Reviews

Kristen Ashley has done it again, written a compelling, angsty romance that sucks you right in. The last few releases in the River Rain series have dropped hints about Hale Wheeler and Elsa Cohen so I've been anxiously awaiting this release and it did not disappoint in multiple ways. Hale's father took his own life and left him a billionaire and his companies. His parents each had their issues and as a result Hale is adamant he is never getting married or having kids or ever committing to one person for the rest of his life. Elsa, although close with her father, comes from a dysfunctional family, but unlike Hale, she is determined to make her own way and eventually have the family she wasn't raised in. Elsa and Hale start off as almost enemies- Elsa has made a name for herself and paved her way reporting on celebrity news, and Hale met Elsa trying to protect his family from being that news. The sparks fly between them and the intense attraction too much to ignore.

Fighting the Pull has all of the trademark things you would expect in a Kristen Ashley romance. I'm a sucker for angsty romances, when the couple get involved but there are obvious and known roadblocks to their happy ever after and I love reading about how they overcome those things. This one especially hit me a little differently with the yiddish terms and Jewish expressions sprinkled in throughout. There was one that was really poignant as I used to hear it regularly from my grandparents, said to me with such love and affection and reading it hear reminded me of those special moments and those times. This author did a really good job of interweaving some of the past characters from previous books in the series - those scenes felt natural and necessary to the story and really worked. I very much enjoyed reading this addition to the series!

romancejunkie1025's review

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5.0

wow i knew that Hale's story was going to be heartbreaking and intense but i didn't think it would be THAT rough. He and Elsa were obviously made for one another and i can't wait to see them in future novels living their best lives together.

kdvassar's review

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5.0

Fighting the Pull
By Kristen Ashley
River Rain book 5

I loved Hale and Elsa’s story. I have not read the other books in this series, but this can be read standalone, and it was fun really getting to know the other characters. I will be reading the previous books when I get a chance.
I love Hale. He is a wonderful, sweet protective, but has a bit of a naughty side if you know what I mean.
He defended a girl he wasn’t even dating yet because that’s just who he is. He has been through a lot in his life, with his mom and his dad and he is protective of his heart. He makes it clear he has no intentions of getting married.
Then there is Elsa, she worked very hard for everything she has. She loves her Job and her life in New York. She is Married to her work. Until she finally gets her interview with Hale!
Reading about these two and watching as their relationship grows, and Hale needing to deal with his past in order to have a future. Fighting the Pull brought in all the emotions so much so that I was up late into the night finishing this book!! Who needs sleep for the next day!
This is a sweet and emotional story, the other characters in this series are amazing and fun and interesting as well! I highly recommend this book and as I said will be going back to read the 4 previous books in the series!

anasatticbookblog's review

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5.0

Fighting The Pull (River Rain Book 5) by Kristen Ashley
Contemporary Romance. Can possibly stand-alone, but WAY better if read in order.
Thank you Kristen Ashley and Blue Box Press for sending me an ARC in exchange for an HONEST review.
This post contains Amazon Affiliate links.
4.5 Stars

If you know me or follow my reviews at all, you know Kristen Ashley is my favorite author. That being said, the River Rain Series has been very hit-or-miss for me with one of the books being my least favorite of hers, and one being a recent favorite. Fighting the Pull was a hit, and may have even surpassed Taking the Leap for me. I loved Elsa and Hale!

If you haven’t read any of the others in the River Rain Series, I’d recommend you start from the beginning. Though the romance stands alone, the characters do not, and their backstories play heavily into this novel. To refresh your memory, Hale is Cory Szabo’s son, but Tom and Imogen treated him like one of their own. Elsa is the celebrity gossip columnist/blogger whom Hale tried to hate but couldn’t.

First, as a Jewish reader, I was so happy to see us represented, especially in a strong character who I liked that wasn’t a stereotype. But that’s not all I liked. Hale. Raaawr. Ridiculously rich and bossy, he can give me orders all he wants.

