Stone (Daring the Kane Brothers #5) by Kelly Gendron-Review, Excerpt & Giveaway Tour
Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / Google Play
ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date June 1, 2020
She’s waited a long time to confront me, and after one red-hot kiss, I wonder what’s going to happen when she realizes she can’t have what she wants?
JAGGS showed up about a year ago. She’s feisty and difficult to ignore. She befriended my brother, and my family loves her. But the sexy spitfire hates me. She thinks I don’t know why she wants to destroy me or why she appeared out of nowhere, but I do.
With his dark amber eyes and smooth whiskey voice, this drug-fueled rock star has somehow become my addiction.
So what if he has a black belt in playing guitar, if he’s an Army vet who can deactivate bombs, or that he bubbles over with hotness? He’s the man who ruined my life, and no matter how tempting STONE KANE might be, I plan to crush him.
••••••
REVIEW:STONE is the fifth instalment in Kelly Gendron’s contemporary, adult DARING THE KANE BROTHERS erotic, romance series focusing on the Kane siblings. This is former EOD specialist US army soldier / guitarist Stone Kane, and auto mechanic Amanda aka Jaggs Downey’s story line. STONE can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous instalments is revealed where necessary. Daring the Kane Brothers is a spin-off from the author’s Breaking the Declan Brothers series.
Told from dual first person perspectives (Stone and Jaggs) STONE follows the contemptuous relationship between former EOD specialist US army soldier / guitarist Stone Kane, and auto mechanic Amanda aka Jaggs Downey. Approximately one year earlier, Amanda aka Jaggs Downey arrived in Culver City, California, looking for a job at Crash Kane’s garage but in that year Jaggs’ relationship with Crash’s brother Stone started as a hate-filled, vitriolic, war of words that only worsened as time went by. Stone Kane rarely returns to visit his family, suffering the affects of his time in Iraq, a time he chooses to numb with alcohol and drugs but his last visit finds him spending the weekend at Crash’s house with Jaggs Downey, the woman with whom Stone will fall in love. What ensues is the back and forth, up and down building relationship between Jaggs and Stone, and the potential fall-out as Jaggs struggles with Stone’s rockstar lifestyle, and the potential for Stone to break her heart.
Several years earlier Jaggs’ sister Jenny died in an explosion and Jaggs Downey blames Stone Kane. Stone is an addict and struggles with his sobriety, and in this Jaggs is looking to destroy our story line hero but Stone keeps secret that truth about what happened months before, a truth that once revealed changes the direction of Jaggs and Stone’s relationship, a relationship that is about to cross the line, and never return.
The relationship between Jaggs and Stone is an enemies to lovers based upon mistaken belief and a need for revenge. Jaggs’ sister is dead and she is desperate to place the blame, seeking her vengeance against an innocent man, who himself, struggles with the death of so many in the past. When the truth is revealed, Jaggs and Stone take their affair on the road but our heroine refuses to loose her heart to a man who is capable of destroying her soul. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.
All of the Kane siblings, and their mother Olivia Kane play secondary and supporting characters. We are introduced to Stone’s fellow band members Trigger, the drummer, Derrick, the lead singer, and their roadie Getty.
The world building reveals both Jaggs and Kane’s heart breaking and soul-crushing backgrounds: Jaggs and her sister Jenny’s ten different foster families, and Kane and his brother Steele’s birth mother’s horrific death.
STONE is a story of mistaken beliefs and a need for revenge; a story of revelations, acceptance, moving forward and love. The premise is captivating and heart breaking; the romance is seductive and provocative; the characters are energetic, broken but healing.
Reading Order and Previous Reviews
Token
Steele
Crash
NIX
STONE
Copy supplied for review
reviewed by Sandy
TOKEN-ONLY 99¢: Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / Chapters Indigo / Google Play
STEELE: ONLY 99¢: Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / / Amazon.au / B&N / KOBO / Apple /
CRASH-ONLY $1.99: Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / Google Play / Apple
NIX-ONLY $1.99: Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / Apple / Google Play
“You know how to use it, right?” I snicker.
