Stone Cold Bad (Die Stone-Brüder 1)

Stone Brothers #1

by Tess Oliver, Maxwell Zachs (Translator)

Ein Top 10 Kindle Store Bestseller & Kindle Unlimited All-Star Buch

Ich wollte nie einen Fremden küssen.
Aber als mein schrecklicher Ex in die Bar gestürmt ist, bin ich in Panik geraten.
Also habe ich einfach den nächstbesten Mann gepackt und geküsst … und er hat den Kuss erwidert.

Seine starken Arme legten sich beschützend um mich, und für einen Moment fühlte ich mich sicher,
bis mein Ärmel verrutschte und er die blauen Flecken sah.
Da wurde sein Blick gefährlich.

Man sagt, eine brutale Vergangenheit habe Colt Stone für immer gegen Liebe und Nähe abgehärtet.
Doch ab diesem Augenblick hat er es sich zur Aufgabe gemacht, mich zu beschützen.

Mein Verstand sagt, ich soll weglaufen.
Ein Mann wie Colt ist das Letzte, was ich nach meinem Ex gebrauchen kann.
Aber je näher ich ihm komme, desto schwerer fällt es mir, zu gehen.

Denn mich in Colt Stone zu verlieben, könnte mich retten …
oder uns beide zerstören.

Stone-Brüder – Buch 1

Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Audiobook, New Adult, Abuse, Dark Romance

200 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 20, 2015

About the author

Tess Oliver is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Custom Culture series and a large collection of other romances. She is well known for her relatable characters who "become your friends" as you journey with them and for intriguing stories that will have you "devouring her books in just one day". Tess has been featured on USA Today's 'Happy Ever After' site, and in publications including Glamour UK and Elle UK magazines.

Reviews

[Nanci **Warning**IWasASailor⚓️MyMouthisDirty · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Too Mushy stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book was ok. It started good and ended good which is why it was over 3. The middle just wasn't for me.

This is the introduction of the Stone brothers, they are the towns bad boys. Not just because they're gorgeous, but also ruthless and into trouble. Don't get me wrong, I'll continue the series because I liked the brothers and I'm curious how it'll all end.


Book one is about the youngest brother Colt. Colt is considered the worst of the three. It starts off introducing the brothers in a bar talking about a bet. Who can get the most girls finger banged. Colt is at 53. I'm giving you this tidbit, so you understand my frustration. He is a love em, leave guy who wants and knows nothing about love. His mother was a junkie and his dad was an abusive a-hole the town feared.

In walks Jade, Jade is a beautiful girl, who is running from her abusive bookie boyfriend. Colt sees she is in trouble, intervenes and saves her. So far so good.

Colt thinks she's beautiful, is feeling things he shouldn't about Jade, so to stop himself he continues to whore around in front of her. Jade is also very aware of this bet between him and his brothers and the whole "I have to stay away from him" begins. Again, I'm still entertained.

Here's my gripe. I don't mind instant love, if done properly. I like to feel the connection, maybe even see a friendship. What has me rolling my eyes, is when you take a man whore, who is still whoring around, finally sleeps with heroine and mushy crap comes out his mouth.

example:“Seeing you stand here in the middle of this house looking like a fucking angel makes me want to pinch myself. If it turns out I’m sleeping and imagining this, then I’m going to be so fucking pissed.
“If you ever deny me, darlin’, I will break in fucking two.”



Seriously, they just started. Not only that, but he sounds stupid. He's a hard core bad boy, womanizer that the whole town fears and after a few days this come out of his mouth? What!

My other issue is they talk about the brothers hard past with the dad, even about these terrible scars on all their backs but it's never explained.

Anyway, the end redeems itself. The ex finds her and the drama is good. Again, this is my opinion read it and form your own.

[Dee331 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Spoilers

H sleeps with is ow in front of h to try and get h off his mind. Stupid book! and the brother using the girl they think of as a sister while he messes around with OW. But right after the H has a threesome they H and h get together again and just instant love. Moves really quick no good story or character depth. Just cheating and then a lot of sex a little drama and it's over.

[Lady E · Rating 2 out of 5]

Looks like I'm in the minority again but I struggled to finish this read. Don't think foul language, a dubious occupation, a violent past, and a present filled with meaningless sex does an alpha male make. Well at least not for this chick, not my cup of tea.

