The Proposal

Pre-reading: Aidan you better make things right in this one or someone won't see the next dawn...

After reading the book: Aidan you are lucky and I won't kill you. Seriously I wasn't expecting all the things he did to get Emma back. He showed her how sweet and caring he is and that he is going to be there for her. Somehow I couldn't be mad at Aidan for cheating, which is not something I do usually, and I was hoping he was going to get her back with some grand gesture. But the grand gestures are not what Emma needs or gets. The small things Aidan does are the one that matter in the end.

And then Pesh comes into the scenery and is after Emma's heart. I am team Aidan and if I want to be honest the doctor is pretty good but I didn't like him show more with Emma and let's just say that if he died somehow(see Grey's Anatomy)I wouldn't be unhappy or would give him a second thought. That was until he said the quote below and then mostly disappeared from Emma and Aidan's life. The quote made me like him a little and later it helped when he did a favor to Emma.

“I want you to think about this for a minute? What would you rather have? Words that can be spoken lightly and then taken back so easily, or would you rather actions?”

There isn't a triangle in the book, just a hormonal woman who wants to protect her heart from breaking again and a safe choice coming into her life. Because Pesh is the safe choice the one that wouldn't threaten her heart and Aidan is the unsafe one. What guarantees her that he won't hurt her again? So I can't or you really blame her for trying something with Pesh.
What I can blame her sort of is not appreciating what Aidan did to win her over and brushing it off nothing while she was at his place and he was taking care of her.

The proposal, anticipated by many, is the end of Emma and Aidan's story. It had me worried for a second that the end would be different in some way and I was glad to see that that wasn't the case. show less

Straight and to the point, I found myself fighting tears the entire way through this book! OH MY GOD! Emma hormonal. Aidan trying so hard to confess his love for her to win her back. My head was spinning and my eyes were watering! I just wanted the train wreck to jump back on track so bad!

Aidan would do anything to win Emma back; strike that, to make her happy. Even if that meant to stand back and allow another man to sweep in to make her happy. He has revealed his true intentions on wanting to give her a baby. He has done everything he could possibly imagine to show her he truly loves her. However, Emma just cannot get past the fact that he ran from his feelings and betrayed her. He allows himself to feel the pain of possibly losing show more her to another man to show her just how much he loves her. Now that is love, isn’t it? Just when he is ready to give up…… (haha, don’t you wish I would finish this sentence!) show less

Like I said on my review of "The Proposition", a second book to finish the story was totally uncalled for. That said, I think I liked this one better than the first. We got to know about Aiden's past with Amy and how that translated into his relationship with Emma and we were shown another side of Emma, that no necessarily was her best one but it fit with the plot. The ending and epilogue were incredibly sweet though.

This was my least favorite in the series. I thought I was going to love it but Emma was so over the top unwilling to forgive Aidan which got OLD! She was even cruel to Pesh and Aidan because she couldn't make a decision to save her life. She actually invites Pesh over to Aidan's home to eat dinner with her then agrees to go on a date with Pesh picking her up at Aidan's?? She was only supposed to be there for 2 weeks so my question is why couldn't she wait until she went home? How damn inconsiderate could somebody be? She wasn't even smart enough to realize it was wrong. I came so close to just DNF'ing this book! The last 40% was the only reason I gave it 2 stars and the fact I'm intrigued with Pesh so want to read his story now. I'm show more just hoping it's not a mistake. show less

Straight and to the point, I found myself fighting tears the entire way through this book! OH MY GOD! Emma hormonal. Aidan trying so hard to confess his love for her to win her back. My head was spinning and my eyes were watering! I just wanted the train wreck to jump back on track so bad!

