Sebring by Kristen Ashley Review
4.5 Smooches
Synopsis
Nick Sebring has issues. Born feeling like an outsider in his own family, growing up under the shadow of a brother who could do anything, Nick isn’t that great of a guy. But when this culminates with Nick lashing out to hurt his brother through the woman he loves, Nick turns inward and makes some decisions about the man he intends to be.
And as he does this, he falls in love and truly learns the man that he’s grown to be.
When his love is murdered right before Nick’s eyes, Nick knows he has to avenge her. He knows how he’s going to avenge her. And he has no qualms using Olivia Shade to exact that vengeance.
Olivia Shade has grown up on the outside of her family too. Her problem is that they don’t want her outside. They want her all the way in, right under their thumbs. She pays the price for seeking escape and learns her lesson—she’ll never see a dawn where she wakes up free.
Then she meets Nick Sebring, and even as she fights it, the hope that died years ago starts to blossom. She can find love. She can have a man of her own. She can be happy. She can be free.
Olivia hopes while Nick schemes.
However, as Nick peels back the layers of all that is Olivia Shade, he finds something surprising. He understands its fragility. He falls in love with its beauty. He seeks to protect it.
But he forgets to protect his Livvie from one thing: Nick Sebring.
Review
‘For one magnificent second, connected to Nick Sebring, I believed. I believed in a better world. I believed I could feel complete. I believed I could have someone by my side. I believed I could feel safe. I believed I could be happy. I believed I could be loved. I believed in a dawn coming where I could open my eyes and have all of this only for it to lead to another day dawning where I’d have it and then another day . . . And another . . . And another . . . And another . . . ‘
Whenever a much anticipated Kristen Ashley books appears on my kindle a little early I get all tingly all over. I mean this is KA who doesn’t get excited. Anyone who has been following the Unfinished Heroes series from the start has been on pins and needles waiting for Nick Sebring’s book eagerly and it was absolutely not a let down.
‘Sometimes you got away with dealing day to day with the devil. Sometimes you got burned.’
So here is what makes Sebring unique to me, Olivia is not a great person. She is cold and bitchy and dare I say shady. Life has not been easy for her and out of obligation to her family she works in a life of crime doing things she never wanted to be doing. Nick has always to me been seen as an asshole. He did everything wrong in Knight and left me curious to see how he could change to become a leading man in the end. Love changed him, but not Olivia’s. Nick was in love with his FBI contact and when she was killed he vowed revenge on the man who killed her. Now, years later his quest and her secret life have them crossing paths and on the very first meet their chemistry explodes.
“Not good with orders, Sebring.” “Don’t give a fuck, Olivia.”
First off, Is there anything as delicious as the way a Kristen Ashley man talks? To me they are the epitome of the alpha man and every time they say “Babe”, “Give me the words” or some other KA phrase my panties just melt right off my body.
‘I was done fighting. We had what we had and it was good. And it kept getting better. It had only been a couple of weeks but it was clear Nick had his life, I had mine, he didn’t share or pry, I didn’t either. It didn’t feel surface, what we had, but it also didn’t run deep/ What it did feel was safe.’
What started out an incredibly hot, emotionless and nameless sex grew to a deep, caring and emotional relationship. Absolutely nothing about Nick and Olivia’s story was easy or just simple fun but every word gave me the feels and had me desperate and eager to learn more about these two lost souls. At the beginning of Sebring I was unsure how I felt about the cold and detached Olivia but as the story unfolded and as I got deeper and deeper inside her head it became crystal clear that her attitude was a rouse and something she used to hide behind. Nick slowly works his way in, first through sex only hook ups and eventually as someone she cared deeply for, to bring out the real Olivia and she was a heroine I learned to understand and love.
‘Oh yeah. Fuck yes. She owned him. He’d never been owned. Not even by Hettie. But he was hers. All hers. Olivia’s.’
I am always sad to see a series I love come to a conclusion but I honestly cannot think of a better way for KA to end the Unfinished Heroes. From the start with Knight we knew this would be something different, full of people who walk the grey line, not all good but not all bad. And with Sebring this point came to perfect crescendo. What has been building for five books all came together in the end and I am once again reminded that while her books all have similar feels to them, Kristen Ashley’s stories are as diverse and unique as they could possibly be. I urge you all to five into Sebring and learn how two people on the wrong side of the law can still have a love story for the ages.
“It isn’t for me,” she stated. “What isn’t for you?” “Dawn.” Beyond tweaked, that word made him more so. “Dawn?” I live in dark. Dawn never comes for me. There will be no new day where I wake up complete. Happy. Loved. There is no other side to make my way to. There is no believe. It just isn’t for me.” “I can take you there.” “No you can’t, Sebring. Can’t you see.”
With Sebring, Nick has finally stepped out of his brothers shadow and established himself as a true KA man. Dare I even say that I loved Sebring more than Knight! (GASP) Nick’s journey of personal growth and his ability to become selfless for Olivia just made Sebring completely stand out for me. I can only hope to see him in a cameo in a future book!
~miranda
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