[Sophie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sorry to say it was a real struggle to finish this book. So many aspects were either unbelievable, irrelevant or too mushy for words.

For example the drug-running back story behind the brothers was completely irrelevant and brought nothing to the story. The fact that some guy double-crossed Colt could easily have been done by anybody and making the brothers into drug runners just made me dislike them. As someone who has dated someone with a significant coke problem, it did not endear the brothers to me one bit. If you're going to put a storyline like that in there it has to be part of the drama more i.e. one or all of them get arrested, it turns out they are being blackmailed/working off their father's debt or something to make it valid. Not just because they want to make money - that just makes them look like assholes. I also didn't believe that the supposed 'bad boy' Colt could fall in love so easily with a girl he doesn't know from Adam, who lets him fingerblast her in a utility closet without even knowing him and comes with a shitload of baggage. If Jade had been raped repeatedly by her boyfriend, I doubt she'd be so quick to drop her knickers for a stranger within a couple of hours of running away. Don't get me wrong, I understand that this is a work of fiction but there has to be at least some believability. This book made me want to puke in my mouth one too many times for my liking. Sorry.

[↜ƈɦǟռ☂ɛℓℓɛ↝ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hello, Stone brothers. Colt, Hunter, and Slade. Ok, yes, they are immature 20 something players, but really is that so uncommon??? They are testorone to the max ALPHAS. They are HOT, HOT, HOT!!! They fiercely protect anything they care about. Broken boys, turned BADASSES, trying to make it better, in a broken world. Don't hate the book because it's a plausible reality and doesn't fit into the cookie cutter perfect HEA.

Love Jade's hair, lol, but she's a bit too man dependent for me. Falling from one to another.

I LOVED Street(Amy). She was fun, crazy, and would give you the shirt off her back. I'm hoping she comes to her senses or puts Hunter in his place.


As for the Facebook group, yes that is absurd. Do I believe guys have contests like this??? AB-SO-FUCKIN-LUTE-LY. But considering there background, professions, and attitudes, I think there is NO WAY IN HELL one of the took the time to set up a group, graph out the contest, and keep a running tally of it. Furthermore, I can't see any of them even having Facebook, to be honest. Nor can I see a good reason for Colt to even have a computer. It's not like he would use it for business, he's full time busy, and is trying to save all his money. Just seems odd to me. And that he thought to grab it in a hurry, hmmm???

Tess and Anna did a great job working together. I've read 15+ Tess books, but this is my first Anna book, and really this was hard for me to tell who did what. This is grittier and rougher than a typical Tess book, reminding me a lot of Rainshadow. So who knows.

Can't wait to see what meat headed ALPHA MALE move Hunter will pull in his book. Should be interest.

*ARC provided for honest opinion

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars from me.

When I first starting this last week I found it a bit of a struggle.

The beginning gets straight into the action of the story, where Jade decides to run from her violent boyfriend. These scenes where hard, but necessary to the story of understanding the heroine.
My problem started with the Stone brothers themselves. I get that they are supposed to be manwhores, but there must of been a better way of getting it across than a childish dare on Facebook, it was so fucking wrong that I nearly gave up.

So clearly I continued and lucky for me I did, because things started improve and surprisingly not only did l enjoy it, I'm actually looking forwards to the next in the series.

Things slowly started to pick up when I got to know Colt. The way he instantly tries to protect and help Jade, had me liking him despite the messed up start. He also has had a tough life so you can understand why he wants to save her.

Things heat up pretty quickly between these two, which is always fun to read. I thought the connection and chemistry between the characters worked and l loved how Colt could be so sweet one minute and dirty the next.

This isn't really a complicated story but it never the less entertained me. The best way for me to describe it, would be a diamond in the rough, yeah there were parts that pissed me off, but overall l really liked it and was glad I read it.

[Nikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I enjoyed this book overall... I had a few issues with it. *The spoiler won't spoil the over all story, just an incident that happened in the book* First, the hero is a man whore. He sleeps with 2 chicks one night just because he can't stop thinking about the heroine. Then, after she walks in the next morning, pretending not to be hurt -they're not together so it's not really cheating- she walks out. Then they have sex that night. And I understand this is a book, but there was a serious ick factor for me... no mention of him cleaning his sheets. Ick. Second, the insta love was not believable. It can be done, but I didn't think it was done very well here. Mostly though it was a sexy book and it did entertain me. And I would be interested in reading book 2 to see how that goes....

