Dream Maker (Dream Team, #1)

by Kristen Ashley

Two broken hearts find love and healing in each other in this sexy contemporary romance spin-off from the New York Times bestselling author of the Rock Chick and Dream Man series.
Evan "Evie" Gardiner has spent her whole life being the responsible one in her family, but enough is enough. It's time to pursue her own dreams. Evie's finally going to finish that engineering degree she's been working toward. But first she needs to come up with the money to pay for tuition. Working as a dancer at Smithie's club seems like the perfect solution to her problems . . . until her family lands in yet another scrape and comes to Evie for help. Only, this time, her family's recklessness is risking more than her dreams-it's endangering her life.
Daniel "Mag" Magnusson knows a thing or two about desperation and disappointment, but no one notices that his good looks and quick wit hide the painful memories that haunt him. When Evie's family puts her in danger, Mag insists on offering Evie his protection. He has the skills to guard Evie's life, but as they grow closer, Mag realizes he'll need to come face-to-face with his demons to prove himself as the man who will protect her heart.

• ISBN13: 9781538733868
• Publish Date: 26 May 2020
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Forever
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 496
• Language: English

Reviews

[leelu92]

When I need a comfort read, KA is at the top of my list and I love that I have so many of her books to choose from that I know will reset my palate and make me feel great.
I cannot tell you how much I have enjoyed heading back into the KA's world of the Rock Chicks, the Hot Bunch, Chaos and more.
I love having a new group to get to know but still have familiar faces involved in the storyline. It's exciting and comforting at the same time.
Dream Maker checked all of my boxes and I'm eagerly looking forward to more from the Dream Team series!

*Copy provided publisher/Netgalley

[thebookdisciple]

Dream Maker by Kristen Ashley kicks off a new series and its kind of like next gen Rock Chick/Dream Man series. Yes, I found it to be derivative and very similar to her aforementioned series. However, I enjoyed those, and I enjoyed Dream Maker as well. I think fans of KA will love that she kept her signature style.

Evan, or Evie, is a woman with a messed up family. I think a lot of readers can relate to her struggle to help her family simply because they are family. However, they are toxic and in this case, going to get her killed. She has a blind date with Danny, aka Mag, and it does not go like either planned.

There is plenty of danger and drama-Evie is now embroiled in a seriously messed up situation with some seriously bad dudes. But, she is also in the midst of having some life changing epiphanies. You see a lot of growth in Evie as she realizes that her life doesn't have to be what it was. I really enjoyed her as a character.

Danny is your typically KA alpha. He is a "commando" type who works for Hawk (from Mystery Man) and he has his own baggage. If you like the over the top macho man, you will adore Danny. Seriously, KA writes some very masculine men!

While I struggled with Dream Maker early on, somewhere around the 20% mark that changed and I dug in and enjoyed it. Its a long book, but it didn't FEEL long, which I think is a trait of good writing.

 

•   POV: 1st and 3rd (this annoyed me a little-its 1st when its Evie, and 3rd when its Danny)


•   Tears: no


•   Trope: damsel in distress, girl squad rep


•   Triggers: none


•   Series/Standalone: standalone


•   Cliffhanger: no


•   HEA: yes, of course!

The Rock Chick series by Kristen Ashley...then you will probably like Dream Maker!

 

Dream Maker

 See full review on The Book Disciple

[whisperingchapters]

By 8% I was done with this book, but I pushed myself to read more. I ended up DNF'ing at 21%. I couldn't stand Evie. All she said when she was introduced was go on and on about how she was a millennial. She said this way too many times, then went off to explain why she was a millenial--in excruciating and exhausting detail--for 2 to 3 pages. She turned out to be a walking/talking stereotype.

Then there's Mag. At first he seemed like a hero I would like, until he wasn't. He turned out to be a guy I didn't like at all. He meets Evie at her place when her phone rings with a notification. This guy goes and GRABS her phone and reads the text message she had received (invasion of privacy, anyone?) THEY JUST MET! He doesn't need to go and grab her phone and invade her privacy! Again, THEY. JUST. MET. As if that wasn't enough, he basically threatens her with hacking into her phone so he can read all of her texts and listen to her phone calls if she kicks him out of her apartment. EXCUSE ME?! Thank you, next. He was an asshole.

Let's go to the writing. *cue all the eye-rolls in the world* The writing is so freaking cringy! I understand this is the author's style of writing and I understand including details, but... Is it just me or is it unbelievably childish? Does every boring detail needs to be included? Not only that, we get a lot of thought-vomit, to the point where I would get lost and couldn't keep track of what was the point of the heroine's thought-rant. I'm not kidding when I say an entire paragraph would be dedicated to explaining something so insignificant. I honestly couldn't deal.

Everything I read was super cringy. I searched for reviews on GR, and from one that I read I can tell it doesn't get better. By the looks of it, it gets worse. I ended up officially giving up on this book. Just thinking about it makes me cringe and roll my eyes.