Cover Reveal: Salvaged (Saints of Denver #4) by @JayCrownover

Hudson Wheeler is a nice guy. Everyone knows it, including his fiancée who left him with a canceled wedding and a baby on the way. He’s tired of finishing last and is ready to start living in the moment with nights soaked in whiskey, fast cars, and even faster girls. He’s set to start living on the edge, but when he meets Poppy Cruz, her sad eyes in the most gorgeous face he’s ever seen hook him in right away. Wheeler can see Poppy’s pain and all he wants to do is take care of her and make her smile, whatever it takes.

Poppy can’t remember a time when she didn’t see strangers as the enemy. After a lifetime of being hurt from the men who swore to protect her, Poppy’s determined to keep herself safe by keeping everyone else at arm’s length. Wheeler’s sexy grin and rough hands from hours restoring classic cars shouldn’t captivate her, but every time she’s with him, she can’t help being pulled closer to him. Though she’s terrified to trust again, Poppy soon realizes it might hurt even more to shut Wheeler out—and the intense feelings pulsing through her are making it near impossible to resist him.

The only thing Poppy is sure of is that her heart is in need of some serious repair, and the more time she spends with Wheeler, the more she’s convinced he’s the only man with the tools to fix it. 



After getting to know Hudson a little bit in Charged, not to mention Poppy from Rowdy and Built, this is the book I am soooooo looking forward to, even though with it, one of my favorite series that I discovered this year will be coming to an end.  The book series that got me so much more into tattooed men than I had already been.  The series that helped me to be so excited about getting to meet the author at NOLA StoryCon back at the beginning of October.  Have to share that picture.  :-)

While normally I would adore a cover like this, it's missing one thing that I love on all of Jay's covers, a hot guy to drool over, I mean you can see tattoos on him, but just barely.  Other than that I think it is a perfect cover to end this series.  This will probably also show up as a WOW for me sometime early in 2017.

Audiobook Review: Charged (Saints of Denver #2) by Jay Crownover

Book info:
Title:  Charged  
Author:  Jay Crownover
Series:  Saints of Denver #2  
Genre:  New Adult Contemporary Romance
Published:  May 24th, 2016
Source:  Digital audiobook downloaded from public library

I've finally reached the point where I am having to wait on the next book in the series by a new favorite author.  I was able to breeze through the Marked Men series at my own pace, but got all of them read/listened to in one year, or actually less than a year.  This book is actually the second in a spinoff from that series.  So I love that we get to see tidbits of all our favorite characters from before, mixed in with new people to decide we love.  

The two main characters in this are Avett and Quaid.  We know Avett because her dad owned the bar that Rome took over in his book.  And she worked there for a while, but she was not a character that you really liked too  much.  I mean in Asa's book, you felt sorry for her knowing that her boyfriend did hit her, not to mention that she got beat up by drug guys that were after that same boyfriend.  She stole from the bar, and again in Asa's book, her boyfriend shot Asa's girlfriend.  That is what led to where she and Quaid happened to meet.  Asa took money he came into at the end of his story and used it to hire Quaid to help Avett with her own court case for being part of the robbery and shooting at the bar, because she drove her boyfriend there.  Asa believes in Avett's innocence, and wants to see her get a chance, probably because we know he was not a good guy for most of his life, and he wants to take the chance to help her get out of all of her trouble.

Quaid we know from the first book in the Saints of Denver series, Built.  He was introduced to us as a kind of slimy, womanizing lawyer, who Rowdy's sister Sayer knows as she is a lawyer as well.  One thing I really like about this series so far, is that the books are kind of all taking place over the same time period.  There were several scenes in the first book that are replayed again from Quaid and Avett's points of view, instead of Zeb and Sayer's points of view.  Quaid is at the top of his game, because he will defend anyone, even guilty criminals, and he has one of the best winning records at getting those people off.  At first he doesn't want to know anything about Avett's case more than what he needs to get her a deal. But Avett refuses to plead guilty, because she knows she isn't.  Now, Quaid must help her fight to prove her innocence.  Quaid comes from a poor background, working towards where he is just to prove that he could.  He even went through a horrible divorce recently.  Now he is on the path to hopefully becoming a partner in his firm.  But his bosses expect him to continue to defend the same types of people he has been.  

