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Eating Asphalt
One look at Cadence Mitchell left Glass Jaw eating asphalt. She’s beautiful, and everything he could possibly like, all in one neat package. There’s just one problem… Glass wasn’t in the business of mixing business with pleasure and meeting Cadence was all business. He was finishing a job on the house she was set to buy. Still, you couldn’t accuse the tough-as-nails VP of the Western Washington chapter of the Sacred Hearts MC of not having a soft spot. Especially when it came to this particular damsel in distress…Cadence has lost everything and has barely pulled herself together enough from the devastation to take care of herself and her seventeen-year-old son. Add moving across the country to the list of demands on her psyche, she’s just about at her breaking point. She doesn’t know what to make of the contractor working on her new home. With her track record for betrayal and heartache, she’s uncertain if she’ll be able to trust anyone ever again.These two coming together is going to be a lesson in trust, patience, and healing; like neither have had to learn before.
- GenresRomance
Kindle Edition
Published July 30, 2021
44 people are currently reading
33 people want to read
About the author
A.J. Downey
93 books1,137 followersA.J. Downey is a Pacific Northwest girl living in an East Tennessee world who finds inspiration from her surroundings, through the people she meets, and likely as a byproduct of way too much caffeine. She specializes in real and relatable romance stories featuring that real-life kind of love that everyone craves.
You can find her on Facebook at facebook.com/authorajdowney
You can find her on Facebook at facebook.com/authorajdowney
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 6, 2022
I enjoyed this book. It is the best in this series, so far. The characters come alive, the plot is deeply entertaining with adventurous, sad, and joyful events imbedded within. This is Glass Jaw’s story. He’s the VP of the Sacred Hearts MC, Pacific Northwest chapter. Glass Jaw owns a construction company that is doing a renovation on a house that Cadence Mitchell has bought. They meet and she comes with a load of baggage that has her sagging to her knees. Each is leery of relationships. Both feel a connection. Happily, they do not fall all over each other with lust, and they allow a friendship to develop before the inevitable leap into bed. Cadence has a 17-year-old son, Marc, and he is a real character on his own, not just a device used to demonstrate Cadence’s mothering skills. Their interactions, actually all Marc’s scenes, are well written and he grows into a fine young man as the story progresses.
Glass Jaw (né Jared Ronald Allen Smith) is a good man. He is fearsome as the MC’s VP but has a soft side that he shows Cadence and her son, Marc. He falls hard for Cadence, but his judgement seems off sometimes. For instance, in chapter 6, he thinks, “[Cadence is] tougher than she gives herself credit for…” but he cannot truly know this. We haven’t seen Cadence show her toughness yet, and neither has Glass Jaw. Spoiler alert: she definitely will be showing her resilience and strength soon enough…it’s just too early in the story yet.
Cadence is the strongest female lead character in the series. She has a troubling past, her divorce was not amicable, yet she is able to stand up for herself and be a partner to Glass Jaw. In this book, she leads the MC old ladies in an adventure of their own. I’m not going to out their escapade because it would spoil the way the writer builds up to it. But I will say that it is well worth reading!
In this book, the sex scenes seem more real, not used as fodder to pad the book or to shore up a thin plot. They do not feel gratuitous, and the development of the relationship between Glass Jaw and Cadence is placed center stage here. Sex doesn’t enter their friendship until chapter 13, with 36% of the book completed. This was handled well by Ms. Downey: the slow pace, the attention paid to the relationship, allowed sex to have a much better place in their developing rapport.
There are far fewer errors in this book than we’ve seen previously – it’s a welcome respite. There are a few, however, that pause a reader. For instance:
“…I was just about to order Marc and I some dinner.” A subject pronoun is being used as an object. A test to determine the appropriate pronoun to use, particularly with a compound subject, is to remove part of that subject: the part that does not reference oneself. In this example, remove “Mac and” like this: “…to order…I some dinner.” That sounds just weird. The correct pronoun is “me,” so the sentence should read, “…I was just about to order Marc and me some dinner.”