[Donna Sweeney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very Kindly provided with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.....

Seriously, I feel like getting a slab of marble and erecting a statue in honor of Tess's literary genius !!! Maybe a nice stone book....ermmm. Sorry Anna, least I forget your magnificence !!!

Anyway, I digress. What I do now is yet again I am totally blown away by this book !!!

It is the story of Colt Stone and Jade and the rest of the "Stone" brothers. Lets just say I need a football team of those bad boys !!!. Well, Jade's on the run and she ends up in a bar frequented by the Stone brothers. Colt immediately feels that pull. The story unfolds with alot of trials and tribulations for our couple.....Colt lose the baggage !!

Thankfully they get there in the end. I cannot wait to read about Hunter and Amy (maybe ?) or Slade. The main point is I need more !!!! ;0)

Many thanks for this opportunity and well done Tess and Anna.

5 God bless the Stone Brothers Stars !!

Later peeps xxx

[Debbie "Buried in Her TBR Pile" · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got this for free and decided to read because of a couple of 1-star reviews. Ok - don't judge - just wanted to see for myself. The brothers survived horrible childhood abuse by their father. They are very close and still live together. They live like frat brothers and are definitely players. The h doesn't take much personally because she doesn't think she deserves much - she's a runaway and looking for some security and/or independence. The book is not horrible, but if you don't like manwhores/players and gray areas of cheating, then this book is not for you. I skimmed many of the sex scenes as I just wasn't interested. Some suspense with the h's ex, some OW drama (H previous hookups), and no angst in my opinion. Very short read. 2.5 stars.

[Taylor · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. What woman who was raped multiple times and just assaulted allows a man who she doesn’t know to finger blast her in a utility closet literally hours after a terrible abusive incident? What on earth did I read? I would also like to know how they found her so quick in a run down bar after traveling hours in the back of a truck? Seconds after she walks in…. *eyeroll*
Don’t waste your time.

[Megan Fall · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great read! I loved Colt, a tattooed bad boy, and Jade was so sweet. I am so glad they got their happy ending. I can't wait to read Hunter and Slade's stories. I hope they are as good as this one!

[Mia S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a really good book with a great story, but the ending just came up and I wanted just a little more.

[Bambi Unbridled · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like to listen to audiobooks when I am getting ready and driving to/from work... so I was scrolling through Hoopla and saw this one. It's rather short, just over 4 hours. So I thought I would give it a try - I was in a bit of a bad boy mood. And these boys, the Stone Brothers, are extremely bad. Cocaine couriers. Pot smokers. Facebook contest for "finger banging" girls. Treating the ladies in their life like crap - as in, I will use you (and every other girl) for sex but you are not allowed to talk to any other guy. And all of this is seemingly forgiven because of their tragic abusive childhood.

Unfortunately, this story didn't work for me. I blame some of that on the narrator, who was very shouty. There are ways to convey emotion that do not include shouting everything - it threw me out of the story, made me roll my eyes, or made me cringe. It also made me focus on the bad or annoying parts - like the TSTL heroine. The douche canoe behavior of the boys. The unreality of everything that happened, particularly the dispatching of the villainous characters. I'm sorry, but if you are telling a story that is dark enough to include rape and kidnapping, your villain is not going to go away just because you beat him up a little. The characters in this book were fairly shallow and undeveloped. It was more about the gratuitous sex which was, admittedly, steamy as hell.

About the only thing that I liked about the story were the characters' names. Jade, Colt, Hunter, Slade. My OCD kept me listening to the end, but I was rolling my eyes the whole time and yelling at the heroine about how stupid she was. Good times. 2 stars / 5 flames.

[Heather andrews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Colt was just a sexy, tempting man, "you’re no burden. I’ll bet you’re not half as expensive to feed as Slade. And it’s kind of nice seeing a lacy bra hanging over the shower rod.” I stepped up behind her and brushed my fingers over the naked skin on her a**." He says the most romantic things, "I won’t effing stop until you come , baby. I can stay hard all night for you." He likes to surround his woman in silk lingerie, "uh, yeah, that’s got nothing to do with safety. That’s for me,” he said. I held up the sheer confection of lace and silk and laughed." I liked this book I loved the Stone brothers I'm eagerly looking forward to the next book.

