Ride Steady by Kristen AshleyMy rating: 3 out of 5
Book Description:
The ride of her life . . . Once upon a time, Carissa Teodoro believed in happy endings. Money, marriage, motherhood: everything came easy---until she woke up to the ugly truth about her Prince Charming. Now a struggling, single mom and stranded by a flat tire, Carissa's pondering her mistakes when a vaguely familiar knight rides to her rescue on a ton of horsepower.
Climb on and hold tight . . .
In high school, Carson Steele was a bad boy loner who put Carissa on a pedestal where she stayed far beyond his reach. Today, he's the hard-bodied biker known only as Joker, and from the way Carissa's acting, it's clear she's falling fast. While catching her is irresistible, knowing what to do with her is a different story. A good girl like Carissa is the least likely fit with the Chaos Motorcycle Club. Too bad holding back is so damned hard. Now, as Joker's secrets are revealed and an outside threat endangers the club, Joker must decide whether to ride steady with Carissa---or ride away forever . . .
3 'Generous Stars' - based off the first 45%- which I LOVED... then it took a bit of a dive for me.I won't go into this with a recap of the book or synopsis. I will state what I felt, and hope to keep it brief without ruining anything for those still waiting to read. (FINGERS CROSSED!)
What I liked:
1. Joker's "family"
2. The beginning of the story with Carissa and Carson in high school.
3. Carissa- she wasn't a sap and went for what she wanted. Most of the time I felt like she was the man of the relationship... getting Joker to man up and see what was in front of his face.
4. Joker- for the most part. I loved how natural and loving he was with Travis and how good he was with Carissa.
5. When there was action.
6. Good things that came for Joker and what he did for someone that was pretty special.
7. Had some good humor at times.
8. Carissa could own up to her poor judgement and how Joker handles it.
9. How Carissa and Joker meet up years later.
10. How the club took Carissa's back from the start.
11. What the epilogue for the couple is for. (Though I didn't like the POV it starts in)
12. I really liked book 4's excerpt for High. I look forward to his book so much more now- which is more than I thought I would.
What I didn't care for: (MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS...you've been warned!)
1. Too many characters were involved at times and eventually would just fall off and you would wonder where the world they went.
2. Stacy. Seriously? What the hell was the point of her being brought up randomly through out the story? Once you read her one scene, you'll wonder what the point of her was too by the end.
3. I never connected with the couple completely.
4. She basically just let everything go when told to and did what he said.
5. Too much tell, not enough show or conversation for me, too many things basically glossed over.
6. Not digging the major thing in it's resolution.
7. Too many crossover people from other series- which normally I would love but we didn't get much book time with them.
8. Not a lot of the story happened at Chaos.
9. Travis- why did he have to always be banging, smacking or conking someone with his fists and toys? And what was up with all of the baby talk? I felt like I was reading Golden Dynasty made up lingo when he did his baby talk. I swear some of the words came from there.
10. Carissa's name was too close to Clarisse's name from Games of the Heart. Carissa's nickname from her ex, Riss, was too close to Clarisse's nickname- Reesee.
11. Not enough action time or drama.
12. I felt like conversations at time with Joker and Carissa were just said to be said to fill a page. It felt pointless.
13. The epilogue. Shortest KA epilogue ever! Also, what was the time gap on it? Tack comments about something about what his wife is doing in that epilogue, and I wonder how long the time had been, and if it were possible for that to happen.... seeing as there was no mention of this subject through out the book for this person. It would have been duly noted too, as it would be a big deal... to Chaos and Tack, I would think.
14. This story felt a lot like parts of Games of the Heart for Reesee and Finn as well as parts of Own the Wind for Tabby and Shy.
15. #1 pet peeve of the book and mini rant- How Joker handles AND blames Carissa when she doesn't recognize him and how that all played out. Also later when he calls her eff up and his eff up EVEN. SERIOUSLY??? It was ALL HIS FAULT. No one else got the same blame off the top of the bat.
ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review for Confessions of 2 Book Lovers.
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