Review: Bounty – Kristen Ashley

Justice Lonesome has enjoyed a life of bounty.
Even so, she’s inherited the curse of the Lonesome. A poet’s soul. Which means she’s still searching for something. Searching for peace. Searching for the less…that’s more.
And when the foundation of her life is pulled out from under her, grieving, she goes to the mountains to find her oasis. She hits Carnal, Colorado and decides to stay.
Deke Hightower lost everything at the age of two. He lost it again at fifteen. His life has not been about bounty. It’s been about learning to live with less, because there’s no way to get more.
Deke’s also watched all his friends go down to the women who gave them what they needed. He wants that for himself. But he knows that search isn’t going to be easy because he’s a rider. His home is the road. That’s the only place he can breathe. And the woman who takes her place at his side has to do it sitting on the back of his bike.
When Deke meets Justice, he knows she’s not that woman. She’s cute. She’s sweet. And she’s into him, but she’s got it all and Deke knows he won’t fit into that. So he holds her at arm’s length. Establishes boundaries. And Justice will take it because she wants Deke any way he’ll let her have him.
But when Justice finds herself a pawn in a dangerous game, Deke makes a decision.
When he does, he has no idea he’s just opened himself up to bounty.

Bounty proved that there is more to life than fame and money, and while Justice had all that, she had so much more!

Justice and Deke were the bomb together, and I loved that they had a connection in the past. Bounty was such a great title for their story, too, because they were both very aware to be thankful for what they had. Justice being a music star, and someone Deke thought would be high maintenance made him quite distant with her, though, and she never understood why. As he was working on renovating her house with her already living in it, they saw each other every day, and there was both hot chemistry and a strong connection between them.

As always, Ashley put her magic to use in Bounty, and I was so utterly captivated with the characters from start to finish I wanted to cry when the book was over. These Colorado Mountain men are swoon-worthy because they are strong alpha-men with big hearts. They are loyal and they are open-minded – at least most of the time.

Between the mystery of someone seemingly stalking Justice and Deke going all out to protect her, and the strong feelings they evoked in each other made it impossible to put the book down. Not that I would have wanted to, but I had a very short night in order to read the whole story in as little time as possible. The pages almost turned on their own, my kindle got as hot and bothered as I did!

Written in dual points of views, Justice had more chapters than Deke, but I had already met Deke before so that was OK. Past tense was perfect for their story, and I loved how they fell for each other without wanting to fully admit it. Only when things became truly dangerous did they understand that it would be a waste not to grab that ultimate bounty with both hands in order to share a future with love and friendship. My feels were fully invested, and I can’t recommend this whole series enough. I think a trip to Colorado is in my future just so I can experience some of the nature for real.

By sitting in that bar in the middle of nowhere in Wyoming, twenty-seven-years-old, it was hitting me that the buzz of life wasn’t vibrating as forcefully as it used to. In fact, it was beginning to seem a chore to pack up, head out, settle in (this being dropping my suitcases in whatever hotel room, cabin, boat, ship, treehouse, wherever we were staying) and rushing out to face the next adventure.

Having the feelings I was having, sitting at that bar, it made me feel ungrateful.

She dropped a hand to her belly, looking down at it, and saying, “What if I fuck this up?”
“You sitting alone in your car, my guess, tough as nails, yet worried to the point of tears, I’m not thinking that’s gonna be a problem.”
She looked again to me but didn’t move her hand from her belly.

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