[**Tessa** (semi hiatus)]

Note to self
Has sex with 2 women one night after meeting h to get her out of his head. She walks in on it the next morning and even though she’s hurt she fucks him next night on same sheets.
Gross. Barf. No desire to read about a douche and a doormat.

[Karina]

DNF . Not even sure what I just read

[Flavs is Mrs David Gandy♥~♥’ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was new authors to me, and I was very surprised. Good surprised. Loved it and ready to do the next one

[Zen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars

I'm quite sure how I feel about this one. In some ways if seemed like the both of them were so used to settling for scraps that they were happy with the bare minimum. Which I suppose is the important part. They were happy.

[Loraine Oliver · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stone Cold Bad is a new novel from Tess Oliver and Anna Hart. This book is a contemporary romantic suspense and it is really well written; what I noticed right away is that even though 2 different authors are writing it, they wrote it so well you can't tell where one started and the other came in, it is seamless- perfectly executed writing. I have read collaborations where you could tell who was writing what, not this book!

This book introduces us to the Stone brothers, three men who had an extremely rough upbringing with a fisherman for a father who was so evil to them, and so vicious no one in the small town they were raised in dare to get involved. These men were raised with no love and it affected the way they are now as men, no attachments of any kind, never the same girl twice, and the only girl they care about is their next door neighbor who has always been in their lives.

Into this scenario comes a young woman, Jade Morrow who is on the run from a brutal man who took her off the streets but treats her so bad, she can't take anymore, but he won't let her go. So after an extremely bad encounter, she runs away and into the bar where the Stone Brothers are, drinking and carousing. When Colt sees Jade there is something about her that makes him feel different. When he sees her trying to hide from the goons her boyfriend sent to get her he helps her hide.

From the minute Jade sees Colt she is enamored of him, and even though he is a wall of tattoos and tough looking he is also extremely handsome, and his touch unnerves her. He feels confused himself because he feels her in his heart.

Watch as this book unwinds and see if there is room in the heart of a "Stone cold man" for a girl who has had as much misfortune in her life as he has in his.

The plot was excellent and kept the book moving at a good pace, there is a lot of mental anguish, emotional stress, sexual encounters that burn up the pages, and a lot of emotion with all 3 of the brothers. The characters are all really well developed and you will find yourself liking this dynamic trio of brothers in their pursuit to attempt to change their lives, and to have something to be proud of.

I really liked this book and hope to see more of the Stone Brothers, this book is mainly about Colt, but there are two other brothers as well whose story I would like to see come to fruition!

I gave this book 5***** stars and I would like to thank Tess Oliver and Anna Hart for an awesome read!

[Vallsykes · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 to 3 stars for underlying smut and protector hero
The hero's first encounter with the heroine does him no favors. It seems sleazy and incongruous given the fact that the heroine is on the run.

For some reason, it felt like an old Miami vice episode. Don't ask. And subtract the Miami factor.

This story is set in a coastal town. The Stone brothers are hot and notorious for being bad boys. They are brawlers and they are half shady. Growing up with an effed up parent just adds to their less than proper status.

Colt Stone meets Jade and rolls on her full steam ahead. He plays white knight to her damsel in extreme distress, which is why I probably kept reading. I am a huge sucker for the protector hero.

What kept digging at me was that Jade doesn't run far enough from her trouble and she doesn't act as guarded as she should. I thought that maybe this means she really trusts Colt or that she just naively feels she can live without looking over her shoulder, but nope. I couldn't understand.

Colt falls in smuttastic lust with Jade, and she doesn't play hard to get. It seems that no matter what ugliness she's had from men before, it has no bearing on her desire to "play" with Colt.

And they do....play. They play house. They play lovers. They play "temporary." This is until Colt's possession becomes an obvious given and his need to protect has him making vows and mixing with danger.

Minus all the sex scenes, this book's plot & characters' backstories are starkly missing. With them, however, you get a half-interesting conflict. The plot speeds at first; then it hiccups and lags into a "wow, this could have been better" story, which seems to be a thing for me with this writer.

