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Book Review-Soaring by Kristen Ashley

by | Jun 5, 2022 | Book Reviews | 3 comments

This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review.

About The Book

American heiress Amelia Hathaway needs to start anew.

Her husband cheated on her, and when everything she wanted in life slipped through her fingers, she fell apart. When she did, she took another heart wrenching hit as she lost the respect of her children.

When her ex took her family from California to live in the small town of Magdalene in Maine, Amelia decided it was time to sort herself out. In order to do that and win her children back, she moves to Cliff Blue, an architectural masterpiece on the rocky coast of Magdalene.

Her boxes aren’t even unpacked when she meets Mickey Donovan, a man who lives across the street, a man so beautiful Amelia takes one look at Mickey and knows she wants everything from him.

The problem is, she finds out swiftly that he’s friendly, he’s kind, but he doesn’t want everything back.

Amelia struggles to right past wrongs in her life at the same time find out who she wants to be. She also struggles with her attraction to the handsome firefighter who lives across the street.

But Amelia will face a surprise when her friendly neighbor becomes not-so-friendly. As Amelia and Mickey go head to head, Amelia must focus on winning back the hearts of her children.

She soon discovers she also must focus on winning the heart of a handsome firefighter who understands down to his soul the beautiful heiress who lives across the street is used to a life he cannot provide.

You’d already given me everything I’d ever need just letting me sit at your dinner table with your family.

My Review

First Impressions

Soaring is the second book in the Magdalene series and this one is loosely connected to “The Will” if you have read that one I don’t know why I have been putting off this series, as the first book is one of my favorites from this author, but I think it was the set up with the heroine that made me apprehensive but I can proudly say that this book won my heart and very easily. I would put this one in the category of a classic KA. I really was so drawn into this story and wanted so much in this book and KA definitely didn’t disappoint me. I was so curious to see what would happen with this couple and they definitely don’t have an easy road but this one was so reminiscent of a “brady bunch” retelling in some respects anyway. The writing is phenomenal and has some angsty delights including some hot angry sexin’ which with KA you know will be so well done, and we have an older more mature couple which I find so refreshing. You definitely can never go wrong with picking this author up.

And I knew with that one look I wanted to see those eyes every way they could be. Yes, I wanted that but I also wanted more. I wanted to make him feel all the things those eyes could communicate to me. I wanted to make him happy. I wanted to make him laugh. I even wanted to make him annoyed. But most of all, in that moment, I found myself wanting, in a myriad of ways, to make those beautiful blue eyes heated.

Summary

Amelia has decided it’s time to build a home in Maine, to be closer to her kids, and to have a fresh start. She purchases a home labeled “Cliff Blue” which is an architectural delight on the coast of Maine and she moves across the street from her ex so that she can rebuild a relationship with her two children. But when she moves in, her ex arrives and starts yelling and swearing at her, until she is rescued by a sexy handsome stranger who happens to be her next-door neighbor and a captain in the firefighter department, insisting that her ex be respectful and no woman deserves to be yelled at like that. There is an instant chemistry between Mickey Donovan and Amelia. And even though they have lots of sparks, Mickey also has two kids who are struggling with a alcohoic mother, and he wants to provide the most stable home. But when jealousy erupts between them, they start to realize that what they have is real and lasting and should work on building that. As Amelia works on rebuilding her connection to her kids, and starting something new with Mickey, she starts to find herself in a way she never expected and will fight for those she loves…

“I’ll warn you, might make me crazy, might make me a dick, don’t give a shit, but I get off on goin’ head to head with you. So if you feel like keepin’ your gloves up, baby, bring it. ’Cause I know after doin’ it for a while and then gettin’ that kiss from you, you keep doin’ it, when I finally fuck you it’s gonna,” he leaned deep into me, “wreck you.”

What I Loved

Soaring is such a powerful romance and it won my heart so quickly, there is such a sweet “splice of life” feeling to this book and I will be honest I absolutely adore the style that this author writes. She can write such powerful reads and I was so drawn into it here. For the first third of the story, there is so much angsty chemistry between Mickey and Amelia. It’s this type of relationship where they both want each other but also they are both in denial. They get in the most hilarious shouting matches which occasionally turns into (angry sex—and yeah these scenes are smokin’) but I also really loved the soft and sweet moments that happen between them. I really loved how honest Amelia is with herself and the mistakes that she has made, how earnest she is to reconnect with her kids and what it actually happens it’s such a beautiful thing. Then we have Mickey who is such a solid father and citizen. I love how devoted he is to his job but also to providing the best environment for his kids. I love that they both have kids in their teen years, so both in their forties but still hot and sexy and I really loved it when we see them actually be in a relationship and work on building it together. There is occasional drama, but it’s realistic and relatable and totally fits our pair so well. There is plenty of heart that is packed within this story and the chemistry is on point, there is this deeply layers of intimacy that will draw you in like a moth to a flame, and it’s a story that will be such a page-turner you won’t be able to put it down.

There is nothing guaranteed in life. But the only leaps really worth taking are leaps of faith on love. So look where you leap, beautiful, and happy landing

What I Struggled With

There isn’t much I would change to be honest, maybe slightly less angst but its a “just right” romance.

Overall View

Soaring is an intensely riveting romance that will bring all levels of emotion to the surface, it’s a power-packed story that is atmospheric in its setting, thriving in its intimacy, and fully balanced that delivers a satisfying end!

I am who I am. I have what I have. And one of the things I got that I wanna keep is you.

Title: Soaring

Author: Kristen Ashley

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Format: eBook

Source: Library

Length: 603 Pages

Amazon| Barnes and Noble| Kobo| Goodreads| LibraryThing| StoryGraph| Literal Club

Book Evaluation

Storytelling Quality: 5

Story Itself: 4.5

Character Development: 4.5

Writing Style: 5

World Building 5

Feels + The Romantic Heart 4.5

Pacing 5

Plot 5

Cover Art 4

Ending 5

Book Ratings

Overall Rating of the Book

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Steam Level

Simmering—soft warm touches and light intimacy

Warm- a medium level of sexual tension, a balance of sexual and emotional intimacy, lighter on the details in the sexual moments.

Steamin’ up the room -the sexual content is more explicit in the language and tone, heavier amount of sexual scenes.

Blazing fire to the building-The prime focus is the sex scenes, scorching hot, and could burn one. Less focus on the emotional intimacy to the relationship.

Series Order

Magdalene Series

The Will-Pub 2014 #1 in the Series

Soaring-Pub 2014 #2 in the Series

The Time in Between-Pub 2017 #3 in the Series

About The Author

Kristen Ashley was born in Gary, Indiana, USA. She 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!).

Kristen grew up in Brownsburg, Indiana but has lived in Denver, Colorado and the West Country of England. Thus she has been blessed to have friends and family around the globe. Her posse is loopy (to say the least) but loopy is good when you want to write.

Kristen was raised in a house with a large and multi-generational family. They lived on a very small farm in a small town in the heartland and existed amongst the strains of 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 up, it keeps getting better.

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3 Comments

  1. bookwormbrandee

    I have to say I was nervous to see your review of Soaring, Renee, because I love it so much. I’m so, so happy you loved it every bit as much. The Magdalene series is one of my favorites, too. And I think The Time in Between, which is the last one of the series is my absolute favorite so keep that in mind. 😉 Lovely review!

    Reply
  2. bookwormbrandee

    I hope my previous comment is just awaiting approval…..and not lost in the cyber void 🙂

    Reply
  3. Rachel @Waves of Fiction

    I loved Soaring too! I still need to finish this series. I think I stopped at this one. It’s been a while since I’ve read a KA.

    Reply

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