Synopsis:
His inspiration. His torment. And his temptation…
Jasmine Taveras is the reason Sarge Purcell grabbed his six-string and bailed the hell out of New Jersey four years ago. She’s the fuel for every song he’s ever written-each one laced with bitter, hard-edged, hungry lust. Now, with his hugely successful band is on temporary hiatus, Sarge is determined to prove to Jasmine that this “kid” turned into every inch the man she’s always needed…
Men are slim pickings for a single factory girl in Hook, New Jersey…until tall, broad-shouldered hotness walks-or rather storms-into Jasmine’s life. Sarge’s return shouldn’t affect her this way. He’s her best friend’s much younger kid brother, and the kind of rough, gritty, sexiness Jasmine has no right to taste for herself. Even if he lets her.
But lust is a blinding, insatiable force. And when it crashes, it will take both Sarge and Jasmine down with it…
Review:
I really wasn’t crazy about this one, and it makes me kind of sad. I wanted to like Crashed Out–I was sure I would!–but it just felt…off.
First of all, it wasn’t terribly realistic that Sarge’s sister wouldn’t let him crash at her place for the holidays. I’m totally sympathetic about the single mom whose young child is starting to question why her home life is different from her peers, but this is her uncle. Yeah, he totally should have come visit his sister way before then, no question, but to say he couldn’t stay there because it would confuse the little girl? Uh, what? He’s family. It felt like it was nothing more than an awkwardly convenient way to get him into Jasmine’s spare room.
Sarge has been fantasizing about Jasmine for ten years, but she’s only ever seen him as her best friend’s little brother. She babysat him. Seeing him as an oh-so-grown-up man capable of extremely adult relationships? It’s understandably going to take some time. She’s going to need to adjust her whole mindset, and though we do see her struggle with it, it didn’t feel like enough. Sarge had her jumping into way too much, way to soon.
The scene in her car that first morning before she went to work? Kinda made me cringe.
Sarge’s dirty talking, which usually I’m all in favor of, was distracting. “Working my d*ck like a g*d*mn stripper pole”? Nope,didn’t work for me. At all. By the end, I was (gasp!) skipping the sex scenes just to get to the resolution quicker. And I never do that. Ever.
Sigh…
I’m still looking forward to the rest of the series, even though this one didn’t work for me. I need to find out what’s going on with Sarge’s sister and her ex, and the manager and the band’s drummer? That’s a story I must read. I’m sure Crashed Out‘s just a one-off.
Rating: 2 1/2 stars/ C
I received a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.