Avett's decision to plead not guilty, and to testify against her boyfriend, puts her in danger with the drug gang that is why her boyfriend did what he did in the first place.  They think Avett knows where the drugs are, and so they are after her.  It puts her family in danger, to the point that her dad's house even burns down.  It is at this point that Quaid and Avett are really starting to feel the attraction to each other and give into it.  And when Quaid gets asked by his bosses to defend a man who is charged with lighting his own house on fire when his own child was even in the house, Quaid can't stomach taking that on.

The chemistry between Quaid and Avett is definitely hot.  For being such a "straight-laced" upstanding lawyer guy, Quaid seems to have a few things he wants to try that Avett is willing to do in order to make him happy.  Something at the end we get to read about.  Avett has a bad thing in her past, something that has caused her to feel like she doesn't deserve good things to happen, and why she seems to make bad choices.  Quaid has to push past these walls she's built.  

I also loved when we tied back to the characters in the little pre-story, Leveled.  I loved getting more info on Wheeler, and I can't wait for his book!  There was a third narrator on this audiobook, and it turns out it was a third person, Church, a friend of Rome's.  I think the next book in the series is going to be Church's.  Not sure if I'll be able to listen to that narrator, as he has a very deep, almost Barry White type of voice, that sometimes is hard to understand what he's saying, and might be too distracting for me.  So I may end up actually reading the next one, instead of listening.  But I'm ready to get that story!   

Once again, I love another story by this author.  And a week from today I should be getting to meet the author and be all fangirl about how much I love her stories.  Look for pictures of me with her after I go to New Orleans.  

Review: Leveled (Saints of Denver #0.5) by Jay Crownover

Book info:
Title:  Leveled  
Author:  Jay Crownover
Series:  Saints of Denver #0.5  
Genre:  New Adult Gay Romance 
Published: December 8th, 2015
Source:  I purchased the book

Okay, I have to admit that is my first romance between two men novel.  I've read stories with gay characters before.  But most of the time they were side characters, or it was not this type of a romance.  What I mean about "this type" of romance is a story with the sex scenes included, not just the romance.  No, it is not my usual read, but it is by a current favorite author of mine.  And, the characters are ones that I knew from other books in her other series, and they were characters that I had gotten to know enough that I wanted them to have their own happy endings.  And WARNING!!!! I might have a spoiler or two for some of the books in the Marked Men series in this review.  Starting with the very first paragraph!

As with all of Crownover's books, we get both sides of the story with alternating chapters.  First we have Orlando.  We met Lando back in the very first book in the Marked Men series, Rule.  Lando was Rule's twin brother Remy's boyfriend.   Remy's boyfriend that no one except for Shaw, his best friend at the time, now Rule's wife, knew about.  Lando has had a hard time trying to move on to another serious relationship after losing Remy.  Since Remy died in a car wreck the same night the two of them had an argument, Lando has always felt kind of guilty about it.  Lando is a physical therapist who helps athletes, military vets, and other big cases. 

Dominic is our love interest.  Dom was Royal's partner. Royal is who we really got to meet in the book I reviewed earlier this week, Asa.  If you read that book, you know that Dom was injured in a police incident, so bad that he needed major therapy if he was going to be able to get back to work on the force.  Dom has always been a cop, always wanted to be to take after his father, who died in the line of work as a police officer.  He meets Lando when he goes for physical therapy.  Of course the two of them are attracted to each other.  But both have their own issues that keep them apart. 

After losing Remy the way he did, Lando doesn't want to fall in love with Dom, because Dom's job is dangerous, and he could also die, and Lando doesn't know if he can handle another loss like that.  When the two of them give into the attraction, it is Dom's insistence on getting back into his police work that keeps the rift between them.  In the end, both of them have to decide if the other one is worth overcoming their past fears and hold ups.

