Hmm, I liked Gwen's girls and Hawk's boys better than Gwen and Hawk. ( )

Full Review on NetGalley
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Whew! This book was a roller coaster. And not necessarily in a good way. I don't even know where to begin with this. I will say that after maybe the 3rd? 4th? 5th? breakup between Hawk and Gwen I was actually hoping the book would end and put me out of my misery. But at that point, I don't think it was even halfway through.

Let's start at the beginning, shall we? Mystery Man is book one in the Dream Man series. There are vestiges of the first 4 books of the Rock Chicks series that I realized after a few name drops. But I've never read that series, so I had to do a bit of research. It wasn't necessary to have read that series, but it would have given a bit of character background to some of the cameo appearances. In this story, Gwen has a mystery man who visits her at night, has sex with her, and leaves. She doesn't know his name. And this has been going on for 18 months. You'd think at that point in the story, I would have just said "forget it" and marked this as DNF. But I persisted. Gwen eventually finds out this guy's name when trouble lands on her doorstep because of her sister. And when I say trouble, that is an understatement. Hawk, the mystery man, makes it his mission to protect her and realizes that maybe they could have something better than the nightly mystery visits. So he decides they're going to be a couple. Unfortunately, it isn't what Gwen wants. Or maybe it is. Who knows with her. One good kiss from him and he could do whatever. For some reason when she said "Go away, Hawk, I'm not going to be with you," he just thought she was being sassy and it turned him on even more. And this happened A LOT in this book.

Anyway, I'm not sure if she actually decides to be with him or if she just gives up trying to get him to leave her alone, but they end up together. And then not. And then they were. And then not. And there were like 3 other hot guys who wanted her as well. It was too much. I'm not sure I liked either Gwen or Hawk for each other. As a couple, I couldn't quite see the attraction either of them had for each other aside from the physical. And I wouldn't call Gwen a gold digger, but expensive gifts really seemed to soften her up. And one particular horrific break up ended up with everyone guilt tripping Gwen when I thought she had every right to the reaction she had.

Putting the relationship drama aside, there was an exciting element to the book involving the seamy underbelly of the Denver criminal world and the gray zone Hawk and his "boys" lived in. And as always, I like the diversity of characters in this author's books. I appreciate reading about the different people who make up this book world that match the people who make up the real world.

So I didn't hate this book. But I didn't love it either. I think less of the on again/off again with the couple would have been a welcome change. Their relationship was just too volatile.

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[b:Mystery Man|18819167|Mystery Man (Dream Man, #1)|Kristen Ashley|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1384805636s/18819167.jpg|17276473] (Dream Man, #1) by [a:Kristen Ashley|2958084|Kristen Ashley|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1442937365p2/2958084.jpg]
An Erotic Adult Mystery/Suspense Contemporary Romance
I have a new to me author favorite and her name is Kristen Ashley! This is the 2nd book of hers I have read and I am BESOTTED with her writing! Her style of writing is very different than anything I have ever read. It has a certain rhythm that gives it a more realistic beat to it. This brings you into the story in such a way that you feel like you are one of the characters. ( )

Sweet Jesus

Just when I think I can't love this author more, she writes this story. I'm so in love with her over the top men. Even when they have their moments, like Hawk did, I just get sucked in to all that they are. Add in a woman like Gwen, who have as good as she got, and it becomes magic again.

No one can do what this author does. Great appearances from some old favorites and some great new characters. I'm assuming Tack will be in the MC series and I hope with all that is good and just in this world that Mitch Lawson gets his book because that man DEFINITELY needs his story told. ( )