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anasatticbookblog's review against another edition
4.0
Read more of my reviews and ramblings at Ana's Attic Book Blog
AJ Resendiz was my favorite character in Music of The Heart by Katie Ashley, hands down. In fact, I mentioned in my review that I wanted his story, and I must say, I was pleasantly surprised at how much more I enjoyed Beat of the Heart compared to Music of the Heart. Music was sweet, the heroine a virgin. Beat was plain old H-O-T. It also had one of my favorite things, banter. I love flirtatious banter, and Beat of the Heart by Katie Ashley had it in spades. Just what I expected from AJ, but better.
Mia Martinelli is a feisty, curvy, Italian cardiac nurse. AJ Resendiz is the sexy latin drummer for Runaway Train. He is visiting a crew member in the hospital and meets Mia in a very cute scene.
Since this is how my husband would describe me (totally his type), I was able to to hop right in there and be Mia (I love that!). Immediately the banter began.
Mia has some major issues though with her body (I can so relate) but most of her issues come from her dickhead ex. Mia has been burned. Big time. And she is not about to let it happen again. Her best friend and co-worker, Dee, a gay male nurse, was absolutely hysterical. So him, combined with the banter between AJ and Mia, and the friendship between the band guys had me smiling the whole way through.
AJ tries a few ways to convince Mia to go out with him (I loved this!) But luckily Dee keeps Mia from being a total idiot.
Likes:
Dislikes:
Rating: 4.25 stars 4.5 Heat
Beat of the Heart, to me, was way better than Music of the Heart which I really enjoyed. It brought me back to that feeling I had when I read my first Katie Ashley book a year ago, The Proposition. I had a perma-grin on my face the whole time I read Beat of the Heart (in one sitting!). It was a fast, sexy, fun, feel-good read with lots of 'I can relate' moments and fun current references. It started as a 5+++ star read, and though it lost a little momentum through the book, overall I still highly recommend it.
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AJ Resendiz was my favorite character in Music of The Heart by Katie Ashley, hands down. In fact, I mentioned in my review that I wanted his story, and I must say, I was pleasantly surprised at how much more I enjoyed Beat of the Heart compared to Music of the Heart. Music was sweet, the heroine a virgin. Beat was plain old H-O-T. It also had one of my favorite things, banter. I love flirtatious banter, and Beat of the Heart by Katie Ashley had it in spades. Just what I expected from AJ, but better.
Mia Martinelli is a feisty, curvy, Italian cardiac nurse. AJ Resendiz is the sexy latin drummer for Runaway Train. He is visiting a crew member in the hospital and meets Mia in a very cute scene.
A tall, dark haired, dark-eyed goddess of a nurse strode into the room. Through her standard blue scrubs, I detected she possessed every attribute that gave me instant wood--wide curvy hips, thick thighs, a voluptuous ass and a full, natural rack.
Since this is how my husband would describe me (totally his type), I was able to to hop right in there and be Mia (I love that!). Immediately the banter began.
"Holy shit, dude! I can't believe what she just said to you!" Rhys exclaimed, wiping the tears from his eyes.
I stared momentarily at the closed door before a smile spread across my cheeks. "Now, that gentleman, is the future Mrs. Resendiz, right there."
Mia has some major issues though with her body (I can so relate) but most of her issues come from her dickhead ex. Mia has been burned. Big time. And she is not about to let it happen again. Her best friend and co-worker, Dee, a gay male nurse, was absolutely hysterical. So him, combined with the banter between AJ and Mia, and the friendship between the band guys had me smiling the whole way through.
AJ tries a few ways to convince Mia to go out with him (I loved this!) But luckily Dee keeps Mia from being a total idiot.
"You look like just the hot ticket she needs to clear away the vajayjay cobwebs."
After much convincing, because Mia doesn't want to follow all of the fake skinny girls he dates, Mia finally agrees to basically sex with AJ. (I told you I'm Mia, right? Yay! Sex with AJ!)
"This is going to be epic!" Dee gyrated his hips as he danced over to me. "You need to make an appointment for hair and nails ASAP." His gaze dropped below my waist. I'm thinking a bikini wax as well. Don't want to be welcoming Mr. Latin Lover to the jungle."~ Dee
Though the date was supposed to be 'sex only' it turned out to be an awesome date. And then got even more awesome.
Oh my. AJ was the perfect blend of commanding alpha, and totally hot and sweet. Plus he loves a curvy girl! And let me tell you. I didn't know Katie, the sweet Steel Magnolia, had it in her, but Beat of the Heart was:
The first half of Beat of the Heart was a total 5++++ star read for me. The second half went a little downhill for me for a few reasons, the main one being the use of very common plot devices. I still loved it though, and I'm a huge fan of Runaway Train!
Likes:
- •I was grinning the whole time.
- •The fun banter.
- •Dee, the Lafayette-looking male nurse was awesome.
- •Lots of current pop-culture references.
