New Release: Still Standing by Kristen Ashley + Review!

 

"Any hopeless romantic would devour everything Kristen Ashley has to offer!"

―Fresh Fiction

Still Standing, an all-new white-hot, high octane MC romance and the first standalone in the Wild West MC series from New York Times bestselling author Kristen Ashley, is available now!

When Clara Delany walks into the Aces High Motorcycle Club’s hangout, she’s hit rock bottom. She’s hiding her car from the repo man, she has less than two dollars in her bank account and the only employment she can get is delivering messages for a criminal.

All because of a man. Therefore, she’s sworn off them.

And then she meets West “Buck” Hardy, president of the Aces High MC.

Buck also meets her, and the minute he does, he makes it clear (to everyone but Clara) that they’re starting something. Since Clara doesn’t get that message, she decides to leave Buck and sort out her life in order to come back to him clean.

She’s not gone but hours before life hits Clara with another blow. Which means Buck and his boys have to ride in and save the day. After that, Buck makes no bones about where they stand.

But does he?

Welcome to the first novel in the Wild West MC series which will tell the stories of the brothers of the Aces High MC, the Resurrection MC and the Chaos MC…and the women who love them.

Download your copy today!

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3eXeWeh
Amazon Worldwide: http://mybook.to/StillStanding
Amazon Paperback: https://amzn.to/39u2Fgx
Apple Books: http://apple.co/3m1hhrA
Google Play: http://bit.ly/3abobFY
Kobo: http://bit.ly/3kSbnHP
Nook: http://bit.ly/3nPNmmn
Paperbook: http://bit.ly/3cm6XZg

Add Still Standing to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/39t30zU

Review:

3.5 stars

***

 Still Standing is the first book of a brand new MC series by Kristen Ashley! I found this an interesting book. I thought it felt very different than any other KA book. It had a different tone and did not feel like a KA book for some reason. In some ways, it lacked KA's usual depth of feeling and signature something special. Still, I found it intriguing in it's differences and I did enjoy the story. That made me rate it higher, despite a few things I didn't love.

This is Buck and Clara's book. Clara is down on her luck. Her rich, ex-husband humiliated her and ruined their lives together. He bilked hundreds of people out of their fortunes, flaunted numerous prostitutes in public, and left Clara broke and jobless when he was arrested, dragging them through the press. Clara's best friend, Tia, has a criminal boss husband who abuses her. To protect her friend, Clara has been doing favors for Tia's husband in exchange for him leaving her alone. One of those favors is for Clara to walk into a motorcycle clubhouse and deliver a message from him to the president, Buck. When Buck meets Clara, he is intrigued and likes her. But after they part at the end of the night, Tia's husband's goons attack her, leaving her battered. Buck steps in and moves her in with him so he can protect her.

Buck and Clara's relationship was near insta-relationship. I felt it lacked an emotional buildup. Both of them were only okay characters for me. Buck had moments where I really did not like his behavior and Clara came off like a doormat at times. It was hard not to compare them to KA's First Couple of Chaos, Tyra and Tack. Neither Buck nor Clara had strong personalities to make me love them. I didn't really understand what was so special about either of them. But at least neither of them were clones of other KA characters. Buck was very demanding and forceful at times. What he said was law. I did think he crossed the line several times and I can see some readers really not liking him. He walked over Clara at times and she let him. (view spoiler) The two fought a good bit and there were some miscommunications that lasted throughout the book, only to be cleared up at the end. None of those things were quite dealbreakers for me personally and I was hopeful that the couple do better in the future, maybe with some counseling or something.

But, overall, I liked the story and the series set-up. I didn't quite connect with the characters the way I have with my favorite KA books. But that was outweighed by the originality of this new series. I am curious about Tia's story and I look forward to more from the series. I enjoyed it in some ways because it felt new and different for KA. I was entertained and found the book to be an easy read. I look forward to more from the Wild West MC!

About Kristen Ashley

Kristen Ashley is the New York Times bestselling author of over sixty romance novels including the Rock Chick, Colorado Mountain, Dream Man, Chaos, Unfinished Hero, The ’Burg, Magdalene, Fantasyland, The Three, Ghost and Reincarnation, Moonlight and Motor Oil and Honey series along with several standalone novels. She’s a hybrid author, publishing titles both independently and traditionally, her books have been translated in fourteen languages and she’s sold over three million books.
Kristen’s novel, Law Man, won the RT Book Reviews Reviewer’s Choice Award for best Romantic Suspense. Her independently published title Hold On was nominated for RT Book Reviews best Independent Contemporary Romance and her traditionally published title Breathe was nominated for best Contemporary Romance. Kristen’s titles Motorcycle Man, The Will, Ride Steady (which won the Reader’s Choice award from Romance Reviews) and The Hookup all made the final rounds for Goodreads Choice Awards in the Romance category.

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