Title: Ride Steady
Author: Kristen Ashley
Series: Chaos #3
Publisher: Forever
Release Date: June 30, 2015
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Erotic Romance
More Info: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon US
Purchase: Barnes & Noble
Purchase: Amazon UK
Purchase: iTunes
Purchase: Kobo
Purchase: Amazon Print

The ride of her life . . .
Once upon a time, Carissa Teodoro believed in happy endings. Money, marriage, motherhood: everything came easy---until she woke up to the ugly truth about her Prince Charming. Now a struggling, single mom and stranded by a flat tire, Carissa's pondering her mistakes when a vaguely familiar knight rides to her rescue on a ton of horsepower.

Climb on and hold tight . . .
In high school, Carson Steele was a bad boy loner who put Carissa on a pedestal where she stayed far beyond his reach. Today, he's the hard-bodied biker known only as Joker, and from the way Carissa's acting, it's clear she's falling fast. While catching her is irresistible, knowing what to do with her is a different story. A good girl like Carissa is the least likely fit with the Chaos Motorcycle Club. Too bad holding back is so damned hard. Now, as Joker's secrets are revealed and an outside threat endangers the club, Joker must decide whether to ride steady with Carissa---or ride away forever . . .

From Kristen Ashley’s Newsletter

You’ve seen it here first, Rock Chicks! The cover for Ride Steady, the story of Joker and Carissa in the ongoing saga that is Chaos!

I’ll be giving this goodness to my website and on social media today but exclusive to YOU, my loyal newsletter readers, here’s the very first glance at Joker and the cover that will hug his story. So nice to be in the land of Chaos again!

And trust me, when you really meet him, you’ll fall in love with Joker. He’s a departure from my usual hero but in a very, very good way!

Will There Be More Chaos?

Of course! What would we do without Chaos in our lives?

Starting with the stories of Joker and High, both of which will be out in 2015, onward from that you’ll get the stories of  Snapper and Hound. And a heads up, I get a lot of lovin’ for Rush. He will most definitely get a book but he will be the finale to the series – so a wait but you’ll get you some Rush goodness.

As soon as I know more about release dates and order…you’ll know. All you gotta do is stay tuned!

And just a note for those Landon lovers…Shy’s brother from Own the Wind gets a lot of love (as he should!). I, like you, would just love to see who he settles down with. I’m seeing this as a spin-off when we leave the land of Chaos so we can not only see Lan get his HEA, but also keep in touch with those Chaos boys (as you know, family is family with Chaos and Lan is definitely family). So don’t despair. If Landon tugged at your heart, I hope one day to give you more of him. A lot more! Keep your eyes peeled here for news!

My Review

Welcome friends. Can I call you friend? I feel like when it come to a phenom such as Kristen Ashely, through her stories she makes us all not only friends, but family. I feel like she lets us all own a little piece of her characters, and even though they ultimately belong to her, she’s willing to share. You don’t simply read her books; you experience them. You live them, breathe them, cry with them, and fall in love with them. From start to finish, each and every one is nothing short of an epic adventure and Ride Steady was not only no different, but quite possibly better than the rest. There was a crispness about Joker and Carissa’s story that set them apart from most of her other couples. Maybe it was in the way they worked together; seamless, flawless, and nothing short of perfect. Maybe it was in the way he loved her and loved her son. From page one, we knew there was a back story, and even though I didn’t consider this instalove in any way shape or form, if ever there was a book that could have justified it, Ride Steady was it.

“You’re no longer dealing with a girl who lost half her world by the time she was eighteen and therefore held on to all she had left with all she had in her. You’re dealing with a mother. That’s an entirely different breed.”

One of the many things I love about a KA book is that while you may not understand how they plan to get there, you know from the beginning the couple’s are meant to be together. There is a spark, no, an explosion that you can’t help but see coming from a mile away. While inevitable, the pain and stumbling along the way only serve as bricks to form their road to happiness. And let me tell you, I’d lay bricks for months to stay in their story. Carissa had a way about her that even though life had literally crapped all over here, taken most of her family, she wasn’t yet to the point of giving up. She was determined to carve out her little piece of happy for her son, no matter what lengths she had to go to achieve it. She would literally sleep in the dirt if it meant her son was happy and healthy and loved.  I loved how she fell right in with the MC crowd, and even though at the beginning she felt like a charity case, she never held any judgements against them. She just accepted them as they were.

