Kristen Ashley

Stella Bloom

Deacon

Deacon has an ugly history, a history that broke him, leaving him a ghost of a man. Out of necessity, he left the normal world to descend into the criminal world and found he fit. So he stayed. Cold as ice and living off the grid, Deacon has no intention to connect, not with anyone. Then he returns to some remote cabins in the Colorado Mountains and finds they have new owners. One of them is Cassidy Swallow, a young woman willing to work hard to live her quiet dream in a house by a river surrounded by aspen and pine. Suddenly, Deacon finds he's at war. Cassidy's pull for him to connect is strong. He fights it, but he loses, always coming back for more. But when he does, he gives her nothing. From the first time she sees him, Cassidy knows Deacon is dead inside. She knows he's the kind of man who could destroy a woman. But one night when Deacon's control slips, Cassidy takes a chance. He might break her. He also might be her dream come true.

Lover of Romance 

This review was originally posted on Addicted To Romance 
  
    
  
  
    Summary 
  
 
For six years, Cassidy has been drawn to the mysterious man who comes to her cabins for a few days and leaves for a while but always comes back to cabin 11. Cassidy is never sure if she can get through the wall  of ice that surrounds Deacon, but then one night everything changed for them. It was a night that terrified her but also brought them closer and Deacon started to slowly open up to her. Deacon has spent his life trying to escape his past, and immersing himself in his work and forgetting about the good things in life. Until he came to Colorado, and he was drawn into Cassidy's world. Now he can't resist her and will do anything to have her in his life. But Deacon soon learns that he will need to confront the terrors of his past and let it go so he can have the beautiful world he can have with Cassidy.
 
  
    Plot and Story Line 
  
 
I will admit I wasn't sure how this book would play out. In previous books, Deacon is such a mysterious character and we honestly don't know much about him other than the fact that he is such a badass and pretty scary at times.

  
    
      “There was nothing there. He was standing. His blood was coursing through his veins. He was breathing. But that was it. He existed. He did not live. He did not feel. He did not smile. He did not laugh.”
    
  

Our heroine is a sweet heart and pretty strong willed. I loved her personality though. She dreams of owning these cabins in Colorado and being independent. At first we see her with a boyfriend who is lazy and selfish and yeah that doesn't last too long. Cassidy works her butt off to get the cabins in shape and is willing to do it on her own if necessary. But she does have dreams to find a love that her parents have. Someone to share and build a life with. I really loved her drive and passion. There is so much you can relate with in her character. Once we have their pivotal moment and their relationship changes, things really start to build between them. I love the way they are together...seriously Cassidy knows how to handle Deacon so well.

  
    
      
“Fuckin’ beautiful, but a pain in my goddamned ass,” he muttered.
    
  
  

  

  “Same here, Supreme Leader of the Badasses.

She knows he is a badass and likes that about him and definitely has him wrapped around her finger at times. Their bantering is fun and quirky and just pulls the reader into their interactions. Unlike some of the other books, this story is focused solely on the romance. There aren't any crazy criminals after them or stunts of drug dealers hehe so you can just relax and enjoy these two and seeing them overcome some issues. It isn't overly dramatic, and the drama that does happen is realistic and not too heavy and these two can be quite hilarious.

  
    
      "If we have daughters I'm starting How to Deal with Badasses when they're five."
    
  
  

  

  His eyes were lit but his expression was full-on tender when he returned, "We have boys, they get How to Deal with Stubborn Bitches Who Argue About Meaningless Shit starting at three."
  

  

  "Again, women dislike being called bitches," I shot back.
  

  

  "That'll be part of my lesson to the boys."

It can be heartbreaking at times seeing Deacon overcome his demons and they aren't pretty. But I love how much closer Deacon and Cassidy become once they are fully open with each other and evokes some powerful emotions!!

  
    
      “Anything. You want it, I got it in me to give it to you, you get anything from me.”
    
  

 
  
    The Narration 
  
 
I instantly knew I would love this narrator and I was so right!! Her voice is superb, so lovely to listen to and takes the emotions of the story so well. I love how she portrays the story and I just wanted to keep on listening to her.
 
  
    The Cover 
  
 
I really like the leaf effect of this cover, its different and probably my favorite cover so far in the series that I have read.
 
  Overall View 
 
Deacon is an inspiring and heart felt romance that brings out all the feels....beautiful, striking and emotionally packed....A TRUE WINNER!!

  
    
      “It's a beautiful war, baby." He dipped so close, the tips of our noses brushed but his eyes never left mine. "And I...just… won.”
    
  

 Books N Tunes Reading Challenge 
Pick #7: Beautiful War by King of Leons---I chose this song because its the song that brings these two back together or one of them anyway.

 
 
  
 
 
  
    
  
  
    Click To Buy On Amazon
  
 
[foogallery id="25849"]

Samantha Emery

★Book Basics★ 


  Genre
: - Contemporary Erotic Romance

  Series
: - 4th in the Series

  Love triangle?
 - (view spoiler)[No (hide spoiler)]

  Cheating?
 - (view spoiler)[No (hide spoiler)]

  HEA? -
 (view spoiler)[Yes- (hide spoiler)]

  Would I read more by this author? 
- Yes

  Rating 
- 5


★Review★

Not going to say much about this one that has probably not already been said in better ways by people able to get their point across better than me.

But I loved this. Loved Deacon and Cassie and loved their story.

It is a story very much driven by their relationship, and Deacon fighting the demons his past has left him with.

I loved how Deacon was not afraid to let Cassie know just how much her being with him meant to him. 

There was no outside drama to distract, no cases to be solved or dealt with, no drug dealer, criminal brothers etc.

Just a beautiful, heartbreaking, heart-warming story of a woman trying to live her dream, and a ghost of man who has drawn back from life, yet unable to keep away from something he knows he should not want and does not deserve. 

And this book, is hot hot hot. As a whole this series is considered the more erotic of KA's series, but this might even blow Knight out of the water!


  "I was a cold motherfucker, off the grid, no life, no home, no ties, no emotions, everyone knew it. Until I came back to some rundown cabins I'd been to before that were off the beaten path....A place no one could find me. But when I come back, a beautiful woman with attitude, amazing eyes, and lips I wanted wrapped around my dick....lucky me, later, I found she was stubborn, ornery, funny, strong, spoke her mind....and gave it as good as she gets."

Lynn Braden

Deacon is the story of Deacon and Cassidy Swallow. Deacon is a cold, quiet, unreachable man, but when he comes to the cabins in the woods that Cassidy is restoring, he finds her fighting with her boyfriend and decides to stay in cabin 11. After six years of coming and going from cabin 11, Deacon and Cassidy finally give in to their attraction, but will Cassidy be satisfied with a man who only visits occasionally and won't tell her anything about himself?
There is a lot of build up in this story as to why Deacon is so very detached from life. Cassidy trusts him more than most women would for an extended period of time and pays the price. Deacon is a tough character to understand throughout most of the book and Cassidy's willingness to trust him so completely is a little hard to accept, but overall, this was a good entry in the Unfinished Hero series. I am finding, however, that the men in this series are all starting to run together because the are so much alike with similar speech patterns and problems. Also, this book did not further the connect to the story line about Knight's issues until the last few pages of the book but still a good story.

Deacon

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