The opposite problem occurs later in the book: “…things between Jared and I were much lighter….” Here, a subject pronoun is used as an object. The same test can be used for a compound object as for a compound subject; remove the part that does not reference oneself. Here, remove “Jared and” like this: “…things between I were much lighter.” Weird sounding, right? The sentence should read, “…things between Jared and me were much lighter….”
Ms. Downey uses the word, “alright,” thirty-five times in the book. Sometimes the word is used somewhat incorrectly and could be “all right.” The term “all right” is never used by Ms. Downey. There’s a difference between “alright” and “all right,” and although the rules are changing (as happens in a viable language like English), “alright” is not used in formal writing. In the vernacular, as in dialogue, either of the forms is acceptable.
There are occasional awkward sentences; for example, “I asked when you last ate anything was….” The word, “was,” is superfluous and makes the sentence seem off. It should read, “I asked when you last ate anything….”
Another awkward sentence is “…pulling both my jeans and my panties beneath off in one smooth motion.” I had to read this twice before I realized the writer was saying Cadence’s panties were worn beneath her jeans. That’s not a necessary bit of information (unless Cadence is wearing her panties on the outside of her jeans…goodness…!). I think the sentence would be smoother without the “beneath” reference: “…pulling off both my jeans and panties in one smooth motion.”
And another awkward sentence: “…and not in the he was just sort of green kind of way, either.” Huh. This might be one of those sentences that is better spoken, because of voice inflection, than it is when written. Possibly the writer means, “…and not in the ‘he was just sort of green’ kind of way, either.” Italics and single quotation marks can be used to isolate the phrase a bit, to emulate vocal range.
Here’s a doozy of an awkward sentence: “Roger who what the worst at was actually on his best behavior.” This absolutely throws a reader out of the story, wondering what the writer is saying. I’m not at all sure, but maybe, “Roger, who was the worst at it, was actually on his best behavior.” The sentence doesn’t have a lot of meaning within the context of the paragraph but is makes sense grammatically. I really don’t know what the writer is trying to say.
There is a dangling modifier that made me laugh: “Chuckling, I went down as she went up to finish my cleanup and to get out of their hair for tonight.” This sounds as if Cadence is going up (the stairs) to finish cleaning Glass Jaw, who is narrating. Within context, this is not the case. Glass Jaw is the one fixing to clean up. The sentence, minus the dangling modifier, could read, “Chuckling, she went down as I went up to finish my cleanup and to get out of their hair for tonight.”
In chapter 5, Glass Jaw asks Cadence for her phone so he can enter his number for her to call if she needs anything. He tests it and it works: his phone rings when he calls it from her phone. However, in chapter 8, he tells Cadence his number is written on the bottom of a list of items she needs from a hardware store, so she can call him when she’s ready for him to continue working on the house. Either Glass Jaw forgot he’d previously programmed her phone with his number, or the writer forgot.
Punctuation is sometimes incorrect. For example, “…the timber of it,,, I don’t know.” Looks like a few too many commas after the word, “it.” Or perhaps, the writer meant to use an ellipsis, as in “timber of it…I don’t know” – not sure of the writer’s intent.
Another example of a punctuation error: “…Marc shouted at the other brother ,and I felt three things all at once….” The comma should appear after “brother,” not after the space before “and.” The sentence should be, “…Marc shouted at the other brother, and I felt three things….”
And another example, this time of a missing apostrophe: “…the clubs people breaking up into their little families….” The people belong to the club, so the sentence should read, “…the club’s people breaking up into their little families….”
Hyphenation at the end of a line is sometimes off; for example, the word, “slipup,” is hyphenated sli-pup. Sounds like a sly puppy dog.
“…she wasn’t going to melt the soles of her Tennie’s….” The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “tennies” as a shortened form of tennis shoes; it is not capitalized, nor does it need an apostrophe. The sentence should read, “…she wasn’t going to melt the soles of her tennies….”
