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Falling Hard by J.K. Coi (Warning: includes a squee...but only one.)
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Enjoyed your review very much! Will definitely put this book way up on my to-read list :)
Thanks, Anagha! I really enjoyed the book. Gabriel is now on my personal list of fav heroes...he's refreshingly original. And damn sexy. LOL
Excellent review. This one is going on my to-read list and your blog looks great too.
Summary: After a life filled with tragedy, rocker Gabriel Gunn thinks he’s finally getting the better of his personal demons. Then he’s attacked after a concert-and rescued by a warrior goddess brandishing a sword and white wings. As hard as it is to believe in an angelic bodyguard, Gabriel must face an even more impossible truth: he carries the devil’s soul within him.
Amelia has been watching over Gabriel for years, using her angelic powers to prevent Lucifer’s return. Now she must also protect him from warring angel factions with their own agendas. Amelia would do anything to avert another angelic war, even sacrifice her own emotions to avoid temptation. Yet with Gabriel she feels things she no longer wants to deny, and pleasure she never imagined.
But the closer Gabriel and Amelia get, the stronger Lucifer becomes. Will Amelia be forced to kill the man she’s come to love to stop the war she’s always feared? (blurb from ARC)
I’ve complained before about bad-boys who aren’t and evil that isn’t, and how frustrating that is to me as a reader. Well, none of those complaints this time around! Gabriel’s story sucked me in completely, because his struggles felt real. There were no easy fixes, no handouts, no but-wait-there’s-more-just-fall-in-love-and-all-your-problems-will-disappear.
Because Gabriel isn’t just A bad boy…he’s THE bad boy. As in, “Hello, Lucifer!” Yes, that Lucifer…and when the devil’s soul begins to fight with Gabriel’s human one…let’s just say it takes inner conflict to an interesting level. Coi doesn’t hold back – the devil is evil, and he brings it – so be prepared for a couple of scenes that will make you squirm, because Gabriel isn’t always in the driver’s seat, even when it comes to the way he treats the woman he’s falling for.
Ah. Amelia; an ass-kicking guardian angel, knocked flat on her own ass by the emotions Gabriel awakens in her. I wanted to like her, but I struggled a bit with it; for a heroine supposed to be a feared avenger among her own kind, she sure seemed to give in a lot. Granted, she mostly gave in to Gabriel (and, well, what female wouldn’t?) but still, her flip-flopping got a bit annoying. I questioned whether or not she’d be able to come through for Gabriel when he needed her, because of her history of not following through on her choices. (Does she? You’ll have to read the book to find out…)
The two of them together, though? They sizzle. (Sometimes figuratively, sometimes not.) I enjoyed that they didn’t fall instantly into each other’s arms – there was too much baggage on both sides for that – and I think the romance was more satisfying for the delay. Even better was the way sex complicated their relationship rather than magically making everything clear for them.
There’s one element of the book that I absolutely loved, and found refreshingly original – the music. Coi really evoked the emotional tug of it, and I was intrigued by the way she used the power of music as a unifying thread through the story, weaving together the paranormal elements with the contemporary world…and the way it was used in the ending?
A twist, a twist, I love a twist!
There was a great one two-thirds of the way through the book, and the events set in motion by that played out in a way that suited the darkness of the story. There is no walk-into-the-sunset ending, and I found the lack of “perfectly ever after” made for a satisfying and believable resolution.
Falling Hard releases today at Carina Press and you can grab it at sale pricing until July 31st! I hope you’ll check it out, especially if you’re a fan of music, plots that push characters into hard choices, and the TV show Supernatural. (If any of the three apply, try the book! If all three do…read it, and come back to squee with me, okay?)
My blog: Dark Side of the Covers