Sweet Dreams by Kristen Ashley Series: Colorado Mountain #2
Published by Hachette Audio on June 24, 2014
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Emma Taylor
Length: 25 hrs and 6 mins
Genres: Mystery, Romantic Suspense
Amazon Audible
She's ready for the ride of her life . . .
Lauren Grahame is looking to reinvent herself. After leaving her cheating husband, Lauren moves to Carnal, Colorado, and gets a job as a waitress in a biker bar called Bubba's. It's a nothing job in a nowhere joint . . . until Tatum Jackson walks in. Lauren has never seen a man with such good looks, muscles, and attitude. But when he insults her, Lauren doesn't want anything to do with him. Too bad for Lauren he's also the bar's part owner and bartender.
When the rough-around-the-edges Tate meets the high-class Lauren, he thinks she won't fit in at Bubba's. Yet there's more to Lauren than meets the eye, and Tate soon sets his mind on claiming her as his own. Before long, the desire burning between them is heating up the cold mountain air. But when violence strikes the town, Tate must reveal a dark secret to Lauren-one that may put an end to their sweet dreams.
There’s a whole lot of goodness packed into Sweet Dreams. You’ve got a wonderful small biker town set in the Rockies, a murder mystery, suspense, danger, romance, grudges, and surprises—all centered around a transplanted socialite and an alpha male to end all alphas.
Lauren is plucky and determined to find peace in Carnal, Colorado, after fleeing her cheating ex-husband and her stifling upper middle class lifestyle. Even though her frequent mumbling and responding to statements with, “Sorry?” make her seem a bit dim, I liked her immediately. She doesn’t allow anyone to steal her joy. She’s a kind and charismatic woman who instantly makes friends with everyone she meets. I wanted to be her best friend.
The fact that Lauren immediately butts heads with Tate says a lot about him. He is bossy, crude, intimidating, and seriously hot. Tate knows he can be an insensitive jerk, and I didn’t even mind because his gentle side is so sweet, and he’s wonderfully attentive and protective. He made me swoon a time or 50, and I’d gladly sign up to be his biker babe. The way Lauren and Tate grow as individuals and as a couple is beautiful.
One thing I enjoy about Kristen Ashley’s books is that they take the reader on a journey through a fully developed story with multi-dimensional characters you can’t help but love—flaws and all. That said, her writing style isn’t for everyone. Her bikers have an aversion to pronouns (“Said it. Was mad. Didn’t mean it. Gotta let it go.”). Her books are also exceedingly long, partially due to the level of minutia she includes. I listened to the audiobook of Sweet Dreams, and I’m glad I did. Clocking in at a whopping 25 hours of narration, it’s a miracle that it only took me 4 days to finish as I went about my daily life. Lord knows how long it would have taken me to carve out enough time to sit down and read all 656 pages.
I don’t need to know that a character walks into the kitchen, opens the cupboard, pulls down the blue mug with white speckles, places it on the counter, pours coffee from the coffee pot into the mug, walks to the refrigerator, finds the creamer located behind the milk, pulls the creamer out, closes the refrigerator door, pours two tablespoons of creamer into the mug, opens a drawer, pulls out a spoon, and stirs the creamer and coffee together. Just tell me a character makes a cup of coffee with cream and no sugar!!! It can be exasperating, but it’s also the level of detail that makes you feel like you’re fully involved in a real person’s day to day life. I lost sight of the fact that I was reading about fictional characters. I appreciated that there are no gaps in the story. I wasn’t ever left wondering what was happening to the characters in between key events.
The diverse residents of Carnal felt real to me, and my heart was touched by each and every one of them. The tough-as-nails bar owner, the regulars at the bar, the kind couple who own a below-average motel with an above-average pool, the hippies at the coffee shop, even the skanky trouble-maker. I also loved Lauren’s family to pieces.
I didn’t take to Emma Taylor’s narration right away, but she grew on me. I liked how she expresses Lauren’s vivaciousness and Tate’s powerful presence. She brings all the other characters into clear focus as well. I recommended the audiobook of Sweet Dreams, particularly if you’re heading out on a road trip or you have a long commute.
Recommended for fans of:
Bikers
Romantic suspense
Alpha family men
Bars
Swimming pools
About Kristen Ashley
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 accessorise 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.
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