Although Take Me Down is a very well written story, I found Ashley hard to take at times. Ashley has survived the loss of what she considered her true love, but despite trying to move on she has not managed to find her own sense of happiness. After catching her current boyfriend cheating on her Ashely is now not only still mourning the loss of a great love but is now angry as well. The amount of resentment and animosity that is bottled up in Ashley often comes out as sarcastic vitriol that is not always justified. Ashley seems to want to have it both ways. Ashley wants to be satisfied with one night stands with no strings attached but also laments the fact that men do not seem to see her as worthy of spending the rest of their lives with. Being bitter, sarcastic, and explosive doesn't exactly make people see her as a happily ever after kind of woman.
Sebastian on the other hand is a happy go lucky Lothario who loves women in all of their shapes and forms. Sebastian finds Ashley's attitude challenging and wants to get to know her better but she definitely doesn't make it easy for him. Sebastian has is own scars and challenges when it comes to committed relationships and deals with them by only having superficial relationships with women. However, despite Ashley's aggressive, dismissive, and rude behavior towards him Sebastian keeps up his pursuit of her. Even after giving in to Sebastian physically Ashley continues to behave in a way that I found unacceptable. If a man had done to a woman what Ashley pulls on Sebastian no one would be very forgiving, yet Ashley doesn't hesitate to leave Sebastian in a vulnerable predicament with no help in sight.
Take Me Down does end in a cliffhanger so there's no closure at the end of this one. This is my first read by Kelley and I will go back and read books 1 & 2 of this series because the writing was excellent. I hope that the main characters in them are a bit more palatable than Ashley and Sebastian though. Even with me not liking Ashley and Sebastian as a couple very much I was pulled into this story very successfully by Kelley so for me the book was still a good read. There is no doubt that Lauren Kelley has a talent for story telling and I look forward to experiences her other works.
Happy Reading!
Monica
**I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.**
Take Me Down, sizzling hot interracial romance (BWWM), is a stand alone novel in the Suits in Pursuit series.
One night changed destiny. Six years later, Ashley Turner is confronted by the anger and bitterness that has become her crutch. Scars have left her calloused and with an attitude as sour as vinegar served neat, keeping men at a necessary distance.
Real estate investor Sebastian Stone has a huge problem. The high-rise on Peachtree Street is a financial drain on his business. A personal tragedy left him void of a solution and harboring a grudge against women bigger than his salty alter ego.
Fate orchestrates a series of events that unite the two tortured souls, proving their chance acquaintance is anything but coincidence. Unhealed wounds, lies and betrayal at play between them cannot stop the forces of attraction.
To land the promotion Ashley wants and to save everything Sebastian has spent a lifetime building, they are bound by necessity to work together. Unhinged passion erupts, but revenge threatens the second chance at love that fate intended.
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