- •A curvy heroine with body image was totally relatable, and her doubts were understandable.
- •Totally hot sex!
- •Teasing about romance novels "Why is it that during the sex scenes the guy always says 'Come for me, baby, and the chick comes?"
- •Usage of some of my favorite words like Vajayjay and Douchenozzle.
- •How much AJ loves Mia's body.
- •The pre-connection AJ has with Mia's family.
- •A surprise tie-in with the Proposition series by Katie Ashley (not necessary to read first at all, just a guest appearance).
Dislikes:
- •Too many typical plot devices used (misunderstanding and more).
- •Not enough of the music part of being musicians. You would barely ever even know they were in a band.
- •AJ lost a bit of his fun side towards the end, though he turned sweet and romantic.
- •Not very memorable.
- •Mia fought a little too much, AJ didn't push hard enough.
- •The epilogue was just too over-the-top good to be true.
Rating: 4.25 stars 4.5 Heat
Beat of the Heart, to me, was way better than Music of the Heart which I really enjoyed. It brought me back to that feeling I had when I read my first Katie Ashley book a year ago, The Proposition. I had a perma-grin on my face the whole time I read Beat of the Heart (in one sitting!). It was a fast, sexy, fun, feel-good read with lots of 'I can relate' moments and fun current references. It started as a 5+++ star read, and though it lost a little momentum through the book, overall I still highly recommend it.
Purchase Beat of the Heart (Runaway Train 2) by Katie Ashley
Can stand alone, no cliffhanger
Amazon | BN.com
Series order:
- Music of the Heart (my review and Interview)
- Beat of the Heart
- Music of the Soul (novella coming in December)
- Strings of the Heart (2014)
Please visit my blog Ana's Attic Book Blog and join my page on Facebook
seffra's review against another edition
5.0
Ahhh!!! I loved it!!! Woah...Katie Ashley knocked it out of the ball park once again! I love love love this story! I admit that in the first one I loved AJ but I was more curious for Rhys' book. I really fell in love with AJ and Mia. I'm really happy we got a glimpse of Pesh in this one...I'm dying for his book!!! Katie give me a release date asap for The Pairing! Megan and Pesh seem so cute already!
djacknurse's review against another edition
3.0
The plot of these books sound so good....but, they just don't quite get there for me. I felt this reading the first one but saw all the reviews saying it was better.....so, I gave it a try. It fell short too for me. Mia was the big problem! I can handle when the heroine has issues if she is smart enough to over come them. Unfortunately, she was selfish/stupid the entire book! She made all the bad decisions then tortured him with her insecurities. I wish he had told her to take a hike! I found it easy to put the book down to do laundry/dishes...not a good sign. I pretty much just skimmed the last 25%.
smitch29's review against another edition
3.0
2.5
This book was just fine. There wasn't much intriguing about it, but there wasn't much of anything that I can point out and complain about.
For this book, AJ got his turn to fall head over heels in love. When Runaway Train's head roadie, Frank, has a heart attack he goes back home to Atlanta to recover in a hospital there. AJ meets the love of his life while visiting Frank in the hospital. Mia is nurse who works on the cardiac floor. Her first encounter with AJ involves her spilling a drink on his lap and then proceeding to clean him up. She's embarrassed to be rubbing him down but her spitfire comes out to try and save her pride. It's hilarious and is pretty much how their relationship goes the whole book.
Mia switches between a shy and insecure girl to a spitfire Sicilian who won't stand to be messed with. It's a weird combination that I thought the author did a good job of making real and believable. Then there is the Latin Lover, AJ. He's lived up his rock star life and also tucked in a few solid relationships in his past as well. He's got plenty of fire himself, and he needs it to keep up with Mia. I would say that their dynamic is probably the only thing close to original I've seen in the romance books I've read lately. Mia isn't a heroine who swoons every time AJ blinks. Well, she kind of does, but she doesn't let it always sway her decisions. And not that other heroines of other books are spineless, they just aren't as well-roundedly stubborn as Mia. Mia puts her foot down to AJ frequently.
At one point in the novel, Mia really starts to let the demons of her past kick her down. She really starts to rethink her worthiness to be with AJ. It causes a lot of conflict in this novel and sets Mia up to be fragile and make a few rash judgments. I was glad to see how AJ reacted to her unfair decisions. He recognized how shitty she acted and put his foot down while still supporting her. He just wanted/needed her to believe in herself and in their relationship, because otherwise they were going to fail before they even began.
Overall, I don't know if I would really recommend this book. It didn't really pull out any emotions in me, good or bad. I just pretty much kept reading thinking it would change, but it never did. I'm not decided on whether I will continue on with this series or not.
This book was just fine. There wasn't much intriguing about it, but there wasn't much of anything that I can point out and complain about.
