IF WE FALL
by NINA LANEWe fell in love. Then our world fell apart.
I wished so hard for Cole Danforth. And one day, he came true. He was my first boyfriend, my first lover, my first and only love. He should also have been my last.
But in a split-second, we were ripped apart, our lives broken, my heart shattered. After ten years,
I've returned to my hometown, the place of my greatest joy and darkest pain.
Cole is still here, but the beautiful boy I'd loved is gone. Now he's a ruthless, unforgiving man determined to feed both my resentment and my lust.
Then our torturous past encroaches again, trapping us in a violent storm.
But this time, there is no escape.
First and foremost, the prequel for this series was just the dangle of a tease I needed to jump into this new series by a new to me author. I enjoyed it so much that I was so excited to jump into the next book, hoping for some good heartache, some real emotions to pull from. Sign me up!! From where Cole and Josie began, leading all the way up until "their last kiss", I was for sure their story was going to lead me on an emotional journey. I was wrong.
I tried. I seriously, honestly tried but I couldn't make it through this first full book. What happened between the prologue and the first book? I wish I knew. It was like reading two different authors telling two different stories. Maybe she planned it that way. Maybe she meant for the love to be so *happy* and the fallout be so *painful* - after all, that would make perfect sense. But reading it shouldn't have been painful....
First, Cole is NOT a man. He's a coward. I understand his supposed guilt, but will never, ever excuse his reasonings for leaving her. That put a very sour taste in my mouth from the very beginning, some drama for no damn reason. And I honestly don't think there was anything she could do or say to make me feel otherwise. --> However, skipping to the end and reading that cliffhanger put a lot into perspective, but I only did that because I knew I wasn't going to finish it. Hindsight and all. The delivery of the entire plot failed for me. It went from tempting me with the prequel to pissing me off with the first book.
I do realize that not every plot is going to be original, I really do get that. But this one felt very forced and not at all original....a regurgitated plot that spanned many of the books/movies we have all read/seen. I mean, we've all read "this" story with all the twists and happenings - it was not really formulaic in a sense, but it was very predictable with each turn. Unfortunately, there was nothing enticing me to keep going. It felt like it dragged on, and with ridiculous phrases and actions/happenings, I knew I just needed to quit so I didn't leave with a salty taste in my mouth. I mean, with sentences like this, I don't even know....
"His cock was a pulsing rod inside me, throbbing against my inner walls."
Let's add in some seriously ridiculous anger/rage. Cole had literally ZERO reasons to be as angry at Josie as he was, but let's set that aside for later. Let's move along to his anger at the town that was completely misplaced. I saw and understood that angry POV from when he was younger because that's a young, immature person's way of thinking and I get it!! I really do...but to carry it on and allow it to fester in the fashion that it was, and with such tenacity and volatility? NO!! Grow up! Move on! Get out of there!!! Why are you even there?? It's doing NOTHING but dragging you down. Talk about a chip on your shoulder. Geez.
Josie had some rather interesting fears, and while I have never lived through/dealt with them - so I definitely don't understand them, they felt very.....off. I mean, it's been 10 years aaand you still can't function? I guess I don't get it - but maybe it's because I don't want to understand at this point anymore, so I don't feel compelled to empathize. I felt his anger resonating off of him and he came across as a royal jerk. Cole played the part really well, especially when we knew deep down what was supposedly causing it, but also where his thoughts truly resided. With his anger and her fears and phobias, it was a match made with an overused formula.
Why this bothered me on top of everything else, I'll never know but he was constantly hard around her, feeling 'it' down his thigh. Mmmhmmm.....because that's where hard ones go. I get it. Not really, but that's cool.
I have ZERO desire to read the second book in this series, which was telling for me and told me I didn't even need to finish the first. I did, however, go to the end and see what everyone was super excited about and what "twists" they wanted answers for.....and nope. I still have no desire because I can now tell you exactly W.H.Y. he is pushing her away and why he never wants her close again. Guilt probably isn't the right answer....but now we are hiding a bigger secret. And I feel it's pretty predictable, to say the least.
It was just super, ridiculously boring for me, but gosh dangit!! It was angering as well!! I hate when a book make me mad. I hate saying that it was boring, because it shouldn't be boring - taking a journey through another's love story should be heartbreaking, emotion-causing, sweet and lively. But when I kept rolling my eyes, page after page, wishing for them to get to the point, I knew I was done.
So now, I sit and question why everyone loved this so much more than I did because this had the potential to tear me up and make me hurt and feel something. I wanted to read this duet so bad. Like, really bad. As much as I tried, I couldn't get through it and that makes me sad. I'm sure I started getting nitpicky near the end, but I just kept getting irked by little things happened....telling sign. sigh
~BEE
~MEET NINA LANE~
New York Times & USA Today bestselling author Nina Lane writes hot, sexy romances about professors, bad boys, candy makers, and protective alpha males who find themselves consumed with love for one woman alone. Originally from California, Nina holds a PhD in Art History and an MA in Library and Information Studies, which means she loves both research and organization. She also enjoys traveling and thinks St. Petersburg, Russia is a city everyone should visit at least once.
Although Nina would go back to college for another degree because she's that much of a bookworm and a perpetual student, she now lives the happy life of a full-time writer.
Although Nina would go back to college for another degree because she's that much of a bookworm and a perpetual student, she now lives the happy life of a full-time writer.
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