Sweet Dreams (Colorado Mountain) (2012) (edit title/settings)

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• Rated 5 stars

“Sweet Dreams was another hit for me. I had read some reviews complaining of editing errors and while there were some things that could have/should have been corrected, I was so into the story they really didn't impact this book in a negative way.

I enjoyed the fact that the heroine, Lauren (Ace) is in her 40's and so was the hero (Tate). The blurb kind of made it sound like Tate is a biker dude but, in fact, he rides a Harley, is co-owner of a biker bar called "Bubba's". He's not really into the biker culture as in Motorcycle Man, but still on the fringes. Tate played pro football for the Eagles for a short time until his knee was blown out. Now he's a bounty hunter, and sometimes bartender at Bubba's.

Lauren is divorced, quit her job, and has been wandering from place to place looking for something. She is slightly overweight when the book opens, but she soon changes that. She stops in Carnal, Colorado and sees the "waitress wanted" sign at Bubba's. Lauren is trying to regroup after her ex-husband had an affair with her best friend, asked for a divorce in order to marry said friend. She gives him a quiet divorce, quits her job, leaves their gated community in Scottsdale, and takes to the road. Her arrival at Carnal puts a period to her old life and her old self. By the end Lauren really comes into her own.

Tate's life has been filled with disappointments: a non-existent mother, a father who died too early, a girlfriend who uses and abuses him, a best friend he has been estranged from, a football career cut short, and an ownership in a bar in which one of the owners doesn't pull his weight. Not to mention that Tate is a bounty hunter, and there is a serial killer on the loose called the "May December murderer" because of the times of the year he kills. So when he meets Lauren he says something really nasty about her, and she hears it.

This sets up some really good tension between the two and really is a catalyst for how Lauren gets her life together.

I really love Lauren and Tate together. He is very alpha, so he is protective and possessive. But he is also tender and sweet. I loved Jonas and the fact that while he loved his mother, Neeta, he also acknowledged he wasn't safe with her.I hope at some point there will be a story for him. I would really like to know how he turns out as an adult. Wood was another fascinating character, and I think there is another book featuring him.

The story was a page turner. I was hooked into Lauren and Tate, Shambles and Sunny, Krystal and Bubba, Jim-Billy, and the whole gang at Bubba's and around Carnal. I am very glad I discovered this author and thanks to Smexybooks blog for turning me on to Kristen Ashley.”

Kathy B wrote this review Monday, December 31, 2012.