Blog Tour & Review | Jacob’s Ladder by Katie Ashley

One wouldn’t expect a sexy-as-sin rocker like Eli Renard to spend time with a woman just as a friend, but that’s exactly what Emersyn Wallace is to him. Just a friend. Even though she’s matured into a beauty, Eli still doesn’t remotely see his childhood pal as a sex-object. When tragedy brings her back into his world, Eli moves mountains to help Emersyn get back onto her feet by finding her a job as a backup singer for Jacob’s Ladder. At first, Eli is thrilled that Emerysn is along on tour, and he sets out to do his best to help her forget her sorrow through a range of crazy friend dates. But after spending so much time with her in such close quarters, Eli finds his feelings beginning to shift. He no longer sees Emersyn as the once awkward young girl he played some of his first songs with. Soon it’s not only his body that reacts to her, but it’s also his heart. He’s about to learn what a dangerous game it is to dry a widow’s tears.

After losing her husband and singing partner in a tragic accident, Emersyn Wallace spent the last eight months drowning in a sea of grief. With the bills piling up and her family and friends concerned about her emotional welfare, she reluctantly agrees to join the Jacob’s Ladder’s tour. While recapturing her lost love of singing and performing, she finds both comfort and healing in Eli’s gregarious personality and outrageous sense of humor. But as the anniversary of her husband’s death approaches, she finds herself in turmoil over her new amorous feelings for Eli.

Can Eli and Emersyn find the perfect melody to transition from friends to lovers, or will their relationship end out of tune?

This is the ultimate friends to lover romance and I can’t say that I’ve read something like it. I felt like their story was more in-depth and we got to know more about Eli and Emersyn before they became more than friends. This isn’t a story where they are crushing on each other since a young age, it was just good ole solid friendship since they were kids, they went on to live their own lives, gone through their own experiences and then something tragic brings them even closer than they were before.

Now I’m not going to sit here and pretend I know what it’s like to lose someone so close to me, even just thinking about that happening someday just makes me tear up constantly. I know from one perspective it looked like Emersyn went through things too quickly, but I don’t think that’s true at all. However, I’m sure there’s no true timeline to grieve over someone. Besides Emersyn dealing with the loss of her husband, she had the best support anyone could ask for and that was Eli. Everyone, be prepared to just fall in love with him. He’s the best friend that anyone could have. And he’s so different from other rockstar characters we’ve seen in other books. He’s genuine, kind and completely selfless. And he’s not constantly sowing his wild oats.

I enjoyed reading about his feelings growing for Emersyn. The denial was strong between these two, but completely understandable. They were afraid to ruin the already great friendship that they’ve always had. Little by little, we witness them seeing each other in a new light. The love is already there between these two, it’s just the matter of taking their relationship further. We see Emersyn’s guilt, vulnerabilities and her attraction towards her best friend. And it all becomes too much for her. For Eli, trying so hard to fight his true feelings, how long will it take for them to finally give in?

I thoroughly enjoyed this story, I think I loved Eli more than Emersyn and hopefully, that doesn’t make me sound a bit towards insensitive to what she’s been through. It’s a well-rounded story that I think everyone would enjoy! A solid 4 star read.

Meet the Author

Katie Ashley is a New York Times, USA Today, and Amazon Best-Selling author of both Indie and Traditionally published books. She lives outside of Atlanta, Georgia with her daughter, Olivia, and her spoiled mutt, Duke. She has a slight obsession with Pinterest, The Golden Girls, Shakespeare, Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Scooby-Doo.

With a BA in English, a BS in Secondary English Education, and a Masters in Adolescent English Education, she spent eleven years teaching both middle and high school English, as well as a few adjunct college English classes. As of January 2013, she hung up her red pen and expo markers to become a full-time writer. Each and every day she counts her blessings to be able to do her dream job.

Although her roots are firmly planted in the red Georgia clay, she loves traveling the country and world to meet readers and hang out with fellow authors. When she’s not writing or chasing down her toddler, you might find her watching reruns of The Golden Girls, reading historical biographies, along with romance novels, or spending way too much time on Facebook.

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