Friday, October 30, 2015

reviews || STORM VANDAL & LUKAS { blog tour } by Carian Cole


23155346
Self-Published | September 28, 2014 | New Adult Romance
Ashes and Ember, book 1
★★★1/2

SOURCE: GIVE ME BOOKS PROMOTIONS

The calm before the storm…

I lived in the quiet stillness.
I felt the wind rustle, warning me, telling me to get out of its path.

But I didn’t.
I never stood a chance.

A series of weather and road mishaps leaves me trapped in the middle of a blizzard with a complete stranger. In the back of a pickup truck. For forty-eight freakin’ hours.

A stranger with long hair, tattoos, and rippling with muscle.

A stranger with an insanely sexy voice and a wicked smile that turned my insides to jelly.

A stranger who held me in his arms, calmed me, and then set a fire in me that I couldn’t put out.

Storm lives up to his name. Beautiful. Dangerously inviting. Tumultuous. Dark. A clash of hot and cold.

He’s used to getting everything he wants.

And now he wants me.

Some people chase storms for the beautiful thrill. What happens when the storm chases you?
23306548

Self-Published | February 23, 2015 | New Adult Erotica
Ashes and Ember, book 2
★★★★

SOURCE: GIVE ME BOOKS PROMOTIONS

She takes my breath away; she is so beautifully damaged.
Yes I had broken her, ravished her life, destroyed her happiness. I brought her to ultimate despair. I was responsible for all the pain and suffering that now brought her to her knees in front of me.

Broken.
Hopeless.
Reckless in her agony.

She is a mirror of my own tortured soul.

But what I took away I can give back.
In ways she cannot even begin to imagine.

She is everything right in all my wrongs.

She loves me. She needs me.

She has no idea I’m the one who wrecked her life.


24806268
Self-Published | July 28, 2015 | New Adult Romance
Ashes and Ember, book 3
★★★★1/2

SOURCE: GIVE ME BOOKS PROMOTIONS

Storm’s younger cousin.
Vandal’s little brother.
You’ve met him in the background.
The sweet one.
The nice one.
The one they can all rely on.
The good one.
He’s a tattoo artist. He plays metal and classical music - on the violin.
He’s got a body built for sin.
He’s 24.
In comes Ivy. She’s a 36 year old single mom who hasn’t dated in 18 years.
All she wanted was a tattoo.
She got a helluva lot more :)
Being good has never been so bad.

{ reviews } .

Storm
Storm and Evie meet in, what else, but a storm. Literary irony, yes? But truly, these two were fun.

I loved Evelyn's initial reaction to Storm -- he comes to her in the middle of a snow storm, her car is stuck, and he has this long hair and metal in his face. Not exactly points in his favor. But right away, it's evident, at least to the reader, that he's one of the good ones.

Not that Evelyn could tell in her brief moment of hysteria.

"Oh, so murdering psychopaths announce their intentions to their victims now?" I lower my voice to a mock, man's psycho voice. "Excuse me, miss, but I shall commence killing you now. Please, remain in the vehicle until I have reached the designated killing area."

I love her sass and her spunk -- she's scared crazy, yes, but she still let's her tongue fly. Storm gives it back though in spades, and I definitely chuckled a time or two at Evelyn's expense.

Evie's hysterics were a bit over the top, maybe, but they were a great driving force for the beginning of the story. They showcased her sass and her sarcasm, but also that Storm had the ability to go toe-to-toe with her. These two were fun to read definitely, and Storm's sweet moments, those sweet words laced full of emotion, were definitely well written.

Great plot, great dialogue... A good beginning to Cole's writing career and the series!

Vandal
Hands down, had some of the best emotional pulls in the series.

Immediately, we're engulfed in Vandal's life -- and his immediate heartbreak. Watching this big rocker dude break down and cry, his whispered words of anger, and his family standing by his side... My heart physically ached for the man.

Well done writing those heart-string moments, Ms. Cole.

His guilt in the remainder of the book is beyond evident and completely understandable -- even if I did want to rattle the true culprit.

Both Vandal and Tabitha have pasts they're running from, and they use similar means to cope. I did enjoy watching these two battered souls learn to live again.

HOWEVER. The ending seemed abrupt and as if the author stuffed thirty pounds worth of information in a two pound box, forcing it closed with a not so pretty bow. The epilogue reader in me was less than thrilled ;)

Lukas
The last book for today's ASHES AND EMBERS tour is Lukas. Lukas is the brother of Vandal and I have to say, he had a few scene stealing moments in VANDAL. I knew that I was going to like this man.

We've had the stranded, we had the deceit, we had BDSM... now bring on the cougars.

Ivy is 36; Lukas is a baby at 24. But through their story, they push the boundaries with the whole what is accepted in public, with families, and within ourselves. They certainly put worth to the saying, "Age is nothing but a number".

Lukas is the right blend of soft and hard, funny and serious, and down to it all, lovable and likable.

Ivy is headstrong, through and through. In this books prologue, she catches her husband in a lie and watches as he continuously hides it. She's had enough though, and I applauded her strength. He was quite the manipulative one though, and her leaving him in the beginning didn't keep him out of the reader's eyes. Her oldest child was easily persuaded by her father and I found myself extremely annoyed with her bratty behavior -- especially at the end. While Ivy is very much the strong mother, the one who wouldn't put anyone above her children, she had some difficult choices to make.

Ivy definitely has difficult paths to walk through in this book, and Lukas, although young, had a great head on his shoulders and fought for what he wanted. He was far wiser than his years and fought for Ivy and her family, making this age difference easily forgettable. 

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