Aidan would do anything to win Emma back; strike that, to make her happy. Even if that meant to stand back and allow another man to sweep in to make her happy. He has revealed his true intentions on wanting to give her a baby. He has done everything he could possibly imagine to show her he truly loves her. However, Emma just cannot get past the fact that he ran from his feelings and betrayed her. He allows himself to feel the pain of possibly losing show more her to another man to show her just how much he loves her. Now that is love, isn’t it? Just when he is ready to give up…… (haha, don’t you wish I would finish this sentence!) show less

The story was a fine story... the h was well-defined. The H wasn't so much -- I kept expecting him to be a player, but he wasn't, but the author didn't really help out with that one. The author gave him a reputation as a womanizer that we heard of, but didn't see (until near the very end of this half of the whole story). Also, we finally have characters a bit older than the norm -- thirty-somethings rather than twenty-somethings, a pleasant change from the too-many fresh-from-college H and h. Finally, families are a part of the story! A pleasant change from drinking buddies and sorority-sister-like friends. The story, the characters, the development, the dialog, the believe-ability, with all this, I would rate the book least 3.5 stars. show more A very enjoyable read. Not literature, but entertaining.

But not all is so simple!

Be forewarned, fellow Readers (and other indie writers), this story is not complete! Katie Ashley ends the book JUST BEFORE THE CLIMAX (not THAT climax!!! I'm talking about the story element "climax" -- just before the rising action peaks and we draw toward the plot resolution), she leaves us with a cliffhanger and no foreshadowing of resolution. The story is continued in The Proposal. Of course, the sequel is named The Proposal and you think I am the moron who can't figure out how the story will conclude. There is a happily ever after, but to know it requires a second book -- that's the con that makes me upset. The story is good and yet the author had to be greedy by not finishing the story in one book, but cause me to shell out another $11.99 (yes, that's what was charged for EACH book when I bought them -- I actually bought the two books in one purchase, but not knowing I was buying two halves of one story... I thought the sequel was a true sequel, not the other half) to find out how the ending (the proposal) actually came about. You and she may think she was very successful -- she sucked me in with good enough reviews that I went ahead and bought the second (once again, you think I'M the moron!) There will not be a second time for me with this author (You know that adage? The one about First Time Shame on You, Second Time Shame on Me). I will not be suckered in by Katie Ashley again, IF I decide to read another of her books -- not likely to happen any time soon.

One more irksome thing.... who DOUBLE SPACES these days?!?!?!? Not only was one good story divided into two books, but the author double spaced and even inconsistently triple spaced at new paragraphs! Seriously?!?!? A cheap ploy to add pages (343 pages for book 1 and 410 pages for book 2) and mark-up your product with "fillers".

I seriously implore those reading this review (writers and readers alike), give thoughtful consideration to purchasing these books (or self-publishing in this manner). The story is an entertaining, easy-to-read, no-moral-lessons included chick-lit story, but certainly NOT worth the $24.00 I paid or the current Amazon price of $22.78 for paperbacks. Even the Kindle price of $2.99 EACH is overreaching.

Katie Ashley, you've taught me a lesson I won't soon forget. You and other Indie Writers should have more confidence in your abilities than to cheat, con and deceive readers! show less

Time to review this baby!!

A little summary: We pick up a few weeks after Aiden's cheating on Emma and she has not forgiven him. Emma is still in touch with everyone in Aiden's life. His dad suffers from a heart attack while with Emma, and she's forced to contact Aiden. When Aiden gets to the hospital he learns that Emma has an admirer in the form of a handsome ER doctor, Pesh Nadeen.

Trying to get over Aiden (or trying to convince herself she can), Emma flirts back. Later that day she herself is admitted to the hospital for having contractions and is put on bed rest. Aiden being the only one able to care for her during the next few weeks, she moves in with him. Trying his best to show her how much he loves her, cares for her and wants show more her forgiveness, Aiden gets his own slap in the face when Emma agrees to go out with Pesh.

For fear of spoiling more of the story, I'm stopping the summary at this point, but things only get better from here. Trust.

I enjoyed this book a lot, more than The Proposition. Everything, including the angst, was a lot more balanced. There was a good amount of humor in it, too. And the swoons... Aiden sure makes up for being a man whore. And when the baby is born and we got a glimpse of daddy Aiden (can we call him Daiden?) my heart did a few flips.

Well written, sweet, angsty, romantic, sassy and sexy - this one has it all. show less