Hanna Boudreaux has lived in the small town of Willow all her life. She’s sweet, cute and quiet.Hanna has a moment of epiphany when she realizes her crush for forever, Raiden Ulysses Miller, is not ever going to be hers. She sees her life as narrow and decides to do something about it.Raiden Miller is the town’s local hero. A former Marine with the medal to prove his hero status, he comes home, … status, he comes home, shrouded in mystery. It takes a while, but eventually Hanna catches his eye.
After all these years of Raid and Hanna living in the same town, the question is why? Is Raid interested in Hanna because she’s sweet and cute? Or does Raid have something else going on?
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Narrator Review:
I listened to the audio of this and the narrator was perfect for Hanna. Her voice had the perfect infliction to pull of Hanna’s adorableness.
Story Review:
This book is my favorite of the series so far and that has a lot to do with Hanna. Usually it’s the H that makes me fall for a book, but I absolutely loved Hanna. I loved how she was so Pollyanna and wasn’t annoying about it. Raid kept calling her adorable and she was. I loved Raid as well, however, he had a moment where I wanted to throat punch him. I’m not sure if all Kristen Ashley’s Hero’s are like this since I’ve only read 3 books so far, but sometimes her Alpha’s come off a bit mean. Don’t get me wrong, I love a very strong Alpha. The more possessive, controlling and protective the better, but I do not like it when the Hero calls his heroine names. That’s uncool in my book. It only happened once and he came back groveling and completely made up for it. This is definitely a 5 star read and a future re-read for me.
Raid pulled me in right from the start and I swear there was never a time I wanted to stop. It was all-consuming and intense. I loved the drama, tension, and emotion. I loved the healing and love, and all the different bonds. This was an excellent read!
Hanna Boudreaux has had a crush on Raiden Miller since she was a kid, but she always believed that he never saw her. When he came back to Willow, Colorado after being a Marine she thought maybe he might notice her now that she was grown up but those thoughts got a huge jolt after seeing Raid with another woman who clearly is the complete opposite of her.
Hanna gets on Raid’s radar during an investigation and he is intrigued. Something about the sweet way Hanna embraces life and all the little things she does for those in her circle. Raid pursues Hanna with a relentlessness that has Hanna wondering why now?
This was completely riveting. Raid is intense and he is completely in it with Hanna and even though he has his secrets he plans to bring her in the fold sooner then later. Hanna is adorable, she is a breath of fresh air who you definitely want to know more about. Full of interesting characters. Wonderful.
Kit is doing serious damage to my book boyfriend list. I mean, with her books alone, I have one for each day of the month. Lol. Raid is no different.
Summary:
Hanna Boudreaux grew up in Willow, CO, and she also grew up crushing on Raiden Miller. Hanna is a small town girl. Sweet, cute, and leads a quiet, content life. Raid is the local hero. he was popular and great in sports then was commended for joining the marines upon graduating high school. Everyone though he was career until the unthinkable happens and most of his unit is lost in an operation. His return is mysterious and no one is quite sure where his head is at, but that makes no difference to Hanna. After hoping and praying for years that Raid will open his eyes and fall madly in love with her, her dream of happily ever after fizzles away. She takes a look at her life, and although happy, she wants to have adventure and learn new things, so she sets about doing this. Some months later after expanding her business, changing up her look, and making friends with two local potheads, she is unexpectedly gifted with Raid’s intense attention. Hanna is beside herself with glee that he is interested in her. It’s her dream come true, but happens when Hanna uncovers he may have only paid her attention to get close to her two friends that may or may not be using her? Of course, Hanna gets upset and jumps the gun, ruining the eleven month mission Raid was working. See, Raid used his superior skills to become a bounty hunter of the criminal underworld. He lays this out for Hanna while freaking her out in the process, but she is determined to help him heal and show him the good he can get from her. So starts their relationship. Raid is nothing but happy that he has Hanna to come home to, but he has issue of PTSD to work through from when he was apart of the corp, and it takes its toll on their budding romance. Can Raid work through his issues in a way that wont bring harm to Hanna, and can they both survive the consequences brought on by being involved with the criminal element?