It was definitely a romance, even with it being between two guys.  But of course there were things that were weird for me as a heterosexual female.  Just the thought processes to start with.  Also, I definitely learned about the actual sex between two men.  Things that I didn't realize.  I have friends who are gay men, but obviously I don't ask them or talk about their sex life in detail.  So I always just assumed sex for two men consisted of about one position, and then maybe oral sex?  If you don't want to or are uncomfortable reading about sex that isn't your norm, this is not the book for you.  Although I guess you could skip those parts when it gets into the detail and move on, and still get to enjoy the romance of the story. 

A good story, not sure if I'll read a lot more of gay romance like this, but I did find it very informative, and it didn't bother me at all, just opened my mind to some things I'd not thought about.

Audiobook Review: Asa (Marked Men #6) by Jay Crownover

Book info:
Title:  Asa 
Author:  Jay Crownover
Series:  Marked Men #6  
Genre:  New Adult Romance
Published:  April 21st, 2015
Source:  Digital audiobook downloaded from public library

So, this was a bit of a bittersweet listen.  It was the last in the Marked Men series, although fortunately the author has a new series she's in the middle of, Saints of Denver, that includes people we met in the Marked Men series, and also includes the characters, like Asa, that we now know and love.  This book was interesting for me because in the books previous to this one, it was often hit or miss on whether the narrators would pronounce this character's name correctly.  I knew how I said it in my head, but I had to make sure and tweeted to the author asking.  And I was right.  It is "A-sa" not "Ah-sa."  But anyway, here's my summary of the story.

As with all the books, we get the viewpoints of both of the main characters, this time it is Asa, who is Avery's brother - from the book Jet.  The female is Royal, a cop, who lives across the hall from Nash and Saint.  What we know of Asa is all the horrible things he did to his sister, or let his sister do for him in the past.  Since she went to him when he was in the coma and then brought him back to Denver to live with her, he has been working as a bartender at Rome's bar.  He's trying to be a better man, but just knows that he will always be that bad guy, and that he doesn't deserve anything more than one night stands.  He definitely doesn't think he deserves a good girl like Royal.

At the end of the last book, Rowdy, Royal and her partner were part of a very dangerous situation that left her partner, Dom, out of commission and recovering from gunshots and a fall from the side of a building.  Royal feels guilty, and it is affecting her job.  She is afraid that she choked, that what happened to her partner is her fault. That if their roles had been reversed, he wouldn't have let the same thing happen to her.  So when we begin the book, she is on a bit of a self-destructive path.  She's definitely attracted to Asa, even though in the past she was the one who had to arrest him for a crime that he turned out to be innocent of committing.  But she keeps trying to get him to give her a chance.  And he keeps trying to show her just how bad he is so that she won't keep trying.  

The story had some very emotional parts, and definitely some steamy parts, especially when Asa finds his creative uses for scotch.  I really enjoyed this book, as I have with all the others.  The reason it got a 4 instead of a 5 star rating on Goodreads for me was because I hated the way Asa dealt with the issue at the end.  I know, I know, it was probably needed for the drama and the story. But still.  I can't imagine anyone not telling right away when they figured out what he did.  Other complaints I had were at first the narrators just talked so slow!  Yes, Asa's southern drawl made sense, but the narrator for Royal was too slow as well.  I also hated that the author would kind of stop the scene right in the middle of a sexy scene.  It was so frustrating the couple of times it happened.  And the scenes in the book were very steamy. There's one at the beginning that is steamy and was embarrassing to read!  Especially when you know that Asa did it on purpose!  If I'd been Royal at that part, I'd have been pissed, but really embarrassed as well!

A fun thing now from reading all of her books, at least the ones set in Denver, is that I pay attention to every character wondering if they might get their own story in the future.  And I can't wait for at least two more in the Saints of Denver series.  I don't know what I'll do when that series is over.  

And I can't wait until the first weekend in October when I get to meet the author!

Audiobook Review: Rowdy (Marked Men #5) by Jay Crownover

Book info:
Title:  Rowdy  
Author:  Jay Crownover
Series:  Marked Men #5  
Genre:  NA Romance
Published:  October 21st, 2014
Source:  Digital audiobook downloaded from public library

Now, Rowdy is the guy who sounded in looks the most like he would be my type.  Not to mention that his style of tattooing that was described makes him the guy I'd want to do my tattoos if he was real.  What was even more fun about listening to this book was that I was driving out to Colorado for my little mini-vacation, and of course the whole story takes place in Denver.  As with all of the books in the series, you can of course read any of them without reading the others in order.  But all the characters are interconnected in some way, and I loved that in this book we got to meet a few new ones that I know are in the new Saints of Denver series that I now can't wait to read!

