Fighting the Pull: A River Rain Novel by Kristen Ashley Published by Blue Box Press on September 12, 2023
Genres: Fiction / Romance / Contemporary
Pages: 502
Format: ARC, eBook, Paperback
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From New York Times bestselling author Kristen Ashley comes the new book in her River Rain Series, Fighting the Pull.
Hale Wheeler inherited billions from his father. He’s decided to take those resources and change the world for the better. He’s married to his mission, so he doesn’t have time for love.
There’s more lurking behind this decision. He hasn’t faced the tragic loss of his father, or the bitterness of his parents’ divorce. He doesn’t intend to follow in his father’s footsteps, breaking a woman’s heart in a way it will never mend. So he vows he’ll never marry.
But Hale is intrigued when he meets Elsa Cohen, the ambitious celebrity news journalist who has been reporting on his famous family. He warns her off, but she makes him a deal. She’ll pull back in exchange for an exclusive interview.
Elsa Cohen is married to her career, but she wants love, marriage, children. She also wants the impossibly handsome, fiercely loyal, tenderhearted Hale Wheeler.
They go head-to-head, both denying why there are fireworks every time they meet. But once they understand their undeniable attraction, Elsa can’t help but fall for the dynamic do-gooder.
As for Hale, he knows he needs to fight the pull of the beautiful, bold, loving Elsa Cohen, because breaking her would crush him.
Release Blitz ~ Fighting the Pull by Kristen Ashley
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Compelling from beginning to end, Fighting the Pull was an amazing addition to what has been a strong series and one of my favorite books of the year. I loved it! ~ Sharon – Simply Love Books
I worried I would struggle with this book as I am so not a fan of celebrity gossip and the people who report it, but leave it to Kristen Ashley to write a complex, thoughtful, and emotional story that I will be thinking about for a long time. Even more, I now want to go back and re-read the series from the beginning all over again. Hale Wheeler didn’t have the best parents, his mother felt betrayed by his dad and unfortunately that spilled over to Hale and his dad seemed aloof and always too busy to be there for Hale, but he gave Hale two people who stepped up and saw him through most everything in his life. And when those two were threatened by a gossip monger, Hale made sure that Elsa Cohen left them alone by offering up a sit down with him. Elsa has kept him at arm’s length because she felt attracted to him, but months later he is determined to do the interview and be finished with her. What he doesn’t expect is the pull he feels towards her or the need he has to make sure she is safe.
I have so many emotions running through me as I just now finished this book and was blown away by even more revelations about Corey Szabo, Hale’s father, and the plans he put in place before his death and even some answers as to why he did what he did. I kind of hate Ms. Ashley for making me forgive a character I have held a grudge against since the first book in this series even as she has tried to soften him throughout this series, but I do forgive Corey now and feel way more towards him than I want to admit.
As for Hale and Elsa, their relationship was a bit of a roller coaster ride but man Elsa impressed me with her spirit, her take no sh*t attitude, and her ability to see far more than Hale ever wanted anyone to see in him. I loved that she understood his rough edges and was there to help smooth them out, to be a sounding board for him, and most of all a soft place to land when he needed it. That’s not to say Hale didn’t make some mistakes because he did and some he didn’t even realize he was making because in his eyes there wasn’t anything wrong with his actions, but he tried and he got better and I loved him for that. From the start Hale made Elsa understand he wouldn’t let anyone disrespect her not even family and while at times he got a bit overbearing about helping her, he did it to make her life better. I love how much he respected her work ethic, the way she changed her focus in reporting celebrity news, and that she was a self made success.
A lot and I do mean a lot went on in this book and it would have been very easy for Hale and Elsa’s budding relationship to get lost in it all, but the author made sure they were very present and spent time connecting in some way almost every day when their very busy careers allowed them to.
I love that Hale was the one that decided to make changes in his life to have more time with Elsa and the other people he was close to. So often we see women making these changes so this element was a breath of fresh air.
Compelling from beginning to end, Fighting the Pull was an amazing addition to what has been a strong series and one of my favorite books of the year. I loved it!
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Keep reading for a look inside Fighting the Pull!
The thing on my mind that I wasn’t admitting was taking more headspace than it should was the fact that Hale had texted the day before.
Again.
Why he wasn’t letting himself off the hook about this interview he never wanted in the first place, I did not know. And it wasn’t going to be me who let him off the hook. Oh no.
Not officially.
But I wasn’t returning his texts, so unofficially, the guy should take a hint.
We’d made a deal almost a year before. The deal was, I’d kinda, sorta lay off his family, he’d give me an interview.
I couldn’t totally lay off his family. They were the most celebrated celebrities in the world. Even the ones who hadn’t sought that out, like Chloe Pierce and Judge Oakley.
But there were a great many different kinds of celebrity news, and it didn’t seem like
Hale Wheeler had cottoned on to the fact I wasn’t a mudslinger.
Sure, I also wasn’t an objective journalist. But I wasn’t TMZ either.
Nugget of news: you could share gossip for a living and still be classy. I was proof of that (or I thought I was).
I had my key ready to put into the four locks on the door to the building where my studio was in Brooklyn, and with practiced ease, I was out of the New York autumn morning cold in no time.
I locked the door behind me and headed to the space in the sectioned off warehouse that I rented for my studio.
I had to unlock that door too (only three locks this time), and once inside, I practically ran into Chuck, my cameraman, who was for some reason right there and crowding me.
My space was small, but this was weird.
I looked at his face, and…great.
We’d probably been burgled.
It wasn’t like I had a ton of expensive equipment, but what I had was hard won. I had offers coming in, and they were healthier than I’d allowed myself to dream, but I hadn’t signed on any dotted line. So, for the foreseeable future, ongoing operating costs, and any expansion, was on me.
I didn’t have time to deal with police reports and insurance companies telling me how little they could actually replace seeing as some small line in their contract exempted them from doing what I paid them to do. Nor did I need to be shelling out to replace stuff.
“What’s up?” I warily asked Chuck.
“Hale Wheeler is here,” he whispered.
Oh no.
That was worse than being burgled.
My gaze flew beyond Chuck to my set which was a one-step dais on which sat a mint green velvet swivel chair with a glass-topped gold side table beside it. These were in front of a greenscreen backdrop we could make anything we wanted it to be. Though usually it was subtle pastel green and peach swirls against a soft white with the words “Elsa’s Exchange” repeated throughout.
And damn it all to hell, there he was.
Tall, ridiculously handsome, athletically built Hale Wheeler, the richest man in the world.
For More Information about Kristen Ashley,
visit her website: www.kristenashley.net
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About Kristen Ashley
Kristen Ashley is the New York Times bestselling author of over seventy romance novels including the Rock Chick, Colorado Mountain, Dream Man, Chaos, Unfinished Heroes, The ’Burg, Magdalene, Fantasyland, The Three, Ghost and Reincarnation, Moonlight and Motor Oil, Mathilda SuperWitch, Dream Team, Wild West MC and Honey series along with several standalone novels.
She’s a hybrid author, publishing titles both independently and traditionally, her books have been translated in fourteen languages and she’s sold over four million books.
Kristen, born in Gary and raised in Brownsburg, Indiana, was a fourth generation graduate of Purdue University. Since, she has lived in Denver, the West Country of England, and she now resides in Phoenix. She worked as a charity executive for eighteen years prior to beginning her independent publishing career. She now writes full-time.
Although romance is her genre, the prevailing themes running through all of Kristen’s novels are friendship, family and a strong sisterhood. To this end, and as a way to thank her readers for their support, Kristen has created the Rock Chick Nation, a series of programs that are designed to give back to her readers and promote a strong female community.