Name: Ride Steady
ISBN: 9781455533220

Kristen Ashley

The ride of her life . . . Once upon a time, Carissa Teodoro believed in happy endings. Money, marriage, motherhood: everything came easy---until she woke up to the ugly truth about her Prince Charming. Now a struggling, single mom and stranded by a flat tire, Carissa's pondering her mistakes when a vaguely familiar knight rides to her rescue on a ton of horsepower. Climb on and hold tight . . . In high school, Carson Steele was a bad boy loner who put Carissa on a pedestal where she stayed far beyond his reach. Today, he's the hard-bodied biker known only as Joker, and from the way Carissa's acting, it's clear she's falling fast. While catching her is irresistible, knowing what to do with her is a different story. A good girl like Carissa is the least likely fit with the Chaos Motorcycle Club. Too bad holding back is so damned hard. Now, as Joker's secrets are revealed and an outside threat endangers the club, Joker must decide whether to ride steady with Carissa---or ride away forever . . .

Ride Steady

Lover of Romance 

This review was originally posted on Addicted To Romance
  

 
  
    Summary 
  
 
Carissa Teodora always dreamed of falling in love, getting married and being a mother and living a HEA. But her world has turned upside down. The man she loved cheated on her multiple times, and they got divorced while she was still pregnant. Her ex pays hardly any child support, and as he is a lawyer and comes from a family of attourney's, she was forced to only have half custody of her son. Carissa works hard to support themselves on very little. But she will do anything for her little boy. But then her life turns around when she gets a flat tire, and a biker comes and helps her out. He seems familiar but she can't pinpoint on where she knows him from. As Carissa learns more about "Joker" she only finds herself more intrigued. Especially when he starts to pursue her with the Chaos Motorcyle Club pitching in to help her out. But Carissa isn't used to anyone helping her out, and tries to give back what she can while trying to learn Joker and the relationship they have. But will Carissa be able to handle the truth about Joker's true identity and be the woman he needs?
 
  
    The Hero 
  
 
Carson Steele, may be a bad boy and a loner but is truly a miracle when you see who he truly is and the life he came from. Carson's mother abandoned him when he was just a baby, and his father was cruel, beat him often and practically treated him like a slave. Carson was never considered one of the popular kids in school, but there was one girl by the name of Carissa, he fell in love with. Because she saw him as a person and not the social outcast. He always wanted her but knew he could never have her. As soon as he could, he left him hometown and searched for his own happiness in the Chaos MC. He found a brotherhood, a home and a place where he truly belonged. Now Joker was such a fantastic hero. He is blunt, charismatic, charming at times but one hell of a alpha male. He takes care of his own. But he also has vulnerabilities which I found so charming. Joker is a hero that has gone through hell and back and come out on top and doesn't even realize it.
 
  
    The Heroine 
  
 
Carissa Teodora, grew up in a loving home. Her mother died of cancer when she was a teenager, and her sister was killed in a brutal accident when they were kids. Carissa only wanted a family and a home to love. She never dreamed that the man she thought she loved, would betray her, use her and pull out all the stops. Carissa is willing to fight with every breath for her son who is still a baby. But she knows that she may lose him for good if her ex has his way. When she discovers Joker and the Choas Club, her life alters in a way she doesn't expect. Carissa is hardworking, sweet and bubbly. She has her own way of doing things. Carissa was quite refreshing, and I loved her from the beginning. She stands her ground on certain things which I loved especially when it came to Joker.

  
    “What the fuck are you doin’?” he asked…
  
  

  
    “That’s twenty cents,” I returned.
  
  

  
    “Huh?” he grunted.
  
  

  
    “Regular curse words are a nickel,” I told him. “Bad curse words are a dime. Everyone knows the f-word is a bad one and since, starting now, you’re paying me every time you curse, that’s twenty cents you owe me… I’ll give it to charity or something. The way you cuss, we’ll probably be able to build a homeless shelter in a week.”
  

I liked the way she brings a freshness to the series I wasn't expecting. Her personality is so open and loveable.
 
  
    Plot and Story Line 
  
 
In Ride Steady, I was blown away by how much I adored this book. I mean truly and honestly, this might be my favorite book of the series. I can't express enough how much I loved this book and seeing these colorful characters from the Chaos MC. I will say that I think Kristen Ashley has written one of the best MC romance series ever!!

  
    And that was what it was all about. The meaning of life. Why every person on the planet was there. They got what they gave and then they gave what they got, and it was the measure of you if you could endure the shit that came with life and still find it in you to focus on the good and put that out there.
  

I can never get enough of her, and she did a fantastic job with Ride Steady. And As a plus we see the workings of the club, and seeing more involvement of their enemy that adds a wrinkle into the plot which I truly liked seeing. We also get an introduction into some new characters that I believe are connected to her other series she has been working on so that makes me super excited. I also loved seeing the various relationship we see in this book. I loved the way this author pulls me in emotionally with the connection between these characters and boy were they fun.

  
    When I closed the door and turned to the guys, I saw they were all leaned slightly to the right, heads tipped, eyes on my behind or, in the case of the lanky guy, my legs. I felt warmth hit my cheeks and called, “Is Joker around?” They all came to and looked to my face. 
  
  

  

  
    “She brought him pie,” the lanky guy muttered. “Fuckin’ brilliant,” the greasy jeans guy also was muttering. “Does Joker even like pie?” the coverall guy was only slightly muttering. 
  
  

  

  
    But my heart squeezed. Didn’t he like pie? Didn’t everyone like pie? Oh no! What if he didn’t like pie? 
  
  

  

  
    “Does Joker like anything?” greasy jeans guy asked. “I bet, today, he’s gonna like butterflies,” lanky guy noted. “Today, I like butterflies,” greasy jeans guy declared.
  

The story sets off with getting a flashback to the past, when Carissa and Carson "Joker" first meet and seeing Carson's childhood. Which isn't pretty at all. He goes through some rough times, and my heart ached for this little boy who grew up into an honest and hardworking man despite his horrible upbringing. Now Carissa had a whole different childhood. She suffered pain, but in a different way. She has lost most of her family except her father, and was betrayed and set aside by the man she gave her whole life to. I loved her inner strength. She has a heart of gold, and hasn't become bitter over what has happened, just keeps fighting for the life she knows she deserves. There are secrets that Joker holds back from Carissa, since she doesn't recognize him at all. He plans on keeping it that way. We see these two form a relationship with each other, start to learn each other and they go through some ups and downs.

  
    “I’ve loved her since high school, man. She means everything to me. You gotta drag her down, that’ll suck, but I’ll pick her back up. You gotta rip her apart, I’ll fuckin’ hate watchin’ it, but I’ll put her back together.”
  

But we also see how much they need each other, and the romance that forms is so tender yet passionate. I kept wanting more and more of these two, because wow----they are an awesome couple together. They just FIT so well together and I loved seeing that balance.
 
  
    The Cover 
  
 
What a cover!!! I love the blue and gold tones of it,
 
  
    Overall View 
  
 
Ride Steady is a truly magnificent romance that will take you on a joy ride in the sunset. It reveals the truth tests of life and love and fighting for what matters most!! A SEXY AND TOUCHING ROMANCE!!

  
    “Yeah, Carrie,” he answered. “It’s you. It’s always been you. It’ll always be you. Fuckin’ always.”
  


  


[foogallery id="20446"]

Ana Matti

Damn u Kristen Ashley this book is amazing.

Samantha Emery

2nd edition shelved for book challenge purposes. (for re reads of books within the same year)

Full review here - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Lynn Braden

Ride Steady follows the continuing adventures of the Chaos Motorcycle Club. This story starts by showing the abuse that Carson "Joker" Steele suffered at the hands of his father before escaping and making a life for himself. The only person he really cares about in high school is Carissa Teodoro, but she is out of his league. When Carissa and Joker meet again, she is a divorced single mother with almost no money who has been stranded on the side of the road with a flat tire. Joker has become a full patched-in member and doesn't recognize Carissa until he stops to help change her tire. Even though Carissa doesn't recognize him at all, their attraction still blossoms as Joker encourages Chaos to help Carissa through the troubles she is facing in her life. 
There wasn't a lot of suspense in this story and very little conflict to make the story more than just average. Many of the scenes in the book seemed very little more than fillers, making and remaking points that had already been solidly developed in the story. The two previous books in the Chaos series seemed to have more depth.

Find this review and more at 
  kimberlyfaye reads
.

You guys. This book. I don't even know if I can form coherent thoughts about it. As I was reading the first two books in this series and swooning all over the guys, my KA-loving blogging bestie kept saying "Wait until you get to Joker's book. You're going to love him." Boy, did I ever. I think the best way

Ride Steady was a fantastic second chance romance. I adored Carissa from the beginning and hated the things she was dealing with because of her scumbag ex. She was a good mom, a great person and really easy to like. Joker? There are no words. He was a complicated guy, but a really good one, too. It was obvious he was over the moon for Carissa too. I love when guys become totally devoted (and non-creepy) protective over a woman. He did just that. He stepped up to be the man she needed in all parts of her life. He and the club gave her the family she was missing. And he was good with her son. My ovaries were exploding all over the place.

I loved this book. Everything about this book. Kristen's writing makes it feel as though I'm living it instead of reading it. It took me four days to read this book, which is kinda insane for me. It wasn't because I wasn't into it or because I was TOO busy, but because I wanted to savor all the words. I loved the romance, obviously. It was sweet and sexy. I loved how all the characters – old and new – interacted. The secondary story with Valenzuela is building to what I'm sure is going to be a huge explosion sometime very soon, and the action in this book was a good addition to the whole story. Though I can't confirm because I've not read her other books, there seemed to be cameos from characters from her previous books. Which, you know, only served to make me want to read those all RIGHT THIS MINUTE. But, alas, I have to wait because of other commitments.

Joe-Joe-Kah. He just might've ruined me for all book men (and probably even the real ones) forever. Oh, and the epilogue? So much freaking perfection in so many wonderful, tiny ways.