KA gives good epilogue. ( )

Book 3 in the Dream Man series. This is Mitch (from Book 1) and Mara's story. Mara is a woman with extremely low self esteem. She falls instantly in love with her neighbor Mitch, but feels he's too far out of her league and spends 4 years avoiding him. As it turns out, Mitch spends the same amount of time trying to figure out how to draw her out her shell. When he finally gets an "in" he takes advantage of his shot. She unfortunately takes FOREVER to realize he actually wants to be with her. There's a lot of strange arguments where the more he likes her, the crazier her objections get. Mitch has the patience of Job with her and finally convinces her they belong together. It was pretty exhausting to read, but there were a lot of cute and sweet moments. I really loved Mitch. And I really loved seeing the characters from the previous books. I like how this little world winds itself together. I do have to say that I'm not entirely sure what deal Tack made at the end, but I assume we'll find out next in his book. ( )

[b:Law Man|13412515|Law Man (Dream Man, #3)|Kristen Ashley|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327911077s/13412515.jpg|18682640] (Dream Man, #3) by [a:Kristen Ashley|2958084|Kristen Ashley|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1442937365p2/2958084.jpg] (Goodreads Author)
Adult Contemporary Romance Suspense
My *TRS 4.5 *(True Star Rating)
Mara was a really warped way of looking at the world and herself. There is a bit of Mara in all of us, and most definitely all women. We never truly see ourselves the way others do. We always pick and poke at ourselves. We see every flaw and inflate it. What keeps us from being a full blown Mara are the people in our lives. Mara didn't have this. Her upbringing was the opposite of nurturing. As I read Mara's story, I easily related to that part of her and her life. Her struggle to put distance between her past and her NOW. I love a story that has characters the reader can relate to, and this one is one of those.
The story in whole is very well written. Has great flow and plenty of suspense. My problems with the story are;
1. Mara took too long to get over her negative self-image. Would've liked to see some changes (growth) in her attitude a little faster. Her attitude seemed a bit repetitive throughout the story.
2. Needed more insight into Mitch himself. It seemed to jump, without reason, with Mitch going from giving up on her to being determined to have her in his life. Felt like there was a paragraph or page missing. I needed more of what was going on in his head.
3. I would've liked Mitch be a bit more aggressive in a couple of areas in the story.
While I can't say this was my favorite of the series so far, I can say I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a very good read. I won't say exceptional, but definitely worth the time and money.
July 9, 2017 – Finished Reading
July 7, 2017 – Started Reading ( )

I LOVED the beginning of the book, with Mara's intense shyness and awkwardness and insecurity. I loved her rating system and pining after her neighbor. It was geared up to be one of my favorite tropes, but I think it just got too serious. Also, it turns out that she is not overweight or plain really, just insecure about coming from a "trashy" family, which is a bit less interesting to me but still made for some decent angst. I think it just went on too long. After the relationship got settled, I started to lose interest. Plus kids are not really a theme that appeals to me. But I loved the angst and insecurity in the beginning! (3.5 stars) ( )

3-1/2 stars. Pretty good book but not my favorite from KA. I think maybe because Mitch while he was sweet was not alpha enough for me. If he had been crushing on this chick for 4 years then why, in the last 2 since she's been single, had he not even tried to ask her out or even get to know her? That's kind of lame.

I liked the heroine's numbering system. I actually have always said 'like draws like'. I believe that hot guys go out with hot chicks 'cuz they know they can get them. And hot chicks don't go out with ordinary or ugly/lame guys 'cuz they know they can get the hot guys, etc. That's just the way of the world. Most people know where they fall on the spectrum and eventually pick a match. Money, fame and power skew the results of course.

I almost got kind of tired of the heroine's insecurities but was glad to see her get over herself and grow and realize she was a worthwhile person.

The suspense part of this one was fairly well done.

All in all an enjoyable read. ( )