For this book, AJ got his turn to fall head over heels in love. When Runaway Train's head roadie, Frank, has a heart attack he goes back home to Atlanta to recover in a hospital there. AJ meets the love of his life while visiting Frank in the hospital. Mia is nurse who works on the cardiac floor. Her first encounter with AJ involves her spilling a drink on his lap and then proceeding to clean him up. She's embarrassed to be rubbing him down but her spitfire comes out to try and save her pride. It's hilarious and is pretty much how their relationship goes the whole book.
Mia switches between a shy and insecure girl to a spitfire Sicilian who won't stand to be messed with. It's a weird combination that I thought the author did a good job of making real and believable. Then there is the Latin Lover, AJ. He's lived up his rock star life and also tucked in a few solid relationships in his past as well. He's got plenty of fire himself, and he needs it to keep up with Mia. I would say that their dynamic is probably the only thing close to original I've seen in the romance books I've read lately. Mia isn't a heroine who swoons every time AJ blinks. Well, she kind of does, but she doesn't let it always sway her decisions. And not that other heroines of other books are spineless, they just aren't as well-roundedly stubborn as Mia. Mia puts her foot down to AJ frequently.
At one point in the novel, Mia really starts to let the demons of her past kick her down. She really starts to rethink her worthiness to be with AJ. It causes a lot of conflict in this novel and sets Mia up to be fragile and make a few rash judgments. I was glad to see how AJ reacted to her unfair decisions. He recognized how shitty she acted and put his foot down while still supporting her. He just wanted/needed her to believe in herself and in their relationship, because otherwise they were going to fail before they even began.
Overall, I don't know if I would really recommend this book. It didn't really pull out any emotions in me, good or bad. I just pretty much kept reading thinking it would change, but it never did. I'm not decided on whether I will continue on with this series or not.
samnicholls12's review against another edition
4.0
Great book
Am seriously loving this series. AJ is my favourite so far, but I can't wait to read the next one in the series. Well written well paced story with just that but of angst. Loved it!
Am seriously loving this series. AJ is my favourite so far, but I can't wait to read the next one in the series. Well written well paced story with just that but of angst. Loved it!
anabelsbrother's review against another edition
4.0
AJ frickin' Resendiz.
Seriously, can the dude be more awesome? I've always had a soft spot for funny guys, and he is HILARIOUS. I love all the crude jokes (yes I'm that kind of girl, lol) and the way he woos Mia. I love Mia too, well, except for her lack of trust in men (or in this case, AJ) due to her painful experience with them. I find that trait of hers really annoying; I know it's justified but still it's really annoying. Have a little faith! Anyway, I love how she can be really fierce and stand her ground around AJ.
Overall, it's an entertaining read. The ending is sweet.
Seriously, can the dude be more awesome? I've always had a soft spot for funny guys, and he is HILARIOUS. I love all the crude jokes (yes I'm that kind of girl, lol) and the way he woos Mia. I love Mia too, well, except for her lack of trust in men (or in this case, AJ) due to her painful experience with them. I find that trait of hers really annoying; I know it's justified but still it's really annoying. Have a little faith! Anyway, I love how she can be really fierce and stand her ground around AJ.
Overall, it's an entertaining read. The ending is sweet.
shanbreads's review against another edition
4.0
Katie Ashley just reels you in and you can't stop reading, this series/book will make you smile and cry. I love AJ and Mia and I can't wait to read the next one in this series.
mary_05's review against another edition
3.0
I liked it.. I liked it a lot!!!
Beat of the Heart was an addictive read. It was good, but not as good as the first book. A.J stole my heart from the get go. He was sweet, goofy and I loved his witty one liners.
Mia on the other had, had me wanting to high five her at one point, and then had me feeling irate after turning to the next page. Her feisty and take no prisoners attitude was contagious. But when she was being irrationally untrusting, it was beyond annoying. I get that she had to over come a lot of pain and demons from her past, but I mean come on!
Putting aside my need to do Mia bodily harm, I would say that Beat of the Heart is definitely something you should read. It gives you a chance to re-visit your favourite characters from Music of the Heart, and you get to see so many different sides of A.J. I enjoyed it and will diligently be waiting for the next book to come out!
Beat of the Heart was an addictive read. It was good, but not as good as the first book. A.J stole my heart from the get go. He was sweet, goofy and I loved his witty one liners.
Mia on the other had, had me wanting to high five her at one point, and then had me feeling irate after turning to the next page. Her feisty and take no prisoners attitude was contagious. But when she was being irrationally untrusting, it was beyond annoying. I get that she had to over come a lot of pain and demons from her past, but I mean come on!
Putting aside my need to do Mia bodily harm, I would say that Beat of the Heart is definitely something you should read. It gives you a chance to re-visit your favourite characters from Music of the Heart, and you get to see so many different sides of A.J. I enjoyed it and will diligently be waiting for the next book to come out!
shanbreads's review against another edition
4.0
Katie Ashley just reels you in and you can't stop reading, this series/book will make you smile and cry. I love AJ and Mia and I can't wait to read the next one in this series.