“Yeah.” He scowls at me. “Where’s those things?”
“Pods?”
“Yeah.” He half growls.
“Up in the cupboard.” I nudge in the direction. He continues to stare at me. And all I can think about is what he might have going on in those lounge pants. Dammit, why did he ask me if I was going to get in bed with him? As if!
The truth be told, it brought me back to the day in the storage room when he was screwing one of his groupies. It’s not like I haven’t imagined what sex might be with the philandering rock star. I just convinced myself it would suck.
He smiles at me as he had when he nearly pulled the sheets back.
Is he messing with me?
I know he hates me as much as I hate him. Is he trying to be lewd? Trying to turn me off or on? Neither will work as I only have one feeling for the man—hate.
Still, it’s strange. He’s never paid me any attention. He’s never struck up a conversation or looked at me for that matter. He usually acts as if I don’t exist. So what’s with the sexual advances and all the fake smiles this morning?
What’s going on here?
I watch him get the pod and prepare himself a cup of coffee.
He takes a sip. “Ah, that’s good,” he says in a low, sexy raspy voice. He takes another sip and another, then sets the mug down on the counter and turns to me. “Thanks for last night. I was really fucked up.” His tone more sober and sincere.
“Yeah.” I clear my throat, instructing my eyes not to look at his chest or anything else other than his face. “Like I said, I didn’t want to tell my best friend his brother died on my watch.”
He flicks his hair from his face. “Crash is your best friend?”
“Yeah.” It’s the truth. He’s one of my only friends. I haven’t been this close to anyone since Jenny was killed. Crash and his family mean a lot to me, so that must be why I didn’t let Stone die last night. It’s not like I don’t want him dead, but the second I got the opportunity to have what I want, I did everything in my power—which was grabbing a pillow and sleeping on the floor, so not much—to keep the asshole alive.
He takes a step toward me, bringing his hard-to-resist aroma closer to my nostrils. “You two ain’t sleeping together?”
“Not that it’s any of your business.” I set my mug on the counter, and he takes a step closer. My back straightens.
“No. I suppose it ain’t.” His eyes roam to my mouth, pausing for an unspoken salacious moment. “But I know what you want.”
Yeah, you dead. “What’s that?” I smirk, his eyes making it back to mine.
He smiles, reaches for his mug, and takes another sip of coffee. I shake my head, staying focused on his face. I wonder what he looks like beneath all that scruff and hair. His eyes, the color, it’s brighter, softer, and lighter than I thought, but like the smooth whiskey color, the effects are no doubt the same, and too much of those eyes could alter my thinking. And I’ve already concluded that I hate the way my body reacts around him.
He sets the mug down and takes another step toward me. His hand comes out. Not sure what he’s going after, I grab his wrist and squeeze hard.
“I was going to check your mug to see if you needed another cup,” he says with a husky chuckle. “Do I scare you?”
“Scare? No.” I release his wrist. “Repulse? Yes.”
He bends until our heads are level. I get another whiff of his fuck-me-hard scent that clings to him like sweat and sex. I’m quick to swallow down the unbridled desire attempting to stir in me. His eyes lower to my mouth, then slowly move back up. I watch, sensing an attack of some kind. He leans forward. “I’m going to kiss you…
Kelly’s motto ~ “Bad boys, give ’em a little time and experience, and they will evolve into misbehaving men!” And what hot-blooded woman doesn’t want a naughty, all grown up bad boy?
Kelly Gendron is the author of the TroubleMaker series, the up and coming series ~ Breaking the Declan Brothers, and a few other romantic suspense novels.
When she’s not writing steamy, blush producing romances, she’s out meeting new people while representing a group of reputable nursing facilities. You can find Kelly in a quiet suburb, somewhere between Buffalo and Niagara Falls. If you Google her, she’ll pop up there too. And, please do find her. Kelly loves to hear from her readers, and meeting new people.
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