Blog Tour: Hold On by Kristen Ashley

Since she was young, Cher Rivers knew she was not the kind of girl who got what she wanted. A girl who could hope. A girl who could dream. She knew a happily ever after just wasn't in the cards for her. 

In love for years with the last bastion of the 'burg's eligible bachelors, Garrett Merrick, Cher worked hard at making him laugh. Being one of the guys. Having him in her life the only way she could. All this knowing he was in love with another woman. 

The Merrick Family is known for loving deep. So when Cecelia Merrick was murdered, it marked the Merricks in a way none of them recovered. Both Cecelia's children found love. Both turned their backs on it. But Garrett "Merry" Merrick knew in his soul the woman he divorced years ago was the one for him. 

Until the night when Cher took Garrett's back and things changed. The Merrick family loves deep. They also protect fiercely. And with his eyes finally open, Garrett sees the woman who truly is for him and he goes after her. 


5 Star Review by Natasha Gentile

So this is the end of the series. This series that took a piece of my heart with each and every book. To this day Golden Trail is one of my all time favorite books. In that book we met Garrett “Merry”. Even in that book he was still pining away for his ex wife. I so wanted his story and with this book gave me the insight I needed. It also made me fall head over heels for Merry. I don’t think that surprises anyone, since Kristen Ashley is just the type of writer that gets the reader hooked from the first line. Wanting more; savoring your time with them. You just want to live in that town. Here are my thoughts.

The minute I read the first sentence I knew I would love Cher. When a chapter starts with Worth Every Penny you know that this girl will have your back each and every time.  

Cher Rivers is the kind of woman who loves with her whole heart. She does it fiercely and she protects what is hers. She is the type of woman who thinks that she shouldn’t hope for the happily ever after because the just isn’t written in the stars for her. She just doesn’t know her own worth.  

Merry is back at the bar where Cher works. News of his ex wife's new engagement has him ready to down his sorrows. No one knows how to drown their sorrows better then Cher. So she pushes aside all her feelings for him and just is there for him.  

When he did, I felt it. I felt it like I felt it every time he was in. Every time he gave that kind of thing to me. Every time he gave anything to me.

The sting. The sting that made itself known. The sting that was a thorn that lived with me. A thorn that id had so long that I could sometimes ignore the pain.

A thorn buried deep under my skin. A thorn that was Garrett Merrick.

She has been in love with him forever. I mean just in that first chapter I felt it. Everyone felt it, everyone but Merry. But in between those shots and all that talking something shifted.  

Did they get drunk while she was laying out what type of woman his ex was? Yes, yes they did. Did they burn up the sheets? Holy mother of God did they ever. Did she give as good as she got? Absofreakinglutely! Did she think that this would be more than one time? Nope not her. Did Merry think that he wasn’t getting back in there again? Dude this is Merry he takes what he wants when he wants it, and right now his eyes are trained on Cher!

“Yeah one of us is gonna be breathless, brown eyes, that’s a guarantee.”
He could absolutely guarantee that.
Absolutely.

The Merrick family is knows around the ‘burg for many reasons. One was when Cecelia Merrick was murdered it broke everyone’s heart, leaving a huge whole in Merry’s heart. 
Two, they are known to be guarded of love, never one to give too much of themselves for fear that it will be taken away from them. Finally they are known for loving wholeheartedly. Once in love with you, you know that with each and every move they will be there with you holding your hand, guarding you, protecting you and making sure you know that they are there.

Merry was no different. He thought that his ex wife was the love of his life. Even though they were divorced he just knew that they were soul mates. Till the night Cher took his back. Till the night she showed him what a real woman would do for the ones they love. Once he got a piece of that he knew he just couldn’t hide from it, and well he’s Merry so you can damn well believe you are going to listen.

That’s the package, Tanner. Found Friday night, wrapped up under it, what she’s got blows the mind. I don’t mean just the fact that the woman is f*ckin’ outstanding in bed. You get that with the attitude, her sense of humor, and Christ, never laughed so hard with another being man or woman. All that comes with her brand of loyal and protective, which is sharp, but that edge hides a warm so warm, you got hold on that, you’ll never be cold.”

It’s not to say that the relationship with them is cut and dry. I mean she has a child, a son, who I fell so in love with. A son that loves his mother to the ends of the earth. He wants a man like Merry to take care of her, to make sure she is ok when he leaves, even though he’s only 10. This little dude will be so swoon worthy you just mark my words.

Now they are out as a couple. People hear, people talk. These people especially his ex gets wind of this information and she doesn’t like it- not one little bit. You know what they say, women are no good with sharing their toys!  

That along with the fact that her son’s dad now wants more time with him, makes the road to happily ever after bumpy. I mean they have to swerve from right to left to make sure not to crash into the pot holes. Good thing Merry is pretty good at driving.

I wouldn’t find out because he caught that wrist too, and then both of them were pinned to the wall over my head.
“Is there an us?” he asked.
My breasts brushed his chest as I started breathing heavily.
“Goddamn it, Cher is there and us?” he clipped
“I want there to be.”
F*ck!
It came out because he was freaking me out.
F*ck!
“Then there’s an us,” he declared firmly.
Oh God.
He wanted that to be too.
That made me unimaginably happy.
And it scared the absolute f*cking shit out of me.
“And there bein’ an us, Cher, that means you’re mine. Ethan’s mine. Are you following me?”

And with that I’m floating on cloud nine. I knew Merry would be the man I thought he was, but to see it written was so beautiful. It’s a love that Cher needs. It’s a love that Cher deserves, all she has to do is jump in with both feet and hold on, because the sweetness is one that she will never seem to get used to!

