✰ Bianca ✰ Janeane ✰ 
Kim Karr - Set The Pace
• release date: 21 February 2016
• #2 TURN IT UP will be out in May☺
★★★★★
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?
20 years ago Jasper's beloved dad died in a horrible auto-plant explosion in Detroit.
That day was also the day 8-year-old Jasper saw his best friend Charlotte for the last time.
After fighting against all odds, with no money, an alcoholic/mentally absent mom etc., Jasper is now the proud owner of Lightning Motors, together with his best buddies.
Their love of cars made them start a new car company - a huge thing for this dead city.
And their new factory is supposed to be built in the exact same place where the explosion killed so many people twenty years ago.
Charlotte is back in town, working for a journalism blog, covering the events surrounding Jasper's company's launch. Her colleague Eve is there to write the story. Only she's digging for dirt, she doesn't want to write about boring cars, but about the man behind it all....
Jasper has hated Charlie for 20 years. She left him on the worst day of his life. No one knows exactly why, only that her dad must've had something to do with the explosion.... he was one of the owners, after all.
Now Jasper & Charlotte meet again .... will the past stand in their way?
Or can they forget all the hurt and mistakes?
And what about the cut break lines that caused Jasper's accident three years ago?? Sabotage? Attempted Murder?
What's with Detroit's new Mayor Alex? Good guy? Bad guy?
And who is dead and why? And who killed her?????
Can everybody in Jasper's inner circle of friends be trusted??
Sex, lies, deceit, and murder.
There's sooo much happening in the first third of the book alone - I could write so much more without spoiling much.....but I will stop here with my 'summary' ☺☺
That day was also the day 8-year-old Jasper saw his best friend Charlotte for the last time.
After fighting against all odds, with no money, an alcoholic/mentally absent mom etc., Jasper is now the proud owner of Lightning Motors, together with his best buddies.
Their love of cars made them start a new car company - a huge thing for this dead city.
And their new factory is supposed to be built in the exact same place where the explosion killed so many people twenty years ago.
Charlotte is back in town, working for a journalism blog, covering the events surrounding Jasper's company's launch. Her colleague Eve is there to write the story. Only she's digging for dirt, she doesn't want to write about boring cars, but about the man behind it all....
Jasper has hated Charlie for 20 years. She left him on the worst day of his life. No one knows exactly why, only that her dad must've had something to do with the explosion.... he was one of the owners, after all.
Now Jasper & Charlotte meet again .... will the past stand in their way?
Or can they forget all the hurt and mistakes?
And what about the cut break lines that caused Jasper's accident three years ago?? Sabotage? Attempted Murder?
What's with Detroit's new Mayor Alex? Good guy? Bad guy?
And who is dead and why? And who killed her?????
Can everybody in Jasper's inner circle of friends be trusted??
Sex, lies, deceit, and murder.
There's sooo much happening in the first third of the book alone - I could write so much more without spoiling much.....but I will stop here with my 'summary' ☺☺
WHAT WiLL HAPPEN TO CHARLOTTE & JASPER????
WiLL THE TWO OF THEM GET THEiR HEA?
WiLL EVERBODY SURViVE???
I'm not telling you that of course...
OK, yes - there might be a tiiiiny little - aka HUGE - Cliffy, maybe even two, if that's possible ☺☺☺
Every time a new Kim Karr book arrives on my kindle, I'm totally excited.
You never know where the story will take you, you just know that it will most likely be amazing!
And Jasper & Charlotte's story was just perfect!
Of course we have a bit of a Cliffy :/ All the more reason to read book #1 again, before the second one comes out!
Jasper Jackson Storm is such an amazing guy... sexy, bad boyish, adorable, talented.....
He came from a pretty good middle class family. But when his dad died, everything fell apart. He got into lots of shit when he was a teenie...but with the help of mentor Hank, he was able to turn his love of cars into a real career.
He's really made something out of almost nothing.
And poor Charlie....she knows that as soon as she's back in Detroit the fingers will start pointing at her.
People hate her, just because she's her father's daughter.
But she's in town to finally prove that it wasn't her dad's fault!
I just loved those two.
The little back-in-time scenes we get - or when they tell us tiny little moments from their childhood - it's sooo adorable, the way those two eight year old kids were best friends, protector and protectee... Just adorable!
But now they're grown-up....time for more grown-up games!!!! ☺☺☺
We have LOTS of sexy scenes and suspensy and frustrating and exciting and moving scenes!
This was a perfect first book in a 2-book series - and I would love for Hollywood to come knocking on Kim's door. I would love to see this on TV or on the big screen!!!
I loved every word of the story!!
SET THE PACE was such a beautiful & suspensy & exciting & sexy & moving Romance! A hopeful love song for the city of Detroit! It's a story about friendship & disappointment & truth & lies & danger & the past & the future, about hope & love ..... and now I so want to take a ride in 'The Storm' with Jasper!☺
ARC received for an honest review
Waking up to a new Kim Karr book in my kindle is like Christmas morning. I know I am going to get an enjoyable read.
Set The Pace has a little bit of everything. Lost friendship. Murder, mystery and suspense.
Reunited after 20 years, things have changed so much for both Jasper and Charlie - and not always for the better. There is that fine line between love and hate, and our lovelies are toeing that line, and you could feel that it was only time before that line got crossed.
It was great going back to the past to get a glimpse of them as 8 year olds, that innocent love between them. Now they are both back in Detroit, and that love is not so innocent any more!
In fact when things heat up **fans self** boy do they heat up!
There was so much history between our lovelies, so much bad blood to overcome, you just keep hoping that things will work out for them. .
And just when you think you know who is who and what is what
BOOM! Cliffhangered! (But I don't mind cliffhangers!)
I can't wait to see what happens with Jasper and Charlotte, and hope that they can get their HEA in the second book.
Please Ms Karr, don't keep me waiting too long!
Set The Pace has a little bit of everything. Lost friendship. Murder, mystery and suspense.
Reunited after 20 years, things have changed so much for both Jasper and Charlie - and not always for the better. There is that fine line between love and hate, and our lovelies are toeing that line, and you could feel that it was only time before that line got crossed.
It was great going back to the past to get a glimpse of them as 8 year olds, that innocent love between them. Now they are both back in Detroit, and that love is not so innocent any more!In fact when things heat up **fans self** boy do they heat up!
There was so much history between our lovelies, so much bad blood to overcome, you just keep hoping that things will work out for them. .
And just when you think you know who is who and what is what
BOOM! Cliffhangered! (But I don't mind cliffhangers!)
I can't wait to see what happens with Jasper and Charlotte, and hope that they can get their HEA in the second book.
Please Ms Karr, don't keep me waiting too long!
↓ LINKS TO THE BOOK AND AUTHOR ↓
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Excerpt
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.
STALK KiM ON:
Kim Karr is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. She 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 soulmates, kindred spirits, true friends, and Happily-Ever-Afters. She loves to drink champagne, listen to music, and hopes to always stay young at heart.
