Deacon (Unfinished Hero, #4) in Turning Pages At Midnight

Sep 20, 2014 Laura Elizabeth rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: alpha-hero-is-a-reformed-dawg, aloof-hero, mystery-man, burned-before, meh, anti-hero, grow-a-pair

Wow this was a tough one to rate. In general I liked the story and enjoyed reading it but as you can see from my comments below I had issues. Some spoilerage below

Since this is the great KA I'll give it four stars. But that's being generous. Her last few books were so disappointing to me. Had high hopes here and the sample chapters made him out to be a badass of the Lucas Stark/Hawk variety.

Speaking of badass, the word is used 45 times. He calls himself a badass. A true badass never needs to te Wow this was a tough one to rate. In general I liked the story and enjoyed reading it but as you can see from my comments below I had issues. Some spoilerage below

Since this is the great KA I'll give it four stars. But that's being generous. Her last few books were so disappointing to me. Had high hopes here and the sample chapters made him out to be a badass of the Lucas Stark/Hawk variety.

Speaking of badass, the word is used 45 times. He calls himself a badass. A true badass never needs to tell people that he's a badass, it's a given, everyone knows it (ex. Hawk, Tack, the hot bunch). This supposed alpha male, (when he comes home after not seeing Cassie for five weeks ) wants to be fed before he fucks her. (Ugh Deacon, you are supposed to be a badass KA alpha male. Please check your handbook under " fucking your woman senseless" and get back to us). Fortunately he changes his mind ten minutes later.

Speaking of overused words "beauty" is another one. This word is used for everything and this also happened in her last few books as well. Shut up Beauty, tired of it.

Then the entire middle of the story is focused on home improvement and property maintenance. This is where it goes down memory lane with a Jagged/Kaleidoscope vibe. I was waiting for Marcus Sloane to show up with a nail gun and drag the hot bunch along on retainer.

So then we have some contrived drama ( was expecting something to leak to Cassie from his "badass world") but that didn't happen. He leaves Cassie for six months thinking that he is a married man when she finds evidence but he does not explain to her.

He comes back with a stupid song, does not grovel ( for fucking once I would like to see a KA alpha male have to grovel) then does something that for sure will have Hawk,Tack,Tate and the hot bunch showing up at his door to revoke his KA badass alpha male card.

We had a happy little reunion with the rest of the characters from this series setting up Knights brother Nicks book.

Epilogue stunk, very unusual for KA.

That being said, her books still auto buy for me but expectation bar officially lowered.

...more

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May 30, 2014 Debra Presley rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: the-queen

This book was so good because it was so different from the other books in this series. Deacon is the fourth book in the Unfinished Hero series.

Cassidy has always had a dream to move to the mountains of Colorado and live there. She takes a chance and buys a set of run down motels with her boyfriend. While they are working on improvements Deacon walks in and asks for a room. This routine goes on for a bit and eventually the boyfriend leaves (because he's really kinda of a self-involved ass).
Cass ...more

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Jul 31, 2014 Ivy Deluca rated it really liked it

Shelves: erotic-romance, ka-books

Deacon has been staying at this little motel made up of cabins in Antler, Colorado for seven years. He’s been seeing Cassidy Swallow there that long. Until one night, they cross a line - then romance ensues, of course.

The Good
-Character driven: I like character driven stories and this was about Deacon and Cassidy with very little involvement of other characters. They’re likeable, so it wasn’t a hardship to read. Also, this is a slight change from KA’s typical formula (some big bad gunning for th Deacon has been staying at this little motel made up of cabins in Antler, Colorado for seven years. He’s been seeing Cassidy Swallow there that long. Until one night, they cross a line - then romance ensues, of course.

The Good
-Character driven: I like character driven stories and this was about Deacon and Cassidy with very little involvement of other characters. They’re likeable, so it wasn’t a hardship to read. Also, this is a slight change from KA’s typical formula (some big bad gunning for the heroine that puts her in danger in the last 15% of the story), so I have to give points for that. Their conflict and issues are all internal, mostly on Deacon’s end of things.
-good heroine: Cassie’s a woman alone, making her way, running her own business. She doesn’t make any seriously bone-headed moves, which I appreciated. The big obstacle before the ultimate HEA was all Deacon.
-hot sex: A little twist on vanilla sex, Cassie and Deacon like to play - and I had absolutely no problem with that. Nothing hardcore, but definitely spicier than your typical KA read.
-standalone: I can’t remember many details of the earlier books in this series except for Knight, but it didn’t interfere with the story. Nice, unexpected little crossover from Rock Chicks series.

