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SLOW BURN
Tobias Gamble knew from a young age precisely the kind of woman he was going to make his. She was not going to be like his mother. She was going to be like the mother he claimed.
In other words, she was going to be just right.
And when Toby returns to his hometown of Matlock, Kentucky and claps eyes on Adeline Forrester, he knows she’s the one.
The problem is, his brother Johnny has a new girlfriend. And Addie is her sister. Last, Toby would do nothing to hurt Johnny’s chance at happiness.
Toby hangs around town to get to know the woman Johnny fell in love with. He also hangs around to get to know Addie.
But he’s fallen hard, and he knows the best thing for him—and Addie—is for him to leave.
Addie Forrester is thrilled her sister Eliza found a good, solid man. Johnny Gamble is the salt of the earth. The best guy in the world.
The best except for his brother, Toby.
Toby doesn’t know it, but Addie’s fallen hard too. He’s perfect, except for the fact that he’s hands off and it’s torture, being friends with Toby when she wants so much more.
Addie also has a lot on her mind. She’s got bills to pay, her young son needs food, Christmas is coming and her job at the grocery store just isn’t cutting it.
Toby is steering clear of Addie. Addie is steering clear of Toby. But everyone around them knows this is the slow burn.
Because just like Eliza and Johnny, Addie and Toby were made for each other.
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Yo, Talon." There was that smile of his in his voice when he replied, "Yo, Lollipop."
R E V I E W
KA is my top 3 FAVORITE AUTHORS! I have read almost every single book by her & look forward to more books FROM her! So safe to say NOT my first or last read by KA! Not to mention the fact of HOW STOKED i was about hearing that Tobias was getting his story!!
My recommendation is to read BOOK 1 The Hookup because it does intertwine with Tobi's story BUT you can totally read this as a stand-alone too!
Little from Book 1 - Johhny & Izzy's story was a sweet burning one! Toby comes in at the end of their story, in a way that will have your mind blown (hence me saying to read book #1) It is not in a traditional way & I loved it so much I prayed there would be a story between Tobias & Addie!
A little about HOW Kristen Ashley's writing is TO ME! Her books are not your traditional (i say traditional by that I mean every day shorter books) because KA's book may be VERY LONG but in the best way possible. Her way of using words to describe a feeling, a place a character is just so BAD-ASS! I don't know how else to explain it, when I read her books I not only feel like I am IN THE story & so captivated by it that I have no idea what is going on around me...BUT reading her characters is the key here...they come out to life, you can FEEL HER WORDS! If any of that makes sense!!
Now, Toby & Addie's story doesn't start of right away in this book, rather you get the background of Tobi & Johnny's life. A better knowledge of why Tobi is the way he is! (Again, really amazing to read book #1) Tobi to me is a strong characters, very different from his brother Johnny who was a little more darker to me. Tobi is a strong, sexy and big hunk but with a soft heart that has so much love to give. Don't get me wrong you will want to KILL HIM in parts of this book but all in all I think if i had to chose, I'd chose Toby over Johnny! (That's saying something because Johhny was my go to guy!)
Addie is the ultimate BAD-ASS heroine. A single mom who only wanted to find love, which she did in a form of a baby, her beautiful baby boy! The most sweetest child i swear! She is proud, responsible and would do anything for her son. The rest of the characters will come back from Book #1 and new ones introduced as well. Their story isn't an easy one, the way they started was not something for the light of the heart. THE BURN WAS SLOW for sure, but OH SO SWEET & WARM when it flamed! And part of that i mean the sex scenes, GOD can KA write them!! FAST & HARD is all i will say oh and P.S. HE HAS A BEARD!! Just sayin'
I was so EMOTIONAL with this book, it was a pleasant surprise because I laughed, cried and felt the heartbreak...felt relieved, happy and angry! ALL THE FEELS!!!!!! Plus he calls her Lollipop & I just can't! When you read it you'll get it, it's sweet and just so damn sexy coming from Tobias. I also like that the story is about them but also everything around. The places, the people and their stories...it's a lot but somehow just the right amount...just all around why i fell in love with KA's book in the first place!
I can't give enough stars to this book because it deserves a thousand PLUS! This is forever on my TOP 2019 MUST READ & RE-READ LIST!
H A P P Y - R E A D I N G
Excerpts
A Gamble man went after what he wanted, locked it down, and then…onward.
“Listen, I’m not saying anything against Toby,” I spoke into her silence. “I get it. He’s not into me. That’s understandable. I am baggage. And Deanna, you have to remember, I watched this kind of thing happen with my mom over and over again. After my dad, she looked for love. She had an open and hopeful heart. She wanted that for herself. She wanted stability for her girls. And she got knocked down again and again by guys who wanted in her pants but wanted nothing to do with some other man’s kids. At least Toby’s honest about it. That genuinely says good things about him. Really good. And I appreciate it.”
This was a total lie.
I did not appreciate it.
I was attracted to Toby Gamble.
I wanted to taste his mouth and other parts of him.
I wanted to feel his skin and see what his body looked like under those tees and jeans.
I wanted to fuck him. I wanted that to be wild and intense and so enthralling, the world ceased to exist, all of it, except what we were doing to each other and how it was making us feel.
I wanted to sleep beside him.
I wanted to wake up next to him.
I wanted to feel his arms around me. Not like they were that terrible afternoon when I’d sobbed into his neck and he’d carried me to Izzy’s bed or that other, far more terrible afternoon when my baby had been stolen from me.
I just wanted him to hold me.
I wanted Brooklyn to grow up with a man like Toby Gamble. Not just as his somewhat uncle who would lift him high and make him fly or let him crawl all over him when we were at a diner eating burgers just because me and my son were there, and he was a decent guy who liked kids. But as a guy who was always there, eventually showing my boy the way in matters his mother could not.
I wasn’t in love with him.
But I knew if he gave me even the barest hint he’d even think of going there with me, I’d take that fall.
And when I did, if it didn’t work, I also knew it would annihilate me.
On Saturday morning, Toby was standing beside his fridge downing a bottle of water when it happened.
He’d gotten his run in and sweated out the beer and whisky he’d consumed at the local bar, On the Way Home (known as Home to townies) the night before.
And he knew he should be happy he at least got to drink a little of the bitter of that fight with Addie out of his mouth and then sweat it out the next morning before it happened.
He was actually surprised he didn’t get a visit at his barstool at Home last night.
Seeing his screen on his phone, which was sitting on the island counter, light up and what it said when it did, he really didn’t want to take the call.
But his father (not to mention Margot) taught him to deal with problems when they happened so you could lose the weight of them before that weight got too heavy and dragged you down.
With that in mind, he put the water down, nabbed his phone and took the call.
“Yo, Johnny.”
“Are you fuckin’ kidding me with that shit?” his brother replied.
Toby let out a long breath.
“‘Yo, Johnny.’ That’s what you’ve got to say to me when the whole town’s talkin’ about you shouting in Addie’s face on the fuckin’ street yesterday?” his brother demanded.
“Johnny, listen—”
“And just so you know the entire reason I’m pissed as fuck at you, I had to hear that shit from someone else, not my brother who had a fuckin’ fight with my woman’s sister on the goddamn street and then came back to the garage and worked right beside me for the next three hours and didn’t say dick.”
All right.
You know what?
He was done with this.
So he bit out, “Johnny, lay off.”
“Lay off?” That came low and even more ticked than his brother had already sounded.
“Yeah, lay the fuck off,” Toby returned.
“Have you lost your goddamned mind?”
“No, actually, I haven’t,” Toby gritted.
“What was it about?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“Wrong,” Johnny clipped. “When it comes to Eliza’s sister, it’s absolutely my business. When it comes to my kid brother, it’s my business. I cannot fuckin’ believe you got up in Addie’s shit and didn’t say dick to me. But I shouldn’t be surprised. That’s vintage Toby.”
Oh, hell no.
“Right, no,” Toby ground out. “We’re not doin’ this. You are not goin’ there. I’ve eaten that shit for as long as I’m willin’ to eat it. This ends here.”
“Tobe—”
“No,” he interrupted. “I’m not you. Get over it. I’ve never been you. But I’ve been around for nearly thirty-three years so it’s time you got your head around it. And speakin’ of that, I’m nearly thirty-three fuckin’ years old, Johnny. It’s also time you quit treating me like I’m thirteen.”
“What I’m tryin’ to say is my history with women has been rocky, that’s on me and you gotta know I get that,” he admitted. “But because I do, in the end, I’m gonna get it right.”
Addie assumed a confused look. “How’s it on you?”
“Just like my dad, until you, my choices weren’t sterling.”
Unexpectedly, and instantly, she got pissed.
Also instantly, she explained why.
“Well, you know, when Perry asked me to marry him, he told me he loved me, his world revolved around me and he couldn’t think of a life without me. He didn’t tell me that would wane once we decided to start a family or that he’d eventually quit the band, sit on the couch all day, not look for a job and bang some woman who was not me in a bed I bought. And I’m sorry, but none of that is on me. I loved him. I trusted him. I believed in him. And he fucked me over.”
“You’re right. It isn’t on you,” Toby agreed.
He had more to say but that was all he got out before she kept going.
“And my father was handsome. He was a dreamer. He was a talented musician and songwriter. He had a beautiful voice. He wrapped my mom up in that dream and carried her away from her family. And it isn’t on her she believed him. It isn’t on her that he didn’t get discovered and whisked to LA and lauded as the next Lou Reed. It isn’t on her he lost faith in his own damned self in his twenties and took that out on her with his fists. She loved him. She trusted him. She believed in him. And he fucked her over.”
“Baby,” he murmured, about to roll her and attempt to pull her out of the place he’d inadvertently taken her, but she kept talking fiercely.
“I have not met your father or your mother, but I know both men he made, and I can tell you this, his choice of wife and mother to his sons was not some curse he bestowed on you. Some men suck. Some women suck. I couldn’t even begin to understand why they do what they do. But it isn’t on the people they do it to. I actually hope one day your mother comes back and explains herself to you, because there is nothing she can say that won’t make her seem anything but what she is. Shallow and selfish and wrong. And if you know that, you’ll get it. You’ll get it’s all on her. Though I bet your father loved her. Trusted her. Believed in her. It was just that she fucked him over.”
“Honey, stop,” he ordered.
She didn’t stop.
“I won’t have you taking that on, Toby. It’s not right.”
“Okay, Addie, I won’t take it on.”
E N T E R - G I V E A W A Y -> H E R E
THE HOOK UP (Moonlight & Motor Oil Book #1)
