This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review.
About The Book
Hattie Yates has finally met the man of her dreams. Yet years of abuse from her demanding father have left her petrified of disappointment. She’s already failed to reach her goal of becoming a professional ballerina —she can’t handle the terrible consequences of another dream becoming a nightmare. But when a stalker sets their sights on Hattie, there’s only one man she dares to hope can help . . .
Axl Pantera knows Hattie is the only woman for him. Yet despite the attraction burning between them, Hattie refuses to let him in. The former soldier is determined to woo her into letting down her walls. And when danger comes calling, he’s up against more than her wary and bruised heart. Axl will do anything to prove to Hattie that they’re meant to be, but first, he’ll need to keep her safe.
My Review
Dream Spinner is the most latest release into the Dream Team series and it is also one of my top anticipated releases for the year. I was thrilled to finally have this on my kindle library and jumped right into it immediately and while it was far from my favorite of the series, I definitely had a blast with this installment. Its a bit different from the others to be honest, but it felt so relatable in some respects which is one of the most attractive aspects of Kristen Ashley’s writing. There is such an easy connectability with her stories and how “real life” they feel.
Dream Spinner is a story that we see happen with Hattie and Axl. Now parts of this story was built up in the previous book and I would say you might want to read these books in order. They could be read as a stand alone but the reader will be missing out on certain clues.
Hattie is full of pride and stubbornness especially when it comes to her friends and Axl. She has been turning down Axl for weeks and just being in her own “zone” she has plenty of daddy issues and trying to live up to a certain standard, and right around the time a stalker comes knocking on her door is when Axl stops being so nice and gives it to her straight in how she is treating everyone that cares about her and she is starting to realize how she has been and none of them deserve that treatment and that Axl she will need to work on and win him. As Axl and Hattie work out their issues not just in their relationship, but each having daddy problems of an abusive nature and Hattie’s stalker which leads to more questions, other factors come into play threatening Axl and the men he works with, he is determined to find the answers and explore what he has with Hattie.
Dream Spinner is a story that I had a delight in reading but I will be honest at times it felt slow now I am not sure if it was just me (I am in a bit of a hangover from my previous read) or I was just wanted some more action than this slow feel romance. I honestly think it might have been my mood that I had for this one. I was charmed by it and of course I fell hard for the hero and I always get a kick out of this author’s writing. Her style is just so unique from anything else. Now this book is part of a series I have really loved but its pretty much just part of this unique world that encompasses the Rock Chicks and Chaos. I really enjoyed seeing Hattie and Axl work out through their issues here and was charmed in seeing their relationship build. Now they both had daddy issues so some of the story was focused on that and I actually found this portion to add depth to the story as it showed more of the characters and what they had to deal with in their growing up. There was plenty of fun times with all of our favorite characters from the series and an old enemy crops up. I definitely am eager to see how it plays out in book four.
Overall I found Dream Spinner to be a fantastic foray into the series that gives off a sense of comfort and normalcy, of romance and emotion and learning to overcome flaws to embrace a future.
Title: Dream Spinner
Author: Kristen Ashley
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Format: eARC
Source: Forever Publishing
Length: 424 Pages
Book Links
Amazon| Barnes and Noble| Kobo| Goodreads| LibraryThing| StoryGraph| Literal Club
Book Evaluation
Storytelling Quality: 4
Story Itself: 4.25
Character Development: 4
Writing Style: 4
World Building 4
Feels + The Romantic Heart 4
Pacing 5
Plot 4
Cover Art 3
Ending 4
Book Ratings
Overall Rating of the Book
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.
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.
I haven’t picked up one of her books in a bit. This latest series looks good and I’m glad you enjoyed it.
I’ve never read any books by this author but this series sounds pretty good!
She named the hero of the book Axl after the cat she had just lost. He was a cuttie, too. Happy to see you enjoyed this one, too. This was a great series. Not sure if there are more books coming. There was one after this.
I haven’t read this series, yet. I absolutely adore some of her original series but haven’t been thrilled with the ones she’s released in the last couple of years.