TAKE ME HARDER (Texas Bounty #3) by Jackie Ashenden

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date February 7, 2017

An ex-con with a bad-boy reputation falls for his childhood sweetheart—a good-girl cop chasing a ruthless killer—as the Texas Bounty series gets steamier than the Lone Star State.

Rush Redmond never expected freedom to taste so bittersweet. He spent eight years in jail doing someone else’s time, and for what? As an ex-con, Rush can’t work as a bounty hunter like his brothers—not in Texas. Better to drown his sorrows with a stiff drink and soft curves. Too bad the temptation he craves is a redhead with a badge: Ava St. George. Once upon a time, Rush would’ve done anything for the sheriff’s innocent daughter. Now he’s fighting the urge to let her sweet-talk him into some trouble he can’t afford.

Even though she’s a cop, Ava knows that sometimes justice means pushing the boundaries of the law. To track down her mother’s killer, she turns to the man with the county’s criminal underworld in his little black book. The boy she knew is still drop-dead gorgeous, with panty-dropping charm as smooth as his smile. But his sculpted arms and the menacing gleam in his eyes scream “Don’t mess with me.” Yet Ava needs Rush more than ever—in more ways than one.

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REVIEW: TAKE ME HARDER is the third installment in Jackie Ashenden’s contemporary, adult TEXAS BOUNTY erotic, romance series. This is former inmate and reluctant bounty hunter Rush Redmond, and police officer Ava St. George’s story line. TAKE ME HARDER can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story line is revealed where necessary.

Some background: Rush, Quinn and Zane Redmond are the current owners of LONE STAR BOUNTY since the death of their father months before. Lone Star Bounty is a struggling business but a business that brings the brothers closer together.

Told from dual third person perspectives (Rush and Ava) TAKE ME HARDER looks at the friends to lovers romance between Rush Redmond, a former inmate who served eight years for a crime he did not commit; and naïve rookie cop Ava St. George-a woman determine to uncover the truth about her mother’s demise. When Ava receives a anonymous tip about the death of her beloved mother-a police officer killed in the line of duty- Ava knows that to dig deeper she will need a list of contacts she knows only one man will have. Enter Rush Redmond, recently release from jail, and the man that has always called to Ava’s heart. What ensues is the tempestuous relationship between Ava and Rush; Ava’s need to uncover the truth; and Rush’s journey to discover the who and what of his past, and the heartbreaking rejection by his brother and dad.

Ava has always believed her mother, Lauren St. George, was killed by a drug dealer but a recent phone call from an unknown source revealed that the wrong man was arrested for her mother’s shooting. Rush Redmond was the only person with the available means to ferret out the information and contacts that Ava required but the man she loved was no longer the man she remembered years before. Ava has been in love with Rush Redmond since she was a little girl but eight years behind bars hardened Rush Redmond into someone she no longer knew. Rush Redmond is an angry man; a former member of the armed forces, a military man who upon his return three years later began working in the family’s LONE STAR BOUNTY business only to take the fall when a shooting goes horribly wrong. Ava’s request of Rush is met with derision , harassment and too much anger but our heroine is determined to take down the man who destroyed her mother’s life –with or without Rush Redmond’s help.

The relationship between Ava and Rush is acrimonious. Rush will direct his anger at the woman who calls to his heart; his treatment of Ava is reprehensible, rude and vulgar. Rush is nothing short of a pr*ck and an a$$hole; his demons ride very close to the surface. Ava is so desperate for information that she is willing to submit to Rush’s demands believing the man she once knew hides behind the cold and rough hewn exterior. The $ex scenes are erotic and intense. Some readers may take offense to Rush’s treatment of the story line heroine.

Most of the previous story line couples and characters play secondary and supporting roles including Rush’s brother Zane, and the love of his life Iris Callahan (Take Me Deeper #1) , as well as Nora Sutcliffe of Duchess Bail Bonds (Make It Hurt #2). Quinn Redmond may or may not have an attraction to Duchess Bail Bonds owner Lily ‘Duchess’ Hammond. The Redmond brothers are a little rough around the edges and continue to push one another’s buttons; I am hoping the author reveals more of the family history because the brother’s relationship struggles with secrets from the past. Rush can only surmise why he had to suffer through his father and brother’s rejections. The requisite evil comes with many faces including an expensive bottle of bourbon that all but tries to destroy Rush’s life.

The world building continues to focus on the struggling sibling relationships between Rush, Quinn and Zane Redmond, as well as the bounty ‘collections’ that come into the office.The hunt for the man responsible for destroying Ava’s life reveals some interesting facts about Rush Redmond’s past.

TAKE ME HARDER is a gritty romance about a broken man who lost eight years of his life for a man who seemingly despised the ground upon which he walked. The premise is dark and multi-layered; the characters are tragic and tense; the romance is difficult and struggles in the face of one man’s anger and shame.

Reading Order and Previous Reviews
Take Me Deeper
Make It Hurt
Take Me Harder

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy