I was apprehensive going into this book. I adored Bully but Rival…well, not so much. When I one-clicked Falling Away I was looking for the same spark that Bully had and less of the boredom that Rival produced. Well I’m pleased to say that I found Falling away to be a MUCH better read than Rival. I was hooked from start to finish. While there were parts I didn’t love and found frankly a little disturbing (more about that soon), there were plenty of things that I did love.
First of all – The redemption of K.C. K.C wasn’t painted in a very positive light in previous books and frankly, she came across as a manipulative bitch. However, in Falling Away we get a little of her back story (not pretty) and get to see her grow up and transform into a pretty amazing person. Her transformation is actually epic and was extremely well written. It was one of my favorite parts of this book.
Second (of all?) – I loved Jax. More in a motherly way than a ‘damn he’s hot’ kind of way though. I knew he was going to be a wild card and I found his character and his story hugely interesting after being super curious about him for awhile now. While he was very ‘alpha male douche bag’ at times, I found his vulnerability and insecurities to be quite endearing. It took his character to the next level. He had layers, people! I did however take issue with a scene that occurred around the 69% mark. I can’t say what it is, because it will be spoiler-y. It wasn’t cheating, a death, or anything along those lines, it was more a situation that escalated quickly and got a little too far out of hand for me to be comfortable with. It sent up a bunch of red flags that would have me personally running for the hills.
With that being said I liked the pace of this story. It progressed well and had just the right amounts of both steam and angst to keep me entertained throughout the entire story. And the final scenes at the end were really sweet – keep an eye out for the shout-out to New Zealand! Loved it. I’m officially back on the Penelope Douglas bandwagon.
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