Wednesday, March 6, 2013

GIVEAWAY, BLOG TOUR, & REVIEW - RAID by Kristen Ahsley

Continue To The Bottom of The Post For A Chance To Win!!!


Goodreads Book Blurb:
Hanna Boudreaux has lived in the small town of Willow, Colorado all her life. The great-granddaughter of the town matriarch, she's sweet, cute and quiet.

Too quiet.

Hanna has a moment of epiphany when she realizes her crush for forever, Raiden Ulysses Miller, is not ever going to be hers. She sees her life as narrow and decides to do something about it.

Raiden Miller is the town of Willow's local hero. An ex-marine with the medal to prove his hero status, he comes home, shrouded in mystery. It takes a while but, eventually, Hanna catches his eye.

But after all these years of Raid and Hanna living in the same town, the question is, why? Is Raid interested in Hanna because she's sweet and cute? Or does Raid have something else going on? 
This has some BDSM...



Genre - Adult/Contemporary Romance


★★★★★
5 ABSOFUCKINGMAZING Stars! 


Thank you so much to Kristen Ashley and Chas for providing me with an eARC at Craves The Angst in exchange for a honest review.


The Rundown:
Hanna Boudreaux is the beloved, third generation town’s girl who takes care of her infamous Grams, knits afghans and makes preserves. Everybody knows and loves her. Except the one man she’s been in love with since she was six years old.

Raiden Ullysses Miller, whose name is so sexy all the girls repeat it on their tongue and swoon when he walks into a room, is the local boy who did good. He took care of his family when his father abandoned them and he joined the Marines right out of high school and fought for his country. But something happened to him and he is no longer the sweet, charming boy he once was.

Knight sends Raid back to his hometown on a mission to track down a criminal ring that’s disturbing his business and suddenly his winsome, safe town is the hub of drug activity and the cute, innocent girl next door is right in the middle of it all.

Quote Spotlight… 
“Do you think I’m a crazy, creepy stalker lady, hanging at Rachelles just to see you walk in?” 
“Absolutely not,”…

The Review: 
Raid is the third book in the Unfinished Hero series by Kristen Ashley . I’m a total stalker of this author. She just writes the best romance books EVER! And this one was no exception. It was goofy, sweet, full of romance and it was hot and oh so steamy!


Characters…
Raiden, though not very complicated, is the cat’s pajamas! He’s caring and loyal but he’s also haunted by his time in the war which has left him somewhat volatile. He’s taken his knowledge and skills and uses them to his advantage to track down questionable people as an underground bounty hunter. It’s not exactly on the up and up but he’s good at it and it balances out an otherwise criminal system. Like all the males this author writes, Raid is absolutely no push over and he’s sexy and knows what he wants. But this isn’t the reason I loved him. His past and the heinous experience’s he had during his time with the Marines is what drew me to him. He was imperfect, flawed and had some serious issues to overcome in this book. You couldn’t help but be drawn to that part of him.

Quote Spotlight… 
“Are you laughing at me?”… 
“You got goddamned sequins on your toes,” he said, his words trembling. 
“They’re pretty,”…

Hanna is the sweet, loving girl next door who has crushed on Raiden since she was six when he comes to her Grams house for their annual picnic. She’s beloved by the entire town and most everyone knows who she is, except her childhood crush, Raid. Her compassion for others and her love for her family, most notably her Grams, pulls you in and makes you love her. She was a wonderful character who was strong willed yet a little shy.

Grams is awesome and smart and fun and I respected her take-no-prisoners attitude. She had a uniqueness to her that shined bright as the sun she loved to soak in and just made you adore her.

With all that said, I have to mention the real hero of this book, Spot, whose temperamental personality had me clicking to him from the moment we meet him. A braver fat cat, there has never been!

Quote Spotlight… 
“And serious as fuck, Hanna, you think that kiss was pretend?” 
…she whispered, “That kiss was really good.” …. 
Christ she was adorably ridiculous.

Likes…
One of the reasons I love Kristen Ashely’s series is because she has an ongoing theme in her books where she pulls characters from previous stories to make guest appearances in the current book which only adds to the world and character building, making it feel like one huge story. In this book we get to see Knight and Anya from KnightCreed and Sylvie from Creed and bits of their lives get to continue on.

I loved that Raid was a damaged war vet with issues that our brave soldiers deal with on a daily basis. From dealing with the memories to the nightmares to feeling like they should be man enough not to have to talk about it, these things are real and they happen and I loved that this story takes a moment to shed light on that through Raid and Hanna’s relationship.

I also loved that Kristen Ashley revisits a previous theme of how women see themselves. From Anya’s tummy pouch to Hanna’s tummy pouch, both wanting to cover themselves because they feel they aren’t perfect. I loved how the men of these stories love these women for who they are, how they look and it doesn’t matter if there is imperfections or rather what the women see as imperfections. The men love them and think they are beautiful.

Quote Spotlight… 
I was about to have sex with an amazingly gorgeous criminal underworld bounty hunter with questionable ethics that at least made sense to him even if they didn’t entirely make sense to me. 
He was dangerous. 
He was damaged. 
He was into me. 
I instantly knew this was not the end of my world shifting because Raiden Ullysses Miller entered it. 
And still… 
I could not wait.

Dislikes…
I’m going to have to wait forever for the next installment of this series! That is all. ;)

The Wrap Up:
What’s not to like, this book was awesome! Kristen Ashley does it again! I love her work and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.



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Read Them In Order:

Knight and Creed Currently On Sale at at Amazon for 99¢
Knight (Unfinished Hero #1) - Released April 8, 2012
Creed (Unfinished Hero #2) - Released September 15, 2012
Raid (Unfinished Hero #3) - Released February 28, 2012


ENTER FOR A CHANCE TO WIN THE KRISTEN ASHLEY GIVEAWAY!!!


Prize Packs - 

First prize pack:
Signed Copy of Raid (when it's available in print)
Amazon or BN.com $25 gift card
Raid, Knight and Creed E-books

Second prize pack:
Amazon or BN.com $10 gift card
Raid, Knight and Creed E-books

Third prize pack:
Amazon or BN.com $5 Gift card
Raid, Knight and Creed E-books

Along with e-copies of Raid to 5 additional winners.



Enter The Rafflecopter Contest Here! Good Luck!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

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8 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks so much Chris! Good luck on the contest :)

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  2. what an awesome job your doing...how is that writing going?? ;)

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    Replies
    1. LOL! Thanks Amy! You're always so much fun. The writing is gooooooing! ;) I had to put it on hold for a while but Im back at it and after a few R2R's Im in the middle of, Im going to be a writing ninja! ;p

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  3. Keeping my fingers crossed and Good Luck to everyone else =)

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  4. I've nominated you for a Liebster Blog Award. Follow this link for the details: http://www.bookclublibrarian.com/2013/03/liebster-award-nomination.html

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    Replies
    1. Aww... thanks so much Catherine! How awesome! I'll follow the link and get my Q&A together asap ;) Good luck on the giveaway... and thanks for stopping by!

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