Fighting the Pull (River Rain 5) by Kristen Ashley-review & excerpt tour
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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date September 12, 2023
Hale Wheeler inherited billions from his father. He’s decided to take those resources and change the world for the better. He’s married to his mission, so he doesn’t have time for love.
There’s more lurking behind this decision. He hasn’t faced the tragic loss of his father, or the bitterness of his parents’ divorce. He doesn’t intend to follow in his father’s footsteps, breaking a woman’s heart in a way it will never mend. So he vows he’ll never marry.
But Hale is intrigued when he meets Elsa Cohen, the ambitious celebrity news journalist who has been reporting on his famous family. He warns her off, but she makes him a deal. She’ll pull back in exchange for an exclusive interview.
Elsa Cohen is married to her career, but she wants love, marriage, children. She also wants the impossibly handsome, fiercely loyal, tenderhearted Hale Wheeler.
They go head-to-head, both denying why there are fireworks every time they meet. But once they understand their undeniable attraction, Elsa can’t help but fall for the dynamic do-gooder.
As for Hale, he knows he needs to fight the pull of the beautiful, bold, loving Elsa Cohen, because breaking her would crush him.
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REVIEW:FIGHTING THE PULL is the fifth instalment in Kristen Ashley’s contemporary, adult RIVER RAIN erotic, romance series. This is thirty-year old, billionaire businessman Hale Wheeler, and twenty-seven year old, celebrity journalist Elsa Cohen’s story line. FIGHTING THE PULL can be read as a stand alone but I recommend reading book one AFTER THE CLIMB for backstory as it pertains to Hale’s father Corey Szabo.
NOTE: Due to the nature of the story line premise including talk of suicide, child abuse, and bondage and discipline, there may be triggers for more sensitive readers.
Told from first person perspective (Elsa) and third person perspectives (Hale, Heath) FIGHTING THE PULL follows the building romance and relationship between Hale and Elsa. Elsa’s interview with billionaire Hale Wheeler was about to go off the proverbial rails as Hale was struggling with revealing anything about himself but a few minutes with Elsa found Hale reconsidering the who and what of our story line heroine. A pretend relationship, a potential stalker, and the heart falling for someone who couldn’t love themself found our couple battling the heart break of betrayal, and the dramatic loss of a father that had yet to be acknowledged. What ensues is the building romance and relationship between Hale and Elsa, and the potential fall-out as Elsa is caught in the direct line of fire, and Hale is unable to forgive himself for the damage that is caused.
The world building focuses on three severely dysfunctional families with insights into child abuse, neglect, infidelity, divorce, and the resulting suicide of a man who struggled to come to terms with what happened and why. Kristen Ashley pulls the reader into a heart breaking and emotional look into deteriorating family values precipitated by greed, jealousy, betrayal and vengeance. Innocent children will pay for the sins of the parents but sometimes the child pays more than anyone could have imagined.
The relationship between Elsa and Hale begins acrimoniously as Hale is reluctant to be interviewed by Elsa Cohen but Elsa and Hale are kindred spirits, each suffering with the endless emotional abuse and betrayal by the people sworn to love them the most. As Hale and Elsa come to terms with their own relationship, the past is determined to destroy our couple, taking aim at the woman with whom Hale is falling in love. The $ex scenes are intimate and provocative with some light scenes and discussion of bondage and discipline.
There is a large ensemble cast of colorful, energetic and often destructive secondary and supporting characters including most of the previous story line couples. We are introduced to Elsa’s embattled family, and Hale’s bitter and remorseless mother, as well as Elsa’s co-workers and Hale’s security team.
FIGHTING THE PULL is a story of betrayal and vengeance, loss and acceptance, greed and jealousy, acceptance and love. The haunting premise is heart breaking, emotional, raw and honest; the characters are tragic, animated and starting to heal; the romance is seductive and spicy.
Reading Order and Previous reviews
After the Climb
Chasing Serenity
Taking the Leap
Making the Match
Copy supplied for review
Reviewed by Sandy
Again.
Why he wasn’t letting himself off the hook about this interview he never wanted in the first place, I did not know. And it wasn’t going to be me who let him off the hook. Oh no. Not officially.
But I wasn’t returning his texts, so unofficially, the guy should take a hint.
We’d made a deal almost a year before. The deal was, I’d kinda, sorta lay off his family, he’d give me an interview.
I couldn’t totally lay off his family. They were the most celebrated celebrities in the world. Even the ones who hadn’t sought that out, like Chloe Pierce and Judge Oakley.
But there were a great many different kinds of celebrity news, and it didn’t seem like Hale Wheeler had cottoned on to the fact I wasn’t a mudslinger.
Sure, I also wasn’t an objective journalist. But I wasn’t TMZ either.
Nugget of news: you could share gossip for a living and still be classy. I was proof of that (or I thought I was).
I had my key ready to put into the four locks on the door to the building where my studio was in Brooklyn, and with practiced ease, I was out of the New York autumn morning cold in no time.
I locked the door behind me and headed to the space in the sectioned off warehouse that I rented for my studio.
I had to unlock that door too (only three locks this time), and once inside, I practically ran into Chuck, my cameraman, who was for some reason right there and crowding me.
My space was small, but this was weird.
I looked at his face, and…great.
We’d probably been burgled.
It wasn’t like I had a ton of expensive equipment, but what I had was hard won. I had offers coming in, and they were healthier than I’d allowed myself to dream, but I hadn’t signed on any dotted line. So, for the foreseeable future, ongoing operating costs, and any expansion, was on me.
I didn’t have time to deal with police reports and insurance companies telling me how little they could actually replace seeing as some small line in their contract exempted them from doing what I paid them to do. Nor did I need to be shelling out to replace stuff.
“What’s up?” I warily asked Chuck.
“Hale Wheeler is here,” he whispered.
Oh no.
That was worse than being burgled.
My gaze flew beyond Chuck to my set which was a one-step dais on which sat a mint green velvet swivel chair with a glass-topped gold side table beside it. These were in front of a greenscreen backdrop we could make anything we wanted it to be. Though usually it was subtle pastel green and peach swirls against a soft white with the words “Elsa’s Exchange” repeated throughout.
And damn it all to hell, there he was.
Tall, ridiculously handsome, athletically built Hale Wheeler, the richest man in the world.
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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.
