Review + Excerpt: Rough Ride by Kristen Ashley

Rough Ride by Kristen Ashley
Series: Chaos #5
Published by Evil Eye Concepts on 2/13/18
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 201
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Rosalie Holloway put it all on the line for the Chaos Motorcycle Club.

Informing to Chaos on their rival club—her man’s club, Bounty—Rosalie knows the stakes. And she pays them when her man, who she was hoping to scare straight, finds out she’s betrayed him and he delivers her to his brothers to mete out their form of justice.

But really, Rosie has long been denying that, as she drifted away from her Bounty, she’s been falling in love with Everett “Snapper” Kavanagh, a Chaos brother. Snap is the biker-boy-next door with the snowy blue eyes, quiet confidence and sweet disposition who was supposed to keep her safe…and fell down on that job.

For Snapper, it’s always been Rosalie, from the first time he saw her at the Chaos Compound. He’s just been waiting for a clear shot. But he didn’t want to get it after his Rosie was left bleeding, beat down and broken by Bounty on a cement warehouse floor.

With Rosalie a casualty of an ongoing war, Snapper has to guide her to trust him, take a shot with him, build a them…

And fold his woman firmly in the family that is Chaos.

**Every 1001 Dark Nights novella is a standalone story. For new readers, it’s an introduction to an author’s world. And for fans, it’s a bonus book in the author’s series. We hope you'll enjoy each one as much as we do.**

This novella gives you the back story of how Snapper and Rosalie came to connect. It gives you a brutal account of what they’ve been through to get to where they are now. It gives you all the delicious admissions we long to hear from our Chaos alpha bikers and it guarantees you the absolute joy of reconnecting with so many beloved characters from this series. It also gives you a taste of what’s to come. This novella isn’t all sweet. It’s deliciously romantic and heartwarming the way every Kristen Ashley novel is, but it’s edged in a dark sense of foreboding that dark days are ahead for Chaos. And I can’t wait.

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Jessica’s Review

4 “Yes. This.” Stars!

“You’ve been jacked around since your daddy died and I don’t think either man meant to do you wrong but in the end they did. And I’m the man who’s gonna do you right, Rosalie. With me, that rough ride is gonna end, baby.”

I can still vividly remember the visceral reaction I had to Rosalie the first time she was introduced in the Chaos series. (Maybe that’s because the scene stands out as a starkly emotional one in my mind, or maybe it’s just because I’ve read Own the Wind no less than five times.) Either way, when Tabby hid herself and her heartache behind a wall at the compound and watched Shy kiss his Rosalie, I instantly wanted her GONE. She’d done nothing other than catch the eye of a Chaos brother, but in that moment it was the wrong one and I had to dislike her for Tabby. But Rough Ride brings Rosalie through a whole lot of rough before finally seeing her through to easy when she finds the right brother in this novella and I couldn’t be happier that I finally connected with this character.

Kristen Ashley has a way of reintroducing characters in her books and giving you a fresh perspective on them, their life and their place in the world she’s built. In this novella, she takes Rosalie and Snapper, two relatively obscure characters, and gives them an unforgettable story packed with fierce attraction, horrific circumstances, and a well deserved happy ending. But its not really an ending at all, this novella, and that might be my most favorite thing about it.

This delicious little novella certainly doesn’t hold the same weight in the grand scheme of things that Kristen Ashley’s full length novels do. There’s just no way to pack all the detail and emotion that Ashley is infamous for into so few words. But she does paint a solid, satisfying picture with Rough Ride, a slow burning dynamic that’s finally able to flourish despite the harrowing circumstances that allow it to happen. And I enjoyed every single moment of it.

Excerpt

He spit on me.
I felt it land on the side of my chin and slide down.
I didn’t move to wipe it away.
I couldn’t.
Lying on my side, curled into a ball, the pain screamed through me. All of it—and there was a lot of it—demanding attention, I couldn’t concentrate, couldn’t think, couldn’t move in case it got worse. I couldn’t do anything but lie there and pray that it was over.
It wasn’t.
He bent over me, grabbed my hair, yanked it back, and I felt his hot breath hit my face.
“See if he wants you now, you stupid bitch,” he hissed.
He let my hair go and I felt him retreat, but he still wasn’t done.
He kicked me so hard with his foot in its heavy motorcycle boot, my body slid across the cement.
I was too far gone even to grunt.
I felt something bounce off my hip, clatter to the floor, and then his voice came back, this time from further away.
“There you go, baby,” he drawled. “Your line to Chaos. We’re done with you. I’m done with you. Now they can have you.”
I heard boots on cement, more than just his, his Bounty brothers in the club. I sustained a couple more kicks as they passed. One of them grabbed the underside of my jaw and shoved my head back into the cement, also spitting, his hitting my neck.
And then they were gone.
I lay there, my focus on breathing and continuing to do it even though each breath was not only an effort but an agony. The fear I’d felt early when he took me, how he’d taken me, the way he’d handled me and I knew he’d figured it out, had dissipated as pain took its place. Now, the fear was returning that they’d come back and dish out more.
He’d come back.
Throttle.

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.