Wild And Free Tour Stop!

Abel Jin and Delilah Johnson have lived their lives with a hole in their soul, yearning for something they don’t understand.

Until one night Delilah is in mortal danger and a man who’s otherworldly strong and supernaturally fast saves her. Delilah is then cast into a world where fiction comes to life in the form of Abel, her destined mate, a vampire/werewolf hybrid who claims her at first breath as his.

But Abel knows the danger isn’t done. He’s dreamed for centuries that his mate will perish and he will stop at nothing to keep her safe.

For Delilah, she’s not only coping with fantasy come to life, but a mingling of very different families. Not to mention, she has on her hands a man who doesn’t understand his true nature and has lived his long life thinking he’s a monster.

Abel and Delilah together fills the hole that has been clawing at them for decades. But finally finding each other, it also tips their destinies as the last of The Three. They must unite with the other destined lovers, who with Abel and Delilah, are fated to save the world.

Or die trying.

Kristen Ashley is my go to author.  When I’m sad, I read one of her books.  When I’m happy, I read one of her books.  When I just want to hunker down and read a really great book with really great characters and a great plot, I read one of her books.  Needless to say I’ve been waiting with baited breath for this installment of the Three series, and boy was I so NOT disappointed!

Delilah is saved by a very mysterious and otherworldly man, and when she is something clicks into place for them both.  Abel is a vampire/werewolf hybrid (oh yes) and he recognizes Delilah as his mate.  This is a great thing for them both, as they both feel something has been missing from their lives, but it also means that they are both in danger.  As Abel guides Delilah into a world she thought only existed in fairy tales, Delilah also helps Abel to understand his true nature.  When they come together with the other destined lovers from the series, they must try to save the world, even if it costs them their own lives.

The only thing I can say about this book is…whoa.  Just, whoa.  5 stars.

Kidding, there’s plenty more to say about the awesomeness that is this book.  I just recently began reading this series in preparation for this book, as I had never read any of KA’s paranormal romance before.  But I figured I couldn’t go wrong with a KA book, and I was totally right on.  I absolutely love the heroes of her stories.  They are strong and oh so deliciously alpha, but every single one of them lives and dies for their true love.  She alone has the key to their heart and brings out their soft side, and Abel is no exception.  He is fierce, but also loves Delilah fiercely.  He does not take for granted the gift that is their love.  I am continually blown away by how she balances the alpha aspects of a hero with the lover aspects.  Many authors fail horribly at this balance, but she manages to make it perfect every single time.  I have decided that if Heaven does exist, I hope it’s a place where all the heroes of KA’s books reside.  I want to go there.

As far as plot goes, you can’t get much better.  I was hooked from the get-go.  I could not put this down and it kept me engaged and interested. It had a great pace and there were several parts that kept me on the edge of my seat.  And it is nicely balanced in the heat department too.  Vampire/Werewolf hybrid?  Oh hell yes!

Overall, I adored this book.  Read it! 5 stars.

When I first started this book, I did so without rereading the previous two books in the series. While I remembered much of what occurred in Until the Sun Falls from the Sky and With Everything I Am, it was the details regarding the series’ Immortal War storyline that escaped my memory. So with much aggrievement (yeah, because it’s such a hardship to read a KA book…LMAO), I went back and reread books one and two and am so glad I did – and not just because it’s been a few months since I treated myself to her writing, but because there was so much that occurred that I had forgotten.

As with all of her books, Ms. Ashley writes characters that feel real to me regardless of the genre of the book. Like the previous books in The Three series, Wild and Free features a paranormal hero, Abel, and a human heroine, Delilah. Despite it being a paranormal romance, she manages to give their tale a decidedly contemporary feel such that I suspect non-paranormal romance readers would find themselves swept up into the story. Taking all of that into consideration, KA managed to take Wild and Free one step further with both the paranormal AND the contemporary genres by making Abel a vampire werewolf hybrid and Delilah a biker bitch. And just like the previous couples, Delilah is the perfect mate for Abel because her being raised in the life meant that she accepted him as he was and had an innate understanding of Abel’s alpha male tendencies. This is not to say that her understanding and acceptance of Abel’s nature meant that everything was smooth sailing in their relationship. Not at all. Like all KA heroines, Delilah is sassy, independent, and not scared of her man so she has no problem going toe-to-toe with him when she needs to. And she does. This translates into some serious chemistry (above and beyond that which comes with paranormal beings) and some freaking hot sex scenes. But most importantly, a beautiful love story.

