Title: Falling Away (Fall Away, #3)
Author: Penelope Douglas
Genre: NA | Contemporary Romance
Release Date: January 6, 2015
Synopsis
Jaxon is the guy she’s supposed to avoid. K.C. is the girl he won’t let get away....
K. C. Carter has always followed the rules—until this year, when a mistake leaves her the talk of her college campus and her carefully arranged life comes crashing to a halt. Now she’s stuck in her small hometown for the summer to complete her court-ordered community service, and to make matters worse, trouble is living right next door.
Jaxon Trent is the worst kind of temptation and exactly what K.C. was supposed to stay away from in high school. But he never forgot her. She was the one girl who wouldn’t give him the time of day and the only one to ever say no. Fate has brought K.C. back into his life—except what he thought was a great twist of luck turns out to be too close for comfort. As the bond between them grows, he discovers that convincing K.C. to get out from her mother’s shadow is hard, but revealing the darkest parts of his soul is nearly impossible.…
~5 STAR REVIEW~
As the words flowed on the pages of Falling Away one thing was for sure, there was no way I could put down the story of K.C. and Jaxon until I devoured every last word.
Falling Away by Penelope Douglas is the 3RD book in the series, if you could Until You as 1.5, which I do because it's one of my favorites! Directly from the author, this story can be read as a standalone but it is recommended to read the series in order because characters from Falling Away are introduced in the previous works.
Falling Away shows us the true colors and true self of our mysterious resident bad boy Jaxon Trent. He's always been so mysterious and closed off in the previous books, this was our chance to delve into my mind and soul of the baby Trent who isn't so much of a baby anymore. Jaxon has grown into a full blown man and damn is he hot!
Jax has always felt this pull to K.C. Carter, his brother's girlfriend's best friend. She was the one that got away... The one he wanted but never could have, until fate intervenes and Jax and K.C. are back home together, right next door.
K.C. has her own secrets and own problems and together her and Jax are just one big mess. But I think to me, that's exactly what made them so beautiful. Jax wasn't afraid to push K.C. to her limits. He showed her what true passion and chemistry was. He showed her that not everything is always what it seems.
K.C. was incredibly lonely and broken when she returned home, trying to seek out who she was behind that facade of a nickname K.C. She knew the person she was supposed to be but she was faced with the reality of the person her parents needed her to be. Jax was the same way. Always hiding who he truly was, never letting in anyone unless absolutely necessary. He never even felt or knew how to love. K.C. changed that for him, and him for her.
The way their story is told, emotions run so high. The pain I felt for both of them I felt like it seeped into my bones. The love I felt flow between the two made my heart swell, but most of all the happiness they both eventually felt from each other, was enough to make my chest feel tight and want to squeeze them both tight and never let them go.
We, of course, get to see the other amazing characters in this series, Jared and Tate, Madoc and Fallon. They were all present on the pages of Falling Away and in a way I felt like with this book, we came full circle. We saw the beginning of the illusive Jaxon Trent and K.C. Carter and we saw there happy end. It was such a beautiful and well told story. I can't wait for Aflame, the continuation of Jared and Tate's story, I just don't think those two can get anymore beautiful than they already are.
Falling Away told the story of loneliness and love and finding your soul mate in the places you'd least expect. Jax and K.C. were incredibly beautiful and I am so happy I had the opportunity to get into there mysterious heads and hearts
5 stars!
“You’ve got some ego,” I bit out. “I mean, yeah, all of a sudden you have money. Where you get it from is too scary to even think about,” I spouted off when I really should just shut up. “And you seem to have the town’s police in the palm of your hand. You’re clearly running the Loop now. Congratulations, Jax.” I smiled a big-ass, fake grin. “You’re the most powerful man in Shelburne Falls, Illinois!”
I planted my hands on my hips, pretty damn pleased at how good I’d gotten at putting men in their place.
But then my smile dropped and my eyes rounded. Jax’s eyes—full of challenge and amusement—narrowed on me, and he tossed his towel down, heading right for me.
