Soaring (The Magdalene Series Book 2)
This, my friends, is PURE “old school” Kristen Ashley. Everything we loved about her earlier books is right back in play in this one. The friends, the initial crush/emotional need/sweet-connection-to-eventual-devastation/claiming-intensity/and back to devastation again… LOL!
I LOVE THAT! And so do our fellow readers! Consensus says that we are all on board with this one!
Maryse: Crying over a part in Soaring… almost done and it’s got me in tears. Sweetness.
Kimmie: I’m at **% and crap just went down!!!!
Jennifer: It was really good!
Casey: Oh Kimmie Kim I know EXACTLY what part you’re on! Thanksgiving?
Kimmie: Casey yes omg
Marilyn: I can never get enough of KA books, I never want them to end. I loved soaring.
Rebecca: Just finished it. Loved it. Was overdue for my KA fix!
Bobbi: That book had me in tears the entire first half!!
Rochelle: I think it might be my new favorite KA book.
Krystal: I just finished!!!! It was bloody spectacular. Pure KA, it was raw, real and gave such beauty! Best part for me, was that it was nearly 600 pages !!! I love it when her books are long
Tracie: Soooo good!! I teared up a few times
Barbara: I’m going to say this, I’ve read every single one of her books some twice. I’ve been on the bathroom floor and she couldn’t write it better! I think this is the best she’s ever written and I Love Kristen Ashley!
Sam: Loved it! It was finished on release day x
Stephanie: Just finished, loved it!
You know Kristen Ashley’s alpha males. Alpha male protectors that can’t help but protect, despite their insistence that it will be nothing more (for whatever personal reasons they are harboring).
…there he was, this stranger, unknowingly standing between me and my gravest mistake.
Protecting me.
I’ve never had that. Not in my forty-seven years of life.
I didn’t know if it was right to like it, I just knew I did.
Okay, yes.
Absolutely, one hundred percent yes.
I didn’t know him but I knew I wanted it all from this man.
And actually, even in this case, he really doesn’t even have to insist, ’cause his actions of seeming disinterest are obvious enough. Other than the confusion caused when that very same alpha suddenly displays a need to “claim” what he thinks (or insists) he doesn’t want.
Oh the delicious mixed messages!!!! In books. Always and only in books. Mixed messages in real life? Ugh! No thank you. LOL!
‘Cause you know KA’s heroines are always pretty direct with their feelings, and while they may shy away from coming right out and saying it (for fear of rejection) if there is ANY hint to a mutual attraction, us girls, er… I mean… KA’s girls let it be known, and open right up like a beautiful flower. But at first… they, too… resist.
I’d be a nice neighbor. A good one. If he had a dog and went on vacation, Id watch it. I’d do my best to keep my ex-hubsand from shouting obscenities at me in my front door, disturbing the neighborhood. I’d keep my yard nice. I’d put attractive, but not outlandish or overwhelming, holiday decorations out. I wouldn’t play loud music. I’d wave if I saw him driving by or mowing his lawn. And if he needed a cup of sugar, I would be his go-to girl.
But other than that, he would not know me.
He didn’t need me in his life.
I didn’t even like me in my life.
Alas, I couldn’t escape me.
*sob* I felt that.
And yet… it doesn’t take long until their hearts are wide open, love in full swing only to be terribly disappointed, once. Twice… and maybe even three times.
Which gives KA alphas another “name” or two. Alpha-Jerks. Or Alpha-holes.
‘Cause come on!! Right?! Sometimes their reasoning is understandable but their ways are SO not. And there is NO excuse for “distance” but these guys always find one. And I always fume!!!! I LOVE feeling it all in books, and this latest Kristen Ashley alpha (and heroine) made me feel it all.
So what’s it about?
Amelia (Amy) is starting over.
This was me starting anew.
This was me creating a new me.
Coming from an affluent family, she’s an heiress, but being so doesn’t mean she’s got it all. In fact, all the money in the world (which she does have) doesn’t buy love. And her husband has made that abundantly clear, in numerous ways.
… his fury so visible, so palpable, I could taste it.
I was used to the taste.. It was acrid, it burned my tongue. I hated it but somewhere along the way I had become addicted to it.
And in her distress, she has struck back, but in the process… alienated her children.
And when her husband attempts to “escape” her by moving to a new city (state?), she eventually follows, for the sake of reconnecting with her kids.
I worried if I did the right thing following Conrad and Martine and moving to Maine. I worried if my children were as angry as Conrad. I worried if I had it in me to show them all I’d changed. I worried if I could win my children back. I worried if I could create a safe place for them; a comfortable home, a happy, extended family.
I worried if I could do what I should have done three years ago but didn’t.
And while at first they aren’t buying it, things start coming around, when they see a change in her.
