The Woman From Nowhere (Misted Pines 5) by Kristen Ashley-review
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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date April 14, 2026
After a heartbreaking betrayal, Mabel Adams reinvents herself for the fourth time. Regardless of the alarming reputation of the deceptively sleepy town of Misted Pines, she decides to move all the way across the country to start yet again.
Mabel has a one-night stand with a mountain man who rocks her world in bed but doesn’t tell her his name.
The next day, after receiving a threatening note from her neighbors, she discovers she’s living next to an extremist cult where the women go in and are never seen again.
After serving, former Navy SEAL Hutch Hutchison is living a peaceful life on his patch in the mountains outside Misted Pines. He’s been burned so many times by women, he’s happy to train his guard dogs, play his guitar, live remote, and most of all, quiet.
Until he hooks up with a beautiful woman who lives just down the way. And then he discovers she’s been threatened by the cult next door.
Hutch’s protective instinct sparks, and he decides his next mission is to keep Mabel safe at all costs.
But there’s something even hinkier about that cult than Hutch or local law enforcement expect.
As Hutch executes the riskiest mission of his life—keeping Mabel safe at the same time keeping both of their hearts intact—Hutch and the Sheriff’s Department try to unravel the mystery of The Lion and The Lamb before it’s too late.
Because Mabel is in their crosshairs.
And Hutch is not about to allow her to disappear.
•••••
REVIEW:THE WOMAN FROM NOWHERE is the fifth instalment in Kristen Ashley’s contemporary, adult MISTED PINES romantic suspense series focusing on the people and small town of MISTED PINES, set in the author’s numerous interconnected series. This is former US Navy SEAL turned animal rehabber and trainer Ranger ‘Hutch’ Hutchison, and thirty-one year old, refurbisher Mabel Adams’ story line. THE WOMAN FROM NOWHERE can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary.
NOTE: Due to the nature of the story line premise, there may be triggers for more sensitive readers.
Told from first person perspective (Mabel) and third person (Hutch) THE WOMAN FROM NOWHERE follows in the wake of a one-night stand wherein Mabel was ghosted with a Post-It Note but Mabel lived on the land adjoining a questionable cult known as The Lion and The Lamb, and Mabel would become the target of a threatening note. Not one to sit back, Mabel informed the local sheriff’s office, and to her shock, her one-night stand would become guardian and protector. Enter former US Navy SEAL Hutch Hutchison, and the man with whom Mabel will fall in love. As local law enforcement continued to look into The Lion and The Lamb, Mabel would find herself falling for a man who own history was almost as dark as her own.
The world building is detailed and revealing as we are up close and personal with both Hutch and Mabel’s earlier years. From abuse to neglect, and questionable family dynamics, Mable and Hutch’s lives were anything but happy, molding the individuals they had become.
The relationship between Mabel and Hutch begins as a one-night stand that quickly turns into something more. Both agreeing to a friends with benefits relationship, their love affair went beyond a friendship, into a protective relationship in which both were willing to place themselves in the direct line of fire to safeguard the life of each other. The $ex scenes are intimate and provocative without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.
There is another large ensemble cast of colorful, energetic and familiar secondary and supporting characters including the return of several of the previous story line couples, and Mabel’s landlord Mrs. Matthews. The requisite evil has many faces.
THE WOMAN FROM NOWHERE is a story of secrets and heart break, obsession and madness, power and control, family and relationships, friendships and love. The character driven premise is captivating, dramatic and intricate; the romance is seductive and impassioned; the character are charismatic, determined and desperate
Copy supplied for review
Reviewed by Sandy
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Kristen Ashley was born in Gary, Indiana, USA. She nearly killed her mother and herself making it into the world, seeing as she had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck (already attempting to accessorise and she hadn’t taken her first breath!).
Kristen grew up in Brownsburg, Indiana but has lived in Denver, Colorado and the West Country of England. Thus she has been blessed to have friends and family around the globe. Her posse is loopy (to say the least) but loopy is good when you want to write.
Kristen was raised in a house with a large and multi-generational family. They lived on a very small farm in a small town in the heartland and existed amongst the strains of Glenn Miller, The Everly Brothers, REO Speedwagon and Whitesnake (and the wardrobes that matched).
Needless to say, growing up in a house full of music, clothes and love was a good way to grow up.
And as she keeps growing up, it keeps getting better.
