Romance Addict Book Blog: BLOG TOUR & REVIEW

Jay Crownover’s New York Times and USA Today bestselling Marked Men series continues with the much anticipated story of southern charmer and certified criminal Asa Cross.

Starting over in Denver with a whole new circle of friends and family, Asa Cross struggles with being the man he knows everyone wants him to be and the man he knows he really is. A leopard doesn’t it change its spots and Asa has always been a predator. He doesn’t want to hurt those who love and rely on him, especially one luscious arresting cop who suddenly seems to be interested in him for far more than his penchant for breaking the law. But letting go of old habits is hard, and it’s easy to hit bottom when it’s the place you know best.

Royal Hastings is quickly learning what the bottom looks like after a tragic situation at work threatens not only her career but her partner’s life. As a woman who has only ever had a few real friends she’s trying to muddle through her confusion and devastation all alone. Except she can’t stop thinking about the sexy southern bartender she locked up. Crushing on Asa is the last thing she needs but his allure is too strong to resist. His long criminal record can only hurt her already shaky career and chasing after a guy who has no respect for the law or himself can only end in heartbreak.

A longtime criminal and a cop together just seems so wrong . . . but for Asa and Royal, being wrong together is the only right choice to make.

Starting the last book in the Marked Men series was very bitter sweet! While I COULD NOT WAIT to get my greedy and grubby hands all over Asa, it was sad to see the end come. It all started with our beloved Rule and came to end with the southern charmer you love to hate, Asa.

The reason why I wanted to read Asa so very very bad was because some of my favorite romance stories are about the guys who are introduced to us as so despicable that they have to climb a long way up to win us (and the heroine) over. I knew if anyone could do this it would be Asa, and I knew he would win my heart in the end. And I wasn’t wrong.

“I used to like it when things were handed to me with no effort on my part, and I liked it that when I walked away, I could always brush off any kind of responsibility for wrongdoing and put it on someone else. Accountability was a foreign thing, and back in the day I avoided it like I owed it money.”

Jay Crownover has this way – this amazing talent – of drawing us into the story she has created and making us connect with her characters and none of her characters connected more so with me then Asa and Royal. I felt everything they were feeling (cried when they were crying) and could not be anything but 100% along for their ride.

Now, if you would have asked me earlier, I would have told you the marked man who owned my heart was Nash, no hesitation. Now, well… Nash has competition with Asa for that title.

While this was Asa and Royal’s love story, it was also nice to see how far Asa’s relationship has come with everyone else - mainly his sister - has come since the beginning. We met Asa in Jet and Adyen’s story. Asa is Adyen’s trouble maker for a brother that caused her nothing but heartache. Reading where their relationship is in book number six compared to book number two was very much an emotional experience!

We met Royal in Nash and Saint’s story as the gorgeous cop next door. Royal is struggling being a woman cop and accepting the hard hits that come along with the career path she has chosen. What won me over with Royal was the way she knew she wanted Asa and went after him with everything she could.

“The guy liked to make up his own rules and he didn’t have a very pretty past. Cops shouldn’t be romantically interested in criminals, even reformed criminals. But I was. In fact I was more than interested, but every time I made a move on him and he turned me down, it made me wonder if he could see the failure that was haunting me. I wondered if that was why he kept saying no.”

Coming to the end Asa was like saying goodbye to my dear friends. I know they’re all in a good place and happy, but I will very surely miss them.

Jay Crownover is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Marked Men series. She also introduced the dark and sexy world of The Point that started with BETTER WHEN HE'S BAD and is currently working on her newest series The Saints of Denver. Like her characters, she is a big fan of tattoos. She loves music and wishes she could be a rock star, but since she has no aptitude for singing or instrument playing, she'll settle for writing stories with interesting characters that make the reader feel something. She lives in Colorado with her three dogs.