Synopsis:
In an age of casual hook-ups, can love survive the test of time?
Juniper and Kyle meet when she is dangling forty feet from a museum scaffolding.
Juniper Mills is a straitlaced but sassy curator at a History Museum. Raised by her mother to hate men, she worries she’ll die a frigid scholar in a musty house with an army of cats and a lake of books.
Kyle Paxton is an intense and intimidating inventor of a successful micro camera from San Francisco. He schedules dating like his work—with robotic precision. This helps him cope with the dark memories of his ex-girlfriend, who still haunts him. Not looking for love, he only hooks up with Amazonian models.
When he joins the museum board, Juniper falls for him. She wants him, but knows it’s going to be as hard as catching the ocean in a teacup. Juniper becomes Kyle’s obsession, but the tragic secrets of his past cloud his feelings.
Juniper manages to knock Kyle’s world off its axis and their galaxies collide in this very unfairy tale. But can they overcome their differences and stop a hateful and vindictive person from tearing them apart?
Juniper Smoke is a smoking hot read with fun twists, dark secrets and edge-of-your-seat drama. Nothing is as it seems and no one behaves as you would expect.
My Review:
4.5 Amazing Stars!!
When a trusted author friend recommended this book to me, I immediately downloaded it and dove right in. Wait, I thought, this book is how long??! ‘Juniper Smoke’ is an odyssey, a fantastic, sexy, funny, smart and heart-stopping journey that I never wanted to end.
“I, Juniper Mills, always run away from the people I love. It is the story and sequel of my life.”
There is just so much to love about this book that I want to yell from the rooftops for everyone to read it! Juniper might be one of the sassiest, wittiest and smartest heroines I have read in a long time. She is simply a breath of fresh air. And Kyle Paxton, OMG KYLE!! Where do I even begin. In a sea of billionaire bachelors and dark heroes, he is a standout. I will never forget him. Poor, wealthy, lonely Kyle. Forget everything you know about reading contemporary romance novels because Sadia Ash just threw it all out the window. Her characters are fresh, damaged, strong, lonely and smart.
“Will you please leave? And stop looking up.”
“Give me a reason to stop looking up.”
Great. A Comedy Central reject. “Are you one of the waiters?”
“Hmm. Telekinesis. I think I’ve found my soul mate.”
There is so much to say about this book. The basics are that Juniper (yes, named after the tree) is a junior curator at a museum in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Kyle Paxton is a wealthy investor who founded a tech start-up company at a very young age. He is sexy and gorgeous and geeky and does not have normal relationships with women. But Juniper is basically a goner from the minute they meet.
“He laughed and it was a pleasant deep-throated sound. He held me so close, it vibrated in my body. Wow. If I could record and harness Kyle’s remarkable laugh all the world’s babies would stop crying and maybe the adults would be moved to work for peace. I felt happiness I had never known before. Then I got sad, for very soon I would never see this hot and mysterious stranger again.”
Lonely Juniper has been raised by a single mother who has had a hard life and so taught Juniper that men and relationships were to be avoided. So she finds herself unable to connect with men at the ripe old age of 26. Friends, yes, a great job, yes, but this geeky girl runs in the other direction where men are concerned.
See, I was raised to hate men. My mother didn’t raise me to believe in fairytales. Only unfairy tales.
Kyle is as smitten with Juniper as she is with him. But this delicious, slow-burn romance takes its time with the characters and the story and by the time these tow get together, I was addicted to their story.
Okay, there it was. I was outed in my mind. I want Kyle Paxton. And getting him was as easy as collecting the Pacific Ocean in a teacup. I was screwed.
Sadia Ash’s writing is sharp, biting, funny and verrrrry sexy. In fact, the only complaint I have about ‘Juniper Smoke’ is that it ended! I even liked Kyle, although at many times he came across as cold and calculating. It was part of his charm but he did frustrate me at times.
His expression grew distant again. “No. I’ve already said too much. Don’t read too much into it, Juniper. I make my decisions on human capital quickly. When I meet people, I know at once if I want to work with them and if I want to be with them.”
There is a lot to absorb in this book but I absolutely loved the how the settings changed, from frosty Michigan to California and back again. Every chapter was richly drawn and seemed vital to the story. The connection between Juniper and Kyle was as breathtaking as it was tinged with sadness. I really felt the emotional connection between the characters here and the author made them come alive for me.
A lump formed in my throat, for despite the blank way he spoke, I felt the ache in his voice, the loneliness in his words, and the vulnerability in his eyes. I had never seen him falter from his alpha-male façade at any time, and so this fragmented man in front of me was fascinating. Intriguing. Complex. Just my type. Danger bells again.
The story was creative and unexpected and surprised me at every turn. It is filled with people, places and things that all have meaning. I was completely taken aback at the ending and cannot wait until the next part of Juniper and Kyle’s story comes out! I will read anything that Said Ash writes. If you are looking for a book that is far and away different from any other romance out there, then read ‘Juniper Smoke’ and prepare to fall in love with these characters!
“Real life has tears and stupid emotions and mess and dirt and filth and drama that go with every beautiful thing we do. There is beauty in everything that falls. Like this.”