Of course Rowdy is our male main character, and the female main character for this book is Salem.  We learn about Rowdy's past, that he'd lost his mother at a young age and been in foster care.  It was the family he lived with where he met Salem and her younger sister. Salem's father was a minister, and very strict with his family.  But Salem was always one that wanted to break out and be different, and so when she turned 18 and ran away, she did go a bit crazy.  So now she's basically a pin-up looking girl, one that Nash's dad called in to work at the  new tattoo shop.  And it seems he did it on purpose, to get Rowdy and Salem together and reunite them.  You see, Phil had once done a tattoo for Salem, and she had told him all about her past, which gave him the connection to Rowdy.  Salem's younger sister was supposedly the love of Rowdy's life.  He'd asked her to marry him, and she'd said no.

Salem had always liked Rowdy a little herself.  And the hardest thing for her to leave home, was leaving Rowdy behind.  She'd always thought about him.  And now she wanted to prove to him that she was what he needed.  But at first he didn't want to be with her. When she left him, it made him so mad at her.  But soon, he'll figure out that they should at least be friends.  And with the friendship comes all the attraction they feel too.  But of course as things get better, ghosts from the past, Salem's sister, Poppy, will show up to throw a wrench into things.  Not necessarily in the way you might think, although partly.  And then, there is something else from Rowdy's family's past that will really be a surprise.

I really did like this book too, as I've loved all of them I guess you could say.  I loved the fact that Rowdy used to be a college football player!  Never would have guessed it. And Salem gets a puppy, love that puppy!  Once again the author has left a tie-in to the next book at the end of the story, not that you'd have to read this one to go on to the next one, but it makes you anxious for the next book when you read this one.  I also have realized that this series has made me look up different types of piercings, and so means that I need to make sure to clear my browser history just in case.  :-)  I am so ready for NOLA Story Con in September when I get to go meet the author! 

Audiobook Review: Nash (Marked Men #4) by Jay Crownover

Book info:
Title:  Nash
Author:  Jay Crownover
Series:  Marked Men #4
Genre:  NA Contemporary
Published:  April 24th, 2014
Source:  Audiobook downloaded from public library

Right now all I can say is that deciding to go to NOLA Story Con last year because I wanted to meet Jennifer L. Armentrout, and go back to New Orleans again, was one of the best decisions I've ever made.  Because of this author being on the list of those attending the event, I picked up her books and I fell completely in love with them!  I'm pretty sure that Nash is one of my favorites, he's truly so laid back. But then also I loved this book because I totally felt a connection to Saint in her past of being not so popular and still not having much self confidence.  Once again I also love all the tie-ins to past characters, and future book characters, including being introduced to some that are in the Saints of Denver series by this author, that I'm getting more excited to read now as well! As usual, I can't promise no spoilers for the earlier books, although each of these books could be read as standalones. 

In this book as I mentioned above, the two main characters are Nash and Saint.  Nash has just had a huge change in his life, his Uncle Phil is really sick, dying of lung cancer, and he found out in the last book that his "uncle" Phil, is actually his father.   Nash's mother had never really been a very good mother.  So much in fact, that at one point Phil had taken him in and treated him like a son.  Phil taught him to tattoo, gave him some of his best tattoos, including the dragon tattoo that sounds so awesome!  And now that Phil is sick, he is giving the tattoo shop to Nash, as well as wanting him to start a new shop in Denver with a building he's already purchased.  Nash remembers Saint from high school, she'd had a locker by him, but they'd never really run in the same crowds.  To him she was kind of the smart girl, he'd tried to be nice and say hi to her, but that was all, he was pretty much into partying at that time in his life.

