Title: Pistol Whipped by Ashley Bostock
Genre: New Adult Romance
Rating:4 Stars
Synopsis: For Goodreads Summary
Gabriella Crawford had been best friends with Logan since the 2nd grade. After 20 years they have begun to see one another in a new light and their attraction for each other soon becomes undeniable. Will they act on their feelings or keep it platonic for the sake of their friendship?
Review:
I went into reading Pistol Whipped a little apprehensively; prior to reading the synopsis I wasn’t 100% sure what to expect from the title. However I was pleasantly surprised, Pistol Whipped is a New Adult Romance Novel, it does have erotica content however but this is fully interwoven with the story-line. It has a purpose, it isn’t just thrown in for the sake of it.
The story follows Logan and Gabriella who have been best-friends for years, they have helped each other through their best and worst times and now they are slowly becoming more. They are beginning to feel stronger feelings towards each other and hints of desire can no longer be brushed away; I love the concept of this story. I’m a huge fan of storylines which feature best-friends falling in love, stepping away from their friendship into something more.
I love that Ashley Bostack has created Gabriella as a flawed character, she isn’t a perfect women. She comes from a bad childhood environment and she herself has feelings of inadequacy therefore making her realistic and easy to identify with. Gabriella doesn’t see herself for how truly amazing she is in the eyes of Logan. In only a few circumstances does she feel so strong and confident, one is when she is modelling the lingerie she sells within her shop Lolita’s (Vladimar Nabakov reference or?) for a potential female customer.
The story line of Pistol Whipped is more than just a romance, it truly kept me on my toes. Wondering what was going to happen next for the couple; if they would give into their desires and if they did could it ever work? Would it be a happy ending? This was a major plus for me; I love a novel which is unpredictable and has me asking question after question to find out more. There are also major secrets revealed; one which explains Gabriella’s fear of sex and one which I wasn’t expecting.
Another aspect which makes Pistol Whipped unique is how it switches in perspectives so we get a full well rounded story. We experience Gabriella’s perspective allowing us to see and experience the emotions of the female protagonist, we then experience Logan’s experience therefore allowing us in from a male perspective and then we also see little snippets of chapters in the perspective of Gabriella’s friend Brandi which allows us to also see an outsiders perspective and gives us little insights into Brandi’s own interactions with Blaze. (Could this be a sequel to this novel? The romance of Brandi and Blaze? I hope so)
Looking into the novel as a whole, in all honesty I’m not overly fond of the Title. It does have some meaning to the novel in the slightest sense but to me it doesn’t scream pick me up and read me! The description is what enticed me into reading the novel the most.
I have rated Pistol Whipped as being 4 star’s, it just missed out on the 5 star rating due to some of the little time jumps from chapter to chapter. For example at the end of Chapter 11 Gabriella was discussing Brandi helping her out for a few days at the shop and Logan was still in Japan then we go straight into Chapter 12 where they were all at a barbecue together. I felt like this sped up the novel a little too quickly for my liking, I would of loved to have experienced more moments between Logan and Gabriella to build up the tension between the pair even more.
The language of Pistol Whipped strongly reminds me of the Romance 
novels by Abbi Glines and the progression/quickness of the novel seems similar. Therefore if you are a fan of Abbi Glines, I recommend checking this one out for yourself or vice versa. Like this novel? Check out Abbi Glines!
Happy WEEKEND Guys!
Let me know what you plan on reading this weekend!
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