“…I wanted so bad to untangle the gordian knot of pain….” This is an interesting passage. First, an adverb is needed to modify a verb, so “bad” (an adjective) is used inappropriately. That should be “…I wanted so badly….” Next, “gordian knot” is usually capitalized when it is referenced in expository, so it should read, “…untangle the Gordian Knot of pain….” The entire phrase should read, “…I wanted so badly to untangle the Gordian Knot of pain….” And finally…I wonder if the writer is mixing metaphors? A Gordian Knot is a metaphor for an intractable problem that can be solved only by bold action. Pain is curable with justifiable ease. Pain pills. Massage. A darkened room. A good friend. Activity. No bold action required. Or perhaps (k)not. Maybe the writer is implying that Cadence’s problems that cause her pain will require a direct, bold act rather than an indirect approach. Unsure, but this sentence popped me out of the story in order to try to figure out the writer’s intentions.
“What do each of us know?” should read, “What does each of us know?” If you remove the prepositional phrase, “of us,” it might be easier to see. “What do each know?” is an odd sounding phrase. “What does each know?” is correct. “Each” is a singular noun which requires a singular verb.
“I did my bid with my son….” The correct phrase is “I did my bit….”
“We need to stop fu**in’ talk about it….” This is difficult to interpret, even within the context of the whole paragraph. I think the writer means one of two things: they need either to stop talking about the problem, or to talk about the problem in fullness. I believe it’s the former. Regardless, the sentence needs a rewrite, perhaps: “We need to fu**in’ stop talking about it…” or “We need to stop and fu**in’ talk about it….” I think the speaker, Glass Jaw, wants to stop talking about the topic at hand.
“About and hour or two….” That should be “About an hour or two….”
I missed having page numbers available for display in the Kindle edition. A percentage of the chapter left to read, and location numbers are available, but not page numbers; why? Also, X-Ray is unavailable. I like the X-Ray capability and miss it when it is not offered.
I rated this book 3.5 stars and rounded up because I liked the plot, the characters, and the writer’s easy style…all add pleasantly to the reading experience. There are fewer errors in this book than in the previous four, but there are still too many. They force a reader out of the story which, in turn, makes reading the book less enjoyable. Still, I like the characters who are fleshed out into three dimensions. I like the Glass Jaw-Cadence dynamic. I’m already looking forward to the next book of the series.
Glass Jaw (né Jared Ronald Allen Smith) is a good man. He is fearsome as the MC’s VP but has a soft side that he shows Cadence and her son, Marc. He falls hard for Cadence, but his judgement seems off sometimes. For instance, in chapter 6, he thinks, “[Cadence is] tougher than she gives herself credit for…” but he cannot truly know this. We haven’t seen Cadence show her toughness yet, and neither has Glass Jaw. Spoiler alert: she definitely will be showing her resilience and strength soon enough…it’s just too early in the story yet.
Cadence is the strongest female lead character in the series. She has a troubling past, her divorce was not amicable, yet she is able to stand up for herself and be a partner to Glass Jaw. In this book, she leads the MC old ladies in an adventure of their own. I’m not going to out their escapade because it would spoil the way the writer builds up to it. But I will say that it is well worth reading!
In this book, the sex scenes seem more real, not used as fodder to pad the book or to shore up a thin plot. They do not feel gratuitous, and the development of the relationship between Glass Jaw and Cadence is placed center stage here. Sex doesn’t enter their friendship until chapter 13, with 36% of the book completed. This was handled well by Ms. Downey: the slow pace, the attention paid to the relationship, allowed sex to have a much better place in their developing rapport.
There are far fewer errors in this book than we’ve seen previously – it’s a welcome respite. There are a few, however, that pause a reader. For instance:
“…I was just about to order Marc and I some dinner.” A subject pronoun is being used as an object. A test to determine the appropriate pronoun to use, particularly with a compound subject, is to remove part of that subject: the part that does not reference oneself. In this example, remove “Mac and” like this: “…to order…I some dinner.” That sounds just weird. The correct pronoun is “me,” so the sentence should read, “…I was just about to order Marc and me some dinner.”