Saint is a nurse, and has unfortunately run into Nash several times at the hospital. First with Rome back in his book, and now with Phil.  Saint doesn't like Nash.  Well, she did, a long time ago. When he'd been nice to her at her locker, for a while she'd developed a crush on him.  But after something that happened at a party, where he didn't even see her there, and then when she overheard him telling his friends that he wouldn't be able to have sex with a certain girl unless she had a bag over her head, and he said it as she was walking by, she was devastated, and has carried that with her for her whole life.  Even when she lost weight and knew she did look better, she never felt confident enough with guys.  Never was able to really enjoy sex.  And it had kind of cost her the one and only real boyfriend she'd had.  But now that Nash is back in her life, seeing him all the time at the hospital, she remembers just how hot he is, and can't seem to stay away from him.  And he seems to want to be around her. To the point that he even asks her out.  

This leads to an interesting date to Rule and Shaw's wedding.  She loves how nice everyone is, but it just brings her back to how uncomfortable she feels due to what she heard.  And let's just say that Saint ends the date in a VERY interesting way.  There's lots of back and forth before they soon try to get together. Starting with Saint finally telling Nash why she doesn't seem to like or trust him.  And with all he is going through, he really tells her she's got to give him a chance, as well as she's got to give herself some credit and have some confidence, or they will never work.  Keep in mind that it is not just what happened to Saint in her past, but also the fact that her father just left her mother after cheating on her, that makes the way Saint feels about not trusting men even stronger.  

I love the story. Although, there are things Saint does that just make me so mad! And they are things that happen in a lot of books.  She walks in on something that looks like a compromising situation, but instead of at least getting an explanation, she just leaves.  Maybe it's because I'm from the Show Me State (Missouri), but I would have wanted an explanation!  And there was one point when she just wasn't going to believe in love and I could only keep thinking to myself:  "I just want to say to Saint, Believe in magic, you Muggle!!"

I loved the voice of the male narrator for this book.  However the female narrator just read soooooo slow.  Sometimes that was a pain when I was getting close to wherever I was going in my car, and I didn't want to get out because I needed to know what was going to happen next.  There were great steamy scenes that made me blush while listening at the gym, and the beginning even started me out crying with the story of Saint's past.  Once again though, I cannot wait to meet the author in September, and I really, really, really want my own tattooed guy like the ones in this series.

Audiobook Review: Rome (Marked Men #3) by Jay Crownover

Book info:
Title:  Rome
Author:  Jay Crownover
Series:  Marked Men
Genre:  NA Contemporary Romance
Published:  January 7th, 2014
Format:  Audiobook downloaded from library

Right now I have to say I am so glad that I decided to go to the NOLA Story Con in September.  I might never have picked up a book by this author if she hadn't been on the list for the authors that would be there.  And that, that would have been a tragedy, because I am so in love with this series, and these guys!  This story sounded perfect from the start.  Rome is Rule's older brother, and he is an ex-military guy.  I have been a fan of military guys for some time, especially after going to college in a town that was near to an Air Force base, meaning I met those guys at the bars in town when I went out with my friends.  So I was excited for Rome's story.  And other than the ridiculous mispronunciation of the name Asa by the narrators, I loved this audiobook!  If you haven't read the first two books in the series, you should click on their titles here to read my reviews, book 1 - Rule, and book 2 - Jet.   Now, on with this story's review.

Rome has returned from being over with the military in the middle East.  But he's come back a different guy than when he left.  He was honorably discharged from the army because of his injuries, he was unable to meet the qualifications to stay.  He lost a lot of his soldiers in the very event that caused his injuries, and he wakes up in the night from horrible nightmares of what happened.  These nightmares, along with not knowing how he fits in with his family now, have made him grumpy, and as Cora likes to call him, Captain No-Fun.  Cora is the woman who kind of runs the tattoo shop's front desk for the guys. And it is  her house that Jet and Ayden live in, along with Ayden's brother Asa.  We kind of join the story at a 4th of July party at Rule and Shaw's new house.  Now that Rome's brother Rule has become a home-owner, also finally being in a real relationship with Shaw, Rome feels maybe his brother doesn't need him anymore.  When Cora gets tired of Rome's attitude at the cookout, she dumps a beer on him, and Rome takes off.  He ends up in a bar run by another ex-military guy.  Unfortunately for Rome, who is a stereotypical big tough-looking military guy, there is a guy who is trying to get into a biker gang that picks Rome to try to start a fight with in order to get initiated.  Rome wins the fight, but not without a lot of damage to the bar and his own injuries.  He feels bad for the guy who runs the bar, and offers to pay him back, but the guy wants Rome to help him out by fixing the things that were broken, as well as helping him fix up other things around the bar.  

