review || RYLEY'S REVENGE { blog tour }

Ryley's Revenge by L.P. Dover

Publisher: Books by L.P. Dover, LLC (12/1/2014)

Series: Coming Home, book 4

Genre: Sport Romance

Source: InkSlinger

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My Rating: ★★★★1/2

click here to jump to { mm:r's } review

UFC Middleweight fighter, Ryley Jameson, swore it would never happen again. He was done with his ex, and over the pain she’d inflicted when she left him. At least, that’s what he tells people. Maybe if he says it enough, he’ll begin to believe it himself.

Regretting her decision to let Ryley go, Ashleigh Warren comes back into town and confronts him. Holding only one secret back, she puts the rest on the line and asks for a second chance. Too bad he’s not going to let her off easy.

Camden Jameson loves his twin brother, but his jealousy runs deep. They may be identical in looks, but that’s where the similarities end. When Ashleigh comes back into Ryley’s life, Camden has the perfect opportunity for revenge. Two birds, one stone.

A journey to the Dark Side affects them all, but only one feels the true sting of revenge.

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USA Today Bestselling author, L.P. Dover, is a southern belle residing in North Carolina along with her husband and two beautiful girls. Before she even began her literary journey she worked in Periodontics enjoying the wonderment of dental surgeries.

Not only does she love to write, but she loves to play tennis, go on mountain hikes, white water rafting, and you can’t forget the passion for singing. Her two number one fans expect a concert each and every night before bedtime and those songs usually consist of Christmas carols.

Aside from being a wife and mother, L.P. Dover has written over nine novels including her Forever Fae series, the Second Chances series, and her standalone novel, Love, Lies, and Deception. Her favorite genre to read is romantic suspense and she also loves writing it. However, if she had to choose a setting to live in it would have to be with her faeries in the Land of the Fae.

 connect with L.P. Dover || FACEBOOK | GOODREADS | WEBSITE | TWITTER | PINTEREST

spotify username: authorlpdover for book playlists!

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check out blurbs & other fun stuff from the GLOVES OFF series over on the double cover reveal post!

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{ review } .

One does not simply get the opportunity to do cover reveals for this series and not want to read the books. I mean... go look at the covers again and say you don't have any desire to read the books.

So when RYLEY'S REVENGE popped up -- I, of course, took the opportunity to try and get on the bandwagon. And I've gotta say? So glad I did.

Like I said, I had been intrigued for a while. I realized I would be starting mid-series, but Ryley's story really seemed interesting to me, so I was ok starting with it.

I was a bit put off at the beginning, though. When reading books, I kind of have a Goldilocks mentality -- the writing is too weak, too strong, or juuuuuust right. Too weak could mean not enough meat and potatoes, too much dialogue and no emotion, no descriptions, etc. Too strong is like reading medical journals.

When I started reading, I was disappointed to find that the writing was on the 'too weak' side. But I kept pushing through -- I wanted to read this book, darn it.

So I did. And eventually (...like, three chapters in, eventually) I forgot that I was perturbed with the writing and found myself completely lost in the story.

While I didn't feel lost having not read the previous books of the series. Book one is Tyler's book, but there's a two-part prequel, A FIGHTER'S DESIRE, that probably holds a lot of answers to small questions that arose in RYLEY'S REVENGE. And maybe question's in the wrong word.

More like... curiosity.

I wanted to know more about Ashleigh tying Camden up and leaving him that way. I wanted to see in Ryley's head when Ashleigh first announced she might be pregnant -- because when she wasn't, she left him, too. Maybe she read him wrong... Goodness knows she does that in RYLEY'S REVENGE.

So, at some point, I will be reading A FIGHTER'S DESIRE, simply because I just want to know!

So. RYLEY'S REVENGE.

Right away, we start out with Ashleigh's internal dialogue, telling the reader how Colin is her 'safe place' -- he's a safe bet when compared to the likes of Ryley Jameson. However, we will learn that Colin's jealousy runs far and deep when Ashleigh chooses to try and makes things work with Ryley -- especially after she finds out she is pregnant.

However, when she rejected him the last time and left, his heart broke in two. 

A sick, twisted part of me had hoped to God she was pregnant so that I could have a fighting chance with her.

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My mind was a jumbled mess of shit. Ashleigh Warren had head fucked me into falling for her and then she left. I was a fool to fall, but dammit to hell, I wanted her back.

I was Ryley "The Rampage" Jameson. I had women falling all over themselves just to suck my dick and do whatever I wanted them to. I loved it...or at least I pretended I did. It didn't help that I envisioned Ashleigh every time.

Right there, we see it -- where Ashleigh thought her possibly being pregnant was a deal breaker, Ryley thought of it more as a deal maker.

And he would have given anything for her to be pregnant. He didn't feel that he was good enough without that link that would permanently tie them together.

Of course, Ryley doesn't just take her back "like that". He wants to make her hurt.

Hurting her was my goal...I didn't plan on breaking her. (...thought after he went and did just that -- hurt her to the point of breaking).

After which... and it's one of my favorite scenes... he finds her in her hotel room. She's a crying mess, and he's solemn. There's something about a quiet, caring man...

The door to the hotel room opened and clicked shut, footsteps shuffling across the floor. My eyes were basically swollen shut from crying, but I heard the bedroom door open. I didn't want Gabriella feeling like she had to babysit me.

"Gabby, please go to the party," I whispered hoarsely. "You don't have to stay with me." The bed dipped low and a strong arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me in tight.

"No, she doesn't...but I do." 

Granted, things get a little dicey when Ryley's twin, Camden, gets his paws in the game. He's ruthless, relentless, and quite frankly, a jackass. When Ryley wants to make Ashleigh hurt, just for a little while (he does want her, after all), Camden takes it upon himself to text her -- as Ryley -- and no-so-nicely tells her to back off; he also goes and... hmm... invades Ashleigh's privacy (lack of a better phrase without giving too much away), and this sets Ryley off -- nothing to do with Ashleigh, and everything to do with Camden and him nearly taking away Ryley's future. 

I really enjoyed Ryley and Ashleigh's story. 

On top of that? I loved all the Paxton and Gabrielle quirks and conversations, and I'm super interested in Paxton's previous association with the underground fighting ring. That said... I'm super pumped for their story, PAXTON'S PROMISE!