Sweet Dreams (Colorado Mountain, #2)

by Kristen Ashley

Lauren Grahame is looking to reinvent herself. After leaving her cheating husband, Lauren moves to Carnal, Colorado, and gets a job as a waitress in a biker bar called Bubba's. It's a nothing job in a nowhere joint . . . until Tatum Jackson walks in. Lauren has never seen a man with such good looks, muscles, and attitude. But when he insults her, Lauren doesn't want anything to do with him. Too bad for Lauren he's also the bar's part owner and bartender. When the rough-around-the-edges Tate meets the high-class Lauren, he thinks she won't fit in at Bubba's. Yet there's more to Lauren than meets the eye, and Tate soon sets his mind on claiming her as his own. Before long, the desire burning between them is heating up the cold mountain air. But when violence strikes the town, Tate must reveal a dark secret to Lauren-one that may put an end to their sweet dreams.

• ISBN10: 1455599085
• ISBN13: 9781455599080
• Publish Date: 24 June 2014 (first published 1 January 2012)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Little, Brown & Company
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 688
• Language: English

Reviews

[FranJessca @ A Book Lovin' Mama's Blog]

Sweet Dreams is the second book I’ve read by the lovely Kristen Ashley, and now I need to make time this year (2020) to read even more of her books. I’ve had Kristen Ashley’s books on my TBR for a while now, and I’m finally getting to them. Thank goodness for the Romanceopoly 2020 Challenge by @UTCBookBlog and @PeaceLoveBooksXO so that I can read some of her books.

Here is the lowdown on the book without giving too much away. The female protagonist is Lauren Grahame, who is needing a new life after getting divorced by a man who cheated on her for five years with her so-called best friend. She ends up in a small town in Colorado called Carnal, where she ends up getting a waitress job at the local bar and living in a motel. She loves her life now away from suburbia and her cheating ex-husband. She never thought she would have feelings for her jerk of a Boss named Tatum Jackson. Tatum Jackson didn’t expect to fall in love either, especially with everything he has been dealing with for twenty-something years with a woman who uses him.

Although, Lauren, aka Laurie and Tatum, aka Tate, don’t hit it off right away. They end up hating each other at first, even when trying to battle their feelings for each other. There’s also the issue of Tate being a jerk, and I should have hated him in the book. I did hate him at first. He’s an alpha-jerk who drove me crazy on how he treated Laurie, but he’s a badass biker who’s also a bounty hunter. I forgave him after a while on how he treated Laurie because he’s protective of her. He also has a loving, kind side that won me over. He helped take care of Laurie and flew her to her hometown to be with her family after her father had a heart attack. Seriously, the jerk of a man had a soft-side. He even won me over on how he handled Laurie’s ex-husband. Don’t also get me started with her ex-husband, Brad. Laurie’s ex-husband, Brad needed to be knocked down a few pegs, especially after he ends up telling Laurie he wants her back. Haha!!

Kristen Ashley made me fall in love with Laurie and Tate’s story and how they end up together, but she had me interested in the suspense too. There’s a crazy murderer who only rapes/kills in May & December and only ends up killing certain types of women. Tate is hired to track down the killer, and this killer has hit close to Carnel, Colorado, with raping/killing one of the waitresses of the bar. It takes a while to find out who the killer is in the story, and I was shocked to find out who was behind it all. Kristen Ashley didn’t give any clues in the book on who it could be, and then the big reveal happens, and I was in shock.

This book is over 600+ pages long, so I felt I knew the characters very well after reading this story. I love how Kristen makes me fall for ALL the characters, and now just the main characters. You feel like you know them after reading her books. There is a lot more drama that happens in the book, too, between a crazy woman named Neeta and more of Laurie’s ex-husband. There are also some very steamy scenes between Laurie and Tate. Those two are HOT together. Another plus about this book is that Kristen Ashley writes stories that have characters over the age of 40. I love reading books that have the characters older than 20 and 30. I’m getting close to that age and want to read more with heroes/heroines around that age now.

I highly recommend this book by Kristen Ashley and also recommend The Gamble, which is the first book to the Colorado Mountain series. 2020 is the year I will read way more from Kristen Ashley.

Story Rating: 4.5 stars
Steaminess Rating: 4 stars
Standalone or part of series: Part of series, but each book can be read as a standalone.
Do I recommend this book? Yes.
Will I read other books from the author? Yes.
Tropes/Elements: Second Chance at Romance; Small Town Romance; Mystery/Suspense; Mature Characters (40+ in age)

[bookperson]

exactly what I needed! alpha hero and sweet heroine. both broken, involved in so much drama, coming together to fight against the whole world side by side.

I loved 1st book in the series and this one was so, so good!

[stacey_is_sassy]

Re-re-read April 13, 2018

Tate - "Do you love me?"

