November 05, 2014

Review: Creed by Kristen Ashley


Way too young, eleven year old Tucker Creed and his six year old neighbor, Sylvie Bissenette, find they have something awful in common. Creed then decides he’s going to do everything in his limited power to shield his Sylvie from her ordeal. So he does and Creed and Sylvie form a bond that grows and blossoms with their ages.

They plot to leave their lives behind, the town they live in that will hold them down and the histories they share that, unless they break free, will bury them. Sylvie goes to their special place, Creed never shows and she doesn’t see him again until it’s too late.

With Creed gone, Sylvie is forced to endure a nightmare and do the unspeakable to end it. To deal, she develops a hard shell with sharp edges that very few can break through. So when Creed again finds his Sylvie, he discovers the girl he loved is locked away and he has to find his way back into her heart without getting shredded in the process.








MY REVIEW


Creed by Kristen Ashley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4 yummy frozen Snickers STARS



That was beautiful and heartbreaking and kick-ass and scorching hot and naughty and I sure was a bit bored there for a while...

Creed is book number two in the Unfinished Hero Series and also my second Kristen Ashley book. I'm hooked. I swear I will read every book this woman wrote so far and will write in the future. I'm so happy in my fangirl world filled with domineering alpha-male book boyfriends.

Ok, let's do this...my review:

“Born to love you, baby,” he repeated. “Die lovin’ you, my Sylvie.”

This time around we meet Creed and Sylvie. Now first off I was happy to see we still operate in Knight's world. In fact Sylvie as well as Creed work for Mr. Seberin and that just means we get a little Knight as a cherry on top. I'm totally fine with that...I take as much as I can get.


Twenty-eight years ago a six year old girl named Sylvie stumbled through the forest, trying to escape the drama and yelling at home and she runs straight into the arms of eleven year old Tucker Creed. A chance encounter that leads to a beautiful friendship and love. Both kids have a hard time with their parents, and together they find strength and a home. For eleven years their whole world revolved around each other until one day it is all taken away. Seemingly lost forever.

Sounds amazing, right? I know I did a lot of happy dancing as well. ;D


“It’s always you and me.” I nodded again and felt my lips quivering. He kept whispering, “Always me and my Sylvie, yeah?”“Yeah,” I whispered.”

Sixteen years later Sylvie Bissenette is one kick-ass woman. She is working as a PI and on the side she does a little work for Knight. (Not going to tell you exactly what in case you haven't read the first book.) She is independent, strong and it is apparent that there are some ghosts in her past. One of those ghosts re-emerges one morning in her bedroom and she greats him with a gun to his head.

“He crossed his arms again and requested, “You wanna stop aiming your weapon at me?”

Actually, no. I didn’t. I wanted to keep aiming my gun at him and I might also want to pull the trigger.”

Sylvie hasn't seen Creed since her eighteenth birthday and finding him standing at the bottom of her bed is not what she expected to happen. He had abandoned her, left her to suffer a nightmare and now he is back looking all hot and yummy like...and claims to be her new partner. Not fair!

“Some people get to live life. Some people survive it. We’re survivors. We can carve out our piece of happy, and, I swear to God, baby, right now, you got my vow, for you and for me, the rest of our lives, I’ll bust my ass to carve our piece of happy.”

Tucker Creed is one hell of a man and he was one hell of a boy when he knew Sylvie, but a lot of time has passed and the last sixteen years haven't been easy on him either. The best day he had in years was when Knight hired him as an outside source (yes, they work in the same field) to find a leak in his operation and Creed discovered the identity of his new partner. And now his single most important goal in life is to get her back and get his life back.

The story is told from Sylvie's POV and for a while we don't really know if Creed is a good guy and what exactly happened to make him leave. Each book of the Unfinished Hero series is based on another guy, but in the beginning Sylvie was the stronger and more dominant (and I don't mean that in a sexual way) character. I even read that KA considered naming the book Sylvie, but Creed pulled through and he blossomed into a wonderful character; who is not only equal to Sylvie in charisma and gravitas, but also managed to be one hell of a book boyfriend.

“Then and now, beautiful, I’ll take you any way you come to me … Any way. I love this Sylvie, I loved that Sylvie. I just love you, baby.”

Yes, Mr. Creed is a hard ass, who knows what he wants, who is control and basically rocks your freaking socks off, but at the same time he is a sweet and caring man, who despite the hardship and loss that life has given him carries on and doesn't crack under the pressure.


Sylvie and Creed's story is quite wonderful. They have a lot of obstacles to overcome and things to deal with that are not easy, but they try their best. They are both such strong human beings and oh boy, do they clash and bicker and fight and they make up... And they do so mainly in a horizontal dance. *fans self* HAWT and even a little kinky!!!

“I’m not what you want, Sylvie, I get that because it’s the same for you as it is for me. I’m not what you want ’cause I’m what you need.”

I loved how KA pulled this whole story together by basing Sylvie and Creed in the future, while giving flashbacks into their past - how they met and how they got to the point where they didn't even know the other person was still alive.

After reading Knight I am aware that KA has a certain very elaborate style to write a book and she is detail oriented, but this time around I have to critique the middle part. It is simply too long for hardly any major plot developments. I do realise that the protagonists have to find and get to know each other again, but some parts felt repetitive and overdrawn. Also, the reason Creed was hired and the whole plot line that came with it was underwhelming to say the least. She really could have used that one a little better.

In all fairness, the ending made up for it. There is some major ass kicking involved as well as some cheesy goodness. All in all a heartbreaking and beautiful story...definitely worth a read and I'm on to the next one...

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