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Review

“Even wild souls need a place to rest.”

4.5 stars!

Ever since I started my journey with the boys of rock band, Sunder, I have been eagerly awaiting Ash’s book, and OMG it was worth the wait! Gorgeously emotional, heartachingly romantic, and beautifully written, this book sucked me in from start to finish and I absolutely loved it!

Ash Evans is the fun-loving party boy of Sunder. The prankster who always has a joke, the one who always has a willing woman hanging off his arm, and the one who doesn’t take his life too seriously, enjoying his fame and fortune and all of the perks that it brings. But his partying catches in a horrific way when he hooks up with the wrong woman and is set upon by a group of guys, and is beaten badly,

Willow is the one who finds Ash beaten and bloody and laying semi-conscious on the ground. She saved him that night, her very presence soothing him, and when Ash shows up at her store to thank her, a spark flares to life which takes them down a road neither of them were expecting.

“The only think I know is I can’t stop thinkin’ about you. Wanting you.”
“You don’t even know me.”
“Yet here we are.”

Willow’s life has been a series of one loss after another. She is a smart, sensible girl who runs a store that was her mother’s, and is now hers, and she has simple dreams of a family – a husband, children and a happy life. But she’s been horribly betrayed by love in the past and her dreams seem so far out of reach.

Ash recognises that Willow is broken, but he is intrigued by the brave, beautiful woman and is undeniably attracted to her, and as he gets to know her, he wants more. But he has no interest in love – his past experiences having destroyed his heart and left him forever changed. So with the best of intentions, he proposes to Willow that they pretend that they are fine, that they can spend time together and be together without getting their hearts involved, at least for the few months that he is in town before he has to return to LA.

“I want to own you, Peaches. I want to awaken what’s been lying dormant. Bring it to life. Watch you glow.”

Willow’s greatest fear is being alone, and there’s something about the gorgeous, charismatic man who has just walked into her life that she can’t resist. When he promises her that he wants to show her how beautiful she is, and how much she deserves something special, she can’t resist him when he offers to give it to her – even if it is just for a little while.

“Pretend with me.”

What follows is a beautifully developing relationship. Ash and Willow become true friends who slowly but eagerly explore more, falling for each other though they never intended to, and I loved every moment of it! Their honesty and sincerity with each other is absolutely gorgeous and everything that happens between them feels natural and so, so right. And amidst the jokes, laughter, sweet moments and epic sexual tension, I fell right along with them.

“Peaches.” He sounded almost confused, as if he couldn’t make sense of this, either.
At the contact, I gasped, my hands twisting into fists in the fabric of his shirt. The words left me before I could stop them. “What are you doing to me?”

You get the feeling that they are both stunned by the intensity of what is between them, but they are both powerless to stop it, and it creates a wonderful sense of inevitability for them which I loved.

“What have you done to me?” He stared across at me, tone demanding. “Tell me, Willow. Tell me you want me. Tell me I’m not goin’ crazy. Tell me this isn’t all just on me. Tell me that every time I touch you, it feels like something more.”

The big, heartfelt moments between them made me swoon and left me breathless, and the emotions are intense as they fall deeper and deeper. But how can these two broken souls have a future together when they are both fighting so adamantly against it? And is what they have found together strong enough to heal them and allow them to move on when the past is so much darker than they ever realised?

“You’re killin’ me, darlin’.”
“And you’re saving me.”

This is such beautiful book. A.L. Jackson writes wonderfully emotional stories, and she’s done an amazing job with Ash and Willow. They are two characters that you cannot help but love, and I was cheering for them and their happy ending from the moment I met them. They have a lot they need to overcome, and their healing does not come without pain and heartache, but as the truth of the past is fully revealed, I could absolutely understand where the characters were coming from, and it made everything they were feeling for each other so much more intense.

“Sometimes our greatest gifts are found in our darkest hour.”

What if I want you to stay?

Fans of the series will love that we get to see all of the Sunder boys and their families – I love that we get to see the progression of their lives, and the fact that even with the changes they’ve all been through, they are still very much a family unit. I also loved the little glimpse we got of Zee, and I can’t wait for his book up next.

The book ends beautifully, and I finished it with a big, satisfied grin on my face.

“Love is never cut and dry. It’s messy. Confusing. Sometimes it’s ugly and sometimes it’s the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen.”

Absolutely beautiful, I loved it – 4.5 stars.

 

The Bleeding Stars series