Take a little bit of this...And some of this...And then some of this...And you're left with a story that's going to do this to your mind...Victoria, Victoria, Victoria.My, my, my.You, you absolutely fabulous woman, have done it again, only this time you've hit the spot a million times over.Repeatedly.I'm going to begin my review of Victoria Ashley's Slade by thanking the author for including me in her beta-reading team . Chapter after chapter, I fell deeper and harder into Slade's dark and tantalizingly dangerous world. Unfortunately, during the beta-reading process I was unavailable for a little while due to some real-life issues, but once the personal storm was over, I got right back to it and found myself falling pretty damn hard for Slade and Aspen's story.Slade by Victoria Ashley is an intensely raw and erotic read revolving around the dirty, bad-boy Slade Merrick and the beautifully troubled Aspen Raines. Victoria starts off her story with a bang, catapulting the reader right into a scene where Slade is having his wicked way with a very willing female. Working at Walk Of Shame, and also working part-time as a very naughty stripper whilst there, he is never short of offers for the bedroom. But, Slade has a rule. He never takes the same woman to bed twice. Never. On first impression, Slade may seem like the ultimate bad boy, with his hard muscles, tattoos and adventurous tongue, but beneath the damn hot surface, there's definitely more than meets the eye.Aspen is moving into her buddie Cale's apartment for a while, whilst she sorts out her own problems. Leaving a bit of a mess behind her, she settles into her new surroundings feeling confident that she has everything under control. What she has left behind will sort itself out. But when Aspen meets Slade for the very first time, the breath is dragged right from her lungs. He is everything that she shouldn't want and definitely doesn't need, but for some strange reason, she just can't seem to leave him alone, physically and mentally.What transpires is a beautifully written story, including some of the hottest sex scenes that I have ever read in my life, and the stripping down of not only leather trousers but strictly placed barriers that were never meant to be broken.Something that I have found with all of Victoria Ashley's novels is they are always written in a powerfully real and moving way. All of the emotions that her characters feel are felt by the reader too, and it just feels like it's impossible to not feel completely and utterly involved in whatever they are going through at the time. Victoria writes in such a compelling and irresistible way, she is one of the most incredible authors that I have had the pleasure of meeting. Particularly, in Slade, Victoria has gone into great depth when it comes to sex which, in my eyes, is hardly a bad thing. And for those readers out there who love detailed sex scenes, then they will definitely not be disappointed. Each moment of desire and passion is expertly laid out, allowing the reader an image of perfection, and Victoria definitely raises the heart rate in this one.Victoria's characters seemed crazily real to me.I'm going to talk about Slade first.When I read the author's previous novel This Regret, I thought I had met the ultimate bad boy. I was absolutely besotted with her character Kellan Haze. I'm not going to compare Slade and Kellan because really, I find the thought of doing that a little traumatic, but Slade has took sex and sexiness to a whole new level. Sex plays a massive part in this story, so Slade plays the part perfectly. Not only is he a stripper, but he's a bad-ass. He likes to have sex, he likes to hit back whiskey and he likes to talk dirty. He swears a lot which adds heaps to his bad boy persona, and I just found him completely irresistible, tattoos, muscles and all. I think what I found most appealing about Slade was this mysterious other side to him. Victoria constantly highlights the fact that something happened in Slade's past, and then adds to this secret even more by having Slade study himself in mirrors and losing himself in his own mind as he studies the scar that graces his face. This is a fantastic element to be added because it constantly has you wondering what the hell happened to him. I might also add that the scar, in my own opinion, again adds to his bad boy persona. Ladies, let's be honest. Isn't there something just intriguing and addictive about a dark, mysterious, knee-shakingly attractive man, who can sometimes look troubled and pained? Doesn't it make you want to make him feel better and take the pain away for him? Instead, what Slade does is drink and fuck. This is his way to feel better and relieve himself of the stress of his past. Hands up who wants to be a willing volunteer? Moving swiftly on, Slade is downright trouble. He's also downright freaking hot too. Did I mention that?Aspen is Victoria's female character and I loved her, although I need to be truthful here by saying that with Victoria's novels, I always tend to focus on her male characters a little more than her female. It's not by choice! It just happens. Similar to Slade, Aspen has a few secrets of her own and again, Victoria drops little hints here and there that really keep you guessing. When Aspen first laid eyes on Slade, I could actually feel every single thing that she felt. The attraction, the physical connection, every emotion that she went through, I feel like I went through it too. Again, Victoria detailed everything down to even the minute details and that really adds to the whole experience of reading the story. Aspen was a real knock-out. Curves in all the right places, the complete opposite of a push-over and something that really caught my attention was her two different colored eyes. I loved this! It was completely unique and made Aspen stand out miles from the rest of the females. Of course, me saying she's not a pushover... Let's be honest. Any woman within a few feet of Slade would probably find it torture to not lay a single finger on him. Each and every meeting between Slade and Aspen had my heart racing and my eyes couldn't race down the page quick enough. Aspen was a stunner and I found myself being able to relate to her constantly. The effect that Slade has on her being one of them. I guess you could say that their dark, hidden, mysterious pasts are what bring them together in the end. One breaking through the other one's barrier. Victoria's characters in Slade are just absolutely beautiful. I feel like I want to meet them in real life!Everything, and I mean everything about Slade had me hook, line and sinker. The plot, the characters, the twists and turns, it all added to the wonderful explosion of emotion that I felt as I read the last page. There is no feeling like the one that you feel when you realize that you can really and truly connect with the characters, and you personally go through every single thing that they go through. I finished Slade with a feeling of devotion, not only to the characters inside of the story, but to Victoria herself. With each story that she brings to me, I fall harder and harder for her writing style and depth. Nothing can beat it, and I mean nothing. Slade has blown any other erotic book right out of the water for me. It's sexy, it's daring and it's like nothing else that I have ever read. Slade is addictive, Aspen is beautiful and their story is like a drug. I feel almost obsessive over it, but that's a sign. A sign that I have just finished reading a mind-blowing story that I'll be thinking about for a long time afterwards.I'm finishing this review with a incredibly worthy rating of 5/5. Let's just say more though, because I love this story way, way too much. Victoria, please stop blowing my mind. I can't bloody think straight after reading your novels.