Like I said, I loved this book! Hanna sounds a lot like me in personality, so I totally bonded with her in about two paragraphs. Lol. And who wouldn’t bond with Raid? The badass man is smokin!! I also loved the military association. As a proud Army wife, I know the state of mind of a soldier returning home after a relatively easy deployment let alone one returning from a tragedy. I loved that KA brought this to the forefront and didn’t shy away from the difficulties this brings to relationships back home. Nothing has happened to my hubby like what happened to Raid, but after five years of marriage and 2 deployments, I know better than to stand too close when waking him up from a dead sleep. It’s just the way it goes. I related to that, and was pulled in deeper because of it.
Great story! It has been a bit since we heard from Marcus, and he popped up, so I was happy to read. It just makes me wish he got his own story we could pore over. I also can’t wait for Deacon’s story. He truly intrigues me, and I want to know exactly what happened to turn him into stone, and meet the fascinating woman that can turn it all around. KA is an amazing writer and story teller. Read and enjoy! <3
Audiobook edit: Excellent book, but only okay narration. A couple of mispronounced words. But I loved the emotion behind the narrator’s voice in a lot of scenes.
Another amazing novel by a favorite author. I especially loved Raid in this one. He actually apologizes. Plus his absolute adoration of Hanna was beautiful. A definite hit!
Hanna was charming and cute, with a tone of steel sassiness and a practicality I liked. Raiden was a bossy bit of goods, but his honorable nature and general sweetness (mainly around Hannah) balanced things out. He also *gasp* apologizes to Hanna when he screwed up, winning brownie points for owning up to his pigheaded reaction. Another favorite character was Hanna’s grandmother Mildred. She was an adorable hoot with sage advice and a sense of humor I simply adored!
Their romance, even with the snafus and misunderstandings, was…well, cute in the scheme of things. They had sexy moments and not so sexy moments, but the emotional intimacy was one I could totally support and appreciate. Raiden wasn’t as in your face as some KA heroes, which is probably why I liked him, but he still had the alpha presence, protectiveness, and short speak to match. I loved how he fell for Hanna and owned up to it, but I really liked how he admitted he became a better man because of meeting and opening up to her.
Hanna and Raiden were unbelievably sweet and I loved their story! I have grown to like Kristen Ashley’s characters, but there are only a handful I will say I truly love and Raiden and Hanna can pop on that list! This series isn’t a favorite by any means, but this story has easily become one.
After reading ‘Knight’ I knew I had found the right author for me and I knew I’d be getting my ‘alpha’ fix, so once again I really, really have to thank that friend for introducing me to Kristen. Raid is just like Knight except the boy is ex-military and he’s just as all sorts of bossy which I loved! “Cute outfit. Glass of wine. Sexy, messy hair. Cute house that looks out of a magazine. Not a lick of makeup and you look prettier than any woman I’ve seen in over a year. Gabbin’ on the phone you look this good, in a place that looks this good every day when that s***’s impossible.” He paused before he concluded, “Chick flick.” Yea if that’s his way of asking you to the movies Hanna I’d be all up in that like a bag of oreos! Raid is, well he doesn’t hold his thoughts in and I liked that you sometimes get these guys who are all timid and shy, not Raid hell no that boy says what he’s thinking, “You, that dress, those shoes, that hair, beverages and furniture you can get horizontal on would not be a good combination.” Raid is also protective of his woman, let me tell you what, “One, Hanna apologized. The right thing to do is accept, not throw it in her face. Two, Miss Mildred can take care of herself, and she’s too old to give a damn what you think. Obviously, Hanna cares or she wouldn’t have apologized when she had no need to. Now what you gotta know is, If I’m standing next to her or not and I just hear your rude to her, I’ll take it as you bein’ rude straight to me and I think most folks in this town know you do not want to be rude to me.” Hanna’s grammy reminded me so much of mine (I kinda just made it sound like mine passed but she’s alive and kickin’ haha) “Naptime for biddies, son, so the check. And I’m old, I’m a grandmother, so that means I pay and I don’t care how much of a man you are. When you’re old and a grandfather you’ll know what I mean and you’ll be glad you let me do it.” Raid is also sweet in his ‘alpha’ kind of way, “Uh…yeah, Hanna. I decided to have a home again, and after I spend time dealin’ with scum, I wanna come home. Home to a house with a porch swing where I can wash that scum down the drain and climb into bed with a woman who puts an outrageously fat cat in her ludicrous basket on her ridiculous bike. My woman.” Needless to say this was another hit for me.