“Tomorrow,” he said. “My place. Nine. And I’m renting this space for you, and you’re going to move your ass into it, because you won’t want to find out what’ll happen if you don’t.”

Hale has BAGGAGE. I mean his dad didn’t know how to be a dad. He left him billions but also left him with a lot of confusing thoughts and feelings, trauma and pain. And his mom, well no comment there.

“You don’t talk much about him,” she said, handling him with obvious care. “So I can’t know. But I wonder if you want your legacy to be different, or if you work so hard so you can make his different.”

I absolutely loved Elsa for Hale. She wasn’t a seedy paparazzi type even though she reported about the latest Hollywood gossip. She had class and aspires to be more like Barbara Walters or Oprah interviewing celebrities. While I didn’t love her in earlier stories because she was kind of the bad guy, I loved her for Hale and I loved her relationship with her dad.

“But please guard your heart, shayna punim, because I can’t always be there to do it for you.”

Shayna Punim is “pretty face” in Yiddish and I loved the way Kristen worked in some Jewish expressions without ever hitting you over the head with it. She is a little less subtle with her political leanings but that’s 100% a-okay with me because I feel exactly the same.

“I look at the shit people say about you, and it makes my skin crawl. There are alt-right crazies who think you’re the devil incarnate. They’re pissed about your position on the environment. They’re pissed you give money to pro-choice organizations. They’re pissed you give money to justice initiatives. They’re just pissed they’re not you. And a lot of those assholes have guns.”

Though Hale was one of the richest people in the world, I loved how Elsa made it clear that she wasn’t interested in his money. She is independent and very career-minded. I loved the way she treated him with care, and how he stood up to her family for her. They were just so good for each other!

This series has a ridiculous amount of characters to keep up with, and I am still trying to keep everyone straight, especially because they all pop up in this book. That might be my only real issue with Fighting the Pull, there are even more characters to know, but that’s okay, it’s totally worth it. Just a note: while Hale is definitely a dominant in bed, there weren’t any over-the-top sex scenes (though there were some good ones). It could have become more of an erotic romance with this aspect, and I’m glad it didn’t, because it allowed the story, not the sex (which was still hot) to stand out to me.

Likes:

•Visiting with all of the River Rain characters.

•Hale is broody and demanding. Yum.

•Elsa was wonderful and I have a crush on her dad. I loved how well she was portrayed as a Jewish character.

•So much growth on Hale’s part. I always thought of him as “poor Hale, the kid whose dad killed himself” but he’s not a kid, he’s all man, and I love how he came to terms with his father’s legacy in this installment.

•I didn’t think Kristen could redeem Corey at all, and she really did here. Not fully, but I’m way more sympathetic to him.

•Rhys Vaughn popping up again. I hope we get his story!

Dislikes:

•Still too many characters to keep up with.

•Too many rich, famous, and important people. I hope to see more average Joes in future books.

The Down & Dirty:
I loved Fighting the Pull by Kristen Ashley. I liked it way more than I expected because neither of the characters were my fave in the beginning. They are now! I loved Elsa and how hard she worked and I loved her dad. She was perfect for Hale who I ended up loving as well. While Fighting the Pull was more of Hale's story than Elsa's, her family drama had me just as involved as his. I’m so ready for the next in the River Rain Series, but now with all this new insight, I'm thinking of re-reading this whole series via audiobook before the next release.

Rating: 4.5 Stars, 3.5 Heat

Purchase Fighting The Pull by Kristen Ashley

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bibliobetty's review

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emotional funny reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

If you like Kristen Ashley's books, you'll love this along with the rest. If you've never read any of her books, this is definitely a worthy read but probably not the one I'd recommend you start with! This book does well as a standalone however if you have the time I do recommend reading the rest of the River Rain series first as it will give you a fuller appreciation of some of the characters' backstories.

I love both Hale and Elsa and I felt like this story was a long time coming! It was so great to read more about Hale's dad and some of his motives that were threaded throughout previous stories.

Content Warnings

stumpfed's review

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5.0

The feels. I wasn’t prepared and considering I’ve read almost every KA word in print, that’s on me.

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