What did she do? Well we never really know exactly, other than causing a frequent commotion. What does she change? She let’s herself BE herself. She drops the pretentious attitude and the arrogance that has been bred into her. She finds herself. Albeit, a difficult process. Because who is she… now? Without her husband, her family nearby. Her friends. Her estranged children. Forty-seven and single.
All of sudden, I had the strange feeling of being crushed.
Crushed by the weight of all that was new that was around me.
Crushed by the weight of all that I had to do to make my house a home.
Crushed by the weight of all my mistakes and the effort I knew it would take to remedy them.
Crushed by loneliness. Loneliness that in all my years of being alone I hadn’t even been the work to make the change from feeling that to feeling aloneness and being comfortable with it.
Her emotion… her pride, her losses. Her personal reflections, realizations (whether realistic or not) and her self-deprecating thoughts hit me hard.
…it hit me then with that boxer paying no mind to me that I had no idea what a man would think of me. I had no idea if men looked at me.
Until then, when I knew they didn’t.
*gasp*!! So sooooooooo real.
And in doing that, she finds Mickey. THE alpha male hero that will make us swoon with her, and make us fume with her. ‘Cause he’s got a few personal issues of his own. And one of ’em is that he’s not to keen on the rich.
His eyes drifted beyond me to the walls of windows beyond which was a muti=million dollar view to the sea.
“Don’t gotta work,” he muttered.
I didn’t reply because I knew he knew precisely why I had that multi-million dollar view, could sell of all of my stuff and replace it nearly immediately and had plenty of time to volunteer at a nursing home.
I also knew he thought this was no good.
And he’s not too keen on those that purposely put themselves in harms way.
“So that’s your pattern. You open yourself up to a$$holes to sh!t all over you. And if that’s the way you like it, baby, then no way in f**k I’m gonna get in there to show you there’s another way.”
Whoa. Fun!
And what makes this one even more fun, is that it will surprise you a few times. Quite a mini-twist in this one, that I didn’t see coming until it slapped me (and others) in the face. Many family surprises along with the romance ones. PLUS! Even when you’re in the 90-percent area, you will feel the romantic angst. Angst and more angst at all sorts of different angst levels, and at all sorts of different intervals. This “feel” is why we read.
And sure… it is a bit long, as are many of KA’s books, but she keeps interspersing her “living life” moments with “OH NO HE DIDN’T” moments. Like I said… right to the very end.
LOVE!!!
4.5 stars!
P.S. Thank you to the author for sending me a review copy. It was delightful!!!!!!!! AND SO REAL. All the reasons I love this author.
P.P.S. A little alpha-jerk jealous fun mixed with clever, MODERN girl wit? Here :
“I have cleavage because my dress has cleavage, Mickey.”
“Pull the dress up, Amelia.”
I looked from side to in mock panic before looking back to Mickey, letting his finger go, and grasping frantically at his lapels.
“Oh God!” I cried. “Did I enter a time machine and didn’t notice it? Are we back in 1818 where a man can drag a woman into an alcove at an eating establishment and demand she cover herself up?”
I am reading it now and about 50% in….loving it. I love old school KA with big time alpha males!!i beginning is what grabbed me….him coming to her rescue even tho he had never met her….swoon.
And I did want to smack her kids….just a few times.
The only complaint I have is his name….I watch Ray Danavon on HBO and his shady dad’s name is Mickey Donavon played by Jon Voight. It was distracting…I didn’t want to think of him.
I finished yesterday… totally agree. Very much that old “KA” feel. Reminded me so much of Sweet Dreams. I enjoyed it. Recommend it for anyone who is in the mood for classic KA.
Poor Bradley, lol.
I’m having fun with this one. I love those colors on the cover.
I wonder if KA looks up clothes, houses, decor, etc or if she makes it up as she goes along. Her books can also make me really hungry sometimes, lol.
Do you know what your going with next Maryse?
Maryse, is it a stand alone novel ?
I just ordered Soaring on audio book and really looking forward to starting this on tomorrow morning’s commute. I love Kristen Ashley! Her series The Burgs is coming to audio also. I haven’t read that one but I seem to love everything she writes so I’m going to grab that one too!
bev! I sorta dedicated a post to your question. LOL!!! Here’s what Im reading next: https://www.maryse.net/what-i-am-reading-today/currently-reading-wild-reckless-by-ginger-scott.html
I can’t wait to read this! Last month I read Play It Safe by KA and it was absolutely amazing… It may even be my favourite if its even possible to pick! …also just finishing Hero by Samantha Young… Loved loved!
I read this over the weekend and agree with other readers; totally KA gold!! I especially liked the very real flaws found in these characters and how they dealt with overcoming them. I liked even more that Amelia and Mickey were MY AGE!!!! It is very rare to find main characters that are “mature and experienced” versus in their twenties!!
Loved this one. Amy didnt take anything from from Mickey!!! And the Craziness that was Thanksgiving OMG. I love KA