“She means everything to me. You gotta drag her down, that’ll suck, but I’ll pick her back up. You gotta rip her apart, I’ll fu#k*n’ hate watchin’ it, but I’ll put her back together. Do what you gotta do to make you feel like you got the bigger dick. But know this, in the end, it’s gonna be her and me.”

Even though Joker was strong, I wouldn’t consider him an Alpha. The usual bossing and domineering that comes from a KA alpha we’ve all come to love wasn’t present, but I didn’t even miss it. In fact, I just realized after reading the book twice that is was missing. But Joker is just so EVERYTHING that  you don’t even care. If you took little parts of my favorite KA men and pieced them together in one delicious bearded package,  you would have Carson Steele. I mean, come on, even that name, for goodness sakes! How can you go wrong there?! The man was born to be a badass biker, there’s no denying it. But at the heart of the man is his heart and that organ is by far the biggest I’ve seen in a long time. I love the way he loves. The easy way he is with Travis just melted me completely. And this was from the beginning of the story. There was no easing into it; they just took to each other as if they both knew it was inevitable. But I digress. Carson and Carissa burned up every single page for me. No matter what they were doing in the scene, whether it be something sweet, something contemplative, something scorchingly sexy, there was never a dull moment for these two. They had such a special relationship that I don’t feel like we’ve experienced yet in a KA book. Sure we have some couples who have the history, but then they are torn apart for one reason or another for 20 years before we start their journey again. With these two, it hasn’t been quite as long and that brings  a whole other perspective to it. He’s gentle with her, but strong behind the scenes. He gives her a foundation that she so desperately needed, and she gives him the final piece to a loving family he never realized he was missing.

“She doesn’t need dark. She never shoulda had it and she’s had a lifetime of it. What I got in me gets loose, it’ll engulf her.”

Almost as much as Joker and Carrie, I loved the side characters in this story. Mama Heely, Linus, Mr. Jefferson, Tack, Elvira, Tyra, and Tabby to name a few. So many of our players from other series made cameos and each time it was a little piece of KA heaven. It was simply delicious! I especially loved the perspective that Tack brought to Joker. I loved the way he was a pseudo father in a way that Joker never had and so desperately needed.  There were just so many things to love about Ride Steady that to name them all would take all day and into the next. But at the heart, it was always about Carissa and Carson. And for that, they have forever implanted themselves in my heart. This story didn’t have a typical KA epilogue, and that is my only dark spot for this book. But we have more Chaos books coming, so I will just live out my much wanted epilogue through them. I mean really, you can’t mar perfection, and that’s exactly what this book was. Highly recommend!

Excerpt

“Yo!” I heard Snapper call and I looked to him to see he was looking beyond me. I turned around and saw Tabby was heading toward me and Snapper. “I’m takin’ Carissa out on my bike. You wanna look after her purse or put it in Shy’s room or somethin’?”

At his request, Tabby’s gaze immediately cut to the pool tables. When she took them in, for some reason, her face got hard before she softened it and looked back toward us.

“Not a problem,” she said, stopping at us. “Go. Ride.”

“Never been on a bike,” I told her and her face split in a big smile.

“Then go. Ride.” She leaned in to me. “Beware, wind in your hair, moon on your skin, you’ll fall in love.”

I wasn’t sure that was a good thing. I’d fallen in love with something I couldn’t have, and if I fell in love with the wind in my hair and the moon on my skin, without someone to give that to me, I couldn’t have that either.

But to heck with it.

Maybe this would be the only bike ride I’d  I’d have in my life.

And maybe the kiss Joker gave me was the only fabulous kiss I’d ever get.

