Love is the greatest gamble of all . . .
Nina Sheridan desperately needs a timeout vacation. With a fiancé who can't even remember how she takes her coffee, Nina wants some distance to rethink her engagement. Flying halfway around the world from England to a mountain town in Colorado should do the trick. But when she finds a gorgeous man at her rental cabin, Nina's cold, lonely adventure suddenly heats up.
The owner of the house, Holden "Max" Maxwell is surprised by the beautiful woman who turns up at his door. But when Nina becomes ill, Max spends days nursing her back to health. A private man with a broken heart, Max finds himself drawn to the strong-willed woman. Soon it becomes impossible for Nina and Max to deny their growing attraction to one another. Yet even as these two wounded lovebirds think about taking a chance on a relationship, a dangerous secret from Max's past emerges-and threatens to end their love for good.
For a while I've been hearing only great and amazing things about Kristen Ashley. Since lately it seems I've mostly been reading YA in my Saturday Series, I was in need for a good adult book series. Combine those two and I decided to give Colorado Mountain series a try.
Let's start off by saying that all the praise for Kristen Ashley is very well deserved. I finished reading The Gamble in two sittings as it is a pretty long story (over 600 pages), though honestly it didn't feel that long. A lot of things happen at a fast pace and you just keep wanting more.
Nina came out to Colorado to take a timeout from her relationship and well to have a holiday. What she got was so much more, including but not restricted to, Mountain Man Max, a murder mystery, a whole town that likes to be up in everyone's business, and the rest I don't want to spoil for you. Those two weeks are not just an emotional roller coaster (for the characters and for me), it's like falling out of a plane and having no idea where is up or down.
Seriously so much happens, that I felt drained afterwards. Both Nina and Max haven't had things easy in the past, there are some traumas and now all this extra stuff gets put on top of that, making me wonder why they can not catch a break. The best thing of course is these two characters finding each other, but since it all moves pretty fast, though not unrealistically so, I feel if it wasn't for them having each other they wouldn't have survived this.
All in all, I now definitely get the big deal around Kristen Ashley. I expected some nice fluff, with a pretty predictable story line and that wasn't what I got. Two very well rounded character, so much emotional depth and a plot line I absolutely did not see coming. This is not just a romance novel, it also has mystery, crime, humor, suspense, sexy time, anger, frustration, love... I feel like I'm not explaining it very well, as I don't want to put in any spoilers and all my mind can come up with is the words "so good." It's a story that reminds me why I fell in love romance novels in the first place. I'm very much looking forward to reading the next one in the series.
Kristen Ashley was born in Gary, Indiana, USA. She nearly killed her mother and herself making it into the world, seeing as she had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck (already attempting to accessorise and she hadn't taken her first breath!).
Kristen grew up in Brownsburg, Indiana but 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 multi-generational family. They lived on a very small farm in a small town in the heartland and existed amongst the strains of Glenn Miller, The Everly Brothers, REO Speedwagon and Whitesnake (and the wardrobes that matched).
Needless to say, growing up in a house full of music, clothes and love was a good way to grow up.
And as she keeps growing up, it keeps getting better.
Let's start off by saying that all the praise for Kristen Ashley is very well deserved. I finished reading The Gamble in two sittings as it is a pretty long story (over 600 pages), though honestly it didn't feel that long. A lot of things happen at a fast pace and you just keep wanting more.
Nina came out to Colorado to take a timeout from her relationship and well to have a holiday. What she got was so much more, including but not restricted to, Mountain Man Max, a murder mystery, a whole town that likes to be up in everyone's business, and the rest I don't want to spoil for you. Those two weeks are not just an emotional roller coaster (for the characters and for me), it's like falling out of a plane and having no idea where is up or down.
Seriously so much happens, that I felt drained afterwards. Both Nina and Max haven't had things easy in the past, there are some traumas and now all this extra stuff gets put on top of that, making me wonder why they can not catch a break. The best thing of course is these two characters finding each other, but since it all moves pretty fast, though not unrealistically so, I feel if it wasn't for them having each other they wouldn't have survived this.
All in all, I now definitely get the big deal around Kristen Ashley. I expected some nice fluff, with a pretty predictable story line and that wasn't what I got. Two very well rounded character, so much emotional depth and a plot line I absolutely did not see coming. This is not just a romance novel, it also has mystery, crime, humor, suspense, sexy time, anger, frustration, love... I feel like I'm not explaining it very well, as I don't want to put in any spoilers and all my mind can come up with is the words "so good." It's a story that reminds me why I fell in love romance novels in the first place. I'm very much looking forward to reading the next one in the series.
4.5
Colorado Mountain - Reading order and purchase links
The Author
Kristen grew up in Brownsburg, Indiana but 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 multi-generational family. They lived on a very small farm in a small town in the heartland and existed amongst the strains of Glenn Miller, The Everly Brothers, REO Speedwagon and Whitesnake (and the wardrobes that matched).
Needless to say, growing up in a house full of music, clothes and love was a good way to grow up.
And as she keeps growing up, it keeps getting better.
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