The bar work reminds me of The Karate Kid, because it is helping Rome work through his problems.  Until one day he gets a call from a friend in his unit that is still over there in battle, and in the call he learns that more are dead.  Rome feels guilty, as if he was still there, he could have kept those young soldiers from dying.  And he goes to the bar and starts drinking again.  When he needs a ride home because he's too drunk, the number that gets called from his phone is the tattoo shop where Rule works.  Unfortunately Cora is the only one left, but she decides to help Rome instead of bothering Rule, because of all the brotherly issues they've been having.  So Cora drags him to her house and puts him in her bed to sober up.  When she goes in to grab her things so she can sleep on the couch, Rome grabs her in his sleep and pulls her onto the bed and underneath him.  At first he just goes back to sleep.  But later on, he wakes up, and things happen, sex happens.  Everything on Rome matches exactly with what you'd expect a big guy like him to be packing.  And it's cute how Cora deals with the situation at first.  

Now, Cora has her own issues.  An ex-boyfriend who she found out was sleeping around on her with someone from the tattoo shop, and the sad thing was that everyone at the shop knew, but didn't tell her.  That's how she ended up at the tattoo shop with these guys.  The other guys at the shop tell Rome he needs to be careful, they don't want her getting hurt, and some of the guys even warn Cora that Rome isn't the "perfect" guy she has said she is now waiting for. But the two of them decide to try things out anyway.  Being with Cora helps Rome with some of the stress he's been going through, helps him to calm down.  But of course things won't be all smooth going from now on.  Remember the guy that tried to beat up Rome?  Well he's not done.  And that surprise night when Cora took Rome back to her house?  Well let's just say they weren't thinking about consequences and protection in that situation.  Rome seems to really be enjoying being in charge of the bar the more authority he gets.  He even ends up hiring Asa as a bartender when the bar starts getting busier.  What else could go wrong?  How about Cora's ex coming back into the picture?

Through all of this Cora and Rome must decide how much they love each other, how much they are willing to share with each other, and if they can make it through all the obstacles put in their way.  And I loved it.

Now, this is probably a spoiler, but it's something I have to say.  I honest to god LOVE that when Cora found out she was pregnant, not once did she mention having an abortion.  Not once was that an option.  I'm not sure how realistic that is, but I love that it is how the story goes.  I'm pro-life, although I don't have as much of a problem with abortions that early in a pregnancy.  But I love that the people in this book don't even think of that as an option.  These are my kind of people.  Sorry for the spoiler on that, but I had to point out how much that stood out to me.

Also, pretty sure I'm going to need to buy one of these t-shirts to wear when I go to meet the author!  The Captain No Fun stuck in my head so much that I called my brother "Daddy No-Fun" when he wouldn't let my niece do things on our vacation over Memorial Day weekend.

 

NA Audiobook Review: Jet (Marked Men #2) by Jay Crownover

This was my next audiobook download from the library.  While I didn't love it as much as I loved Rule, I'm still really in love with this whole series, and getting even more excited to get to meet the author at the NOLA Story Con in September!  For the most part, all of my problems, which I'll list at the end, have to do with the narrators, and not the story itself. 

One thing I love about this author, and a trend in books I'm growing to like quite a bit, is having both of the main characters narrating alternate chapters.  In this book we get half from Ayden's point of view, and half from Jet's point of view.  Ayden was Shaw's roommate in the first book, and this book is her story.  There was a point in the first book, when Shaw went home with Rule, but Ayden was very much interested in Jet, so she stayed and got a ride home with him.  We learn  more in this book about how Ayden had invited Jet back to her apartment on that night, but he'd turned her down, in what he thought was a nice way, he told her she was too good, too sweet, too pure for him.  Jet, like Rule and most of their friends, was pretty much a man-whore.  Which makes sense, I mean Jet is the lead singer of a band.  Now, it's a heavy metal band, which for me isn't a turn on, but I understand how it is for many other people.  And his picture on the book isn't bad, not to mention that he really is supposed to have a great voice, and anyone who has heard him sing other songs, wonders why in the world he doesn't do something different and become the huge star that he could be. 

