Wednesday 28 October 2015

Review - Walk Through Fire by Kristen Ashley


Title: Walk Through Fire
Series: Chaos #4
Author: Kristen Ashley
Release Date: October 27, 2015


The flame never dies . . . 

Millie Cross knows what it's like to burn for someone. She was young and wild and he was fierce and even wilder-a Chaos biker who made her heart pound. They fell in love at first sight and life was good, until she learned she couldn't be the woman he needed and made it so he had no choice but to walk away. Twenty years later, Millie's chance run-in with her old flame sparks a desire she just can't ignore. And this time, she won't let him ride off . . . 

Bad boy Logan "High" Judd has seen his share of troubles with the law. Yet it was a beautiful woman who broke him. After ending a loveless marriage, High is shocked when his true love walks back into his life. Millie is still gorgeous, but she's just a ghost of her former self. High's intrigued at the change, but her betrayal cut him deep-and he doesn't want to get burned again. As High sinks into meting out vengeance for Millie's betrayal, he'll break all over again when he realizes just how Millie walked through fire for her man . . . 






Holy mother of all book hangovers! I don’t even know where to start with this other than to say that this book captivated me completely, and now that it’s over, my blubbering, overflowing heart and I have no idea what to do with all these feelings!

Millie Cross and Logan “High” Judd had the romance of a lifetime twenty years ago. We’re talking the kind of love that exists primarily only in fairytales. The kind that few of us are lucky to encounter in our lifetime—the all-consuming, deeply romantic, joyously happy kind. In flashbacks over the course of this book, Kristen Ashley captures the feel of this young love so poignantly it made me yearn for a taste of that unadulterated bliss. Then, without warning, Millie broke it all off. She pushed High away roughly and cruelly—an act that obliterated him, sending him on a spiral of destruction. As for Millie, she didn’t fare much better. Her life has been an empty shell of a life, all outward brittle perfection with no soul.

Twenty years later their paths cross again and Millie decides it’s time to make amends for the mistakes of her past. She reaches back out to High and ugh, you guys, it is brutal. This book was painful to read in the beginning. High is like a wounded animal, lashing out at Millie to protect himself and hide his pain. While Millie may have the best of intentions, he has twenty years of pent up grief and anger that keep forcing their way out of him, embedding poison tipped barbs deep into Millie's heart. It hurt to read, my heart ached for Millie. 

There’s a bit of push/pull between the two that leads Millie to rock bottom, utterly broken before she finally lets her secrets out—and those secrets change everything. The whole trajectory of her story, the whole dynamic between her and High—everything changes course once the secrets are unearthed. I figured out pretty early on what the secrets were, but this still played out a little differently than I expected. It’s not that the secrets are shocking, it’s what they say about Millie as a person and the depth of her feelings for High, and how they so completely turn this story around. 

This is an utterly gorgeous, heartbreaking, and redemptive love story. Despite their rekindled feelings, twenty years have passed. Life went on and is no longer as carefree and uncomplicated as it was before. While Millie and High are “all-in” for each other, they have to now make room for each other in their lives—an act that is sometimes amusing and sometimes painful to read. The concessions that High makes for Millie are adorable and heartwarming. The concessions that Millie makes for High are beautifully stunning. Once reunited, the ferocity and passion from twenty years ago comes back full force and it is swoony and emotional and fuck-hot. Honestly, I feel like Millie and High might be the hottest Chaos couple yet, and that’s saying something. 

The Chaos brotherhood continues to be a huge highlight of these stories. Things are ramping up with the MC, and I felt like that storyline was more intense in this book. Up to this point we’d been given a lot of the lighter side of Chaos, but each story gets a little darker, and this one definitely took a much darker turn. Watching these men love and protect their old ladies while dealing with the dark underbelly of their club is gripping and addictive. The sisterhood among the old ladies (and beyond) is also strong in this one—and is equally rewarding. It balances out the darkness that’s going on within Chaos, and it just gives the whole story so much depth and lighthearted humor. 

Man, I am so in love with this series and am currently in the throes of a massive book hangover after this wild ride. I don’t want to make any accusations, but I think the possibility exists that these books are laced with crack because they are completely unputdownable, and leave me needing more—more Chaos please! 
~ Review by Shelly




Kristen Ashley grew up in Brownsburg, Indiana, and 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 multigenerational family. They lived on a very small farm in a small town in the heartland, and Kristen grew up listening to the strains of Glenn Miller, The Everly Brothers, REO Speedwagon, and Whitesnake.

Needless to say, growing up in a house full of music and love was a good way to grow up. 

And as she keeps growing up, it keeps getting better.



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