The conclusion of this series was without a doubt the best epilogue I have ever read. It touched each and every single character that I loved. I’m having a hard time moving on from them. Well done yet again, Ms. Ashley, well done!

"You got good, you don't let it go. It lets you go, you hold on. It slips through your fingers, you pull out all the stops to get it back. You got somethin' worth fighting for, you fight for it."

EXCERPT

Through this, my leg hit an end table and I adjusted. We cleared the couch, I shifted again too soon, both my calves hit the coffee table, and my ass went down on it.

I looked up. Cell flat to the table, I braced my hands to push up, but Merry was there, chin in his throat, eyes on me, and when he spoke again, his mind was clearly on my location.

“Tried to get your mouth on me more than once when we tore at each other up last Friday, but I was in the mood to use mine. Lookin’ forward to learnin’ what you can do with yours, but like I said, baby, right now, don’t got the time.”

My only response that he couldn’t twist was to glare at him, which was what I did.

“But got time before I go for a kiss,” Merry informed me.

“Only kiss I’ll give you is tellin’ you to kiss off,” I informed him.

“Who knew warm brown eyes like the ones you got could spark that kind of fire,” he muttered as if he wasn’t even talking to me.

“Step back,” I demanded.

“No,” he denied.

I continued to glare up at him, then I realized I was not the kind of woman who sat on her ass, glaring up at a man towering over her and pinning her in. So I stood, which put me smack in Merry’s space, my breasts brushing against his abs and up his chest on my way.

They kept brushing when he didn’t move back, but I didn’t attempt escape, even to get away from the shafts of electricity this all caused at my nipples, shafts that headed south.

I glared at him from closer.

He stared into my eyes, his gaze moving down to my mouth then back up as one side of his lips curved.

He was getting off on this.

I didn’t get that and I didn’t want to get that.

I wanted this done.

“In the mood to play, Officer?” I whispered.

“Told you, sweetheart, don’t got the time.”

I shook my head but held his gaze. “Not what I mean. Single mom, all alone. Switch out her storms. Offer info to help her out of a jam. Been a while since I was in the know about these things, so tell me, what’s the price for all that? You mentioned a blowjob. You got stamina, but I got talent. Balance that out, I’m thinkin’ it’ll take more than the usual ten, fifteen minutes. We’ll give it twenty. So I can manage my time, is there more?”

I wasn’t even done talking before I learned his eyes could spark fire too.

I also learned he was in the mood to play, that being, playing me at my own game.

And doing it better.

He dipped his face close, his voice low. “Storms get me the blowjob, brown eyes. I get the intel you need, that buys me sinkin’ deep in wet pussy.”

I felt my nipples get harder at the same time something else happened to me that, if he was of a mind to take his payoff right then, he’d get what he wanted.

I hid this reaction and asked, “You want this all in one go, or you wanna spread payback out for a while?”

“Keep plenty of time open, Cher. I intend to earn a fuckuva lot more and draw it out collecting.”

I nodded, still keeping a lock on his eyes. “I get it. Girl like me, only payback expected for me to be able to give.”

That didn’t get me fire.

That got me ice.

“I hear you talk down about yourself one more time, Cher, shit will get extreme.”

That made me ice over.

“Do not hand me that crap, Merry. You come into my home and got no problem talkin’ about wet pussy right to my face tells me the woman you know me to be.”

He dipped his face even closer, to the point it felt like if I blinked, my lashes would sweep his in a butterfly kiss.

“Do not hand me your shit, Cher,” he growled. “That hang-up is yours, not mine. And how I know that is I made you come just finger fuckin’ you and talkin’ dirty in your ear, and it was the talk and not what my fingers were doin’ that took you there. I like that, a woman who can let go and let me give her that without gettin’ uptight and closin’ down on me. You liked it too, a fuckuva lot more than me. So don’t stand there handin’ me your shit when I know you’re wet for me now and I haven’t fuckin’ touched you.”

I refused to reply to that because he was right and I had no intention of confirming that information.

But it was then he hit me with a verbal blow, the intensity of which, not in my whole shitty-ass life I’d ever received.

“Christ, if I didn’t know you were worth it, I’d walk out the door and this would be done—all we got, over.”

I could stand.

I could stare.

But I couldn’t breathe.

Merry could.

He could also speak.

“Hope like fuck no one takes off with those storms while I’m gone. You think they will, move ’em into garage and leave the key under the mat. I’m switchin’ ’em out, Cher. I come back tonight and they’re done, I’ll find you, and I won’t be collectin’. I’ll be dishin’ it out, but you won’t get it until you beg for it and do that shit for a really long time.”

His words were lost on me.

I continued to stand.

I continued to stare.

But my lungs had started burning.

If I didn’t know you were worth it…

“When’s Ethan’s next sleepover?” Merry bit out.

“Friday,” I whispered. “But his friend’s comin’ here.”

“Fuck,” Merry clipped. “Find a time, babe. You don’t, payback’ll stack up and I’ll have to take personal days and hole up in a hotel with you for a week. And there’s not a doubt that stick-up-her-ass church lady your ex tied his shit to won’t appreciate you bein’ gone from your kid for a weeklong fuckathon.”

That was kind of funny as well as hot.

I still said nothing.

Merry fell silent and stared at me.

Then he dealt the second biggest verbal blow I’d ever received in my life.

“Christ, you’re pretty, even standin’ there plotting my murder.”

After that, he lifted a hand, grabbed me gentle but firm at my neck, yanked me up so my mouth hit his hard but brief, then he let me go.

“Later, babe,” he said, strolling to my door. He stopped in it, turned to me, and bid his farewell by saying, “You touch those storms only to put them in the garage.”

He closed the door on that.

I stood where he left me.

If I didn’t know you were worth it…

What was I worth?

What was I worth to Merry?

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