She’s high heels, he’s hiking boots . . . and they’re perfect together.
Chasing Serenity, an all new steamy and emotional opposites attract stand-alone from New York Times bestselling author Kristen Ashley is available now!
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Kristen Ashley brings a new novel in her River Rain series…
From a very young age, Chloe Pierce was trained to look after the ones she loved.
And she was trained by the best.
But when the man who looked after her was no longer there, Chloe is cast adrift—just as the very foundation of her life crumbled to pieces.
Then she runs into tall, lanky, unpretentious Judge Oakley, her exact opposite. She shops. He hikes. She drinks pink ladies. He drinks beer. She’s a city girl. He’s a mountain guy.
Obviously, this means they have a blowout fight upon meeting. Their second encounter doesn’t go a lot better.
Judge is loving the challenge. Chloe is everything he doesn’t want in a woman, but he can’t stop finding ways to spend time with her. He knows she’s dealing with loss and change.
He just doesn’t know how deep that goes. Or how ingrained it is for Chloe to care for those who have a place in her heart, how hard it will be to trust anyone to look after her…
And how much harder it is when it’s his turn.
Fall in love today!
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My Review
Anytime Kristen Ashley introduces a brand-new series, I cannot wait to meet the characters and world she created, and book one in her new River Rain series doesn’t disappoint.
Judge is such a good man – one who holds to his convictions and does what he think is best, regardless of what those around him say about it. He gives so much of himself to other people and works hard to make a difference in people’s lives and that’s an honorable goal. He clearly loves a challenge, which is a good thing since he’s going to have to use all of his skills to get past Chloe’s defenses and prove just how good they could be together, despite their differences.
I struggled with Chloe in the beginning chapters of the story; she seems too high-maintenance and I didn’t know how someone living her kind of lavish lifestyle would find what she was looking for where she ends up, especially because it’s clear she’s flailing after losing someone who meant everything to her. But the deeper into the story I read, the more rounded the picture of her became and I was anxious for her to reach out for Judge and know that he would be there when she needed him to be.
Judge and Chloe’s back and forth clearly illustrates just how different they are but it also showcases the chemistry between them, proving that they may come from two different worlds, lead very different lives, and see through contrasting lenses, but what works for them is that they know, at their core, the kind of people they are and they’re worthy of the time and patience it takes amidst the bickering and frustration.
The secondary characters in all of Ashley’s book always play a pivotal role, in either moving the plot forward, offering insight into the main characters, and/or providing necessary information that readers would’t have without that knowledge. In Chasing Serenity, we actually get one of their perspectives and it adds an additional view in terms of the big picture and how the past and the present relate.
Chasing Serenity is a slow-burn romance – one that took a bit to get into but once the relationship between Judge and Chloe started moving in the right direction and some of the bigger issues were hashed out, I was beyond ready for these two to be everything that they could be, putting their differences aside and reveling in what they offer to each other.
4 Poison Apples
Excerpt
Considering the fact he’d brought in a coffee for his buddy, Rix, who managed the store, Judge was down on the floor where Rix’s office was, not on the top floor where his was, so he saw her when she walked into the shoe section.
He’d dated Meg.
And before Meg, there was Jess.
And before Jess, there was Kimberly.
They all had different color hair, Meg and Jess were tall, Kim was not.
But even so, Judge had a type.
He knew it.
And that woman who’d strolled up to the shoe displays?
She was his type.
Multiplied by a thousand.
Christ, she was beautiful.
And bad news.
He could tell that last by the outfit, including her ridiculous, high-heeled booties.
He’d worked at River Rain Outdoor stores for nine years—starting as a sales associate when he was still going to college and advancing to director of the Kids and Trails program.
In all that time, he didn’t think he’d ever seen a woman walk into any of their stores wearing shoes like hers.
And when he came down again a half an hour later to hit Rix’s office to make some copies because the copier in the corporate offices at the top level was busted, he noticed she was still there.
He also noticed he had further evidence she was bad news.
That evidence?
The sheer number of boxes of boots that she was trying on scattered around her.
She looked like she’d not set foot on a hiking trail in her life.
And she looked like she was there because she’d already trolled through all the boutiques around the square, but this hadn’t assuaged her shopping fix, because nothing really did.
Therefore, there was a possibility, after making a member of staff bring her fifteen pairs of shoes, she’d walk out not buying anything.
She’d do this not thinking a thing of it.
However, he noted some of the boots she was trying on were riding boots, and Judge could see that round ass of hers in the saddle on top of a horse.
Wearing a riding habit.
Even if she was trouble, and he had not the slightest interest (or he was telling himself that), he couldn’t keep his eyes off her.
Because he was a moron.
That said, she caught his gaze every time.
So he was looking.
But so was she.
His instincts proved true when he came down for the third time with more to copy, and he again walked through the shoe section to get to the office in the back. Doing this close to where she was seated, still trying on boots, because, yes, in the fifteen minutes between then and now, he had not stopped being a moron.
And again, she caught his gaze.
He had no clue why, but as her gorgeous hickory brown eyes hit his, he muttered, “Nice booties.”
Her back shot straight, and she demanded, “What did you just say?”
About Kristen Ashley
Kristen Ashley is the New York Times bestselling author of over sixty romance novels including the Rock Chick, Colorado Mountain, Dream Man, Chaos, Unfinished Hero, The ’Burg, Magdalene, Fantasyland, The Three, Ghost and Reincarnation, Moonlight and Motor Oil and Honey series along with several standalone novels. She’s a hybrid author, publishing titles both independently and traditionally, her books have been translated in fourteen languages and she’s sold over three million books.
Kristen’s novel, Law Man, won the RT Book Reviews Reviewer’s Choice Award for best Romantic Suspense. Her independently published title Hold On was nominated for RT Book Reviews best Independent Contemporary Romance and her traditionally published title Breathe was nominated for best Contemporary Romance. Kristen’s titles Motorcycle Man, The Will, Ride Steady (which won the Reader’s Choice award from Romance Reviews) and The Hookup all made the final rounds for Goodreads Choice Awards in the Romance category.
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