The opposite problem occurs later in the book: “…things between Jared and I were much lighter….” Here, a subject pronoun is used as an object. The same test can be used for a compound object as for a compound subject; remove the part that does not reference oneself. Here, remove “Jared and” like this: “…things between I were much lighter.” Weird sounding, right? The sentence should read, “…things between Jared and me were much lighter….”
Ms. Downey uses the word, “alright,” thirty-five times in the book. Sometimes the word is used somewhat incorrectly and could be “all right.” The term “all right” is never used by Ms. Downey. There’s a difference between “alright” and “all right,” and although the rules are changing (as happens in a viable language like English), “alright” is not used in formal writing. In the vernacular, as in dialogue, either of the forms is acceptable.
There are occasional awkward sentences; for example, “I asked when you last ate anything was….” The word, “was,” is superfluous and makes the sentence seem off. It should read, “I asked when you last ate anything….”
Another awkward sentence is “…pulling both my jeans and my panties beneath off in one smooth motion.” I had to read this twice before I realized the writer was saying Cadence’s panties were worn beneath her jeans. That’s not a necessary bit of information (unless Cadence is wearing her panties on the outside of her jeans…goodness…!). I think the sentence would be smoother without the “beneath” reference: “…pulling off both my jeans and panties in one smooth motion.”
And another awkward sentence: “…and not in the he was just sort of green kind of way, either.” Huh. This might be one of those sentences that is better spoken, because of voice inflection, than it is when written. Possibly the writer means, “…and not in the ‘he was just sort of green’ kind of way, either.” Italics and single quotation marks can be used to isolate the phrase a bit, to emulate vocal range.
Here’s a doozy of an awkward sentence: “Roger who what the worst at was actually on his best behavior.” This absolutely throws a reader out of the story, wondering what the writer is saying. I’m not at all sure, but maybe, “Roger, who was the worst at it, was actually on his best behavior.” The sentence doesn’t have a lot of meaning within the context of the paragraph but is makes sense grammatically. I really don’t know what the writer is trying to say.
There is a dangling modifier that made me laugh: “Chuckling, I went down as she went up to finish my cleanup and to get out of their hair for tonight.” This sounds as if Cadence is going up (the stairs) to finish cleaning Glass Jaw, who is narrating. Within context, this is not the case. Glass Jaw is the one fixing to clean up. The sentence, minus the dangling modifier, could read, “Chuckling, she went down as I went up to finish my cleanup and to get out of their hair for tonight.”
In chapter 5, Glass Jaw asks Cadence for her phone so he can enter his number for her to call if she needs anything. He tests it and it works: his phone rings when he calls it from her phone. However, in chapter 8, he tells Cadence his number is written on the bottom of a list of items she needs from a hardware store, so she can call him when she’s ready for him to continue working on the house. Either Glass Jaw forgot he’d previously programmed her phone with his number, or the writer forgot.
Punctuation is sometimes incorrect. For example, “…the timber of it,,, I don’t know.” Looks like a few too many commas after the word, “it.” Or perhaps, the writer meant to use an ellipsis, as in “timber of it…I don’t know” – not sure of the writer’s intent.
Another example of a punctuation error: “…Marc shouted at the other brother ,and I felt three things all at once….” The comma should appear after “brother,” not after the space before “and.” The sentence should be, “…Marc shouted at the other brother, and I felt three things….”
And another example, this time of a missing apostrophe: “…the clubs people breaking up into their little families….” The people belong to the club, so the sentence should read, “…the club’s people breaking up into their little families….”
Hyphenation at the end of a line is sometimes off; for example, the word, “slipup,” is hyphenated sli-pup. Sounds like a sly puppy dog.
“…she wasn’t going to melt the soles of her Tennie’s….” The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “tennies” as a shortened form of tennis shoes; it is not capitalized, nor does it need an apostrophe. The sentence should read, “…she wasn’t going to melt the soles of her tennies….”
