Dream Keeper (Dream Team 4) by Kristen Ashley-review & excerpt tour
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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date November 30, 2021.
Pepper Hannigan is determined to keep any romance off the table—and out of her bedroom—while her daughter Juno is still young. Sure, a certain handsome commando is thoughtful, funny, and undeniably hot, but Pepper’s had her heart broken before, and she won’t let it happen again. Not to her or her little girl, even if this hero could melt any woman’s resolve.
Augustus “Auggie” Hero can’t deny his attraction to beautiful, warm-hearted Pepper or how much he wants to make a home with her and her little girl, but Pepper’s mixed signals have kept him away. That is, until Juno decides to play matchmaker. Her efforts finally bring Pepper into his arms, but they expose the danger Pepper is in. To protect Pepper and Juno, Auggie will have to live up to his last name and prove happy endings aren’t just for fairy tales.
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REVIEW:DREAM KEEPER is the fourth instalment in Kristen Ashley’s contemporary, adult DREAM TEAM erotic, romantic suspense series focusing on a group of exotic dancers and friend who call themselves the ‘Dream Team’. This is twenty-seven single mother/dancer Pepper Hannigan, and thirty-four year old, former US soldier turned commando Augustus ‘Auggie’ Hero’s story line. DREAM KEEPER can be read as a stand alone but for back story and cohesion I recommend reading the series in order. DREAM KEEPER and the Dream Team series is a spin-off from the author’s Rock Chick, Chaos and Dream Man series. Several characters cross over or are mentioned from the aforementioned series.
Told from first person perspective (Pepper) and dual third person (Auggie and Juno) following several paths, DREAM KEEPER focuses on the building romance and relationship between twenty-seven single mother/dancer Pepper Hannigan, and thirty-four year old, former US soldier turned commando Augustus ‘Auggie’ Hero, and the awkwardly dysfunctional families from whom both Pepper and Auggie were raised. Pepper Hannigan is a single mother to eight year old Juno, and in this, Juno’s happiness and safety have always come first but when Augustus Hero steps up his seduction and desire for our story line heroine, Pepper’s on again/off again attitude pushes Auggie out of her life unknowingly upsetting her daughter in the process. Juno is a precocious eight year old child who is desperate to reunite her mother with Auggie, and in this, works behind the scenes in an effort to push the couple together.
Meanwhile, Auggie’s past aka his mother and father’s relationship continues to implode pushing their drama up front and center in his relationship with Pepper but Pepper’s extended family drama is threatening the lives of the people he loves. Auggie, along with his team of commandos, begins an investigation of their own, not liking what they discover and how it will affect Pepper going foward. What ensues is the friends to lovers, rebuilding relationship, and romance between Auggie and Pepper, as our couple must navigate the fall-out and blow out of the Hero family histrionics, and the Hannigan family spiral out of control.
Pepper Hannigan’s life has not always been easy but Pepper refuses to expose Juno to the life she once led, a life that is about to reveal an uglier truth. Auggie Hero doesn’t trust easily having watched his parent’s relationship crumble along with one of his own but something about Pepper calls to his heart, a heart that will force Auggie to walk with Pepper’s mixed messages.
The relationship between Auggie and Pepper has been building for several years as Auggie’s attraction to our heroine was immediate but Auggie knew Pepper was a single mother whose first choice would always be the love for her child, and in this Auggie bided his time before making a move. Pepper never wanted to hurt the man with whom she would fall in love but words said in anger pushed Auggie out of Pepper’s life, words directed at our story line heroine. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.
There is a large ensemble cast of colorful and energetic secondary and supporting characters including Pepper’s eight year old daughter Juno; her ex Corbin Patrick, Pepper’s parents, and her siblings Saffron and Birch; Auggie’s parents Demetrios and Dana Hero; the Dream Team girls and their significant others: Lottie and Mo, Boone and Ryn, Axl and Hattie; their boss Ian, and his nephew Dorian; Cisco aka Brett Rappaport; office manager Elvira, and several members from the Chaos MC, fellow commandos including Billy and Marques, and the introduction of Lieutenant Stephanie Fortune.
DREAM KEEPER is a story of family and relationships-dysfunctional family dynamics, betrayal and obsession, power and control, secrets and lies. The character driven premise is fast paced, detailed, twisted, and tragic-like all Kristen Ashley’s storylines follows a similar path and history; the characters are spirited, edgy and inspiring; the romance is intimate and intense.
Reading Order and previous reviews
Quiet Man
Dream Maker
Dream Chaser
Dream Spinner
Copy supplied by Netgalley
Reviewed by Sandy
All the women looked great in them, but none of them looked better than Pepper.
And he thought that even before Pepper, as she strutted down the aisle, caught sight of her daughter, Juno, and shot her girl a huge smile.
Pepper Hannigan was gorgeous.
Anytime she was with her daughter?
Knockout.
They were the next in the line of Lottie’s matches. Auggie and Pepper.
Mo and Lottie were the obvious firsts (Mo was one of Aug’s four best buds), and Lottie earning the love of Mo had been all Lottie’s idea.
Mo never thought he’d find anyone as fantastic as Lots, would never go for it, until Lottie talked him around.
Now Mo was standing at the front of their line, waiting to make her his wife.
Once Lottie got her happy ending, she set about giving the same thing to Mo’s friends…fixing them up with her own crew.
And so far, she’d done a bang-up job.
Mag and Evie, the second couple, were living together and getting married.
Boone and Ryn, the third, were tight, and further, they were in business together.
Axl and Hattie, the fourth, were as good as living together, and practically inseparable. It was him and Pepper who were the holdouts.
This was not for lack of trying on Auggie’s part.
Once he’d met her, Auggie saw no reason not to go for it.
She was gorgeous. She was funny. She spoke her mind. She was laid back. Together. She didn’t seem to have any hang-ups.
But Pepper saw reason not to give it a shot because she had a kid.
He got it. She was being careful. Whatever had torn her and Juno’s dad apart had made her skittish.
So yeah.
He got it.
That didn’t mean it wasn’t torture.
Like right now, when her eyes caught his, the smile that she gave her kid still in them,
and Auggie felt that. He felt it.
Damn.
It wasn’t even aimed at him in any real way, and that residual love she’d targeted at her daughter was so big, it took forever to fade away.
He’d never felt that kind of love.
Not once in his life.
And he wanted it so bad, the backs of his teeth hurt with the need to taste it.
He lost her attention when she shifted to take her place at the front of the church and
Auggie tore his gaze away from her to watch the next woman, Hattie, march down the aisle. On its way, his gaze snagged on Juno.
Dark hair to her mom’s blonde, she was all dressed up, her hair curled —her mom was a bridesmaid in a big wedding with all the prep that entailed, but it was clear Juno had not been forgotten.
She was staring at her mother, beaming with pride.
Seeing that beam made Auggie want even more of what he’d never had. From the both of them.
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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.