And maybe my dream of having a family or the other dream of getting behind the steel guarding Joker’s eyes was lost to me.

But I was still breathing.

So I’d take what I could get.

Tabby put her hand on my purse, which was lying on the bar. “Got this. Have fun.”

“Thanks,” I whispered.

She winked at me.

I looked to Snapper. “Let’s go.”

“Meet you at the end of the bar, babe.”

“Right!” I chirped, jumped off my stool, threw Tabby a smile, nabbed my jacket that I was sitting on and bounced to the end of the bar.

When I got there, Snapper had pulled on his leather jacket. He grabbed my hand and guided me out the door and to his bike. Then he got on his bike before instructing me on how to do the same.

The bike roared, he backed out on an angle, and we glided over the tarmac of Ride.

He pulled out onto Broadway and I got it.

The wind in my hair.

The moon on my skin.

The leather of his jacket in my nostrils.

The solidness of him under my hands at his waist.

We got close to the onramp of I‑25 and he shouted, “Hold on!”

“Sorry?” I shouted back.

“Hold on!” he yelled, taking one hand off the grip and using it to pull my hand from his waist and around to his stomach.

He put his hand back on the grip and we turned up the ramp, going faster, faster, faster, the wind whipping my hair and biting into my skin. I curved my other arm around him, put my chin to his shoulder, drew in air and leather, and I got it.

Instantly.

That it being why this was the life for a biker.

No encumbrances. You wanted to smoke pot, you smoked it. You wanted to wear a tube top, you wore it. You wanted to drink shots, you drank them. You wanted to make out hot and heavy on a couch in a room filled with people, you did it.

You wanted to live, you lived.

You wanted to be free, you got on your bike and rode in the moonlight.

You did not drink martinis you didn’t like. You did not take a job your mother‑in‑law thought you should have. You did not take guff from your ex, not ever.

You did what you wanted.

You were free.

In all that was happening to me, all that I was feeling, all the disappointment of that night and the bizarre devastation I felt that the first time this happened, me on the back of a bike, I would have preferred it be with Joker . . . right then, for that moment, I let it all go.

I let it go, held on to Snapper and I let myself feel it.

Feel something rare and beautiful and overwhelming.

Feel something I knew for certain I hadn’t felt in my whole life.

Free.

Giveaway

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The Chaos Series is a spin-off of her Dream Man Series, taking us on the journeys of the lives and loves of the boys of the Chaos Motorcycle Club. Currently, there are two books in this series that have been published. She’s uncertain as of now how many there will be (at least five, maybe more – she likes her some Chaos boys!). But stay tuned to get all the news on what’s happening at Ride!

Own the Wind (Chaos, #1)

Amazon US

Too hot to handle . . .

Tabitha Allen grew up in the thick of Chaos-the Chaos Motorcycle Club, that is. Her father is Chaos’ leader, and the club has always had her back. But one rider was different from the start. When Tabby was running wild, Shy Cage was there. When tragedy tore her life apart, he helped her piece it back together. And now, Tabby’s thinking about much more than friendship . . .

Tabby is everything Shy’s ever wanted, but everything he thinks he can’t have. She’s beautiful, smart, and as his friend’s daughter, untouchable. Shy never expected more than friendship, so when Tabby indicates she wants more-much more-he feels like the luckiest man alive. But even lucky men can crash and burn . . .

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Fire Inside (Chaos, #2)

Amazon US

Lanie Heron isn’t looking for love-no surprise, considering her last serious relationship nearly got her killed. So when Lanie propositions Hop Kincaid, all she wants is one wild night with the hot-as-hell biker who patrols with the Chaos Motorcycle Club . . .

For Hop, Lanie has always been untouchable. She’s too polished and too classy for his taste. But when she gives Hop the once-over with her bedroom eyes and offers him a night in paradise, he can’t say no. And he doesn’t regret it when he finds that Lanie is the best thing that’s ever happened to him-in or out of bed. Now the trick will be to convince her of that.

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Walk Through Fire (Chaos, #4)

Coming October 27, 2015

Amazon US

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 . . .

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