Law Man (The Dream Man Series Book 3)

This book made me laugh and ugly cry in the same breath. KA hit this one out of the park. She has a way with pulling all kinds of emotions out with her writing. The talk Mitch has with Billy gutted me in the best way. This is probably the fifth time I've read this book. So good!

Yay, Mitch's book! After meeting the delish law man in Mystery Man, I really wanted to see him get his own story, but what a story this one turned out to be. It is one of those ones that made me glad that I'm not a quitter when it comes to reading books. I wanted to quit this one right away because of my initial impressions of the heroine. Fortunately, I stuck it out to see my awesome, hot and heroic Mitch help his woman grow from zero to nearly perfect ten. As much as I love seeing a character learn and grow and find their happiness, in the end, this one had me nearly standing up and cheering Mara on when she finally got it together with Mitch playing a huge part in it.After the first few pages of this one, I thought I was doomed to disappointment because Mara's issues and non-existent self-esteem were really getting on my nerves. In fact, I don't think I've ever read a book with a character having such twisted thinking about themselves and other people. Mara lives on the same floor in an apartment complex with Mitch. She knows her other neighbors well and counts them as friends, but treats Mitch like he has a disease even when he tries to be friendly because she has such a crush on him. She thinks he's totally out of her league and not in a healthy common-sense sort of way. Mitch tries to get an opening with her because he's interested, but she can't even see it because her view of the world is so skewed. She rebuffs him not once, but twice misunderstanding everything.But then, her loser cousin's adorable kids call her in need of rescue. Mara goes to the rescue surprised as all get out when it is Mitch at her side. He stays planted firmly at her side after seeing the drugged out and drunken Billy nearly passed out on his couch in a house full of squalor and no food. He helps Mara get the kids out of this and drags Billy's worthless butt off to jail. Mara resents his help and pushes Mitch away yet again even though she is in over her head and can barely figure out one of the logistically issues with rearing two skittish kids while working full time. Fortunately, Mitch is made of sterner stuff and jumps back in to help not taking no for an answer whether its to help with the kids or to be a part of her life too.Billy's troubles turn out to be bigger than being a user and soon Mara has reason to be truly thankful that Mitch is a cop and involving himself with her life and the kids. The intrigue, danger, tender moments, passion, growing relationship and Mara's growing pains really make the last part of this book worth all the angst and annoyance in the beginning.I adored how this was not just a romance between Mitch and Mara, but a romance between Mitch, Mara and those adorable kids. It was so sweet seeing them forging a new family together. Mara's issues ran deep and Mitch had the right of it when he called her thought processes twisted. Mara is the result of a steady diet of emotional and verbal abuse from her very first memories. I felt almost guilty about being annoyed with her in the first half of the story- almost. It truly was hard for me to read her mental dialogue and even her first few scenes with Mitch. Mitch may not be as lethally dangerous as Hawk or Brock, but the man has a core of steel surrounded by a patient and tender spirit when it comes to Mara's issues. Oh, don't get me wrong. He's a typical Kristen Ashley hero in that he's an alpha dog with a capital 'A'. He did get pretty high-handed with Mara, but I think she needed his barking pushiness to wake her up and get her attention.The visit with several previous characters was great fun and the danger elements really added to the story. But as I hinted before, the family group of Mitch, Mara and the kids was my favorite part.In the end, I loved the book and learned to honestly enjoy the character development arc of the heroine in the end. Now, onward to Tack's story....

