Launch Day Blitz & Review: Sweet Dreams (Colorado Mountain #2) by Kristen Ashley

Sweet Dreams
Colorado Mountain #2
By: Kristen Ashley
Published:
By: Forever Romance
Mature Content
Source: Publisher
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GR's Summary:


Lauren Grahame has spent her whole life thinking something special was going to happen. She didn’t know what it was, she just knew it would one day be hers. But she learned the hard way that special wasn’t on offer. So, after divorcing her cheating husband, Lauren searched for nothing special and she thought she found it when she landed a job as a waitress in a biker bar in Carnal. It was perfect: a nothing job in a nowhere bar in Nowheresville. Then Tatum Jackson walked in. Part-owner of the bar, he took one look at high-class Lauren and wanted nothing to do with her. And he made this known, loudly. Tate’s angry insults seared in her brain, Lauren decides the feeling is mutual and she doesn’t want anything to do with the gloriously handsome Tate Jackson. The clash of the bartender and barmaid begins but, even though Tate makes his change of mind clear (in biker-speak, a language Lauren is not fluent in), Lauren is intent on going her own way. Until a serial killer hits Carnal and Lauren finds out Tate isn’t a bartender, he’s a bounty hunter. He stakes his claim for Lauren before he goes on the hunt for a killer but Laurie doesn’t speak biker nor does she understand bounty hunters and Tate comes back from the hunt to find his old lady has moved on. Life throws curveball after curveball at Laurie and Tate. As secrets are revealed, women are brutally murdered, and Lauren tries to find her inner biker babe.

Colorado Mountain Series:

My Review of The Gamble Here

My Thoughts:

Lauren "Laurie" Grahame  had been searching for something "special" her whole life.  Instead, she discovered that her husband and best friend had been carrying on a long-term affair behind her back.  To top it off, her husband decides to leave her, and all of her so-called friends turn their backs on her.  So Laurie signs the divorce papers, sells her half of the assets, and packs her car to the hilt, until she discovers what she's looking for.  The small city of Carnal, Colorado is right smack dab in the middle of nowheresville, and perfect for her new beginning.  This is a town where she's not expecting much, and she gets a job at Bubba's Biker Bar as a waitress, and decides to stay at a run down but clean little hotel. 

Unfortunately, Laurie meets the gorgeous, part owner, Tate Jackson, who is extremely rude to her, and she overhears him putting her down.  From that point on Laurie decides Tate is an arrogant jerk, and wants nothing to do with him.  However, Tate realizes his mistake, and tries to apologize to Laurie for his behavior.  These two share a passionate and intense chemistry, and like to bicker back and forth.  Tate has decided that he wants Laurie to be his, and as these two start to connect, a serial killer hits the area, and Tate, as a bounty hunter, decides to track the killer, and keep Laurie safe at all costs.

Whew!  Tate Jackson is one very sexy, dangerous looking, alpha male!  He can be brash, rude, and downright caveman like!  However, he can also be fiercely protective, loyal, giving, and would do anything for those that he loves.  I didn't care for Tate at the beginning, but he sure did win me over!  By the end of the book, I had a huge smile on my face, and was all about Tate!  Laurie was a character that really grew on me as well, and she had a huge character transformation.  At the beginning of the story, she had low self-esteem, was afraid to be herself, and got taken advantage of.  I loved watching Laurie come in to her own.  She began to realize her own worth, and became stronger.  She stood up for herself, and others, and learned that she was something the something "special," and after she realized that she found what she had always been looking for.  Tate was a large catalyst for Laurie's transformation, and it was beautiful.

Sweet Dreams is a Kristen Ashley classic!  I'm not usually in to romantic suspense, but Ms. Ashley's stories have a way of hooking me, and keeping me completely captivated!  It seems like each book I read of hers just gets better and better!  

My Rating:

I highly recommend Sweet Dreams by Kristen Ashley.  The main characters Laurie and Tate are amazing, there is a strong cast of secondary characters, and the suspenseful plot with the serial killer and sexy romance will entertain and hook you!  I give Sweet Dreams, 5 Wickedly Sexy, Stunning, Tate Jackson Filled Stars!

My Favorite Quote:

"A woman gets under your skin, the kind of woman that feeds the muscle, the bone, the soul, no replacing that."  (eARC, Loc. 9866)

~Tate Jackson

Casting:

"Tate Jackson"

"Laurie Grahame"

Book Excerpt:

That beautiful man’s words ricocheted around my head causing damage that was so excruciating I knew the way it was inflicted it would never, never heal. 

Okay, I was forty-two, not exactly a spring chicken. Okay, I wasn’t svelte by a long shot and had a body that just couldn’t be svelte and never would even if I tried (though I could stand to take off a few pounds, or more than a few). But I wasn’t sorry-ass. And I’d lived in suburbia but I’d never liked it. I just told myself for Brad, because I loved him, that I did. But it wasn’t me and the minute I got my chance, I left.

And forty-two wasn’t eighty-five. I was over twenty years away from retirement. That was hardly old. 

What a jerk! 

This was my life as I wanted to lead it. This was the place I wanted to live it. I’d been on the road driving through towns and cities looking for what I needed and after four and a half months, this was the only place that felt right. And Bubba’s felt right too. Even though it wasn’t much and the people weren’t nice, it still felt right. 

And I didn’t care if they didn’t like me. I didn’t care if they didn’t think I was one of them. I didn’t care that my jeans cost twice as much as theirs and my t-shirt was designer and they saw it, knew it and didn’t like it.

Fuck them. Both of them. 

I walked out of the storeroom and back into the bar. I found a sheet of paper, took stock of what was needed and went back to the storeroom to search through the shelves and find it. I was on trip three and squatted down rotating bottles of Bud and Coors Light when I heard them come back. 

I sucked in breath, looked up and when I did I looked right at Tate. When my eyes caught his, I watched his face change sharply and it did this with a small head jerk and wince. 

He knew I’d heard him and at least that jerk had the good grace to react.

I put in the last bottles, stood, pushed the fridge door to and walked toward them both, saying, “One more trip and re-stock should be done. I made notes of what I took and I’ll mark it on your clipboard. Then I’ll wipe down the tables.” 

Then I walked by them, down the hall and into the storeroom. 

Fuck them.

Both of them. 

I had a job to do.

Purchase At:

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | IndieBound

About Kristen Ashley:

Kristen Ashley grew up in Brownsburg, Indiana, and has lived in Denver, Colorado, and the West Country of England. Thus she has been blessed to have friends and family around the globe. Her posse is loopy (to say the least) but loopy is good when you want to write. Kristen was raised in a house with a large and multigenerational family. They lived on a very small farm in a small town in the heartland, and Kristen grew up listening to the strains of Glenn Miller, The Everly Brothers, REO Speedwagon, and Whitesnake. Needless to say, growing up in a house full of music and love was a good way to grow up. And as she keeps growing up, it keeps getting better.

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