SET THE PACE
Series: The Detroit Love Duet #1
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Author: Kim Karr
Release Date: February 21, 2016

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?

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There’s this need inside me that I can’t fight-the need to stay close to her. It’s as if somehow she snuck over that wall I’ve spent my whole life building so high and is getting inside of me.

I’m a huge Kim Karr fan. When she releases a new book, I jump on it, no second thoughts. So when I saw the blurb and cover for this pretty, suffice it to say I was utterly giddy with excitement to get my grubby little hands on it! What? I’m a cover whore, mkay! And that, my friends, is one lick worthy cover. Add into that the fact that the blurb made this sound too delicious to pass up, and it was a no brainer!

Was it everything I thought? Well…not quite. But it was a heck of a start.

Jasper Storm
Jasper is a self made man who once came from nothing. After tragedy struck his family, he was determined to make his dreams come true. Twenty years after that horrible night, he’s exactly where he’s always wanted to be: about to finally launch the company that will bring the struggling city and his hometown of Detroit around. He’s designed and built his dream car and now along with his best friends and partners, he wants to build the company that will manufacture them. There’s just a few things standing in his way; the return of his best friend that he hasn’t seen since the night twenty years ago, murder and a whole slew of dark secrets.

Truth and lies. Past, present, and future. I’d laid it all out under the sun and the sky, and it turned out just the way I knew it would.
There never was any other way, though.
That…I’d known all along.

Jasper is a character I was intrigued by right away. What can I say? I have a weakness for those manwhores, and Jasper is no angel in that respect. He drives fast, he fucks fast, and he moves on from his one night stands even faster. But the one woman that threatens his cool resolve is the one that brings up every dark memory of his past.

Charlotte Lane once saw Jasper as her everything. They were the best of friends until everything changed. Now she’s back in the town she grew up in hoping to unravel the secrets that still continue to haunt her. But Jasper is not exactly happy to see her and their secrets just may be more than either of them could handle.

As much as I wanted to love this book, I found myself struggling with certain parts. Jasper ran hot and cold way too much with Charlie. On the one hand, I could understand it given their past. On the other, he was always so quick to jump to the worst conclusion of her and treat her like dirt in the process. Charlie’s quiet understanding of this treatment certainly didn’t help matters. I wanted her to show a bit of backbone, but it was almost like she was determined to play the martyr and it didn’t always work.

Their relationship is a slow burn, which I definitely enjoyed. There’s nothing better than that delicious burn of built up sexual tension, and these two had it in spades. But their relationship did sometimes take the back burner to the mystery and secrets unraveling throughout the story. The murder mystery and the secrets unraveling is what had me turning the pages with fervor. The suspense was thick and I was hungry for any crumb of information that would help me wrap my mind around what was going on.

Set The Pace was not quite what I expected in terms of romance. I really found the romance to take the backseat to the suspense and mystery here, but then again, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. As for the ending? Holy mother of all cliffhangers! I wanted to rip my hair out and then stalk down Kim and demand she give me the next book immediately! Oh my god it was PAINFUL! I can’t wait to see how everything unfolds with the conclusion because the set up is delicious as hell!

While slower paced than I had expected and the heroine was not my typical preference, I still enjoyed this one. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to stalk the author incessantly for news on the release of book 2.

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