Dream Maker (Dream Team #1) by Kristen Ashley-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: RElease Date May 26, 2020

Evie is a bonafide nerd and a hyper-intelligent chick who has worked her whole life to get what she wants. Growing up, she had no support from her family and has only ever been able to rely on herself. So when Evie decides she wants to earn her engineering degree, she realizes she needs to take an alternative path to get there. She takes a job dancing at Smithie’s club thinking this would be a quick side gig, where she can make the money she needs. But with her lack of dancing skills and an alpha bad boy who becomes overly protective, Evie realizes this might not be as easy as she thought.

Daniel “Mag” Magnusson knows a thing or two about pain, but the mask he wears is excellent. No one can tell that this good-looking, quick-witted, and roguish guy has deep-seated issues. Mag puts on a funny-guy routine so he can hide his broken heart and PTSD. But when Evie dances her way into Mag’s life, he realizes that he needs to come face-to-face with the demons of his past if he wants a future with her.

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REVIEW:DREAM MAKER is the first instalment in Kristen Ashley’s contemporary, adult DREAM TEAM erotic, romance series. This is twenty-seven year old, exotic dancer/IT specialist Evan ‘Evie’ Gardiner, and thirty four year old, fixer Daniel “Mag” Magnusson’s story line. DREAM MAKER and the Dream Team series is a spin-off from the author’s Rock Chick, Chaos and Dream Man series.

Told from first person perspective (Evie) and third person (Daniel) DREAM MAKER follows in the aftermath of a blind date between Evie and Daniel that went all to h*ll. Evie’s brother Mick is in jail, once again, and has called in another favor from our story line heroine but said favor was about to put Evie in the direct line of fire forcing Daniel to claim Evie as his own, pulling her into a lifestyle she knew nothing about. What ensues is the building romance and relationship between Evie and Daniel, and the potential fall-out as Mick’s involvement with the seedier side of the Denver underbelly places Evie and Daniel at risk, along with Evie’s friends and fellow dancers at Smithie’s club.

Evie Gardiner’s family is the poster family for troubled and dysfunctional, and the deeper Evie is pulled into Mick’s life, the more at risk our heroine becomes but Mick isn’t the only family member placing Evie at risk as the apples don’t fall far from the proverbial trees. Working two jobs in an effort help pay for future college tuition, Evie struggles with her family and their negative impact on all of her relationships.

Daniel ‘Mag’ Magnusson is a retired US army soldier, and struggles with PTSD, and issues of rage and anger having witnessed atrocities no one should ever have seen. Meeting Evie Gardiner gives Daniel hope for the future but Evie’s inability to say no to her family places everyone at risk including our story line hero.

The relationship between Evie and Daniel begins acrimoniously as Evie believes she isn’t worthy of love or affection. Their first date quickly spirals out of control, and soon thereafter, Daniel calls in his friends and co-workers, including members of the Chaos MC, and the Rock Chicks, for help and support. The $ex scenes are intimate, passionate and erotic but I struggle with the use of a certain four-letter word in my romance story lines.

There is a large ensemble cast of colorful and familiar, secondary and supporting characters including Hawk, Auggie, Chaos MC member Kane ‘Tack ‘Allen; Mo, Elvira, Tex, Duke, Lottie, Axl, Boone, the Rock Chicks and their significant others; as well as Evie’s mother and father, and her step dad Rob; brother Mick; the ‘Dream Team’ dancers Ryn, Pepper, Ava; Lottie, and their boss Smithie; and Cicso aka Brett. The Rock Chicks reputation and life stories precedes their introduction to Evie’s fellow dancer,s and in this, Smithie’s girls want to be recognized for themselves, thusly calling the group the Dream Team. Ryn’s story is next in Dream Chaser.

DREAM MAKER is a story of family, friendship, betrayal and revenge. A story of a dysfunctional family unit who believe our heroine is expendable, using Evan Gardiner as their personal emotional punching bag. The premise is captivating and enjoyable; the characters are energetic and charismatic; the romance is seductive and intense-prepare for a case of insta-lust for Daniel ‘Mag’ Magnusson, and the use of baby and honey at every opportunity; and for fans of Kristen Ashley, a familiar formula as the heroine is kidnapped on more than one occasion.

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy