THE WOMAN FROM NOWHERE - Kristen Ashley

5 stars

KA strikes again—with her best recently published series! Mabel and Hutch's story had it all.

Mabel is our latest protagonist to enter the sleepy—yet murderous—town of Misted Pines in the wooded Pacific Northwest. She's reinvented herself after tragedy, and she's ready to heal in peace with her refurbished furniture work, her quiet rural rental, and her isolated lifestyle.

All that changes when she lays eyes on Hutch singing in the local bar.

She locks eyes on Hutch. He clocks her. Sparks, immediate. And they have a night of passion.

The next morning, however... Mabel's life flips.

It starts with a hastily written "thanks" note from Hutch—making it clear their night was one-night only—that ruins her afterglow. It continues when there's a hateful biblical pamphlet on her front porch, complete with a handwritten note about loose-moraled women sleeping out of wedlock.

Oh, did we mention Mabel lives on property adjacent to a weird religious compound??

Yeah. Stuff's about to go down now, because those religious guys have Mabel on their radar. And despite not wanting to enter Mabel's life for his own reasons, former SEAL Hutch has a few opinions about this situation.

Cue the lights, camera, action!!

As one of Kristen Ashley's lucky early reviewers, I get the privilege of reading all of her works early. I like a select few of them, I love many more, and a handful of them reach that Top Tier, forever-obsessed category. (We all have different tropes, tastes, etc. so it's a good sign of her variety that there are ups and downs.)

So trust me when I say this as a seasoned KA fan: the Misted Pines series is one of her absolute best. The town, the setting, the aura, the character dynamics... this one has IT, that extra factor to it. It's fantastic.

I highly recommend new KA readers start with this series. You can start with this one, The Girl From Nowhere, if you want—but it's more fun if you start with Delphine and Cade in The Girl in the Mist.

Can't wait for the next Misted Pines !!

Thank you to the author for my early copy in exchange for an honest review.