Wild and Free is an excellent conclusion to The Three series. I really enjoyed the way in which Ms. Ashley expanded the conflict between the Immortals, adding other Immortals to the series to demonstrate the breadth of the conflict but doing it in such a way that it didn’t feel contrived or forced, but rather enriched the story. Due to the conflict, fans of the series are reunited with Lucien and Leah, Callum and Sonia, and other characters from the previous books and this made for a grand reunion in spite of the circumstances. Even knowing that the couple in all of KA’s books get their happily ever after didn’t keep me from crying when things looked bleak – as I did several times during this book. For me, a KA book is a cathartic read because her stories make me laugh and cry, they break my heart and make me fall in love, and they always leave me feeling like I’ve spent hours with friends. As I expected, I absolutely loved Wild and Free and have added it to my reread list. 

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“I’m a monster, Lilah.”

“What?” I whispered.

“I’m a werewolf vampire. I exist on human blood. I can tear a man’s head off and I have. I’m a monster.”

“You—”

“I am,” he stated flatly. “And the first chance I’ve had in all my years to understand why I am as I am is to go to that fuckin’ hotel.”

I stared at him, then straightened my body so I was fully facing him. This caused his jaw to get hard again, but I ignored that and stated, “Okay, let’s break this down.”

“Nothin’ to break down.”

“Humor me,” I snapped, his head jerked, and his lips curved up.

“Carry on,” he muttered.

“Thanks,” I bit out. “First, how many men’s heads have you torn off?”

“Four, and two wolves.”

“That’s it?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

“These being the night we met,” I stated.

“Yeah,” he repeated.

“The night some of them were trying to kill me and the others were trying to kill you.”

To that he said nothing.

I kept going, “So you haven’t torn off unsuspecting citizens’ heads willy-nilly, for the fuck of it, or on a psychotic rampage?”

He pressed his lips together and I knew it was to hide his humor because his eyes lit with it before he unpressed them to say, “No.”

“Right,” I said sharply. “Have you ever had a psychotic rampage?”

He shook his head.

“So let’s get to the human blood part,” I suggested. “When you were,” I paused, “drawing from one of your ex-bitches, did you ever kill one of them?”

“Fuck no.”

“Take too much and make them sick?”

“No.”

“Do it against anyone’s will?”

His eyes went guarded, but he said, “No.”

I threw up a hand. “Okay, so what’s the problem?”

He blinked, straightening in his chair, but again said nothing.

“I mean, seriously,” I went on, “I’ve seen lots of vampire movies and TV shows and even the good vamps screw up and overindulge. Hell, Jessica killed three fairies in a ravenous attack. She might have had her issues as a young vampire, but by that time, she was full-on good.”

His brows shot together. “Fairies?”

“Fairies.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

I threw up both hands and cried in exasperation, “True Blood!”

“Jesus, Lilah,” he muttered.

“No, seriously, Jessica is very sweet.”

“For fuck’s sake,” he growled, sounding like he was losing patience, which I didn’t figure was a good thing.

“Okay, back on track,” I began. “Tell me. Tell me one instance in your life where you actually behaved like a monster.”

“I wanna fuck you,” he snarled.

I stared.

“Yeah,” he ground out. “I wanna fuck you, Delilah. Consumed with the need and I have no idea why, but I can guess, seein’ as it’s like you’re a bitch in heat, I’m a dog that catches the scent and his mind is wiped…wiped of anything…but the need to mount you and”—he leaned forward—“rut.”

