People see what they want to see. They only view what’s on the surface, and they’re easy to fool. I let them see on the outside that I’m a successful businesswoman. My clothes are designer, my makeup flawless, and I live in a high-rise condo in Lennox Hills. They see perfection, not what lies beneath the surface.The real me, the one I keep hidden is a broken-hearted woman who uses the makeup to … makeup to hide her tears. The expensive clothing covers a heart once shattered by love. The walls of my expensive home shelter a lonely woman who hides the fact that deep down she wants to be loved. A woman who is too scared to risk her fragile heart.
For ten years, I’ve managed to hide behind the image of perfection. Only letting people see what’s on the surface.
Until I ran into him.
Now, every raw emotion, every shattered piece of my heart that I buried long ago is exposed outside the protective walls of my high-rise condo. No matter how hard I try, I can’t keep the walls from crumbling. He sees me beyond the image that I’ve created. He says he can handle what’s below the surface, but can I?
On the Surface is a standalone second chance, single dad romance
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This was basically my thought process on this one…
Nikki Ash wrote a book? Sign me up!
It’s a second chance romance? Gimme! Gimme!
It’s a single dad trope?! OMG, I NEED IT NOW!
I think I was in the minority when I didn’t hate Celeste at the end of The Pickup (and Going Deep). I didn’t really care for her but I definitely didn’t hate her. I felt she was misunderstood and I couldn’t wait to read her story. I wanted to dive into her background and find out how she ended up the way she did.
Jase and Celeste, man… they are something else.
I really enjoyed reading their story.
There were a couple things that didn’t personally work for me but it was a good story. I mean, it’s a sexy, tattooed, single dad, what’s not to love??
Amazing awesome heartbreaking and Beautiful…. only some of the words to use to describe this awesome book !
I don’t know how she does it but I hope Nikki keeps throwing them out at us wow just bloody wow !
That ending omg loved it !
Definitely a must read !
Never judge a book by its cover is a wise adage, and in the case of both Celeste and Jase, it would be easy to make that mistake. Rich, successful, beautiful, all put together Celeste, and tattooed, bad boy Jase..and there you are. A gorgeous, second chance love story that is just bursting at the seams with energy, character and back plot. And I loved every minute.
This is a book which drew me in from the start and, even though I had not read the first two books in the series, I did not feel lost or confused. The writing was too clear and well thought out for that. It stands on its own worthy feet and told me an entirely fabulous story that had so much interest going on that I will have to play catch up and read the rest. What a very good read!
Oh My Heart!!! I knew I was going to LOVE Celeste as soon as we met her in The Pickup! She is spunky and fearless (all on the outside of course) full of sass and confidence and I am SO happy that she got her own story! She’s a girl after my own heart for sure! Although it was not anywhere close to what I thought it would be! It was sooooo much better! I love everything about the banter she and Jase have and the ease of which they connect to each other. He is so smart and perceptive and I just adore how great and protective of a dad he is. Celeste is haunted by not only her past but the fear of who she will become because of it. Being with Jase tears her up because she is happy but he also reminds her everyday of not only what she never had, but what she fears she can never become. This story just shows the adversity you can overcome and the the love you can be capable of, if you just trust it. A book so heartfelt with so many swoony moments I think I got dizzy! In the best way mind you! Just when I thought Killian was it for me, Jase came storming in with his tattoos (I’m such a sucker for those) and heartmelting single dadness! Beginning to end, this story was so well rounded, with just the right amount of surprises and ah ha moments. The ending gets the wheels turning for sure! She has a way of just pulling out the best in her characters that has me just rooting for their HEA. I am loving this series by Nikki so much! Another wonderful story!!!
Every time Nikki Ash releases another book, I find my new favorite read. On The Surface is no exception. All of the characters have so much depth and the plot plays out like you are watching a movie. I absolutely loved it! I was so intrigued by Celeste and Jase’s story, I read it in one sitting!!! I was up until 2am and I had to work the next day. Oh well, totally worth it!
If you have read the previous two books (side note..you don’t have to read them to read On The Surface, it is a stand-alone), then you know that Celeste and Nick (The Pickup) have been best friends since childhood. I really think that their friendship is what saved Celeste, career wise. On The Surface, we see the beautiful, successful businesswoman and model. Beneath the surface, we see the broken little girl. Beneath the surface, we see a girl who just wants to be loved…but by who? Not the men she’s dating right now, that much is clear. Jase stole her heart ten years ago, but now he’s back….with a daughter. Now she’s a mess On The Surface. Only one person can fix it. Is Jase capable of putting her back together?
