Avenging Angel / Back in The Saddle (Avenging Angels 1 & 2) by Kristen Ashley-reviews

AVENGING ANGEL
Avenging Angels #1
by Kristen Ashley
Genre: adult, contemporary, romance

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / Google Play / Chapters Indigo /

Release Date: April 2, 2024

Rachel Armstrong has a burning need to right the world’s wrongs. Thus, she becomes the Avenging Angel.

And maybe she’s a bit too cocky about it.

While riding a hunch about the identity of a kidnapper, she runs into Julien “Cap” Jackson, who was trained by the team at Nightingale Investigations in Denver. Now he’s a full-fledged member at their newly opened Phoenix branch.

It takes Cap a beat to realize Raye’s the woman for him. It takes Raye a little longer (but just a little) to figure out how she feels about Cap.

As Raye introduces Cap to her crazy posse of found family and his new home in the Valley of the Sun, Cap struggles with his protective streak. Because Raye has no intention to stop doing what she can to save the world.

But there’s a mysterious entity out there who has discovered what Raye is up to, and they’ve become very interested.

Not to mention, women are going missing in Phoenix, and it seems like the police aren’t taking it seriously.

Raye believes someone should.

So she recruits her best friend Luna, and between making coffees, mixing cocktails, planning parties and enduring family interventions (along with reunions), the Avenging Angels unite to ride to the rescue.

••••••

REVIEW:AVENGING ANGEL is the first instalment in Kristen Ashley’s contemporary, adult AVENGING ANGEL erotic, romantic suspense series. This is former US army solider turned PI Julien ‘Cap’ Jackson, and bartender Rachel ‘Raye’ Armstrong’s story line. The AVENGING ANGEL series is a companion to the author’s ROCK CHICK series. Several characters cross over for cohesion and familiarity.

NOTE: Due to the nature of the story line premise, there may be triggers for more sensitive readers.

SOME BACKGROUND: There is a small group of enterprising women who call themselves the Avenging Angels. With the help of a mentor, as well as Nightingale Investigations and Security, these wormen go in search of those unable to help themselves including the missing, the abused and the lost.

Told from first person perspective (Raye) AVENGING ANGEL follows in the aftermath of the search and rescue of a missing child. Along with her best friend Luna, Rachel ‘Raye’ Armstrong works part time search for missing people and children. Her latest assignment finds our heroine face to face with PI Julien ‘Cap’ Jackson, and several members of Nightingale Investigations and Security, searching for the same missing child. Pulled towards our story line heroine, Cap Jackson begins an investigation of his own, only to discover there is more to Rachel Armstrong then he could have ever imagined. Several ‘working’ women are missing in the Phoenix area; NIghtingale Investigations is on the hunt, Raye must come to terms with her past; and a number of familiar faces take time to assist in the search for the missing women.

The world building is detailed as our couple reveal their own heart breaking pasts. Raye has felt shunned since a devastating loss that destroyed her family; Julien Jackson’s chosen family including his ‘mama’ Shirleen (Rock Chick Reborn), open up to Luna and Raye, and in doing so, forge an alliance, a friendship and family based on respect and love.

The relationship between Cap and Raye begins acrimoniously but quickly turns into something more. Cap will come guardian and protector of the woman with whom he is falling in love, a woman who can be a little TSTL, but often in the face of finding the missing women, and in defiance of being told what to do. The $ex scenes are intimate and provocative without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

There is a large ensemble cast of familiar, colorful and energetic secondary and supporting characters , many of whom we met in the original Rock Chick series. We are introduced to Luna Nelson, and her sisters Dream; Luna’s parents Charlie and Deb Armstrong; the tight knit group of tenants of Raye’s apartment complex, as well as the security team at Nightingale Investigations, and the women of the Avenging Angles.

AVENGING ANGEL is a story of secrets and lies, power and control, madness and vengeance, determination and obsession, family and friendships, relationships and love. The slow building premise is dramatic and gritty; the romance is seductive and passionate; the characters are desperate, determined and dynamic

Own a Copy

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BACK IN THE SADDLE
Avenging Angel #2
by Kristen Ashley
Genre: adult, contemporary, romance

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / Google Play / Chapters Indigo /

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date December 3, 2024

Jessie Wylde is on a secret mission. She’s trying to find her brother. She hasn’t told her friends; this is about family.

