Book of The Month discussion

Award-winning, New York Times bestselling author S. A. Cosby returns with King of Ashes, a Godfather-inspired Southern crime epic and dazzling family drama.

When eldest son Roman Carruthers is summoned home after his father’s car accident, he finds his younger brother, Dante, in debt to dangerous criminals and his sister, Neveah, exhausted from holding the family—and the family business—together. Neveah and their father, who run the Carruthers Crematorium in the run-down central Virginia town of Jefferson Run, see death up close every day. But mortality draws even closer when it becomes clear that the crash that landed their father in a coma was no accident and Dante’s recklessness has placed them all in real danger.

Roman, a financial whiz with a head for numbers and a talent for making his clients rich, has some money to help buy his brother out of trouble. But in his work with wannabe tough guys, he’s forgotten that there are real gangsters out there. As his bargaining chips go up in smoke, Roman realizes that he has only one thing left to offer to save his himself, and his own particular set of skills.

Roman begins his work for the criminals while Neveah tries to uncover the long-ago mystery of what happened to their mother, who disappeared when they were teenagers. But Roman is far less of a pushover than the gangsters realize. He is willing to do anything to save his family. Anything.

Because everything burns.

I love S.A. Cosby and he is an autobuy author for me. So when I got this as an ARC, the way I whooped and danced!

I did an audio and I can't stress it enough - it was so good. The narrator truly adds to the story.

I highly recommend this one
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

10 chapters / 27%

wow this one is so good and shocking

Brothers (view spoiler)[ I can't even imagine how tough it would be. that his brother was so stupid with the drugs and money
and then for them to be in trouble like this. but how do you kill drug dealers in a family/group like this and not get killed?

and the fact they brought the friend in alive and made him kill him. OMG. and they let the girl go. I hope she hides well (hide spoiler)]

Mother (view spoiler)[ I like that there is this mystery too. what happened to their mom and will they end up finding out?
did their dad really do it? (hide spoiler)]

19 chapters / 56%

Brothers (view spoiler)[ wow, they are in deep. I love that Roman set them up to feel like he saved them
yikes that he torched a house!
I love that he also has others thinking about the money he could make them. he's very good at this - because they are in a bad spot

and his brother does not seem to get it (hide spoiler)]

Mother (view spoiler)[ okay wow, so she got the file. I wonder what we'll learn. I don't think the dad did it but then what? what could have happened? (hide spoiler)]

26 chapters / 76%

Brothers (view spoiler)[ Ugh, the little brother does not seem to understand how tight of a line Roman is walking to keep them alive. he just casually says they have to protect the girl calling! Yikes

and man, Roman finding love with the sister. not a good idea

and the attack at the bar - OMG with machetes!?!? so scary (hide spoiler)]

Mother (view spoiler)[ and Naveah with the cop. that cop is a complete jerk. I'm glad she's leaving him in the rearview but I don't know if she really has that choice. can the brothers really hide all they are doing when she's that close to the cops?

and we still don't know a lot about the mother's disappearance other than Naveah believing their dad did it. but it could be something else! He could have hidden what really happened - by moving the car. (hide spoiler)]

and I'm done

OMG that was SO good
(view spoiler)[ WOW! I can't believe in the end, it was Roman and an accident. And the ashes were in the cookie jar. And wow, the sister killed the dad for it.

and wow, in the end of it all, Dante was still murdered. Even though he did everything to try to protect him. I never saw that coming!

and wow, he took over the business of making them all money. I was shocked when he'd turned so many of them over to his side

and then got to stay with J anyway. just wow, so good, so shocking - I was completely hooked! (hide spoiler)]

Through Ch 10 / 27%

Brothers: (view spoiler)[Jeez, $300,000 in debt to thugs isn't a good place to be! Roman is wealthy. They're THUGS and all they care about is their money and now they want 40% interest and won't take the $200,000 in "good faith." Jeez, Dante has gotten them in a bad spot! They can't wait 4 months for the rest? How will they get out of this? And now ROMAN takes a beating! Ugh...Dante, WTH! (hide spoiler)]

Mother: (view spoiler)[I had the same question, but as of now I don't know why he would've killed her. Not sure if she's alive though or if something else happened to her. If they wondered about there dad killing her maybe he is the type. And Dante losing his finger...just awful!

Neveah: (view spoiler)[She seems to be pretty close to Roman or maybe it's just that she feels like he's the oldest and most protective man in her life now. (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

19 chapters / 56%

(view spoiler)[Quick mention of how they made Neveah like the mother after their mom disappeared. That's a heavy responsibility that a young girl shouldn't have to take on. (hide spoiler)]

Brothers (view spoiler)[ I agree. Roman is getting in deeper and in a darker spot trying to save them. Dante doesn't get it for sure.

Their dad's been keeping secrets. I wonder what all he's held back from them. (hide spoiler)]

Mother (view spoiler)[Neveah's finding out a lot about her mom. I wonder if their dad is guilty. I don't think he is guilty either but I don't have any guesses as to what happened.

It said their dad was almost killed near the train tracks and their mom's car was found there too. So I wonder IF that might be a clue to what happened to both of them. (hide spoiler)]

26 chapters / 76%

Brothers (view spoiler)[Oh my god, I would DIE if I caught my mother cheating on my father and in the act of sex. Ugh...poor Dante! You're right, Trisha, he doesn't have a clue what all his brother is doing. He might know but he doesn't fully understand the ramifications. I think Roman is getting in too deep! Burning all those bodies for the Black Baron gang is too much! The boys are between a rock and a hard place. What are they going to do/how will they get out of this mess?

And, yeah, Roman getting involved with that thug's sister is the last thing he should do! That could spell disaster! (hide spoiler)]

Mother (view spoiler)[NO way her brothers can totally hide everything from the cops. The relationships the siblings have juxtaposed with gangs and cops is a BAD combination. Plus he's a corrupt cop, so God only knows what could make him turn on all of them or do something to create problems for them. He's totally untrustworthy. I hope she dumps him for good because he's no good for her! (hide spoiler)]

Bar incident (view spoiler)[was pretty gross and somewhat graphic, but I wasn't clear on if that was the Black Baron Boys or a random act. I might've missed it listening to it. Was it clear? (hide spoiler)]

Torrent and Tranquil (view spoiler)[These two rule the streets and create such fear with their power and intimidation "skills." But at the same time Roman's business abilities (makes $800,000 annually!) make him valuable but ironic THEY don't trust HIM. lol (hide spoiler)]

Finished

Wow! What an ending!

(view spoiler)[SO much happened that made them all culpable. The brothers ended up confronting their mom, then the subsequent accident that took her life. Pops burning her body to cover up what happened and then keeping it all from Neveah who searched for answers for so long. And then the ashes. Finally Dante gets murdered, Neveah kills their dad.

I never thought that Roman would end up with Jealousy/Jae. I thought they were doomed from the get-go but evidently not.

I loved it but wish I'd had my book to follow along with the audio; however the audio was great. (hide spoiler)]

yay!! I'm so glad you loved this one too!

Gah, it was so good! and the audio was really good! sucks your book is taking forever. Have you tried emailing them for an update?

lol Just saw this but to answer your question, no because I saw it had been shipped.