“Do you want to see me crawl across the floor to you?” – “Bell Bottom Blues” Eric Clapton
One of the questions I ask myself at the end of reading the book is simply “Did you feel the love?” As this is the first ever book I have read from this author, I went in completely blind on the recommendation alone of my reading friends on Goodreads. What in the world have I been missing? I was thoroughly enchanted and yes, I felt the love and I fell in love with the characters, Hanna, Raiden (Raid), and Great-grandma Mildred (Grams). I do believe this is the start of a lifetime of getting to know a new author for me, Ms. Kristen Ashley.
This quiet small town far from the big city, Denver, CO comes alive for the reader. The charm of caring small town folks, small town businesses and small town life gives us the soil from which Hanna and Raid were raised. Just as in life, it may have all this goodness but the town is not immune from the effects of the larger issues of the world…the effects of evil…be it simple small minded pettiness to life and death struggles involving serious questions of right and wrong…within the law or without.
Hanna has lived her entire life in the town even staying behind as her parents flew south to nest for their “golden years”. She also had the anchor of her profoundly wise and solidly loving Great-grandma (Grams) and lest I forget that bike-riding, persnickety, aspiring hero cat, Spot.
In the beginning of the book we observe Hanna at the end of an epiphany. She was pining away for the handsome beyond words Raid who hadn’t given her the time of day. She adjusted a few things in her life, a new “do”, a cruise vacation, a new car and what eventually made her devastatingly cute to Raid, her girly-pink bike. She wanted to live her life less “narrow” more expansive letting go of her girlhood dream that lived with her for so long. She was quirky, learning to be perceptive and wise like Grams, and Hanna’s love was never half measure. She was a talented afghan maker and created a cottage industry from her nationally sought after skills at handiwork and fruit preserves.
Just when she stopped pinning, as really…it so happens to be the case in real life, the guy meant for you comes along. He, of course, was Raid for Hanna. Hanna describes his every physical detail from his height, his body, his forearms, his expressions, his sheer presence as “magnificent”. The reader swoons with her and falls in love as he finds her hilarious and expresses sheer delight at who Hanna is and what she can come to represent for him, “his reward”.
The author takes on quite the ride with these two. The story bends in unexpected ways. For the issues that Raid had to carry on his shoulders even prior to his life-altering and soul damaging experiences as a battle-tested Marine, I thought the author gave this character an authentic way of being. From his speech patterns to his difficulties. He was thoroughly human in his faults and failings, oh but can he love!!!
Hanna was warned by her Grams about the dangerous fire that she would be jumping into with Raid. Hanna was written again not as a perfect character but human in the arms and looking at the face of her one true love but ready to “draw a line in the sand” if need be. The fire and fireworks took my breath away!!!
I was shocked by the level of heat and the touch of kink in all of this hometown sweetness. It was lovely, exciting, titillating and maybe a little filthy in a very, very good way. There are some scenes from this book that will live in my mind perhaps forever. The lyric I began my review with has a new mental picture…a new mental connection creating new ideas for me.
This writer has an unique voice in her style, her word play and she does play with words so well.
“‘Um . . . they haven’t measured this level of good , thus it has as yet gone undefined , so the answer is yes , but the word is wrong .’”- Hanna
I enjoy her writing style and the little things she fills in about a scene…or a mood give the story a lush feel. I enjoy when an author uses stilted sentences at times…it allows the reader to think in between the lines.
Ultimately, she said so much about loving in this book. She gives women a few ideas on how to enjoy your Alpha male with less friction. She shows what love can do to encourage insight and help a loved one to go and seek their peace primarily for their own sake…and to seek healing to stop the trauma from stealing anymore of the good things that life can be. Ultimately it taught me that it is a high honor with a sacred responsibility to be someone’s “reward.”
Love this series! Stand alones but these men work together. Each book different anti-hero. Very entertaining!