Review: Stunning!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 11, 2014
Karen-Anne Stewart’s writing always captivates me from the word go, and with Ash to Steele, I knew that I was going to be in for a very special and beautifully told story. Emma and Breck were such wonderful multi-dimensional characters that I could really connect and empathise with.Emma was a brilliant character that I think many young women can relate to, as an artist she is relentlessly hopeful for her new future in the city, after leaving behind the small town she grew up in, and the loving, yet smothering community there. It was really exciting to see how such a sweet character fought hard to be accepted in a big city and to make her own mark on the world, and I really thought of Emma as an inspiration to other young women.I’m a sucker for a good girl/bad boy romance, and whilst ‘Ash to Steele’ is definitely this, it is also so much more than that. Breck was a bad-boy who I just knew from the start could be exceptionally loyal when it came to the people he loved, and I loved how meeting Emma made him change his ways, and open up his small circle of loved ones to include her. Their connection was something that made this book really special and has stayed with me long after finishing the book. It even took me a couple of weeks to write a review for this book because I just couldn’t put into words the intense feelings that Breck and Emma’s story invoked in me.The pacing of the story was just fantastic and had me gripped throughout. I just had to know whether Breck and Emma would get their HEA, and my heart was thumping throughout the beautifully written emotional scenes where Emma refuses to leave Breck alone when his past comes back to haunt him, and he returns to the harsh persona he adopted at the beginning of the book. Their relationship was for me, the highlight of the book, and to see Breck’s protective nature and how they built a strong friendship before they got together, despite their attraction to each other, made the development of their story all that more beautiful to witness.As always Karen-Anne Stewart delivered an absolutely stunning book which has stayed with me long after finishing it. Every character, even the secondary characters are so well developed, that they become so much more to me than characters in a story, and instead feel like long-lost friends. It is the sign of a really good author that they can invoke this feeling in their readers, and Karen-Anne Stewart never fails to deliver.5 Stars!