The KA formula: attractive heroine who has been smacked around by life meets alpha male, probably with law enforcement/commando/bounty hunter/military background and commitment issues, they have lots of good sex, she falls in love, he falls in love, for some reason neither of them (but especially him) can admit it, someone kidnaps the heroine because he is going to kill her/rape her/get back at the hero, hero rescues her & they live happily ever after. Add in a crazy ex-wife or a couple of kids or mafia connections or something like that, lather, rinse, repeat.
The formula works. Sometimes better than others.
Since then, I've also read:
This is a sort of a tribute to The Game of Thrones story of Daenerys & the barbarian warlord. A lot of my compadres on the amazon forums loved this book. I found it utterly mediocre, however. Kristen Ashley does one thing very well -- the contemporary romance with the alpha male hero. Her formula did not translate well to the fantasy setting.
Also:
This was was not my favorite. I really didn't much like the H, Hawk, and I thought that the h, Gwen was a bit of an idiot. I was pulling for her to end up with Mitch Lawson, who is apparently going to get his own book. This would violate the formula, and is clearly not an acceptable resolution, therefore, it is not going to happen.
And:
This one was good, I thought. The formula worked well. I really liked the Hero & really, really liked the heroine. Tess may be my favorite heroine of all of the Ashley books I've read. She owns a bakery & is straight forward and sweet. There is a crazy ex-wife who is a gold digging slut, and a pair of great kids. All in all, a good one.
Two more:
This one is so formula, it defines the formula. It is over the top. Joe, the hero, is monumentally alpha. He's also kind of a dickhead. Add to this a villain who is pure nuts, who has murdered Vi's husband, and is basically a mob killer. We have the obligatory dumping by Joe, and the required kidnapping of Violet. Again, I was sort of hoping for Violet to dump Joe & go for Mike Haines. Again, this would violate the formula. But, Joe was no way good enough for Violet. Again, I had issues with this one.
Finally,
This one was actually a little bit different. In Rock Chick, the hero pursues and the heroine plays hard to get. It had potential, but the heroine, Indy, was so bloody annoying that it just didn't work for me. However, because it had potential, I am going to give the rest of the Rock Chick books a try.
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