Shit. I knew I should’ve listened to my mother. I talked too much.
He nodded, a grin playing at the corner of his mouth. “There she is.”
I inched back to the wall as he advanced into my space. “What are you talking about?”
“The snarky girl I met at Madoc’s house years ago.”
Yeah, the one that was slightly drunk and hella confident? My head bobbed off the wall, signaling I was at a damn dead end, and a trickle of sweat skidded down my neck. I saw Jax’s eyes flash to it, and all of a sudden I was too dumb to even remember my own name.
God, he was big. My chest vibrated with the heat of him only an inch away. He hovered over me, engulfing and consuming the space around me, making me feel as if I stood in the shadow of a tree.
Staring straight ahead, I made a conscious effort to keep my face straight. But it was almost impossible, and it was pointless. Out of all the reasons I could come up with for hating Jax—he always challenged and pushed me, and he always did whatever the hell he wanted—I could never claim that he wasn’t smart. He knew I was affected. He knew my body liked him close.
“I love it when you get mouthy,” he whispered down on me. “It makes me want to shut you up.”
Son of a bitch. I clenched my thighs together, feeling the moisture there.
I needed to get out of here. “I have to go.” I pushed off the wall but hit his chest, closing me in again.
“How do you like your community service?” he said low, trapping me by planting his hands on the wall on each side of my head.
Huh?
His smell was raw heat. Summer. Sticky cotton candy on a Ferris wheel and cool water on hot skin.
“What?” He’d asked me a question. What the fuck did he just ask?
He leaned on his hands, dipping his head close to mine. “Community service, K.C. How do you like it?”
I could hear the laughter in his voice.
“I don’t,” I mumbled. “Teaching a bunch of kids who slacked off during the school year, because they didn’t get the attitude adjustment they needed, isn’t my idea of a good time.”
His arms lowered a bit, and I could hear him inhaling through his nose, as if he was smelling me.
“Your idea of a good time got you here in the first place.” His voice was calm but firm. “And those kids don’t need an attitude adjustment. You do.”
I smirked. “Well, I’m getting one. Thanks to the great state of Arizona.” Then I pinned him with hard eyes. “You don’t know me, Jax.” And I pushed him away and turned for the door.
But he hooked my arm, pulling me back.
“You’re right,” he said quickly. “I don’t know you. So why don’t you enlighten me? What does
K.C. stand for? What did you do at college that got you arrested?”
When I just stood there, not answering his stupid questions, he backed me into the wall again. “Let’s try something easier, shall we? Your favorite color. What is it?”
“Are you serious?”
“Are you stalling?”
I scowled. “Pink. It’s pink.”
“Is it?” he pressed. “How about music? Who’s your favorite band? What about books? Your favorite genre? When was the last time you ate chocolate or stayed in your pajamas past eleven in the morning?”
I didn’t know if the walls were closing in or if it was just Jax crowding me. “What are you getting at, you little shit?” I accused.
And he got in my face, smiling at the challenge of my condescending name-calling. “How about a shower, K.C.?” The sound of his deep, husky voice swirled in my stomach and shot downward.
I gulped, licking my sandpaper lips. “Huh?”
He stared at my mouth, looking hungry. “The little shit—who’s not so little anymore—needs a shower,” he whispered, still staring at my mouth. “Take a shower with me. Right now.”
Penelope Douglas is a writer in Las Vegas. Born in Dubuque, Iowa, she is the oldest of five children. Penelope attended the University of Northern Iowa, earning a Bachelor's degree in Public Administration, because her father told her to "just get the degree!" She then earned a Masters of Science in Education at Loyola University in New Orleans, because she hated Public Administration. One night, she got tipsy and told the bouncer at the bar where she worked that his son was hot, and three years later they were married. To the son, not the bouncer. They have spawn, but just one. A daughter named Aydan. Penelope loves sweets, The Originals, and she shops at Target almost daily.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.