Ayden on the other hand, isn't the pure, innocent good girl that she comes across as in this book.  In her past life, before she came to Denver to go to college, she had a rough life. She grew up in a trailer home with a mom who was too busy with whatever guy she was in love with at the moment to take care of her or her older brother, Asa.  Asa was bad news himself.  He could sweet talk anyone into doing anything he wanted, not to mention that he was into lots of bad things. Drugs and other criminal activities.  When Ayden moved away from her home, Asa had been in jail.  So she was able to reinvent herself in Denver, where no one knew what her past had been.  She's attracted to Jet, but the part that is attracted to him reminds her too much of how she used to be, and she doesn't want that girl to come back out. 

In the main part of the book, Ayden now lives in a house with Jet and Cora.  Every night Jet has a different girl come home with him. And every morning Cora and Ayden rate the girl as she walks out.  They base it on looks, how blown away by the sex she looks, and how cool and collected she might be, versus how mad and pissed off about being sent home she might be. 

Of course it turns out that actually Jet is attracted to Ayden.  And everyone around them can see just how attracted to each other they are.  When Ayden decides that they should give in and just be friends with benefits, things start to change.  But Ayden is wary of falling in love or letting it get to be anything more.  She has goals, she is going to be a doctor, and is not going to end up like her mother, and Jet's "career" as a lead singer of a rock band, is not the kind of future she wants.  What she doesn't realize though, is that Jet is more than that.  He owns a studio where he helps other people record albums, and he will produce them.  Jet has his own problems in life though.  His father is not a good person, and treats Jet's mother like crap.  Yet she refuses to leave him, because she loves him.  So Jet won't go away on tour, because he is afraid what his father might do, follow through on threats he has made, if Jet is not there to protect his mother. 

Things will not stay good between the two forever.  When Jet doesn't help his father get a spot going on tour with a band that is going to Europe, his father takes it out on his mother.  Jet goes to try to help, and before he can even get in the house, things go bad between him and his dad.  Then there is a disaster at the recording studio, right before Jet is thinking that maybe he should go on the European tour that he has been invited on. All of this comes to a head when Ayden's brother Asa shows up, and someone also tries to invade their house when Cora is home alone. 

Ayden will pull back from Jet, partly because she knows he is not what she has envisioned for the change in her future, and partly because she is afraid what happened to Jet's studio is her brother's fault, and she doesn't want Asa to cause any more trouble.  In the end Ayden will have to learn to let others into her past, to ask for help when she needs it, and decide just what it is she really thinks her life will be that will also make her happy.  Jet will have to deal with his family issues, and figure out where he is going with the problems at the studio. 

Again, I just loved this book, and am continuing to love this series.  There were great back stories, we got to know a lot more about Cora, which I'm sure is setting her up for the next book in the series.  Yay!!!  Which I can't wait for.  We met Asa, who I know is the main character in I think the last book in the series.  While I'm not a fan of Asa because of what he's done in this book, I'm sure the author will be able to bring me around with his story. 

There's a part where Jet is describing the style of each of the guys at the tattoo shop, and I was left wishing that I could go to either Nash or Rowdy for the next tattoo that I want.  Preferably Rowdy, as it sounds like he is great about figuring out exactly what his customers want.  I'm also left missing the days when I hung out with a group of guys. There is just something different about hanging out with a bunch of guys, dating one or not, that is a totally different type of experience than when you hang out with a group of girls.  Don't get me wrong, I love my sorority sisters, but I miss the guys I spent about a year in college hanging out with all the time.

And as in the first book, the sex steams are as steamy as you could want, leaving you wanting what Ayden has just experienced with Jet.  At least they did for me. Although once again there was a piercing that I'm still not quite sure how I feel about a guy with that.  You'll have to read it for yourself and make your own mind up.

Next will be Cora and Rome's story.  Rome is Rule's brother who is in the  military.  I'm looking forward to his story, although the way he treated Shaw at the end of her book, and still seems to be treating her has made me a little upset with him. 