Laurie - "Yes"

Tate - "That's it"

Yes Tate, that is it. Geez, I love this audio. No change on my rating, just wish I could add bonus stars for re-reads.

****

Re-read July 7, 2017

That re-read never gets old. Tate is still one of my FAVOURITE macho alpha male heroes who is far from perfect but still manages to make my heart swoon.

What's a girl to do? Move on to a re-read of Lady Luck, of course. :-)

****

Baking day became something to look forward to...

I have read Sweet Dreams a few times...any real KA fan has. When the audio version became available I snapped it up and couldn't wait to get started.

Tate, as KA heroes go, is up there with the best. A strong, virile and attractive man who knows what he wants, goes after it and takes no prisoners until he gets it. He doesn't show himself off in the most flattering way when he meets Laurie for the first time, and TBH I was devastated the first time I read it. I couldn't see how he'd redeem himself after the hurtful things he said. Luckily, my faith in this author was strong, so I settled in to see how and what he does to make things better.

Laurie is getting over divorcing her douchewaffle ex when she hits Carnal and decides to settle for a while. She approaches the local bar and meets Crys the part owner/manager who eventually gives her a chance. Laurie settles in well and makes lots of friends.

Tate and Laurie together are smoking hot. We see their feelings grow for each other which helps them deal with the storms heading their way. Both Laurie and Tate have ex's that don't want to let go. Laurie has to deal with a family member getting sick. Tate has work and family commitments and there's a serial killer on the loose.

I really enjoyed the audio version. The narrator does a wonderful job of changing her voice to suit each character and it was clear when each change happened. I sometimes feel the story more with audio. In this case I definitely did. I was sniggering, sniffling and snorting out loud enough to draw my family's attention. I had to remind myself numerous times that my nine and twelve year old sons couldn't hear the foul language or the sex scenes that were making me squirm.

Most of my listening was done while I baked. This gives me double the pleasure. I love to bake for my family and I love to read/listen to Kristen Ashley. I don't think I will ever tire of Sweet Dreams. Tate and Laurie together in Carnal, always leaves me with a smile on my face.

This review and more can be found at http://edgyreviews.com/

[Linda]

This review was originally posted on (un)Conventional Bookviews
Delicious, dangerous, romantic, hot, emotional... I'm pretty sure I could find many more adjectives to describe Sweet Dreams.



I don't even know where to start without squeeing about Sweet Dreams! Lauren was so lost until she arrived in Carnal, and even then, it took her a while to start finding herself again. And Tate... *shakes head*... *sighs*... Tate was definitely something. Book boyfriend deluxe comes to mind as a way to describe him. I loved that both Lauren and Tate were over 40. That they had lived their lives a bit before meeting each other. And that they really didn't get along when they first met. And there was so much going on in this story, too.

Lauren had been aimlessly driving around the United States for months after her divorce was final, she had found out her husband had carried on an affair with her best friend for five years. And all she could think about was getting away from her fake life in suburbia and stop thinking she was anything special. Sweet Dreams showed me early on that she was special, though, but she had almost given up on believing that with all she had been through. Once things settled for Lauren a bit, though, she felt right at home in Carnal, making new friends everywhere in town. She was also very popular with the male population, much to Tate's distress.

There were many things I loved about Sweet Dreams, and the way Tate had Lauren's back from the first time they got together was one of my favorites! Lauren's arse of an ex deserved a smack-down, and at least Tate was able to give him a few verbal ones... And Lauren managed to as well, when said ex came to Carnal trying (very lamely, I might add) to get her back. There was quite a bit of suspense here, too, with a serial killer on the lose, killing only women, and mostly those who could be seen as 'loose'. It became more and more tense as it seemed the killer moved in closer and closer to the people close to Lauren and Tate in Carnal.

As always, Ashley tells a solid story, where there is both love and romance, friendship and foes, suspense and extreme hotness. Sweet Dreams is written in third person point of view, from Lauren's perspective, and there are so many excellent dialogues and one-liners I could write a whole essay using them! I would definitely love to visit those towns in the Colorado Mountains, and I have a standing invitation with my dear blogger-wife... And I totally love how the title really has importance on the story in this series.



I decided I hated her and I didn't know why. I didn't know who she was or what was happening. I just knew she had something special and I didn't and never would and that sucked. It wasn't a nice thought which was unusual because I was normally a nice person.

But fuck Laurie, it's good to be home. The words hit my brain, my eyes opened and I saw the room was dark. There was a warm body pressed in behind me, its arm around me, and it wasn't Wood's. I was in a hotel in Indianapolis with Tate. I shut my eyes tight. So much for the big bed. We were only using about a quarter of it.

I would figure it out later, in bed, when it woke me up.

[Eve1972]

Probably my second favorite KA book ever! Love Tate, and I re-read this one a lot!

[leelu92]

Re read 7/16 /13 - 7/18/13