Fast Lane by Kristen Ashley Review

" I laughed, I definitely cried. 

My heart soared & it ached. 

But damn was the ride worth it!"

Blurb:

“Once he met her, it was and always would be Lyla.”

They were the gentlemen bad boys of rock. Forming in a garage in a small town in Indiana. Taking their licks on the road. Going balls to the wall until they made their big break.And then Preacher McCade and the Roadmasters redefined rock and roll.Guided by their tortured lead singer and songwriter, the Roadmasters changed the face of music in the 80s and 90s. And on their journey to becoming one of the most enduring bands in history—dogged by rumors and myth and fueled by drugs and booze—the Roadmasters had one touchstone.Lyla.Preacher’s muse, the love of his life, and the band’s moral compass, from the beginning, Lyla is along for the ride.But with fame and acclaim in their grasp, they’ve entered the fast lane.And they didn’t know it, but they were headed for a crash.

Review: 

This book. I'm sitting here with so much to say but I'm having trouble with how to start. I guess the first thing I want to say is that this book was a game changer for me. I was lucky enough to read an ARC of this book & when I say I was lucky, I mean it. I have read every single book Kristen Ashley has written. If you follow me you already know this. She is my be-all end-all. But I will admit I was a little warry of Fast Lane. It always worries me when an author I love branches out & tries something new. I want to love everything they do & I'm used to them writing a certain way. A way that I'm comfortable with. So when she announced this book & explained how different it was I was worried but also cautiously excited. Until I finished reading this book I had not read Daisy Jones and the Six. (Part of KA's inspiration for Fast Lane.) So this approach to telling a story outside of a movie or documentary was all new to me. A fictional story told in a way that I honest to God thought it was real at times? Nope, never. I'm glad I waited to read Daisy Jones until after I finished Fast Lane. I was able to go in with fresh eyes & not be comparing them the whole time. While I did enjoy Daisy Jones I feel like KA's approach to telling this kind of story was more my speed. The depth of her characters & story telling even in an interview fashion is absolutely captivating. One day. Start to finish, I read this book. I listened to every song she mentions. I didn't get much sleep. I might have had a few too many beers. (Sorry ladies I'm not a wine person.) I laughed, I definitely cried. My heart soared & it ached. But damn was the ride worth it. 8 chapters into this book my husband came home from work. I had just got to the end of the chapter. I sat up & said "holy crap!" right as he came into our bedroom he said "what?" I said "Babe this book I'm reading is incredible! I think it might be one of my favorites already! It's so different from anything I've ever read before. I just want to leave my phone, take my tablet & disappear until I finish it!" After the kids were down that's exactly what I did. FYI: The turtle story is EVERYTHING! 

Every character in this book is amazing in their own way. I wont go into detail because I feel that you should take your own journey with this book. What I will say is that Preacher McCade has taken the #2 spot from Hawk on my KA book boyfriend list. Tack will always be my #1. Lyla on the other hand is my freaking spirit animal. I want to be her & if not then at least be her best friend. Jesse Simms is one of my favorite supporting characters that KA has ever written. He will melt your heart. The Roadmasters boys from start to finish all had me in stitches in their own individual ways. All in all I would say this was one of KA's best casts yet. But to each their own. I'll let you guys decide for yourselves. 

This book was a ride, let me tell you. 

A ride I'll never forget & will take over & over again. 

5***** for Fast Lane.

Excerpts:

#1

Lyla

Jesse:

They’d tease him, in the beginning, you know?
[Long pause]
[Off tape]
No, I don’t know.
Her name was Lyla. Dave and even Tim would tease him.
Lyla. Layla.
Get it?
[Another long pause]
They learned not to tease him, though.

I didn’t understand. Not in the beginning.

She was…
[Lengthy pause]
Not his scene.

Straight up, he didn’t seem to be hers, either.

Nothing seemed to be her scene.

We hooked up with her and her friends at the bar where we’d played, and she was not into it.

I mean, her friends and her, chalk and freakin’ cheese.
Serious.
She wasn’t into the bar, the music, the band.
Tight with her friends, you could tell, but us and everything around us?
Nope.

She didn’t even dress like them. Like a rocker-groupie girl.

She didn’t even dress eighties, Madonna teased out hair and rubber bracelets and lotsa lace. Or neon. Or whatever the fuck.
No, you know, that isn’t right.
She did.
Flashdance.
Shirt falling off her shoulder. Jeans. White Nike classics. Cortez. If I remember, with a blue swoop.
Nikes.
First time we saw Lyla, she was in Nikes.
[Smiles]

#2

Preach was an equal opportunity, benevolent almost-rock god.

I remember seeing him with his jeans bunched up to his knees, sitting on the side of the pool, his feet and calves in the water, her friends barely clothed in the water, wet and hanging off his legs and his every word, and he’d glance over at her.
When he was in the mood to spread his love, everyone was invited.
We all were nailing serious tail, but I don’t think anybody but Dave had had a threesome.
But that was not unusual for Preach.
Or more, you know?
That night, I had one girl, he had two, three were in with Tim and Dave, tripping, and Tommy was fucking another one in what we would find out later was one of the girls’ dad’s waterbed.
And looking back, I knew Preacher was more into her than the two he had.
I also got why.
Kind of.

Now, again, it was the eighties. We’re talkin’ Jane Fonda workout videos and Jamie Lee Curtis in that movie Perfect and one-pieces making a comeback because the legs were cut so far up the hips, a girl had to shave.

And Lyla was not…
[Pause]
That.
I mean, there was a reason anorexia became prevalent during that decade and didn’t let go. It wasn’t right, it wasn’t good, but it was the way it was.
But Lyla was not that way.
Tits and ass.
A lot.
Of both.
And, from what I could tell that night, bad attitude.
But fuck, the longer the night wore on, Preacher couldn’t keep his eyes off her.
She’d do a lap to clean up ashtrays or beer bottles or whatever the fuck, and honest to Christ, he didn’t miss a step.
Not that first step.
She had what they now politically correctly, but also, it’s gotta be said, just plain correctly call curves.
Freddie Mercury called them fat-bottomed girls.
But man, she was pretty.
Lotsa hair.
Perfect skin.
You know, and a way about her.
It was part that attitude.
Part the mystery.
You know, tell a man, “don’t touch, you’ll get burned,” he’ll become obsessed with the fire. It’s just how it is.
She screamed don’t touch.
And Preacher, man…
Preacher could be obsessive.
In a big way.

But it was the eyes.

I gotta believe, and this would prove true, in a way, if it wasn’t Preach, it would be somebody. Another rock star. A photographer. A painter. Someone would fall in the muse of Lyla’s eyes.
But as you know, it was Preacher.

Where To Buy: https://www.kristenashley.net/titles/fast-lane/