The Hard Way Audiobook By Katie Ashley cover art

The Hard Way

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The Hard Way

By: Katie Ashley
Narrated by: Kelsey Navarro, Tim Paige
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Cade Hall has always been the golden boy of the gridiron. Because of his talent at football, coupled with his father's wealth, he's always gotten his way. But when a night of drunken debauchery lands him in hot water with the college athletic board, neither his influential father nor his charming grin can save him.

Cade finds it a total buzzkill when he is sentenced to community service with troubled youth at an inner-city shelter. But his nightmare is only beginning when his greatest high school regret is the very one in charge of the program, and she has him by the balls in more ways than one. For Avery Prescott, senior year was a nightmare of epic proportions, and Cade Hall played the lead villain. After she fled her small town for college in the bright lights of Atlanta, she thought she had escaped the painful memories of her past.

She never could have imagined Cade would waltz through the door of the outreach program she presided over. But Avery has news for Cade - she isn't the same shy, doormat of a girl she was in high school. Since she holds Cade's football future in her hands, she's more than ready to make payback a real bitch.

Contains mature themes.

©2016 Katie Ashley (P)2020 Tantor Contemporary Sports
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I don't really have a lot to say about this one. I was what I thought it was going to be. Golden Boy p i s s e s off the smart girl in some way and then later needs her help.

I mean, that was the whole story in a nutshell. We did get hit with tragedy. That sucked big time.

In the end, I liked that they ended up together. I just wish he wasn't such a d bag in the beginning.
I loved Kelsey's narration.

3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 🎧

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This one has it all. Heat, laugh, angst and enough emotion to make you cry. Tim and Kelsey are the dynamic duo and they can do no wrong together. This was a fantastic book, I loved it. At one point I was sobbing as the story unfolded. I can't say enough good things about this one and can't wait for more from this author.

Stellar story and amazing performance!

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This story was good and interesting in the manner it was presented. I like the old and the new.

The story line

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this story was a serious tearjerker. it's a beautiful second chance romance with cute premise and heartwrenching moments that hit you right where it hurts.

tearjerker

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I really enjoyed this book, but it was set in my hometown and Cade supposedly went to my college. I always hate when authors put books in a world that exists and then are too lazy to do a little research to actually keep things accurate. So much of what happens at Georgia Tech is simply inaccurate, all the way to his major, which does not exist at Tech, an engineering school. And, it was just egregious to put Tech in the SEC. Just no! Tech is in the ACC! And, MLK preached at Ebenezer Baptist Church, not Ebenezer Church. Nor is the church so strict about dress codes. Also, she failed to consider Atlanta traffic. There is no way that a GSU student would choose to live in an apartment complex that Emory students live in. The schools are in the same city, but so far apart. I could go on and on about how she got Atlanta wrong, but I know it really isn’t that serious. Ok, rant over.

After I was able to move past all the flaws in the setting and the logistics of how the author fails to paint an accurate picture of Atlanta, I really enjoyed the book. I love that Cade grew so much in character. This one has a lot of depth and isn’t just spice and a HEA. I highly recommend it if you are looking for a grittier romance novel. This is not a lighthearted, happy, feel good romance, so listener beware. You will of course get a HEA.

Final thought, I wish that we got a bit more closure about both dads. Maybe because I have great parents, I struggle with parents being portrayed as absolute villains. I had so much hope for Cade’s dad, but his character didn’t grow at all. I also assumed we would get an identity reveal for Avery’s dad, but we were sort of just left to wonder about him.

Good Book… So Many Inaccuracies in the Setting

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I loved strong h and good romance. However, this H said mean words to the h and did unforgivable words. This H didn’t even want to ask for forgiveness and the h who was supposed be smart and strong, turned to be weak and dumb. She acted as if nothing happened. She tried to act strong but end up being weak and dumb. The H, all he thought about how sexy her body was. Even though he disrespected her. So sad there’s writers who disrespect female gender.

Nice girl meets cruel guy

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I liked how their story from high school was told, while making progress with the present day as well. There are a lot of books lately that get their drama from delaying disclosure of relevant information in the interest of keeping you close. I appreciated that this book didn’t follow that patter. Instead it was straight forward with the past and integrated with the present day pretty seamlessly.
There was a lot of drama, heartbreak, maybe a bit too much but, given the setting, let’s say it’s acceptable. The ending seemed a bit rushed to me but it wasn’t too bad.

The narration has some technical issues. There were a couple of missing words, the recording skipped ahead a second or two. The narrators were acceptable, nothing special, pretty monotonous and not a lot of diversity for different characters.

Story is OK although a bit melodramatic

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