Title: Set the Pace
Author: Kim Karr
Series: Detroit Love #1
Release Date: February 20, 2016
My Rating: 5 STARS!!
Every city needs a hero, but Detroit’s white knight just might be a villain.
A rough childhood branded Jasper Storm trouble. A bad boy. Not worth a damn. His love of cars was the only thing that could battle his delinquency. With the need for speed in his blood, he overcame his wayward ways. Mostly. All grown up, the broken city of Detroit hails him their shining star. And the man behind a new cutting-edge automobile is ready to turn this bankrupt town around.
Everything he does in life is fast. He talks fast, f*cks fast, and drives fast. But when one reckless turn brings him face-to-face with the childhood he has tried very hard to forget, he finds himself on the edge of wondering if he shouldn’t slow down.
Charlotte Lane was the tomboy who lived next door. She was his best friend. He was her protector. Then tragedy struck and she disappeared, forever—or so he thought.
Jasper has many reasons to hate Charlotte and keep his distance, but she’s infiltrating his every thought and he can’t stay away. Back in town with an agenda of her own, she should push him aside. Make him turn around. Walk away herself. Yet she can't.
With the past lurking between them, they proceed with caution. That is until one sex-filled night leads to murder. When Detroit’s biggest ally suddenly becomes suspect number one, will Charlotte—the girl Jasper once kept safe—be the one to save him?
Jasper Storm…Is he a White Knight or a Black Sheep?
Adrenaline junkie, speed racer, lives fast and fucks harder. With his mess of light brown hair, matching light brown eyes that just look like they could peg you where you stand, and a body that must make every female in his vicinity yearn for him, there is no mistaking him in a crowd. Charlotte would describe him as handsome. REALLY handsome. Maybe even handsome as hell. With a strong jaw and sensual lips, Jasper has a sharp profile. He is long and lean. He is everything she remembers from her childhood but the man he has become today….
Charlotte
The hand-written sign near the valet reads, “Be back in 5 minutes.”
Even standing beside Jasper for five seconds seems to make my heart beat double time. Five minutes will send it flying off the chart.
Needing to calm down, I take a step away and move to stand in front of him. “You know I can take a cab home. I’ll be fine.”
That killer smile is just too much. “I’m a man of my word, Charlotte. I told you I’d make sure you get home safely and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
Heart still racing, I look up at him. He’s not like anyone I know, yet he’s so much like the Jasper I knew at eight years old. Without a second thought, I push the toe of my sandal against his shoe. It was something I did all the time when we were kids. “I don’t remember you being so bossy.”
Both of us feeling better, the heavy mood seems to have shifted between us to something a little lighter, and he raises a brow. “I’ve changed a lot over the past twenty years.”
Boy, he’s not kidding.
Chewing on the inside of my cheek, I want to respond with a yes, you have, but I don’t.
That seems too flirty.
Instead I stare at my once best friend. At the light and dark of his chocolate-brown hair that is more than perfect. Thick and glossy, he no longer wears it so much longer in the front that its bad habit of falling over his eyes is anything he has to worry about. Still, the way it sticks up in just the right places and allows for the perfect shape of his brows to be seen, his long, long eyelashes to be noticed, and the golden flecks in his eyes to mesmerize anyone they come in contact with, are all traits beyond perfection.
Oh God, my entire body tingles just looking at him. He has to be the sexiest man I’ve ever seen.
I shouldn’t be thinking this way.
Not about him.
And especially not after everything that has transpired today. This must be some kind of coping mechanism that I need to get under control.
Yet when he leans forward and his male scent assaults me, all of my sanity goes right out the window, along with my control.
Trouble.
Trouble.
Trouble.
In that moment his eyes capture mine, and for one second I think he’s going to kiss me. I tense. My pulse pounds as I wait with both desire and uncertainty. Wait for the brush of his mouth against mine. The wet slide of his tongue. The exhilaration of my fingers threading through that hair from his forehead all the way back to his neck. His stubble razor sharp against my soft flesh. His hands rough on my hips.
“Let me hold that for you,” he says.
Blinking rapidly, I realize he is reaching to take the bag from my hand and not to kiss me.
I should feel relieved.
I don’t.
A stunning, mind-bending, thrill. From beginning to end Set the Pace proves to be a novel that will capture the attention of masses and leave the wowed. An erratic, intense meld of heartbreak, mystery and love. This book through me for loop after loop. As most of Kim Karr's book do, but this one landed in a category all its own. And one that I strongly doubt will be outdone in amazing-ness anytime soon.
Jasper and Charlotte used to be inseparable. JJ and Charlie, all day, every day. Each other's saviors and lifelines. Until date and their parents took it out of their control and altered their futures irrevocably. A friendship that could have grown and blossomed into a heart-melting love dashed away because of selfish antics, and wrong decisions. So they went along in the now-hardened lives and when life throws them together again it's a fight to find those two innocent souls they were before the tragedy. Yet, somehow despite the past and the present they find each other. They find the two people they were meant to be together if life hadn't cruelly gotten in the way. But how many times must life foolishly and awfully tear them apart before they give up on each other? That is the story told in Set the Pace. A wicked mix of twisted turns and stolen, precious moments make up a tortuously sinful, and thrilling story.
I am a broken record when it comes to Kim Karr's books. I say every book is better than the rest, but who am I to change the tune that still rings true? With each new adventure this author takes us on she develops even more twisted and brilliant plots that continually keep her readers guessing and flabbergasted. It's a never ending whirlwind in a Kim Karr book and Set the Pace is no different. But more so, it might have surpassed its predecessors in all departments: Sexier? Check. More shocking? Double check. Engaging? By the number of times I gasped out loud (sometimes in public mind you) I would say I was more present in this story than in reality for the past 72 hours. This book is dazzling. I think that's a good descriptor for it. Dazzling in ways that readers in the romance world strive to find and love to devour.
Set the Pace is a must read. Hands down, I demand you go get the book and become just as entranced as I did in the fast-paced and wild world that Ms. Karr has created. Fall in love with Charlotte and Jasper. Learn their faults, and love their moments and memories, and find out why they're beyond perfect together, and revel in the relationship that will steal your breath. This book will deliver epically. And I just know that readers will lose their minds over the story that starts in Set the Pace and will conclude with Turn it Up (which I will be counting down the day until as I'm in a sever bookhangover.) So go forth, enjoy and absorb the greatness that is Set the Pace.
Happy Reading!
*ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review*
Reader * Writer * Coffeelover * Romantic
Kim is a daydreamer. So much so that if daydreaming could be a hobby it would be her favorite. It's how her stories are born and how they take root. An imagination that runs wild is something to be thankful for, and she is very thankful. :)
She grew up in New York and now lives in Florida with her husband and four kids. She's always had a love for reading books and writing. Being an English major in college, she wanted to teach at the college level but that was not to be. She went on to receive an MBA and became a project manager until quitting to raise her family. Kim currently works part-time with her husband and with the rest of her time embraces one of her biggest passions--writing.
Kim wears a lot of hats! Writer, book-lover, wife, soccer-mom, taxi driver, and the all around go-to person of her family. However, she always finds time to read.
She likes to believe in soul mates, kindred spirits, true friends, and Happily-Ever-Afters. She loves to drink champagne, listen to music, and hopes to always stay young at heart.
