{"id":32882,"date":"2018-05-14T06:26:41","date_gmt":"2018-05-14T10:26:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=32882"},"modified":"2019-04-04T11:01:48","modified_gmt":"2019-04-04T15:01:48","slug":"review-storm-ashes-embers-1-by-carian-cole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=32882","title":{"rendered":"Review: Storm (Ashes & Embers, #1) by Carian Cole"},"content":{"rendered":"

Buy:\u00a0 Kindle Ebook<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a><\/b><\/h4>\n
\n

\r\n <\/div><\/div><\/b><\/h4>\n
\n

Review<\/b><\/h4>\n

4 stars!<\/b><\/p>\n

This series has been on my radar for a while now. I\u2019m a sucker for rockstar romances, and I loved the set-up for this one, and I\u2019m so glad that I finally dove in!<\/p>\n

Evelyn is on her way to a conference in the middle of a snowstorm when her car ends up in a ditch. She is rescued by a slightly terrifying looking long-haired guy who offers to drive her to help, but when he ends up crashing due to the weather, the two of them become trapped in his truck in the middle of a blizzard. For two days they do little other than eat, sleep and talk, getting to know each other while snuggling together for warmth, with her initial fear and his initial annoyance slowly becoming an attraction that neither of them can ignore.<\/p>\n

But what Evelyn doesn\u2019t know is that Storm is the lead guitarist for heavy metal band, Ashes & Embers. He hasn\u2019t told her, as he is in his home town wanting a break from his on-stage persona, wanting to be himself, and wanting Evelyn to get to know him as he truly is. And once rescue comes and they find themselves safe once again, the stage is set for an epic start to a relationship\u2026 but it\u2019s also not, as Evelyn has a fianc\u00e9.<\/p>\n

So what follows is an emotional journey as Storm and Evelyn stay in touch and completely and absolutely fall for each other. It\u2019s Storm\u2019s first true emotional connection since his first love ended in tragedy, and Evelyn has to figure out where her heart truly lies as she balances the safety and comfort of her current life against the unknown with Storm.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t be frightened off by the potential love triangle. We get a very good picture of Evelyn\u2019s life, of the tragedy she has been through and her struggles with depression and anxiety, and it\u2019s very clear where her heart truly lies. It\u2019s just a matter of watching her work through it and untangle herself, all while she and Storm open up to each other more and more.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou gotta stop living in fear. You can\u2019t see the stars unless you go out in the dark.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And Storm\u2026. wow. Yes, he\u2019s a tattooed, long-haired, motorcycle riding, rock god badass, but he\u2019s also an absolute sweetheart. He is such a nice guy who is patient and understanding with Evelyn, and I loved seeing the soft side of him as he opens his heart up completely to her, and to all that he is feeling for her. But he\u2019s also a filthy bastard with a dirty mouth, so there\u2019s also no shortage of steamy time. It\u2019s a great set up, with well-developed characters, and I was completely hooked as it all played out.<\/p>\n

About the cheating\u2026.

<\/span>Spoiler<\/div>
Yes, there is cheating. Evelyn is engaged for the majority of the book, and though she and Storm don\u2019t enter into a relationship until she has left her fianc\u00e9, they are physical together. There is no sex, but there is pretty much everything else. And she\u2019s emotionally completely invested in Storm before she breaks it off. I know she has issues with making changes in her life, and it\u2019s clear that her fianc\u00e9 is a douche and the relationship is pretty much a farce anyway, but I wish that she had taken the step to end it way earlier than she did.<\/p>\n

And for Storm\u2019s part \u2013 he gets a BJ from one of his long-term hook-ups while he and Evelyn are doing their flirty \u2018courtship\u2019. They aren\u2019t in a relationship at the time, and there had been no sex, but they had done other physical things together and he had made it clear how he felt about her. But with her in a relationship, and him completely frustrated, he gave in one night, though he immediately confessed to Evelyn that he had done it.<\/div><\/div>\n

Technically yes, there is cheating, though you could say the lines are blurry. I\u2019m not a fan of cheating in books but it didn\u2019t bother me too much in this one. I was a bit disappointed in some of their behaviour but it didn\u2019t ruin how I felt about the book overall.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes, the right person comes along at the wrong time, and you have to just trust fate and hope it leads you in the right direction and it all evens out.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And then there\u2019s the rockstar element. It\u2019s there, but it wasn\u2019t as strong a part of the story as I was expecting. We do get to meet the other boys in the band \u2013 all of them Storm\u2019s brothers or cousins \u2013 but not in any great detail and we don\u2019t get to see much of them together, with the focus firmly on Storm and Evelyn\u2019s love story. But from what we did see, I\u2019m intrigued by this group and their dynamic, and I hope that it\u2019s explored more in future books. And then there is an unholy bomb that was dropped as an intro to the next book. I know it\u2019s going to destroy me, but damn, I need to get my hands on it!<\/p>\n

This is my first book by Carian Cole, and I really enjoyed it! It\u2019s a great first book to the series and I\u2019m really excited to continue on.<\/p>\n

4 stars.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ashes & Embers<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\"\" \u00a0\"\" \u00a0\"\" \u00a0\"\" \u00a0\"\"\u00a0 \"\"<\/p>\n

Storm (#1)
\n<\/strong>Review<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Kindle Ebook<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a><\/p>\n

Vandal (#2)
\n<\/strong>Review<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Kindle Ebook\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a><\/p>\n

Lukas (#3)
\n<\/strong>Review<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Kindle Ebook<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a><\/p>\n

Talon (#4)
\n<\/strong>Review<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Kindle Ebook\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a><\/p>\n

Loving Storm (#5)
\n<\/strong>Review<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Kindle Ebook\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a><\/p>\n

* I recommend reading Torn (All Torn Up, #1)<\/a> <\/strong>at this point in the storyline<\/p>\n

Asher (#6)
\n<\/strong>Review<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Kindle Ebook<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Buy:\u00a0 Kindle Ebook\u00a0 |\u00a0 Paperback Review 4 stars! This series has been on my radar for a while now. I\u2019m a sucker for rockstar romances, and I loved the set-up for this one, and I\u2019m […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41756,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","yasr_overall_rating":4,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"Product","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[454,94,9,29],"tags":[843,842,48],"class_list":["post-32882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-audio-recommendation","category-rockers","category-romance","category-steamy","tag-ashes-embers","tag-carian-cole","tag-review"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Storm.jpg?fit=200%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gaNL-8ym","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32882\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}