their hair?" I looked up at Dog and said, "I think
that's what psychos do. We should have
known then. She's three, wielding
scissors and causing mayhem and heartbreak." I kept blabbing as I dug in my purse, found
my checkbook and then kept scrounging for a pen declaring, "She was
always, always, a bad seed. I
yanked out my checkbook, flipped it open, clicked my pen smartly, put the point
to the check and looked at Tack.
"All right, how much does she owe you?" I asked irately, not
happy to be bailing Ginger out again, especially when money and angry
bikers were involved. It was at this
point I noted that Tack was staring down at me and he wasn't being scary
anymore. He was looking like he wanted
to laugh. It was a good
look...."Well?" I snapped.
"Two million, three hundred and fifty-seven thousand, one hundred
and seven dollars," Tack answered, I felt my jaw go slack, his white flash
of a smile surrounded by his dark goatee dazedly hit some recess of my brain
and he finished, "and twelve cents,"
"Oh my God," I
whispered. Tack was still smiling when
he dipped his head to my checkbook, "Think you can get that on one line,
peaches?" "Oh my God," I
repeated. "You need mouth to
mouth?" Tack asked, leaning in and I took a step back, clamped my mouth
shut and shook my head. "Shame," he muttered, leaning back.
(Tack, by the way, gets his own book later in the series and it's
fabulous!)
Hawk,
the commando, is awesome. He's gorgeous,
he's smart, he's sexy, he's definitely worthy of book-boyfriend status! When they met, he had spotted her and watched
her for a bit:
...I
was there one night a year and a half ago, drinking cosmos and keeping Tracy
company on her shift....Then he walked
in, the Great Mystery Man, now known as Cabe "Hawk" Delgado. I'd fallen in love with him at first
sight. No joke. He was hot but it wasn't lust. It was love. Okay, it was part lust but it was mostly love...To my delight, they'd
seated him at a booth on my side of the bar....I wasn't on the prowl, I was
there to have a nice night with my girlfriend who was fucking up at work and
needed moral support but that didn't mean I couldn't look hot. Sitting on my barstool, drinking cosmos like
they were diet grape soda, I did everything I could to get Hawk's attention,
twisting and turning on my stool, crossing and uncrossing my legs, sucking and
twirling a cocktail straw, flipping my hair unnecessarily. And as he ate...he didn't even look at
me. So when he paid the bill, slid out
of the booth and it was clear he was about the leave, I was devastated. Yes, the feeling was devastated...And I'd
turned to the bar, downed the last sip of my cosmo and contemplated hare kare
when, suddenly, I felt a warm hand on the skin of my lower back. I twisted my
neck, looked up and there he was. I held
my breath and he asked, "You comin' or what?" I went. I grabbed my purse, gave a high sign to a staring Tracy and walked out
of that restaurant with him. He loaded
me into a black SUV, asked my address, took me home and fucked my brains
out. I'd never done anything like that
before in my life, not even close. It was
an unbelievably insane thing to do. And
it was magnificent.
Hawk
has his own issues, of course. I mean,
how boring would it be if they just rode off into the sunset after meeting over
cosmos? This is a man, though, who sees
what he has been missing out on and makes it clear that Gwen is his (throughout
lots of competition trying to win Gwen's heart). A lot of men notice her and Hawk has to keep
on his toes. There are firebombs,
drive-bys, kidnappings, awesome friends and family (and not so awesome too!) This book is the type of book where the
saying "never a dull moment" would be accurate. If I were Gwen, I would be exhausted. I had actually high-lighted yet another part
I really wanted to share here that always makes me happy but the excepts are
already a little long (and I already cut and cut and cut them!) Oh, and this is an author who does not shy
away from some pretty hot bedroom scenes. They are there too; not too many as to distract from the story line but
do not think that her books don't go there. They do.
And
another note about Kristen Ashley; she is known as the Queen of the
Epilogue. When her book might be
hovering at a 4.5 to 4.75 stars, the epilogues usually take her up a notch or
two. She wraps her stories up in such a
way that once you set it down when you are done reading it, you sigh and savor
the memories of the words you have just read.
Her books do not have cliffhangers. Each book in a series is a different couple but there are often hints of
other things to come within a series. After reading this book the first time, I was trying to decide how many
stars to give it. Since I loved it then
and have since decided it's my favorite (and I have reread it countless times),
I felt that a book that qualifies as a favorite deserves 5 stars. It makes me happy. And isn't that what reading is all about?
Purchase Mystery Man, Here:
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