Smut Fanatics: Running Mate by Katie Ashley Blog Tour & Giveaway!!!

“The race will be a fight to the death finish, and that’s not even the actual campaign.”

Meet Barrett Callahan in Running Mate by Katie Ashley!

Now Available!

Amazon US

Amazon UK

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Synopsis

The race will be a fight to the death finish, and that’s not even the actual campaign.

Barrett

The name’s Barrett Callahan. Yeah, that Barrett Callahan—the one the press dubbed “Bare” after those naked sexting pictures surfaced. At twenty-five, I was armed with an MBA from Harvard, an executive position at my father’s Fortune 500 company, a penthouse, and a different piece of delectable eye candy in my bed every weekend. I had a life most men dreamed of. But then my father decided to run for president, and my playboy lifestyle became a liability to his campaign that was built on family values. My “makeover” comes in the form of a fake fiancée who I don't even get to choose--one who is an uptight, choirgirl acting priss but also sexy-as-hell.

Addison

My latest relationship had gone down in flames, and I was drowning in a sea of student loans when in true Godfather status, James Callahan made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. Seven figures for seven months on the campaign trail pretending to be the adoring fiancée of his son, Barrett. As soon as he won the election, our engagement would be dissolved amicably for the press, I was free to ride off into the sunset a million dollars richer, and because of the NDA, no one would be the wiser. Sure, I’d never met the guy, but I’d been a theater nerd in high school. I could pull off any role from Lady Macbeth to Maria Von Trapp. But that was before I met my fake fiancé—the infuriating, self-absorbed, egotistical, drop-dead-sexy King of the Manwhores.

Read Chapter 1 & 2 on Wattpad HERE

What I Loved

After I finished the first chapter, I thought to myself “Yes! I’m totally going to enjoy reading this book” and as I continued on the statement became even more true. From the beginning, Addison was a real down to earth character that I could get behind and relate to and she made the experience a lot of fun. The story begins with her having a really crappy day that we can all relate to and from there her life takes a total one eighty and the rest as they say is history. She was someone real and funny but deep and caring at the same time and I loved that about her.

The book does switch to Barrett’s point of view throughout and the minute you meet him you experience his player status first hand. He lives his life day by day when it comes to women and he is totally happy with that. I loved that even though he was a playboy he was also someone who worked hard and cared a lot about his family. I’m a big fan of stories that can show a lot of layers to characters and Barrett had that in spades. He might’ve been a manwhore but as a reader you still fall in love with him and root for his happiness and he certainly brought the plot to a whole new level of fun.

Not So Much

This a was a fun read, yet I did find that the plot skipped over too many things and should’ve slowed down at points. I get that you need to move the story along but it skipped over whole weeks that were crucial to Addison and Barrett’s relationship. It made me feel like I was missing out on parts of their story because of that.

Also, although the characters had many different sides to them the plot didn’t go as into depth as I felt the story warranted it should. This story could’ve had so much more brevity if it delved more into certain parts and feelings instead of lightly touching upon them and moving on. For example, someone Barrett cares about is hurt at a certain point and it’s talked about a little but then the story quickly moves onto something else. I felt like that and other times were missed opportunities to make this story a truly amazing experience.

To Sum It All Up!

Overall this was a fun, quick and easy read that I enjoyed from beginning to end. I loved watching Addison and Barrett fight with each other in the beginning then fall in love towards the end. The chemistry between them was instantaneous and I loved that Addison challenged Barrett in ways he never had been before. Addison is a woman to keep any man on their toes at all times and that’s probably what I loved most about her.

I did feel like the story was a little too lovey dovey and perfect at times and that always rubs me the wrong way. When the story would switch to Barrett’s point of view I wish there was more masculinity added to him, so I could feel like this was truly from a man’s perspective not what a woman would want a man to think and feel. But that’s just me I like books that can add more drama into them even when there is humor involved. If you’re not looking for something deep, then this is the book for you. Running Mate is fun and sexy from beginning to end and when it was all over I wanted more Barrett and Addison in my life.

Meet the Author

Katie Ashley is a New York Times, USA Today, and Amazon Best-Selling author. She lives outside of Atlanta, Georgia with her daughter, Olivia, and her two very spoiled dogs. She has a slight obsession with Pinterest, The Golden Girls, Harry Potter, Shakespeare, Supernatural, Designing Women, and Scooby-Doo.

With a BA in English, a BS in Secondary English Education, and a Masters in Adolescent English Education, she spent 11 1/2 years educating the Youth of America aka teaching MS and HS English until she left to write full time in December 2012.

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