Saturday, August 20, 2016

What the Heck Happened to Kristen Ashley?

Against his will, Noctorno Hawthorne, an undercover vice cop, finds himself embroiled in magic, mayhem and parallel universes. Too late, he meets an amazing woman only to find she’s destined for his identical twin in another world.

And things aren’t going real great there.

Noc is recruited to help save that world.

What he doesn’t know is his destined love resides there.

Franka Drakkar wears a mask. A mask she never takes off to protect herself in a world of malice, intrigue and danger.

When Franka meets Noc and he discovers her secrets, convinced she carries a midnight soul, having shielded herself from forming bonds with anyone, she struggles with accepting his tenderness and care.

When Noc meets Franka, over wine and whiskey, her mask slips and Noc knows it’s her—only her—and he has to find a way to get her to come home with him.


Carolyn

Lori darlin' - I went to Amazon as I said I would and sure enough, this book has 4 1/2 stars! Folks, this is NOT a five star book. This is not a three star book nor a two star book. Actually, I guess it's a 0 star book because I DNF'd that sucker in Chapter 2, at Location 783, with 7% read. Perhaps I shouldn't be commenting on it since I read so little, but I was shocked, actually shocked at the writing.

KA has her own way of writing with her own quirks, etc. She'll never be a Loretta Chase or Linda Howard. But she knows (or knew) how to tell a story so I forgave the awkward writing.

Not this time.

Lori

Oh my God! I got 2 whole pages further than you before I DNF'd it.

Someone(s) actually read it to the end? I wonder if it's The Masochist's Book Club? Because nobody alive who actually likes well written books could read this piece of Motorcycle Man waste without wanting to flush (that was my clever way of calling it shit).

The last couple of KA books have been a disappointment but this was just unreadable.

Carolyn

It was unreadable. And even worse, it was boring. Perhaps it's just that we're aging? I don't have the patience to wade through reams of unnecessary verbiage or suffer through the awkward dialogue. I like the Colorado series, I like Motorcycle Man, there are several other books I enjoy. What the hell happened with this one? You're right, her last couple of books weren't up to her par. They all committed the sin of being boring.

But this one, this one is badly written with awkward sentences and incomplete thoughts. For example:  "I moved sedately to the morning room as the servant, who had also endured the attack that day, not to mention they had a house full of visitors to see to due to the cancelled Bitter Gates that was to happen that night, if the world had not been threatened." I had to read this several times to make sense of it. It didn't help that I remember nothing of the last book.

I also found this awkward:

"This made it safe for the most powerful men on those two continents to live out their days in harmony with the loves they'd found across universes.

Found them and impregnated them."

I promise, no more examples. Maybe it's just me and my aging brain ...

Lori

I think when reading KA  there's an agreement that what she considers alpha sometimes skids around the corner into silliness. Her men are big, bossy, intelligent men who manage to sound like a bunch of skinny, little six year olds trying to sound tough.

So here we have a man from this world who is in a Fantasy world of magic that seems very fairy princess-y with dragons and royalty and he's all "babe" and "sugar lips" and "want to play with my i-phone, little girl".

He called her sugar lips and this isn't a comedy. And the heroine who is supposedly cold as ice and regal as shit sits there and doesn't mind that this other world  dirt bag is talking to her in such a condescending and degrading manner.

Her last book was almost a DNF for me but I went back and finished it. Found it hard to read though. This one won't get that chance since I plan to delete it off my Kindle.

Carolyn, I hate to say but I think that KA will always be fondly remembered for Tack and her Colorado Men series (most of them were cracktastic at the time) but she's lost it now. Unreadable prose. Unlikable characters. Whatever she had is gone.

Carolyn

It pains me to agree with you. And a nonsensical aside - I find the name Nocturno ... less than appealing. He sounds like a musical score.

Anywhoo, I don't think Ms KA will see any more of my dollars. I expect authors to improve over time, not regress. It's very sad.

1 comment:

  1. Carolyn, I read that sentence several times and still don't know what the hell she meant. It's like she's crammed five different thoughts and sentences into a blender and hit blitz. I thought I was bad lol

    Thanks for the heads up ladies, looks like I won't be bothering with this one.

    PS - I love your reviews, they make me smile. Maybe you should publish them. I'd give them four stars :D

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