Jase is a friend of Nick’s. Mr. Hotness with all the tattoos. Also known as the guy who broke Celeste’s heart, so he had better freaking fix it!!! Oh and #jaseismine
On the Surface Nikki Ash
We finally get Celeste’s story in this book 3 of the series. While we met her as Nick’s best friend, she soon developed into an extremely independent and stubborn woman! We could always tell there was more to her below the surface and we finally get to see what it is. She is still strong, independent and stubborn, but we also learn Just how broken she is. Eleven years after Jase crushed her heart they are reunited and things need to be settled between them- only if it was that easy!
Love this story and the storyline. Adding Skyla into the mix was exactly what Celeste needed she just didn’t know it!
Can be read as a stand alone but I highly recommend guy read all three books in the series as they are all interconnected.
As always Nikki Ash delivers another five star read!
Nikki Ash has done it again! She once again delivers a phenomenal story that left me speechless! I know I say this after every one of her books, but somehow it rains true, this is my favorite!
Celeste is my favorite Nikki Ash heroine if not character. When we first meet Celeste way back in The Pickup she’s the bitchy fiance to Nick. We all know the real story but just in case you haven’t read The Pickup you should!! She was introduced as the wicked witch in their fairytale, which she may have been a bit of that witch, but you just knew there was something else there. Some people are just assholes to be assholes it’s just how the world works, but Celeste just never gave that vibe to me. However, I never would have guessed her story.
“Her love for my father destroyed her, and I refuse to ever be destroyed by a man.”
Celeste one hundred percent believes that she will live her life believing the words above. Never wanting to end up like her mother, broken. Her mother’s brokenness is the reason Celeste had to poor, loveless upbringing she did. Her mother spent her entire life waiting for a man who left her and never came back. She refused to better herself aways living on a hope that he would come back. Celeste was never a child, she was the adult in her house, and it definitely jaded her outlook on life. Her childhood makes me want to cry for her as a child or her lack of ever being a child. Drug addiction and alcohol addictions are huge problems in this world and for many children they are the adults in their homes. Nikki does a fantastic job at showing us what happens in a lot of homes.
Celeste and Jace meet when she is eighteen, and she falls in love with him after just a few short days together. A misunderstanding tears them apart and she never gets over it. Her ice cold heart because frozen and she refuses to even think of the idea of love. She channels that hurt and anger into become a worldwide phenomenon. Everything she always dreamed of having she gets, and she doesn’t realize she wants more until she comes face to face with Jase again!
Let’s be real it takes a special kind of guy to be able to stand next to Celeste and Jase Crawford is that guy. He’s the hot AF, single dad, tattoo artist who knocks Celeste off her feet again. Jase never understood why Celeste just ran from him all those years ago, and coming face to face with her now brings all his old feelings back.
Jase and Celeste were beyond words hot, I wasn’t sure if I should fan myself and keep reading, or hide under the table because they were going to explode. Ten years apart did nothing for their sexual tension but make it more intense. I love a good slow burn type of relationship, but holy hell the instant explosive kind that these two have was so much better.
Jase has a thirteen year old daughter who just adds so much to this story. She has this instant connection to Celeste, and yes I think it’s originally because she knows who she is, but it doesn’t take long to realize it’s so much more than that!
“With her fancy makeup and designer clothes, she appears strong from up in her high-rise expensive condo. As if she’s on top of the world. But hidden behind her makeup and clothes, behind the walls she’s built up to protect herself, is a vulnerable, insecure women who just wants to be loved.”
Hurt runs deep and sometimes we just don’t know how to get over the hurt we feel. For Celeste it’s the hurt from her mother, then it’s the hurt of what she thought she saw with Jase. I know we can’t blame our childhood on our behaviors, we are responsible for our own paths and all that. But Celeste’s hurt doesn’t make her a bad person it makes her driven and guarded. Celeste is absolutely terrified she doesn’t know how to love because of how her mother was growing up. But she doesn’t even know she’s loving someone when she does. Her heart is just so much bigger and warmer than she realizes. She doesn’t see the things that she does, she does because she loves. For someone who is so afraid to love, she does it so freely, and really without question.
Everything about OTS is just perfect! I love Celeste so much, and always knew there was way more under her surface that she showed. But for her it just took the right person to peel back her layers and really get to see it. Underneath all the makeup, expensive clothes, fancy condo is a woman with a broken heart who needed someone to love her for who she really is, the girl who grew up on the wrong side of town, in a trailer with a mother who was too stuck in he own hurt to b a mother.
When I was reading this book I was so stuck in the book I didn’t notice anything else. I started the book and then stopped to get a drink and realized I was 76% in and I had no idea how it even happened. This book is that good! I give all the stars in the sky to Nikki Ash and On The Surface! I always feel all kinds of emotions when I read her books, and they always hit me in my heart but with Celeste she just I have no words. She is one of the realist characters you will ever read!