“…I wanted so bad to untangle the gordian knot of pain….” This is an interesting passage. First, an adverb is needed to modify a verb, so “bad” (an adjective) is used inappropriately. That should be “…I wanted so badly….” Next, “gordian knot” is usually capitalized when it is referenced in expository, so it should read, “…untangle the Gordian Knot of pain….” The entire phrase should read, “…I wanted so badly to untangle the Gordian Knot of pain….” And finally…I wonder if the writer is mixing metaphors? A Gordian Knot is a metaphor for an intractable problem that can be solved only by bold action. Pain is curable with justifiable ease. Pain pills. Massage. A darkened room. A good friend. Activity. No bold action required. Or perhaps (k)not. Maybe the writer is implying that Cadence’s problems that cause her pain will require a direct, bold act rather than an indirect approach. Unsure, but this sentence popped me out of the story in order to try to figure out the writer’s intentions.
“What do each of us know?” should read, “What does each of us know?” If you remove the prepositional phrase, “of us,” it might be easier to see. “What do each know?” is an odd sounding phrase. “What does each know?” is correct. “Each” is a singular noun which requires a singular verb.
“I did my bid with my son….” The correct phrase is “I did my bit….”
“We need to stop fu**in’ talk about it….” This is difficult to interpret, even within the context of the whole paragraph. I think the writer means one of two things: they need either to stop talking about the problem, or to talk about the problem in fullness. I believe it’s the former. Regardless, the sentence needs a rewrite, perhaps: “We need to fu**in’ stop talking about it…” or “We need to stop and fu**in’ talk about it….” I think the speaker, Glass Jaw, wants to stop talking about the topic at hand.
“About and hour or two….” That should be “About an hour or two….”
I missed having page numbers available for display in the Kindle edition. A percentage of the chapter left to read, and location numbers are available, but not page numbers; why? Also, X-Ray is unavailable. I like the X-Ray capability and miss it when it is not offered.
I rated this book 3.5 stars and rounded up because I liked the plot, the characters, and the writer’s easy style…all add pleasantly to the reading experience. There are fewer errors in this book than in the previous four, but there are still too many. They force a reader out of the story which, in turn, makes reading the book less enjoyable. Still, I like the characters who are fleshed out into three dimensions. I like the Glass Jaw-Cadence dynamic. I’m already looking forward to the next book of the series.
September 20, 2021
Absolutely smitten with the Sacred Hearts!
Downey has done it again. Given us an alpha male with more heart than macho BS and I love it. I live for this series!
Glass Jaw, our VP and resident hunka-hunka for this book, I felt has always flown under the radar in previous books so it was great to really meet him here in the meat of his story. I wanted to slap him a time or two but for the most part he transitioned from self-proclaimed manwhore to pretty much a family man seamlessly. One thing I love about these guys is once they find the one, no matter how they may have professed they wanted nothing to do with love, they jump in with both booted feet and are all in.
Always enjoy a single mom storyline where she gets an HEA and the ex is un-life.
Looking forward to watching the rest of the SH Brothers get hit by cupid, too.
Downey has done it again. Given us an alpha male with more heart than macho BS and I love it. I live for this series!
Glass Jaw, our VP and resident hunka-hunka for this book, I felt has always flown under the radar in previous books so it was great to really meet him here in the meat of his story. I wanted to slap him a time or two but for the most part he transitioned from self-proclaimed manwhore to pretty much a family man seamlessly. One thing I love about these guys is once they find the one, no matter how they may have professed they wanted nothing to do with love, they jump in with both booted feet and are all in.
Always enjoy a single mom storyline where she gets an HEA and the ex is un-life.
Looking forward to watching the rest of the SH Brothers get hit by cupid, too.
August 5, 2021
Great story
Jared has been working on a house that's being sold. When the new owner shows up he falls hard. Cadence is at the end of her rope. Her husband turned out to have another family that he left everything to when he died leaving her and their son Marc on their own. She's moved to a new town for a fresh start but nothing has gone smoothly. There are numerous things the house still needs done and on top of it the movers never show up with their belongings. Jared tries to help and the more they are around each other the more the chemistry between them increases. Eventually they end up in a relationship but when club business threatens to take him and his brothers away their women step in to help. The guys are pissed but will they get over it? Excellent reading.
Jared has been working on a house that's being sold. When the new owner shows up he falls hard. Cadence is at the end of her rope. Her husband turned out to have another family that he left everything to when he died leaving her and their son Marc on their own. She's moved to a new town for a fresh start but nothing has gone smoothly. There are numerous things the house still needs done and on top of it the movers never show up with their belongings. Jared tries to help and the more they are around each other the more the chemistry between them increases. Eventually they end up in a relationship but when club business threatens to take him and his brothers away their women step in to help. The guys are pissed but will they get over it? Excellent reading.
August 4, 2021
GlassJaw
I loved GlassJaw, Cadence and Marc's story. When Jared and Cadence merge had already been through so much in her life. Marc is a great kid and she raised him well given their circumstances. When she finally opened up to Jared I was upset for her. I loved how she joined forces with the other ol ladies. There were a lot of funny, intense, steamy moments through their story and I loved every second of it and I can't wait to see more of them in the future. I can't wait to read Fish!
I loved GlassJaw, Cadence and Marc's story. When Jared and Cadence merge had already been through so much in her life. Marc is a great kid and she raised him well given their circumstances. When she finally opened up to Jared I was upset for her. I loved how she joined forces with the other ol ladies. There were a lot of funny, intense, steamy moments through their story and I loved every second of it and I can't wait to see more of them in the future. I can't wait to read Fish!
July 31, 2021
Wow
I loved Glass and Cadence. I think she’s a perfect match for him. And with the girls all ganging up on the guys, I couldn’t of laughed more. This series just keeps getting better and better with each book and now I can’t wait to read Fish’s book! That has Smart ass women and dumbfounded men all over it!
I loved Glass and Cadence. I think she’s a perfect match for him. And with the girls all ganging up on the guys, I couldn’t of laughed more. This series just keeps getting better and better with each book and now I can’t wait to read Fish’s book! That has Smart ass women and dumbfounded men all over it!
October 10, 2021
Love the intensity of this book, it’s a great love story, Glass Jaw was complete bowled over by Candice and it was beautiful to watch him build her shattered self worth back up. But it’s also an MC book and there’s a very icy cold reminder that these men are not all sweet, or kind, or necessarily honorable and that hits hard.
August 1, 2021
LOVED IT!
I thoroughly enjoy this series I've always been a fan of Ms Downey😍 I haven't read a lot of her storytelling, but I look forward to reading more, because what I have read is the bomb LOL💥
I thoroughly enjoy this series I've always been a fan of Ms Downey😍 I haven't read a lot of her storytelling, but I look forward to reading more, because what I have read is the bomb LOL💥
July 31, 2021
Love it
I love all the Sacred Hearts and am never disappointed. The story of Glass and Cadence is a perfect show of family. Definitely another winner. Thank you for you stories!
I love all the Sacred Hearts and am never disappointed. The story of Glass and Cadence is a perfect show of family. Definitely another winner. Thank you for you stories!
August 8, 2021
Glass Jaw
Hes the local contractor and club brother. But hes meet his match in her. But he will be eating Àsphàlt with pleasure with her.
Hes the local contractor and club brother. But hes meet his match in her. But he will be eating Àsphàlt with pleasure with her.
August 10, 2021
Awwwww
Absolutely loved this book,glass jaw/Jared is awesome and cadence although a bit broken,she has a steel spine and not afraid to help out the club.
Absolutely loved this book,glass jaw/Jared is awesome and cadence although a bit broken,she has a steel spine and not afraid to help out the club.
October 11, 2021
Glass Jaw was perfect in this one! I love how he bided his time. I was seriously expecting trouble from the "Karen" they had in common.
Read with KU
Read with KU
February 11, 2022
Good story
This book was really good. Good characters and plot along with some good twists and turns plus suspense and humor. Overall it was enjoyable.
This book was really good. Good characters and plot along with some good twists and turns plus suspense and humor. Overall it was enjoyable.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews