This is the 15th book in the Insurgent’s MC series. While the books are connected, and have a loose ongoing story, you can read the books as standalones. You don’t really miss much if you haven’t read the other 14 books before you read Smokey’s Distraction. Of course, I’m not going to discourage anyone from reading any book, and this is a series that I do enjoy.
So, we have Ashley. She’s a marketing expert and is very good at her job. She’s basically married to her job and she really wants to make partner at the firm she’s working with. She gets a call to let her know that her former boss is out of jail. Which wouldn’t normally be a problem, but she helped put his theiving ass in jail, and he swore that he would get her. When her current boss asks her to go to a different town to work on a marketing plan for a friend of his, she initially wasn’t going to go, until she looked out the window and saw someone staring at her office. She’s all for leaving then, and off she goes.
Smokey walks into a bar to hear a localish band and he sees a beautiful woman who tells him her name is Marie. He’s a huge player, and tries coming on to her, but she keeps turning him down, no matter what he does. He even walks her out to her car, and she turns him down. Again. So, imagine his surprise when he turns up at his construction company to meet with the all business, no nonsense expert his friend sent him and it’s “Marie”, who turns out to be Ashley. He is excited to meet her again, and he really wants to get to know her better, but she is trying to keep it all business.
I think that Ashley is smart, but I think that she has a bit of a small naive streak. Or maybe it’s just that I have a huge cyincal streak. I just think that she seemed surprised by some things that I wouldn’t have been. I also think that she’s really jumpy, which I think is an appropriate behavior under all circumstances. I do wonder how much she thought that Smokey’s attraction to her was just because she said no. It would’ve been a through that went through my head.
Smokey is an OK guy. He is a horn dog, but I never hold that against anyone, I don’t slut shame anyone. As long as it’s consensual, go forth and fuck. But, I can see why Ashley doesn’t want to immediately get involved with him, because, well, player. Her first glimpse of him he’s with other women, so that really colors her initial view of him. I do think that he coddles his brother overly much. I get feeling guilty and responsible for a younger sib, but at some point, you have to let them fall on their face on their own. Maybe it’s that I am older than Smokey’s character and I’ve been around the block a few more times and I’ve got a different perspective.
I do think that the brother storyline wasn’t really necessary, and I wouldn’t have really missed it if it were gone.
No spoilers today. Go check it out!
In Between the Pages 