Excerpt + Review: The Slow Burn by Kristen Ashley!

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Slow Burn by Kristen Ashley
Published by Self Published on 4/30/19
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 366
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Tobias Gamble knew from a young age precisely the kind of woman he was going to make his. She was not going to be like his mother. She was going to be like the mother he claimed.
In other words, she was going to be just right.
And when Toby returns to his hometown of Matlock, Kentucky and claps eyes on Adeline Forrester, he knows she’s the one.
The problem is, his brother Johnny has a new girlfriend. And Addie is her sister. Last, Toby would do nothing to hurt Johnny’s chance at happiness.
Toby hangs around town to get to know the woman Johnny fell in love with. He also hangs around to get to know Addie.
But he’s fallen hard, and he knows the best thing for him—and Addie—is for him to leave.
Addie Forrester is thrilled her sister Eliza found a good, solid man. Johnny Gamble is the salt of the earth. The best guy in the world.
The best except for his brother, Toby.
Toby doesn’t know it, but Addie’s fallen hard too. He’s perfect, except for the fact that he’s hands off and it’s torture, being friends with Toby when she wants so much more.
Addie also has a lot on her mind. She’s got bills to pay, her young son needs food, Christmas is coming and her job at the grocery store just isn’t cutting it.
Toby is steering clear of Addie. Addie is steering clear of Toby. But everyone around them knows this is the slow burn.
Because just like Eliza and Johnny, Addie and Toby were made for each other.

This book is light and fun, super sweet and sexy. It checks off all the must-have KA boxes but with a lower dose of angst than I expected and a richer depth of emotion than I anticipated. The Slow Burn is very much a testament to family, to what it really means to be wealthy that has absolutely nothing to do with money. It’s a story of finding your people, of appreciating all of life’s riches, of taking the lot you’re given and deciding what to make with it. This was a gem of a romance, an unexpectedly different kind of love story, and another Kristen Ashley favorite!

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Jessica’s Review

It’s kind of ironic that this Kristen Ashley novel is titled The Slow Burn when, in actuality, Tobias Gamble and Adeline Forrester’s story is more accurately one of love at first sight. It might’ve taken these characters a bit of time to admit it, which is why I’d insist you read this two-book series in order, but Toby and Addie owned each other from the moment they set eyes on the other. In true Kristen Ashley form, this romance is much more insta-love than slow burn in all the very best ways!

Toby Gamble is the fucking SWEETEST. He and his brother Johnny both are two of the most delicious heroes Kristen Ashley has penned. So unlike her bikers, her mountain men, her Denver crime fighters, the Gamble brothers are gentlemen in the old school sense of the word. Toby is absolutely an alpha… protective, loyal, fiercely determined… but there’s nothing about him that screams steamrolling, bossy jerk like the Tates and Tacks and Lee Nightingale’s of Kristen Ashley yesteryear. He’s a different kind of alpha hero, a gentler, calmer version that’s not above setting up a baby stroller or buying matching dishware. He’s a refreshing yet equally captivating hero compared to all the others I’ve come to expect from KA and I loved him to pieces.

If you’re a fan of Kristen Ashley’s work, you know she’s not an author you can devour in one sitting. Her books are lengthy, full of vibrant detail, insane drama and steamy romance and they are meant to be savored, not eaten for lunch. Well The Slow Burn is definitely all of those things, but I absolutely did devour this book faster than any KA novel before. I couldn’t read fast enough. It had such a different vibe than her other books and I enjoyed every page so much. The family dynamics these characters come from, the way their personalities contrast with their siblings yet also make them perfect for each other, all of it is woven into the most addictive, romantic storyline and I seriously loved all of it.

Excerpt

“What I’m tryin’ to say is my history with women has been rocky, that’s on me and you gotta know I get that,” he admitted. “But because I do, in the end, I’m gonna get it right.”
Addie assumed a confused look. “How’s it on you?”
“Just like my dad, until you, my choices weren’t sterling.”
Unexpectedly, and instantly, she got pissed.
Also instantly, she explained why.
“Well, you know, when Perry asked me to marry him, he told me he loved me, his world revolved around me and he couldn’t think of a life without me. He didn’t tell me that would wane once we decided to start a family or that he’d eventually quit the band, sit on the couch all day, not look for a job and bang some woman who was not me in a bed I bought. And I’m sorry, but none of that is on me. I loved him. I trusted him. I believed in him. And he fucked me over.”
“You’re right. It isn’t on you,” Toby agreed.
He had more to say but that was all he got out before she kept going.
“And my father was handsome. He was a dreamer. He was a talented musician and songwriter. He had a beautiful voice. He wrapped my mom up in that dream and carried her away from her family. And it isn’t on her she believed him. It isn’t on her that he didn’t get discovered and whisked to LA and lauded as the next Lou Reed. It isn’t on her he lost faith in his own damned self in his twenties and took that out on her with his fists. She loved him. She trusted him. She believed in him. And he fucked her over.”
“Baby,” he murmured, about to roll her and attempt to pull her out of the place he’d inadvertently taken her, but she kept talking fiercely.
“I have not met your father or your mother, but I know both men he made, and I can tell you this, his choice of wife and mother to his sons was not some curse he bestowed on you. Some men suck. Some women suck. I couldn’t even begin to understand why they do what they do. But it isn’t on the people they do it to. I actually hope one day your mother comes back and explains herself to you, because there is nothing she can say that won’t make her seem anything but what she is. Shallow and selfish and wrong. And if you know that, you’ll get it. You’ll get it’s all on her. Though I bet your father loved her. Trusted her. Believed in her. It was just that she fucked him over.”
“Honey, stop,” he ordered.
She didn’t stop.
“I won’t have you taking that on, Toby. It’s not right.”
“Okay, Addie, I won’t take it on.”

About the Author

Kristen Ashley was born in Gary, Indiana, USA and 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 accessorize and she hadn’t taken her first breath!). Her mother said they took Kristen away, put her Mom back in her room, her mother looked out the window, and Gary was on fire (Dr. King had been assassinated four days before). Kristen’s Mom remembered thinking it was the end of the world. Quite the dramatic beginning.

Nothing’s changed.

Kristen grew up in Brownsburg, Indiana and has lived in Denver, Colorado and the West Country of England. Thus, she’s blessed to have friends and family around the globe. Her family was (is) loopy (to say the least) but loopy is good when you want to write. They all lived together on a very small farm in a small farm town in the heartland. She grew up with 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, it keeps getting better.