I reviewed this at MustReadBooksOrDie with my friend Shelley!Shel: We are hardcore fans of any and everything Kristen Ashley. We devoured the Rock Chick, Dream Man, Unfinished Hero's, and Chaos series..and tackling all of her series book by book. With the relatively recently redone covers of the Dream Man series, we decided to review some of our favorites. Court: Have you been going through KA withdrawals? I have. So thank goodness we get to think about Mitch today. He is my FREAKING FAVORITE! Yes, in different ways than the rest. They are all hot. They are all alpha. But I don't know why but I just connected with Mitch Lawson so much more.Shel: Courtney and I both swooned over Mitch. This man...gah!...he's just so damn good...and hot...and alpha...and sigh...wonderful. He and Mara observe each other from afar for years. Both of them are secretly itching to get their hands on each other but it just never happens. Then, Mitch takes an opportunity to help Mara and BAM! the alpha-male roller coaster begins! (Cue our giggly, swoony, girl sighs).Shel: Oh yeah. It is kind of sad that they literally go FOUR entire years without acting on their distant attraction...but it works. There are reasons. Mara might not have good reasons, but I guess when your self esteem is majorly lacking it is hard to imagine the hottie neighbor you're been lusting over is actually into you. Not that I would know anything about that...but I have the swoons for Detective Lawson from the first time we met him in Mystery Man...so I was ecstatic that he was going to get his girl....and of course it turns into even so much more than I could have imagined!Shel: Mara gets a phone call from her cousins's kids and seeing their current living situation, immediately takes them in. Despite her limited funds and space, her huge heart refuses to allow these kids to be the victim of their loser father. Mitch, who inserted himself into this situation, also becomes invested in these kiddos lives and before you know it, they've become a close knit group. If only, it were this easy...it's not. Mara has less than zero confidence when it comes to the relationship that forms with Mitch. She doubts herself and him and his intentions and just cannot fathom that he would want a relationship with her. Of course her pushing him away, causes a strong reaction from him and enter all sorts of frustrating, funny, delicious alpha-male Mitch moments.Court: Add yummy to that list. And swoony. And heart felt. You might not know it, but the Dream Man series has a major shift than the other KA books we've read. They're about this alpha man getting down and dirty with his girl, sure. They're about these women finding something new about themselves that boosts their confidence off the radar, sure. But they're also about family and all of the different family dynamics that exist in this world and how we all just get by every day doing the things that we have to do...even if they're not always what we like to do. Deep there, but it is seriously a fun book that we've come to expect from Kristen Ashley and this series!Shel: In addition to all of this, Mara's mom and aunt cause some drama, the new family Mara has formed with her young cousins is threatened, and the other DREAM MEN swoop in to help her navigate the problems that begin to arise. Court: OMG, I seriously get twitterpated any time there is Dream Man cross-over and don't forget I believe we have some HOT BUNCH appearances here too...(Hello, Lee Nightingale & Luke Stark...*swoon*). All that is almost too much...oh wait, who am I kidding. It isn't ENOUGH! Eeep!Shel: I absolutely LOVED this book. Mitch and Mara have hearts of gold. They are a perfect fit with their alpha and sassy mouths--I love their dynamic! Court: Meeeee---tooooo! Did I tell you this is my FAVORITE! Yes, yes it is.Shel: As I say with ALL of Kristen Ashley's books: this is a definite MUST read! Court: It is. So now we've bought these self-published, and I have the paperbacks too! These are too freaking good to miss!Shelley: 5 StarsCourtney: What she said! :P...5 Stars!

Definitely my favourite in this series yet. I loved Mitch and also Billy and Billie - though a guy (named Bill) naming his two kids that is still one of the single dumbest things I've ever read and was a little confusing at times. And it kind of annoyed me when they were spoken about and no one ever got confused about which was which even though sometimes you should not have been able to differentiate it from what was being said.And I wanted to like Mara, but Mitch was right, her system was whacked and I couldn't get entirely behind someone who thought about people in that way. She eventually grew up and realised it was dumb but still.Something else I will say, was I actually really enjoyed the running joke about the 'Spring Deluxe', I don't know why but I thought that was funny.

Mara has a secret rating system out of 10 for people. She rates her neighbour Mitch a 10.5 and herself a 2.5. She has serious self esteem problems and even though we find out the reason it did get irritating. Nevertheless this was an entertaining story that kept my attention.Mara separated herself from her family, except for her cousin Bill and his children Billy and Billie (that says all you need to know about Bill), 13 yeard previously.Circumstances bring Mitch into her her life quickly followed by her taking over the care of Billy and Billie. Things do not go smoothly.

Amazon have been recommending Kristin Ashley books to me for a while now. I also recall another reviewer recommending them and we have similar tastes. At the time, I downloaded a sample of one book but as the books were written in the first person it put me off as I didn't used to like those type of books. However, that was a while ago now and I have since got used to this style of writing so I decided to finally give Kristen a go.Firstly, where to start as there are quite a few books from this author. I read a lot of the reviews and what the stories were about and for some reason and even though it was out of synch in the series, Law Man stood out to me.I loved it! I love the style of writing, the alpha male, the insecure woman, the funny kid, the sad kid, the humour, the love scenes but most of all Mitch!!I have read some reviews that say Mara irritated them. Although she is very insecure and doesn't think herself worthy of Mitch (that odd scoring system!), I can see where her insecurities come from when we read more about her background. One thing I did find odd later in the story is when she talked about her ex been a 10 on her scoring system (although 1.5 in bed!). That confused me as how come she went out with a 10, but felt herself not worthy of Mitch who was a 10.5?!MINOR SPOILER:I loved the kids Bill and Billie(!) in this book but I was a bit disappointed when in the epilogue which is set 13 years later, Billie still calls Mitch - Mitch. I thought by then she would be calling him Dad.I have now moved on to Motorcycle Man and can see that Mitch was obviously a tamed down Alpha male compared to Tack! However, I loved Mitch and how he cared for Mara and the kids and I was really glad that Mara got her HEA and gained enough confidence from Mitch to know that she was well and truly worthy of a 10.5 man!I'm glad I have given this author a go and can see I will be kept busy for a long while yet reading all her books and I look forward to them.

Every now and then a book comes along that you know will hold a special place in your book loving heart, you don't read it you devour it!! This book, it's story and it fantastic characters will be a story I will keep in my book loving heart and revisit from time to time!!Law Man is part of Kristen Ashley's Dream Man series, and the story focuses on police detective Mitch Lawson and Mara Hanover. For me Mitch will remain in the top of my fave alpha list for a long time. He has all the character traits you want for an alpha. He's a mans man, handsome, charismatic,knows his own mind and what he wants and what he wants is Mara. Mara and Mitch have lived in the same apartment block for four years and Mara has has a huge crush on Mitch but with no self worth or self confidence she has never acted on it. When Mitch comes to her rescue one day to fix a washer in her bathroom the chemistry starts to bubble to boiling point.Mara's world is turned upside down when she takes in her cousins two small children after he lands himself in trouble. Mara is left struggling to raise two young children, but Mitch is on hand to help and will do anything to get what he wants and make Mara his woman.I loved the dialogue between Mitch and Mara. Mitch was oozing authority and wouldn't put up with the walls that Mara kept trying to put around herself. I loved Mara's wit, her classification system of people was funny and very true, to me anyway ;) There were also a few cameo's from Kristen's other books, although you don't need to have read them to enjoy or follow the story.There is so much I could write about this book but I wouldn't want to spoil it for anyone. I will just say if you like a great story, amazing characters, love, lust and happy ever afters than this is the book for you!! Enjoy :)

Mitch Lawson lives across the way from Mara Hanover, for four years Mara had admired Mitch. Mara had her own rating system on which Mitch was a ten point five, and the constant stream of women he entertained were always at least a seven often a ten. Mara who had ranked herself as a two point five knew a ten point five would never look at her a lowly two point five.When Mara's tap refuses to turn off, and the maintenance dept for the apartments does not return her calls Mitch offers to fix it for her. Mitch has heard about Mara's chicken pizza from their neighbours, which he persuades Mara to make for him suggesting she ask him over on Saturday night. When Mara reluctantly agrees, she has no idea that it would turn into an embarrassing nightmare when she knocks at Mitch's door. After that Mara avoids Mitch at all costs. That is until her two young cousins ring her for help, the children's Father Bill often goes off the rails leaving Billy and Bille to fend for themselves, when this happened they always called Mara. Having just received such a call Mara rushes out of her apartment and bumps straight into Mitch, he can tell there is a problem and insists on going along.This is another excellent read from this author, Mitch Lawson is a police detective and a really nice guy. He is still an alpha male but on a much more gentler scale than most of this authors other hero's. He is absolutely delicious, I loved him. Mara was a shy and totally insecure person, unaware of her own self worth. I am not always a lover of children in romance novels, they are not often written well, but that is not the case here Billy and Billie were very well depicted. As usual there are a cast of other characters some new, while others are making a welcome reappearance from previous books. The scenes between the Mitch and Mara were priceless I loved them. Another winner from Kristen Ashley.