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Monday, January 19, 2015

Falling Away by Penelope Douglas Tour! @PenDouglas 5 Star Review, Excerpt & #Giveaway!

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.…


Review
      Penelope Douglas does it again. Bully, Until You, & Rival were brilliant and Falling Away is every bit as gripping and amazing. While technically this could be read as a standalone, I highly recommend reading the first three books in the series so that you have the full back story on Jax and K.C. as well as the other characters.

     Jax is the ultimate tortured hero. His childhood was absolutely horrific and it has jaded him in ways that are hard for his friends and family to understand. His life takes a turn for the better when, at 17, he is given the opportunity to leave foster care and move in with his brother, Jared and Jared’s mother. She treats him like her own son, in truth, better than her own son. She mother’s Jax like she should have Jared, in her own way making up for her mistakes. In this environment, Jax is able to bask in love and attention. He first meets K.C. when he begins to attend high school in his new home. He is instantly drawn to her and knows that if they came together, they would combust into a raging fire of passion. However, he also recognizes that they could have a deep and lasting bond. Unfortunately, K.C. refuses to open herself up to him. She spurns him and his attention, ignoring their intense attraction and pull between them. When K.C. finally leaves, Jax reconciles himself to the fact that she will never be his and begins to focus on her cowardice to help drive away his feelings for her.

    Jas an adult, Jax has settled into a life that straddles right and wrong. The darkness seems to be winning out and he is intent on proving that he has it all. He applies his brains to work that is less than legal, building up his position in power, both financially and within society. In essence, he runs the town. But, deep down, beneath the bravado and swagger, there is still insecurity and fear. He doesn’t truly believe his own façade, he still thinks that he isn’t good enough, that he will never be good enough. He bares deep, unseen scars that keep him from ever truly moving out of the shadows.

    K.C. is a doormat. In an unexpected twist to this series, we learn some shocking background about K.C. and it really brings her personality into perspective. After her boyfriend chests on her again and a public outburst gets her arrested, she returns home to live out her summer and complete her community service. Her actions estrange her from her mother, but this is actually one of the best things to happen to her. She is finally able to break free of the chains constricting her and find herself. Unable to go home, she stays at Tate’s house, next door to Jax. When she sees him again, she realizes that her attraction to him has only intensified and now it’s for a man, rather than a teenage boy. All though, he was more of a man in high school that she knows.

    At first, Jax refuses to see beyond the negative feelings he has nurtured towards her. He has let his anger at her fester and he treats her pretty terribly. Some of that anger comes from the fact that he is still attracted to her, like no other woman. K.C. doesn’t truly understand his attitude, but she doesn’t dwell on it much, instead focusing on finding herself. Through the summer, they find themselves thrown together and they begin to learn more about each other, which allows them to have a deeper understanding of the way they are. K.C. is still skittish about being with him because she can see how he straddles the lines in life. Jax isn’t convinced that K.C. could ever accept him as is, and not always have a desire to be with someone “better.” He takes his façade even further at times, trying to be what he thinks he should be to be with her. However, he continues to erode inside until he gives in to the doubts that plague him.
Their passion is out of this world and when they come together, the heat blasts off the pages of the book. It’s extremely hot and it will have your panties melting right off!

    They have the ability to destroy each other, and the ability to heal each other. The story has a lot of give and take in this area. They build each other up and then tear each other down. This book will rip your heart out and make you ache for what both K.C. and Jax have dealt with in their lives. But in the end, the angst and frustration, the anger and passion, they are so worth it. This book is intense and utterly incredible. My emotions were all over the place. This books will without doubt leave you with an extreme hangover!

    Penelope Douglas is always an automatic 1-click for me and Falling Away just reaffirms that decision. Small warning, if you read all the way to the end, including the preview of Aflame, be prepared for a shocker. I will be counting down the days until the final chapters of this series in the follow up novel that returns to the story of Tate and Jared. I know it will be worth every moment of waiting. Penelope is a force to be reckoned with in the world of fiction. You MUST read this series!




“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.”


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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.


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