“Holy fuck,” I breathed.

“Yeah,” he said again. “That make you feel safe?”

“Abel—”

“I can smell your fear.”

I swallowed.

“It turns me on,” he kept going. “Makes me wanna tear into your throat and fuck you and feed from you. Now, does that make you feel safe?”

“No,” I whispered, because it really fucking didn’t.

“Right. No,” he bit off. “So I’m not a monster?”

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A Spartan Love Tour Stop!

 

Alone, Andreas toils on a remote farmstead for a Spartan overlord. When a kryptes enters his world, Andreas fears for his life. The dread warriors stalk and kill helots—like Andreas' father—as part of their training.

Andreas sees only one way to save himself: he must tame the fearsome warrior.

But what began as self-preservation develops into attraction. Yearning for the company of someone other than his ferret Ictis, Andreas decides to trust the Spartan warrior and risk the fate that claimed his father.

Born to rule by the sword, Theron sees the world as his and acts accordingly, taking everything Andreas offers and reaching for more. However, love between men in Sparta is considered shameful and requires either exile or suicide to redeem Sparta’s honor. Now, only the gods can save them from the terrible price Sparta extracts from men who desire other men.

Let me start off by saying that if you don’t want to fall madly in love with the two MC’s, then be left hanging on an evil cliffhanger – this book may not be for you. If you think you can handle the agony of not knowing what happens to Theron and Andreas for a while – then take the plunge. It is sooooo worth it.

This story is set in – you guessed it – ancient Sparta, a few decades before the events in the film 300. The author has done an obviously painstaking amount of research on the peoples and the time period, and it’s presented in a way that isn’t burdensome. There were only a very few minor spots where the dialogue or the narrative lapsed into a more modern nuance, but really, I’m just nitpicking. Overall, it was extremely well done. The author has also provided an introduction to the world as well as a lexicon at the end to further explain terms.

Now don’t let all this high-falutin’ history stuff scare you away. This is a wonderful story that you don’t want to miss. I’ll admit, it took me a few pages to get into the historical groove, but once I did – BAM – I was there in ancient Sparta with all the Olympian gods throwing their two cents in as well. The story follows the lowly helot (similar to an indentured servant) Andreas who lives alone with his goats and a mischievous ferret. These creatures are his only companions, and when a Spartan warrior sneaks into his hut one evening to steal food, he develops a fascination with him while hiding under the bed, hoping to evade detection. Spartan warriors in training will kill helots if they catch them out after dark merely for sport.

But poor Andreas – who also happens to be quite hunky from plowing those fields – is so starved for company, he leaves food out in a bowl the following night in case the warrior comes back. He does, and this little dance goes on for a few nights. He finally gathers all his courage to actually invite the Spartan – Theron - into his hut. At that point, I was hooked and desperately rooting for these two men who are so different and come from such opposite worlds.

As they tentatively work their way toward one another, threats abound. Sparta puts men to death for lying with another man. Andreas’ neighbors would kill Theron if they were to catch him there – merely for the fact that he’s a Spartan warrior. They fight their own distrust of the other and the confusion of the new feelings they have that go beyond spending their lusts. Their sexual encounters were sensuous and hot. I loved it all.

My only complaints would be the aforementioned cliffhanger (Really? When is this next book coming out? It’d better be next week!) and a section in the middle that began to wear me down to the point where I skimmed. There ended up being way too much inner hand wringing going on over ‘what will I do? ‘what should I do?’ ‘what will he do?’ ‘what if he does that?’ ‘why did I do that? ‘why did he do this?’ ‘I should leave’ ‘but I can’t leave’ ‘I want to stay’ ‘but I can’t stay’. God help me. The basic points that were made had to be there to create the tension and to establish the character’s dilemma, but I think the intent of the story and the drama would have remained intact just fine if about fifty percent of that had been trimmed off.