The Bad and Everything In Between
-lack of excitement or tension: character driven stories can be slower reads, and this is no different.
-most character development happens in the last quarter of the book: my biggest peeve about this story is simply that I felt as if I knew nothing about Deacon until the very, very end. I would have really liked to have seen more of his personal life, or even his livelihood, shown outside of his time with Cassidy throughout the book, instead of given all at once, right at the end. They were so settled and happy for a majority of the book, that I felt like I was reading one long epilogue, not the juicy story that makes that epilogue worth it all.
-unsatisfying grovel: After the big argument/Deacon running from his feels, when he returns I really wanted the conversation that happens AFTER sex to happen before. Also, I wanted it with some heartfelt apologies - if he can be vulnerable with his body, he can be vulnerable and say I’m sorry. I think that would have given more weight to the vulnerability that he shows her during the sex.

The Bottom Line
It was a decent read, overall. I liked it. ...more

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May 25, 2015 Christina rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks-listened

After listening to the audiobook, I bumped my rating up a star. I think I was just beginning my KA journey when I read this book the first time. It took me several books to adjust to her writing and all the descriptions of every freaking thing and just enjoy the story.

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Jun 23, 2014 V rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: erotic-romance, kristen-ashley, possessive-controlling-man

4 stars! Aaah Deacon. I really enjoyed this book and ploughed through it from start to finish. I especially loved the first 40% or so, with the development of Cassie’s character from a young woman trying to make a go of her life and business renting cabins out in the mountains, to kicking her lazy-ass boyfriend to the kerb, to accepting Deacon and all his mysteries. All of this occurs over a 6-7 year period, with Cassie hauling her own ass to get the business up and running (Go Girl!) and meetin 4 stars! Aaah Deacon. I really enjoyed this book and ploughed through it from start to finish. I especially loved the first 40% or so, with the development of Cassie’s character from a young woman trying to make a go of her life and business renting cabins out in the mountains, to kicking her lazy-ass boyfriend to the kerb, to accepting Deacon and all his mysteries. All of this occurs over a 6-7 year period, with Cassie hauling her own ass to get the business up and running (Go Girl!) and meeting Deacon sporadically when he rents out one of her cabins for a few days every few months. Nothing happens between them during this time until he helps her out one night with some ‘punk-ass-bitches’ (college kids on spring break). That’s when they hit it off and she gets to know only a little more about him - what his real name is and that he travels a lot as part of his job. That’s it. And she deals with it.

Things are sweet between them in a way I’m familiar with all of KA’s MCs, and I liked it a lot. The sex is pretty damn hot, involving rope. Nice! All until that is, Cassie finds something in Deacon’s work bag, which devastates her, more so when he refuses to answer any of her questions. This leads to 6 months apart (towards the end of the book), when we get some chapters from Deacon’s POV (and also Knight, Raid and Creed – yey!) and learn exactly why he’s been so closed off the last 10 years. The reason? Not what I expected. It’s pretty bad, but again, I was surprised. I thought it would be something……more….. Related to his job maybe. The snippets we get of Deacon in the previous books lead me to believe it would be something a little scarier if I’m honest. That said, when he eventually explains his past, my heart did go out to him and all was good with their hot make-up scene!

Overall, this is a 4-star-er. If I hadn’t read other reviews beforehand I might have been disappointed with the lack of drama and action, but I was prepared and so was totally not disappointed.
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Aug 25, 2014 Trisha rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 5-star-books

Loved it

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Feb 05, 2014 Yo Adriane rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: kristen-ashley

It was awesome getting to know the mysterious Deacon.

It's a beautiful war.

I loved Deacon and Cassie's story. No they didn't have a lot of drama but they had their own unique story to be told and it was theirs alone. As always with KA, I was hooked from beginning to end.

Now, I have a feeling this series will continue with awesomeness. Just a feeling that I hope I'm right because I have to have my KA fix every couple of months. ...more

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