The Woman From Nowhere by Kristen Ashley

Book 5 in the Misted Pines Series

Romantic Suspense. Can possibly stand alone but there are a lot of previous characters.

Thank you to Kristen Ashley and her team for an early copy of this book for review.

“Even sex scandals, serial killers, psychopath shenanigans, shifty sheriffs and shady cult leaders who got away (so far) didn’t dim the magic of Misted Pines. It seemed there was nothing to dim the magic of Misted Pines.”

The Misted Pines series by Kristen Ashley started out more like thrillers with romance, but The Woman From Nowhere, the fifth in the series, leans much more into romantic suspense, with the romance taking center stage and the thriller elements a little more in the background.

Mabel Adams has been living in Misted Pines for a while, renting a secluded cabin with a workshop where she refurbishes old items to sell in her store, The Groove (love the name), in downtown Misted Pines. One night, she heads to a local bar with a very sexy, very big guitar player and takes him home for a night of fun. He leaves a thank-you note on her pillow, and she assumes that’s the end of it.

But someone saw them.

And that someone leaves a creepy note on her porch, making it clear she is being watched and bringing home strange men is not acceptable.

What Mabel does not realize is that a religious cult lives on the neighboring property. The police advise her to get an alarm system, cameras, and a big, scary dog. She finds a dog she loves named Tonks, but she needs a trainer to turn him into a protector. Unfortunately, the local dog trainer is a complete jerk on the phone. When they meet in person, she realizes the jerk is the same guy who left that note on her pillow and walked out like it was nothing.

“Are you always this much of a dick?” I demanded.
He stepped away from me but didn’t lose eye contact. “Nope,” he said casually. “It only comes out when I got a woman on my hands with more sass than sense.”

And just like that, we are back in classic Kristen Ashley territory with a protective alphahole hero, a sassy and likable heroine, a strong friend group, and a whole lot of animals stealing scenes.

Since this is the fifth book in the Misted Pines series, there are a lot of returning characters. Even though I have read the earlier books, my menopausal ADHD brain struggles to keep everyone straight. This has become a recurring issue for me with Kristen Ashley’s books. She writes large casts with crossover characters, and as the series grows, it can get overwhelming to track them all. That said, her writing and her characters always pull me in.

I write my reviews so that it triggers my memory of a book (it’s a big reason my reviews are this long), so about a third of the way through, I went back and re-read my reviews for the earlier Misted Pines books. That helped a lot. And honestly, this poor town has been through so much already. I kept thinking, what else could possibly happen in this crazy town?

Once we learn about Mabel’s past and Hutch’s (a former SEAL) background which isn’t much better, it becomes very easy to root for them. I also loved that once they commit to each other, they stay solid. The conflict and action come from the cult storyline rather than relationship drama, which worked really well for me.

“She could be real. Or she could be an illusion. He knew one thing: if she was an illusion, he’d break in a way that couldn’t be fixed. But now, after tonight, he had an even bigger worry. Because now, he knew, if he lost her, for all intents and purposes… Just like his dad… His life would be over.”

Kristen Ashley has a way of turning her biggest jerks into the best heroes. She really does feel like magic when she does that, and The Woman From Nowhere delivers that signature Kristen Ashley romance feel.

“It was shit. Pure shit. I met good people along the way. There were fun times. But my whole life was shit, Hutch. Until I met you.”

Likes:

Kristen Ashley’s writing style pulls me in every time. Her books feel like comfort reads and always feel like coming home.
Seeing returning characters and crossovers from previous books and series.
This book leans more into romance than earlier Misted Pines books, which I really enjoyed.
The characters are incredibly likable and easy to connect with.
Hutch is a dog trainer, so there are a lot of dogs and puppies with meaningful roles in the story, along with Mabel’s cat.
Kristen’s descriptions are vivid and immersive. I can always picture everything clearly.
I know some people don’t like it, but because I agree with her so much, I like how she subtly brings in her left-leaning beliefs into her stories. It just makes her characters more likable and relatable.
I also like her choice to write the female POV in first person and the male POV in third person.

Dislikes:

At this point in the series, there are a lot of characters to keep track of, and I do find myself mixing them up at times.
Sometimes a character is mentioned briefly early on and then reappears much later, and I struggle to remember who they are. I often have to use the lookup feature to find their introduction. A small reminder in those moments would help keep me in the story.
This town has been through so much. It really deserves a break.

The Down & Dirty:

The Misted Pines Series by Kristen Ashley started off as thrillers with romance, but has turned into more of a typical romantic suspense series. Kristen writes with a LOT of characters and a lot of detail, so as per usual with her recent books, I had some trouble remembering all the characters, and found myself using the lookup tool to review who each character is. It helped a lot to re-read my reviews of the previous books in the series to refresh my memory.

But that didn’t really detract from my love of Kristen’s writing. Her characters are just so likable that all you want is for them to find their HEA. I loved Mabel, and quickly got over Hutch’s alpha-hole behavior and fell for him as well. The quirky town of Misted Pines is like another character in the book and it was fun to visit the town again. All-in-all, I think this romance may have been my favorite in the series (I think I say that after every book), but the sheer number of characters held me back from becoming fully immersed and enthralled. Don’t get me wrong, I still LOVED it, but my menopausal ADHD brain would benefit from some subtle reminders of who people are.

If you love a protective hero, a strong heroine, and a small town full of chaos and heart, The Woman From Nowhere delivers exactly what you want. Kristen Ashley always gives me characters I care about, and this one reminded me why I keep coming back to her books.