Overall though, I really can’t recommend this book enough. If you like historicals, you have to read this. If you shy away from historicals – give it a chance. A Spartan Love gets four and a half lizard claws from me.

With a smile and despite his concerns, in the most pleasant tone he could manage Andreas said, “Let’s get you cleaned up and out of this dirty chiton. You can wear my spare while I wash yours.” He reached for Theron’s wide leather girdle, but blushed and stopped before he touched the zoster.

“Sounds like a good idea.” Theron stood there, waiting for Andreas to continue. The corner of his mouth turned up. Was he smirking?

And just like that, he was back to lusting after the man. Had he ever stopped? Should he touch him or wait for permission? Blessed Aphrodite and Eros! What am I to do?

Too late to back out now—hadn’t he dreamt of performing this service for the warrior?—Andreas fumbled with the buckles on the leather belt. He glanced up to see Theron smile as he bore with his clumsiness. When Andreas removed the zoster, the man’s chiton slithered to the floor as it had in Andreas’ mind countless times before. Trying not to stare at Theron’s exposed manhood, Andreas helped him step out of the jumbled cloth. He set the blood-stained clothing on the carved chest at the foot of the bed.

The sleek warrior sat on the edge of his bed, knees spread. Andreas’ heart jolted before setting a pace he didn’t think it could maintain. Oh Gods! Does the man have any idea what he is doing to me? He probably does. Please Zeus, don’t let him see my shameful thoughts.

Mesmerized, Andreas sank to his knees at Theron’s feet, biting his lip to keep from groaning. He cupped one calf in his hands and stroked the bronze skin covered with soft black hairs. All his dark Theron-filled dreams were nothing in the face of touching the man himself, seeing the kryptes in the dim light of his hearth. Trembling with desire, Andreas closed his eyes, allowing his hands to roam.

Theron exhaled heavily. Was that pain or pleasure? Andreas stroked both legs with a wet cloth. Once he’d cleansed the blood and dust away, he caressed the man’s warm and mercifully unbroken skin, fingers digging into the hard muscles. Theron shivered under his hands and Andreas inhaled sharply.

Theron’s warm musky scent filled his nostrils, better than the exotic incense his mother had once purchased as an offering for the household gods. He’d never smelled anything so good. A feast for a starving man. Andreas wanted nothing more than to lean in close and take a deeper breath and then lick him clean.

How would Theron’s rich golden bronze skin taste? Salty from his sweat? Sharp with arousal? Would the other man’s erection be larger than his? He’d stolen the briefest of glances at Theron’s cock when the warrior seduced him. His own shaft pulsed as a wave of desire swept through him at the memory.

Now the object of his fascination was right before him, he need only raise his eyes to see Theron’s manhood. But he dared not. Following the sweep of his hands with his eyes, Andreas explored the strong muscles of the warrior’s thighs. He tried not to stare, but his eyes kept drifting toward Theron’s cock. And finally, he couldn’t force himself to look away.

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Kayla Jameth grew up on the family farm in Ohio, baling hay, raising cattle, and making maple syrup. An unrepentant tomboy, her father taught her to weld before she graduated from high school.

She attended Cleveland’s Case Western Reserve University and later, Texas A&M University in her pursuit of veterinary medicine, taking her farther away from her rural roots. You can transplant the county girl, but you can’t make her a city slicker. Besides, it was only going to be for a little while, right?

But it wasn’t all hard work for Kayla, her sojourn as the princess of the Celestial Kingdom left her with the title sir and a costume closet the envy of many knights, lords, and ladies. See? She does have some ladylike qualities complete with the title of Lady to back it up.

After declaring for years that she was just a veterinarian who wrote not an author, Kayla now finds herself living in Spring, Texas (practically Houston) and writing m/m erotic romance. The location is probably a bigger surprise than the genre. Never the kind of girl to discuss makeup and clothing designers, she would rather be outside getting dirty with the boys.

Kayla shares her home with a cat, two guinea pigs, a gerbil, three guppies, a husband and a son and daughter.

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