Review (4 stars):
Sweet Dreams is the second of the Colorado Mountain series, and was the second book that I read after discovering her books through the Amazon romance forums, where she is very popular. In the last week, I have read all three of the Colorado Mountain series -- The Gamble, Sweet Dreams, and Lady Luck.
The upside: Kristen Ashley writes highly immersive books. She seriously sucked me in deep. Sweet Dreams is not set in Gnaw Bone, the town where The Gamble is set. It is set in Carnal, Colorado, Gnaw Bone's rough-around-the-edges neighbor and biker town. The heroine, Lauren, is extremely likeable -- a woman who has been scorned by her husband, betrayed by her best friend, a little overweight and a lot disillusioned, looking for a home. Tatum Jackson, the hero, is Ashley's best male character so far -- strong and protective. The romance between the two of them is completely believable. The secondary characters in this book are, as they were in each of the three Ashley books I read, wonderful and well-developed. There is a lot going on in Sweet Dreams, including family drama, ex-husband drama, ex-girlfriend drama, rape, murder and police corruption. It is flat-out a great story.
The downside: However, Ashley's strengths as a writer, in some ways, also represent a weakness, because this book, like the three others was bloated and badly in need of trimming. There are certain aspects to each of these books that are downright irritating. In Sweet Dreams, again, the descriptions of Laurie's clothing just about killed me. Description can be good. It brings the reader into the writer's world. Ms. Ashley took this to an extreme. She described clothing, right down to the underwear, bracelets and other accessories, hair, furniture, shoes, boots, shopping trips, landscapes, restaurant meals, and anything else that might be even remotely relevant, in excruciating detail. I got to the point that as soon as a paragraph relating to someone's attire began, I skimmed through it. This is not a good thing -- it pulled me out of the story. And Sweet Dreams is a really great story.
From a technical perspective, Ms. Ashley also could really use the services of a good proofreader and editor. I am not especially sensitive to typographical errors, but this is a common complaint with respect to her books. However, I am sensitive to clunky language, and Ms. Ashley does have a problem with clunky language. I can totally see how a reader would find it difficult to read any of Ms. Ashley's books if technical deficiences really bother them.
So, to sum up: the strengths of this book were in the plotting and the characterizations. The weaknesses were in the overblown descriptive detail and sometimes clunky language. This would be a stronger book if it were between 50 and 100 pages shorter, and if someone knowledgeable took an editor's pencil to it. Overall, though, I genuinely enjoyed it.
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