She doesn’t think it’s dangerous.

Eric Turner disagrees.

Eric is a member of the Nightingale Investigations and Security team. Therefore, Eric knows what he’s talking about.

Eric isn’t only badass, he’s also a seriously gorgeous guy, and Jessie has a huge crush on him. She doesn’t think he knows she exists…until now.

Eric steps in, and so do Jessie’s besties, the Avenging Angels. Soon, the Angels and the Hottie Squad are on the case to find Jessie’s missing sibling.

There’s more happening when it comes to Eric, though. Jessie’s so worried about her brother, she’s not paying attention. Eric sets about changing that, and just like all the Hot Bunch before him, when he finds his one, he doesn’t mess around.

However, something is afoot in Phoenix. And as the Angels uncover the sinister workings behind people going missing, and Eric and Jessie unpack their emotional baggage, the Angels dive deeper into the dark underbelly of the city…

Finding heroes, more hot guys, lots of hijinks…and heart.

••••••

REVIEW: BACK IN THE SADDLE is the second instalment in Kristen Ashley’s contemporary, adult AVENGING ANGELS erotic, romantic suspense series, a spin off, set in the author’s ROCK CHICK worlds. This is forty-three year old, former FBI agent and member of the Nightingale Investigations and Security team Eric Turner, and Avenging Angel Jessie Wylde’s story line. BACK IN THE SADDLE can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty but I recommend reading the series in order for back story and cohesion.

NOTE: Due to the nature of the story line premise, there may be triggers for more sensitive readers.

SOME BACKGROUND: There is a small group of enterprising women who call themselves the Avenging Angels. With the help of a mentor named Arthur, as well as Nightingale Investigations and Security (Rock Chick #1), the women go in search of those unable to help themselves including the missing, the abused and the lost.

Told from first person perspective (Jessie) BACK IN THE SADDLE picks up a few months after the events of book one AVENGING ANGELS, and follows Jessie Wylde as she goes in search of her missing brother, a young man who struggles with mental illness. Stalking the homeless encampments at night, Jessie battles between head and heart knowing that if her brother is found, he may not be the brother she remembers. Enter former FBI agent Eric Turner, a member of the Nightingale Investigations, and the man with whom Jessie will fall in love. The search for Jessie’s brother Jeff reveals a continuing list of missing people, people who may have fallen victim to drug dealers and abusers, as well as a crew of well-intentioned vigilantes who may or may not be giving Nightingale Investigations a run for their money.

The world building follows several intersecting pathways including the search for missing and vulnerable people:the ill, the addicted, the abused and the lost. As Jessie and Eric’s relationship quickly builds into something more, the Angels and Nightingale Investigations will team together to help those unable to help themselves.

The relationship between Jessie and Eric is one of immediate attraction. For Eric is appears to be a relationship predicated upon insta-lust to love; for Jessie, our heroine is falling for a man who is determined to protect the woman he loves, even from herself. The $ex scenes are intimate, erotic and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

There is a large ensemble cast of colorful, familiar and energetic secondary and supporting characters including the return of bar owner Tito, Luna Nelson, and her sister Dream; Angel Harlow, Nightingale Security specialists and Rock Chick husbands/ mates: Mace ,Roam, Liam, Knox, Gabe and Brady, as well as Cap and Raye; Moses and Shirleen; Jessica’s brother Jeff Wylde aka Easy: Javiar Montoya aka Mountain; Homer aka The General; Eric’s ex girlfriend Savannah; Titus, and Chief Alvarez. The camaraderie, and the back and forth between characters is frenetic and fast.

BACK IN THE SADDLE is a story of mental illness and struggle, secrets and lies, obsession and determination, family and friendships, relationships and love. The premise is detailed, dramatic and captivating; the romance is seductive and impassioned; the characters are determined, dynamic and desperate.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

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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.