Wednesday 21 September 2022

✪ Making The Match (River Rain #4) ✪ Kristen Ashley ✪

 




It was never meant to be . . . and then it was.


Making the Match, an all-new second chance, single parent, standalone romance full of heat and heart from New York Times bestselling author Kristen Ashley, is available now!


Decades ago, tennis superstar Tom Pierce and “It Girl” Mika Stowe met at a party.

Mika fell in love. Tom was already in love with his wife. As badly as Tom wanted Mika as a friend, Mika knew it would hurt too much to be attracted to this amazing man and never be able to have him.

They parted ways for what they thought would be forever, only to reconnect just once, when unspeakable tragedy darkens Mika’s life.

Years later, the impossible happens.

A time comes when they’re both unattached.

But now Tom has made a terrible mistake. A mistake so damaging to the ones he loves, he feels he’ll never be redeemed.

Mika has never forgotten how far and how fast she fell when she met him, but Tom’s transgression is holding her distant from reaching out.

There are matchmakers in their midst, however.

And when the plot has been unleashed to make that match, Tom and Mika are thrown into an international intrigue that pits them against a Goliath of the sports industry.
Now they face a massive battle at the same time they’re navigating friendship, attraction, love, family, grief, redemption, two very different lives lived on two opposite sides of a continent and a box full of kittens.


 


ARC received for an honest review 

I have been intrigued by Tom Pierce since he was first introduced to us.

There was so much alluded to, so much I needed to know, and KA has not disappointed.

He did come across in the previous books as the bad guy in the breakdown of his relationship, but as they say there's two sides to every story and now we get Tom's.
 
I liked that both Tom and Mika are both more mature characters - not just by date of birth but in their actions and attitudes.  I liked that even as we saw them in the past, they were the same as they are now.  No nonsense, not BS, just themselves.

I admit that I have missed a few of the KA books (but not this series), so I did not know that that character Susie who plays quite a part in this book was a big player in other series, but that did not affect my reading enjoyment.

I liked seeing the characters come full circle, I liked the growth in Tom's kids, especially Sasha and Matt.

I did feel that things did get a little bit lost for a while in the second half, however things found their way back on track and tied up everything by the end.

But tell me, WTF is with Imogen (Tom's ex).  I liked her in the past books, but this time, nope, she really was quite unlikable, and selfish brat and just...nope nope nope.  Glad you got away from that one in the end Tom.

I am now looking forward to the next installment of the River Rain series (though I can't even remember who Blake is???)

 

• EXCERPT •

She looked beyond him and called, “Hey, Mom.”

Suddenly, Tom felt like he’d been punched in the chest, his breath not coming easy.

Dragging some in, he turned and saw Mika standing there.

She was wearing a kaftan dress with a low V at the neck, draping sleeves and a string through an empire waist that gathered the material. The print on a black background was mostly reds, oranges and pinks with bright accents of green and blue and turquoise. She had some flat, embroidered mules on her feet. And her still-golden hair was up in a messy knot on top of her head.

Even though she was dressed like she was hanging around the house, she wore makeup. Mostly neutral but with black cat’s-eye, drawing focus to her eyes and the startling sea-blue color of the iris. She had some delicate chain bracelets at her wrists and a number of piercings in her ears, with studs or small hoops running up the shell, and dangling beads coming from the lobe.

She looked the picture of what a poet, photographer, novelist, filmmaker would look like. An easy style that was not unique, but she made it that way.

She was also still one of the most attractive women he’d ever laid eyes on.

In fact, he’d go so far as saying she was in the top two, vying for number one.

“Tom,” she greeted.

“Mika,” he replied, and then was surprised yet again in his short visit to her home.

 

He saw a soft pink rise in her cheeks, the kind a woman got when she felt nervous or didn’t know what to do with flattery, something he hadn’t offered, unless she caught it in his gaze.

She looked to her daughter and ordered, “Scram, kid.”



     

 


About Kristen Ashley


Kristen Ashley is the New York Times bestselling author of over eighty romance novels. She’s a hybrid author, publishing titles both independently and traditionally, her books have been translated in fourteen languages and she’s sold millions of books. 


Kristen recently released GOSSAMER IN THE DARKNESs, a novella with 1,001 Dark Nights based in Kristen's Fantasyland universe. 


In September 2022, she'll publish the fourth in the River Rain Series, the story of Tom and Mika, MAKING THE MATCH. She also has upcoming books in her Wild West MC romance series, and her romantic thriller series, Misted Pines.


Kristen, born in Gary and raised in Brownsburg, Indiana and was a fourth-generation graduate of Purdue University. Since, she has lived in Denver, the West Country of England, and she now resides in Phoenix. She worked as a charity executive for eighteen years prior to beginning her independent publishing career. She now writes full-time.


Although romance is her genre, the prevailing themes running through all of Kristen’s novels are friendship, family and a strong sisterhood. To this end, and as a way to thank her readers for their support, Kristen has created the Rock Chick Nation, a series of programs that are designed to give back to her readers and promote a strong female community.

You can learn more about Kristen and the Rock Chick Nation on her website: www.KristenAshley.net



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