REVIEW: The Will by Kristen Ashley

The Will by Kristen Ashley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book Description: 

Early in her life, Josephine Malone learned the hard way that there was only one person she could love and trust: her grandmother, Lydia Malone. Out of necessity, unconsciously and very successfully, Josephine donned a disguise to keep all others at bay. She led a globetrotting lifestyle on the fringes of the fashion and music elite, but she kept herself distant.

While Josephine was trotting the globe, retired boxer Jake Spear was living in the same small town as Lydia. There was nothing disguised about Jake. Including the fact he made a habit of making very bad decisions about who to give his love.

But for Josephine and Jake, there was one person who adored them. One person who knew how to lead them to happiness. And one person who was intent on doing it.

Even if she had to do it as her final wish on this earth.
 

I was both nervous and excited about reading this book. Nervous because this would be my first new series by KA (new as in, not previously published before I started reading her) and excited because the book sounded good. But honestly, I always go into KA's books with trepidation. I just such a contentious relationship with the heroes that I know it won't be an easy read for me.

I'll admit that early on in the book, I had issues. The overly formal speech from Josephine/Josie was slightly off-putting at first. But around 20% I had a revelation....she reminded me by Temperance Brennan from Bones. So once I started thinking of her in that way, I was able to reconcile that, I warmed up to Josie.

My other issue...the nickname Slick. Anyone that knows me, knows that I've had issues in the past with KA's nicknames. The top two that come to mind are Laurie and Slim. I hated both nicknames. And Slick was right up there with them. I really hated Slick. I wanted Slick to run away with Slim and ride off into the sunset never to be heard from again. But I ended up making peace with the name. I still didn't like it, but it started to remind me of one of my favorite Christmas movies...All I Want for Christmas. So I was able to get past it to keep reading.


So, there was one other issue. There's a big fight scene in the book where Jake and Josie fight. In typical KA alpha hero, even though Josie said they were over, Jake said no. He did agree to give her time. But my issue was that instead of Jake being the one to win her back....grovel for her forgiveness (because it was his fault)...she went running back to him. And for that, I had to dock a star. I just didn't like that she didn't get any answers from him and yet she still went back.

But overall, this wasn't a bad read.

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