SEBRING – UNFINISHED HERO BOOK 5 by KRISTEN ASHLEY

‘Sometimes you got away with dealing day to day with the devil. Sometimes you got burned.’

It was over three years ago (pre TB days) when Kristen Ashley ran an idea for a series past us. She really, really wanted to write a gritty series whereby the MC’s would be ‘anti-heroes” essentially good men who didn’t do particularly good things. The series was to push boundaries for KA and show these men and their world in all their gritty and raw surroundings and they would make no apologies for the way they lived. We were ecstatic and begged her to write it.

And now 3 years later this series is coming to an end has left us with bittersweet feelings. When we first met Nick Sebring in Knight, he was a particularly nasty bastard who pulled all sorts of stunts that didn’t make him very love-able. He really didn’t have a lot of redeeming qualities but oh boy did we have a thing for Nick Sebring! He intrigued us and we always knew he’d have a story to tell so yeah we have been gagging for his book for years. We feel it was only fitting Nick had the last word in the Unfinished Hero Series, however sadly, we didn’t feel as though this was essentially Nick’s story. It felt almost like the ‘unfinished heroine’ as it tended to concentrate mostly on Olivia.

‘Oh yeah. Fuck yes. She owned him. He’d never been owned. But he was hers. All hers. Olivia’s. He knew it in that instant because he also knew in that instant he’d do anything, absolutely anything, beg, borrow, steal, kill, crawl, lie, cheat, die….all just for her smile.’

We’ve always felt KA didn’t push this series quite as far as we had hoped and it never felt THAT gritty to be honest, nonetheless this series will always hold a special place in our hearts and we’ve really enjoyed it.

Nick’s story turned out to be quite the tragic one. Suffering the loss of Hettie – the woman he loved and had to painfully and agonizingly watch lose her life right before his eyes. Nick was carrying a lot of hurt, pain and a thirst for revenge. Nick was going to make the bastards responsible for Hettie’s death suffer for his loss and our hearts went out to him. He seemed so lost on this path at first.

“If you let whatever you got inside you lose, you’d make a man incredibly happy. You’d be a dream he couldn’t build. You’d be everything. “

Olivia Shade’s outwardly persona and reputation is that of the Ice Princess, the daughter of the notorious Vincent Shade, it’s assumed she is right in the thick of her father’s dealings and a woman to be watched at every turn. However, beneath the ice cold exterior lies a woman with a beautiful soft nature who has endured hurt and pain throughout her life. Our hearts broke for this lady.

‘I knew it was pure insanity, pure torment to do. I believed. For one magnificent second, connect to Nick Sebring, I believed. Believed in a better world. I believed I could feel complete. I believed I could have someone by my side. I believed I could feel safe. I believed I could be happy. I believed I could be loved.’

Now…the way these two met…..oh wow! Talk about steamy. Just how their paths entwined, we’ll leave up to you to find out as the secrets, intrigue and mystery is what builds the story to its crescendo.

“I wanna be free.”
“I’ll get you there.”

Sebring did start off a little slow and while we understood the need to explore the physical aspect of Nick and Olivia’s connection, it did feel at times as though the sex overtook the story and became a little monotonous. However, once the story ratcheted up a notch, the heart stopping thrilling moments surfaced and the deeply emotional overtones so customary with this author ripped our hearts to pieces and we were once again reminded why we adore Kristen Ashley’s work.

We have to say, we loved Knight Sebring three years ago when we met him in Knight, however after this book we LOVE Knight Sebring even more. What a great character he is. So loyal, so forthright and a man not afraid to show his soft side to the ones he loves. He owned our hearts once again.

“….you’re doing what I need you to do. Just bein’ the big brother I never let you be.”
“Not a hard job, Nick. Not anymore.”

There was much we loved about this book even if Nick Sebring did feel a little lackluster to the character we first met in Knight and his story may have lacked the action and rawness we had hoped to encounter in Sebring, however we enjoyed it and there’s no doubt that once again, the lady delivered!