Read if you want some very steamy scenes, a hero & heroine who are reckless in and outside of love and sex, and a brother trio that somehow makes a common New Adult family to swoon about.

Don't read if you have an aversion to man-whorish ways or insta se-insta-love. I shouldn't have liked it even half as much, as I saw all of its flaws and triggers.

I'm becoming a pushover reviewer of late. LOL,

[JennB · Rating 2 out of 5]

I knew what to expect. The title on my kindle was Stone Cold Bad: An alpha bad boy romance. I figured it would be a quick read with some steamy scenes. Yup, pretty much fit the bill.
However, I did not expect to get all 'bout it bout it/oh no you didn't irritated while reading it.
What really pissed me off right of the bat, is that you have a woman who is escaping a physically and sexually abusive relationship. That very night she barely escapes a pretty graphic sexual assault from her "boyfriend". Then she runs into this stranger in a bar and lets him feel her panties to "check her arousal" and THEN she lets him "finger bang" her. I was so disgusted. I can not imagine a real woman in that situation reacting that way. In fact regardless of the words I was reading, I actually was visualizing Jade flinching away from him. The author tries to make-up (?) for this less than believable introduction by later having our hero tell our fair damsel that he gets where she's at right now and wants to give her physical space, and then he finger bangs her again...whatever.
Wanted a mindless read, did not expect to be disgusted.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Opens with an intense ,brutal attempted rape.scene.Jade escapes but her abusive ex's men are hot on her heels .They soon find her in a bar where she encounters Cole and uses a passionate embrace to remain hidden.The two feel that undeniable zing of singular attraction, that builds relentlessly as both try to fight their connection. Cole's man hoe ways serve in this as self protection briefly and painfully keeping their feelings for each other at bay,but they soon admit the futility and agree to being exclusive.
The fact in that her abusive ex isn't giving up is compounded by the reality of.the dangers of their job(drug running) ,hence action, suspense and danger prevail .Following a final violent run in with her abuser,so too does their love!

[★¸. • * ° * ༺*Blanka*༺*°°*•.¸. ♥★ · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a lot of things I really enjoyed but then a lot of things I didn't.. I loved the chemistry between Jade and Colt between the two; but hated the fact that he saw her fore more than a piece of ass but still took her to a utility closet and fingered her after knowinger her for 2.5 seconds.. he had this "stronger" feelings for her but made sure to have sex with two females and bring them home? What was the point in that? Why not keep them out on the boat? Then the whole side business? Why keep it a secret? So many things that could have been done differently and better had he been more upfront and honest...

[Juli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome!

Loved Colt and Jade's story! The Stone brothers are just swoon and sexy! Jade was lucky she ran into Colt, while trying to escape from an abusive relationship! Colt is the sexy bad boy, alpha male, but oh so sweet! Jade caught Colt's heart quickly as he did hers! Love the Stone brother's personalities and their fierce loyalty to each other! I would love for Ms. Hart and Ms. Oliver to give us Hunter and Amy's story! Great quick read! I'm a big fan of Ms. Oliver and enjoyed this collaboration with Ms. Hart!

[Gabriella · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just want to ask the authors: Why?? Just Why would you write a “hero” that’s the complete opposite of what a man should be, that while he has his hand down the h’s shirt groping her is telling some other girls that he is up to meet them later for sex AT THE SAME TIME, IN FRONT IF THE H!!! and most importantly WHYwould you write a heroine with no self esteem, and no dignity, that after seeing the guy naked in bed with not one but two women (the same ones he made earlier plans with), she stays at his house, and later on starts having sex with him. Just WHY?!?!?! 🤮🤢🤮🤢🤮🤢

[Tinabooklover · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ummmmm....no, just no. I liked the start and the end to this book...the middle, not so much.
This is a 2 1/2-3 stars for me, at most!
I hate to say this but I wouldn't recommend this book.
Sorry Tess, I usually like your books. This one just doesn't do it for me.

[Coco.V]

FREE on Amazon today (10/18/2017)!

[Carla · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story was ok but I listened on audible and the narrators were awful. It was free on audible in the plus catalog. I think if I had to pay for this one I would have returned it.

[Bronwyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not thrilled with how many times the guy pushed past consent.

[Sleebea · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a hate read for sure xD like first chapter and I knew it was gonna be bad 🫣