NA Audiobook Review: Rule (Marked Men #1) by Jay Crownover

Another audiobook that I downloaded from my public library, again because it is an author that I am going to get to meet at the NOLA Story Con in September.  I have to say that I seem to be falling in love with bad boys more often. And that is not usually me.  I've always been into the preppy, boy next door, good guy.  Now honestly, I have been looking at guys with tattoos more since I got my first tattoo several years ago.  But this book really, really made me want the bad boy, the tattooed, pierced, you name it, bad boy.  And other than the characters rooting for my city's biggest rival football team because they live in Denver, I'm pretty sure I'll be reading all of this author's book.

The name of the book is the name of one of the two main characters.  Rule is the bad boy, tattooed, pierced face, pierced other parts of his body, and also a one night stand with every girl he sees if he can help it.  Shaw is the other main character. Shaw is a good girl, she's pre-med, comes from a wealthy family, and is the girl next door in other words.  Shaw and Rule are friends because of Rule's twin brother, Remy.  Remy died a few years ago in a car accident, and Shaw has been working to try to keep Rule going and seeing his parents every Sunday.  Shaw and Rule aren't really friends though, they argue all the time, and don't see each other any time except on the Sundays when Shaw comes and drags Rule out of his bed, drunk, sometimes not alone in bed, and drives him back to their hometown.

Now Shaw has always actually had a crush on Rule. Even though all of Remy's family always thought she was with Remy, it was never like that for those two. They were just friends, and Remy even knew the whole time how she felt about Rule.  But Remy took Shaw under his wing, and brought her home and made her part of their family, especially since her own family was not one to write home about.  Her parents basically used her for their own status, a daughter going to med school.  Other than that, they don't really spend any time with her.  All they want from her now is for her to keep dating the perfect boy, Gabe, who is the son of a well known judge.  But this guy is not as great as her parents think.  When Shaw breaks up with him because she doesn't like him, he kind of goes stalkerish.  This all kind of comes to a head on the night that Rule ends up running into Shaw at her job.  She works in a sports bar, and the night he sees her there, she is wearing a "sexy referee" costume.  Rule has never seen Shaw in this light before.  He's never thought of her as a girl he might be attracted to.  But now, now he almost can't stop thinking about her.  And when her ex-boyfriend Gabe shows up at the bar and tries to threaten her, Rule and his buddies meet him outside and tell him he'd better leave her alone or he'll have hell to pay.

Things kind of go back to the same way until the night of Shaw's 20th birthday.  Her roommate and best friend takes her out, gets her a fake ID, and they go to a bar, and of course get drunk.  Rule runs into her again, and this time, he ends up taking her back to his apartment, not far from the bar, because of how drunk she is.  In her drunken state, Shaw gets brave.  And she basically throws herself at Rule, and he catches her.  She doesn't regret it in the morning, but she still sneaks out, not wanting Rule to know that she likes him in any other way, knowing how he is with girls.  But Rule can't seem to stop thinking about her.  And he decides that maybe he and Shaw should give it a try.

It won't be an easy road for the two of them.  Rule has never been in a relationship, and has no idea what he's doing, not to mention serious issues with getting close to people, partly because of how his parents have always treated him.  Of course they've never approved of the tattoos and all of that, but his mother blames him for the death of his brother.  Shaw is still having to deal with her stalker ex-boyfriend, and also refuses to let Rule turn her into one of his floozies.

This book had so many good emotions and so many good back stories.  We get introduced to so many awesome characters.  It looks like all of Rule's "boys" are going to get their own books in the rest of this Marked Men series. And I'm so excited to read about all of them.  But I fell in love with Rule.  I want my own tall, dark haired, lean yet muscular, tattooed, pierced boy.  And I love that Rule was a tattoo artist himself.  I'm definitely intrigued with some of the piercings he had as well.  I have no idea why in the world Shaw wants to get the piercing she wants, I cringed every time they talked about it.  But hey, to each their own, right?  It was also a pretty steamy book, which I enjoyed how that worked in perfectly along with the rest of the story.

I loved the book and will have to buy my own copy just to get signed when I go to meet the author in September.