Falling AwayAuthor: Penelope Douglas
Series: Fall Away #3
Published by: NAL
Publication Date: January 6, 2015
Format: eARC
Pages: 429
Source: Publisher
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 they grow closer, 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.…
Gah! Falling Away is a hard book for me to discuss. It left me with such a weird nostalgic feeling that’s hard to explain without getting all personal. Anyway, I knew I’d love this book after reading Rival and got a glimpse of Jax.
Young crazy love … so dramatic and full of angst. It can give you whiplash; one minute you’re in love and on cloud nine, and then everything is fucked up the next. It’s an emotional rollercoaster. But hell, I love the ride. The author does an exceptional job with bringing out emotions, whether they’re good or bad. I love when I truly feel the depth of the characters’ emotions, and boy oh boy, did I ever feel them in Falling Away.
K.C. pissed me off so much in Bully. Like, massively. So I was curious to see if she could win me over in this book. I’m happy to say that she did. When she acknowledged certain things that happened and how remorseful she was, that went a long way with me. Especially when she discussed it with Tate. The growth she went through really made me proud and brought me to tears View Spoiler ». This girl had a seriously fucked up past with a total Mommy Dearest, but K.C.’s transformation was really beautiful.
Now let’s get to Jax. Oh, do I ever know Jax, and I think that’s why I can fully understand where he’s coming from and be more lenient with the way he behaved sometimes. It’s hard for me to say I love him, but I do. He’s actually a big reason why I felt so nostalgic while reading this. Honestly, if I had a daughter, I would absolutely want her to stay away from Jax. But … *sigh* you know how it goes. He’s definitely a real bad boy who has some issues, and can be quite intense. Some of the stuff he said was just funny as hell, though.
The thing I love even more than romantic relationships are good friendships and familial-ships (totally made that up). So I was very happy that Tate, Jared, Falon and Madoc were in this. Madoc and I got off to a rough start at the beginning of Bully, but once I was able to see what a goofball he was … yeah, I totally love the guy. He was definitely some comic relief in this book, while still being perceptive and knowing when to push his friends. I love how all these guys come together, even some of the parents.
So yeah, I love Falling Away a lot! It’s crazy, edgy and sexy. I love Rival, but this is definitely my favorite of the series, mostly because of how connected I felt to it.
My reviews of Bully & Rival.
I am so looking forward to this book! I think I’ll read it next month 😀
I absolutely loved Bully and Rival -and Until You as well- and the characters just grew on me. Your review made me even more excited to read Falling Away!
This book felt a little more intense than the other two, but I’m sure you’ll love it! 🙂
I’m glad to hear that this is your favorite of the series, looks like you are enjoying this series christy 🙂 happy reads
Thanks, Alreem. It’s a series that gets my blood pumping. lol
I love when a book get’s personal for me, even though it can get weird. The character growth sounds great. I can handle mean characters as long as they grow. But still, not sure if I want to get into this series.
The only real mean character is Jared while in the first book, but even then it’s … different. I don’t know, Jennifer, I think you’d like these.
It’s wonderful whenever a previously despised character succeeds in redeeming themselves later on in a series, and from the tone of your review, I do believe that K.C. managed to do exactly that which is fantastic news. Glad that you now have a new favourite Fall Away installment!
I wanted to punch K.C. in the first book, but hug and give her a high-five in this.
Hm. I’m torn on this series Christy! I’m a little burnt out on angsty romances at the moment, so I’m a little hesitant to try these books, but they clearly draw you in, and I love when I’m emotionally invested in the characters:) Lovely review as always!
These are definitely angsty, Jenny. But the angst feels so good! LOL
I am glad you and K.C. got together. It always impresses me when an author can take me from loathe to love. Awesome review and I am glad you enjoyed this.
This is one of those series that I don’t want ever to end. Jax is so…. you know, he’s bad,but he’s good. I loved him. I’m not sure if I loved him more or less than Madoc, who I adored. Maybe I could just have them both. I mean, Madoc had the whole sneaking in Fallon’s room, but Jax had the whole hot-as-hell kiss at the track… Sigh. Glad you liked it too 🙂
Yeah, I love both Madoc and Jax, but in different ways. If I HAD to choose, though, I’d go with Madoc. He can be such a goof. Jax just brings up old feelings.
Jax was too much of a bad boy for me unfortunately. It was a bit too much and I felt like while the physical chemistry between K.C and Jax was really good, I didn’t feel the emotional connection.
Glad you liked it though! 🙂
Lovely review!
Redemption is one my favorite things, I love when that happens. Bully is on audio and now on my wish list. I’ve never read or listened to this author before, but you can bet that’s going to change. I’m only an hour from finishing Golden Son..eeek! 19 hours, and in no way I was going to speed up that one!..lol I think I’m going to need a light listen after that, so it’s not time yet for me to dive into an angsty story.
Thank you for keeping me broke, but well listened..LOL
It seems like everywhere I look someone is reading and loving this! I am so curious about it now. I love that you loved it so much.
Do I need to read the others before starting this one?
Have a wonderful weekend Christy!!
I don’t know… I’m not sure the drama and angst would be for me. I’m glad you really FELT it all though! Fantastic review!
I am like Candace and Jenny, I can’t do anymore drama and angst, I just read one yesterday and that is enough for awhile. Glad you are continuning to love this series.
I enjoyed Bully, but not enough to continue with Rival. Could I read this one without reading Rival?
I love books with good friendships and familial-ships (love it!) too, so I think I need to read these books. Glad KC won you over. It’s always hard when a character who made a negative impression in a prior book takes the focus. Glad to hear it worked out. Jax sounds complicated, but I have a feeling I’ll love him. 🙂 Great review!
I feel like “bad boy” types are usually best left in books…if they are done well of course. haha Glad you enjoyed this one.
Hm.. this looks like I really need to put this author on my must read list. I think it is impressive that a character you didn’t like you ended up loving. I always want to read more from an author who can do that to me.
Don’t you love it when you connect with a book so much?! I’ve been hearing so much about this book and author. Loved your review. 🙂
I feel you re: love and family relationships. Have you read any Juliana Stone? She does great books that has these elements, you should try her if you haven’t yet. If you already have isnt’ she awesome?!?!
hmmm I’ve step away from the New Adult genre for awhile…. The angst is even worse than YA lol. But I do trust your judgment so I might just have o give this one a go!
If you’re tired of angst, then you might want to avoid this series. lol. It’s full of it. But I love it in these so much because it elicits strong feeling from me.
I believe I have Bully on my TBR and I don’t know when or if I’ll read it but I was intrigued by the premise and so now it shall wait until I decide to pick it up :p
I am glad to see you loved this one so much, Christy and thought it was your favorite in the series! 🙂
Lovely review!!!
I’ve heard a lot about this series from a lot of bloggers and they all seem to love this series! It’s great that KC grew onto you even though you didn’t like her in the first two books. And yay for cameos! They’re like the best thing that can ever happen in these types of series.
Lovely review, Christy <33
Well dang. Okay so I was wrong in skipping over this series. lol Sounds great Christy! Glad she won you over after the grrr args from before!
This series sounds like it got right under your skin. I love how involved you felt in it all and it’s I definitely want to check out sometime.
Oh wow! This series does sound great. It is good to see that your opinions of a few characters changed throughout this one… I love reading about the badboys, I think I’ll like JAX!