Review: The Harder You Fall (The Original Heartbreakers #3) by Gena Showalter

Title: The Harder You Fall
Author:  Gena Showalter
Series: The Original Heartbreakers #3

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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Millionaire video-game creator Lincoln West has a dark and tragic past. The sought-after bachelor lives by a rigid schedule and a single rule—one relationship per year, lasting no more than two months. No exceptions. He moved to small town Strawberry Valley, Oklahoma, with his brothers-by-circumstance hoping to escape the worst of his memories—until a brash beauty dredges up long-buried emotions.

A reformed party girl, Jessie Kay Dillon is determined to walk the straight and narrow. But her love-hate sizzle with West is just too irresistible. They can't be near each other without tearing off their clothes, but the last thing she needs is to be his next two-month dump. Can she be the one exception? Because as any former girl-gone-wild knows: rules are made to be broken.

The Original Heartbreakers are back!

After meeting Beck, Strawberry Valley’s most sought out bachelor, the one known as ‘one and done’ we now meet Lincoln West aka ‘two months and done’.

Lincoln West lives by many rules but there is just one particular rule that keeps him going; never date a woman for more than two months. The secrets of his past are well guarded even from his best friends, Jase and Beck. He would do anything for them but he would never let them worry about his own demons. There is no way out of from his personal hell.

Well, never say never Lincoln!

Jessie Kay is a force not to be reckoned with! The former party girl/ Strawberry Valley beauty queen is a changed woman. After her sister’s accident, Jessie Kay has decided to let her party days goes and welcome adulthood (or not). Helping her sister with her catering business may not be what she wanted to do but she will do anything that keeps her sister happy. It would probably be a better job if she didn’t have to cater to West.

The tension is there, the chemistry is there but Jessie Kay wants to break Lincoln’s rules as well.

I’ve fallen in love with this series from the very beginning! I loved Jase and Beck’s stories and I was really looking forward for this one. The harder you fall was everything I expected it to be.

West was a stubborn man who couldn’t quite let go the memories of his past and the guilt that came with them. He blamed himself for so many things and he wouldn’t let these feelings go no matter how much Jase and Beck reassured him that everything’s in the past. Jessie Kay was troubled by guilt as well. Her sister does a lot to let help deal with it but she’s convinced that it is her fault that they have lost everything.

Jessie Kay and West were so stubborn, I had no idea who was going to win the games they played. Their HEA doesn’t come easy but when it happens, it’s perfect with lots of humor and romance.

The harder you fall is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!! If you’ve loved Jase and Beck’s stories then you’re going to love this one too!

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Review: Until Friday Night (The Field Party #1) by Abbi Glines

Title: Until Friday Night
Author: Abbi Glines
Series: The Field Party #1

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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To everyone who knows him, West Ashby has always been that guy: the cocky, popular, way-too-handsome-for-his-own-good football god who led Lawton High to the state championships. But while West may be Big Man on Campus on the outside, on the inside he’s battling the grief that comes with watching his father slowly die of cancer.
Two years ago, Maggie Carleton’s life fell apart when her father murdered her mother. And after she told the police what happened, she stopped speaking and hasn’t spoken since. Even the move to Lawton, Alabama, couldn’t draw Maggie back out. So she stayed quiet, keeping her sorrow and her fractured heart hidden away.
As West’s pain becomes too much to handle, he knows he needs to talk to someone about his father—so in the dark shadows of a post-game party, he opens up to the one girl who he knows won’t tell anyone else.
West expected that talking about his dad would bring some relief, or at least a flood of emotions he couldn’t control. But he never expected the quiet new girl to reply, to reveal a pain even deeper than his own—or for them to form a connection so strong that he couldn’t ever let her go…

When I first found out that Abbi Glines was planning on releasing a new series I was over the moon. Until Friday Night was an incredible start to the field part series.

It’s been two years since Maggie witnessed her mother’s murder. Not wanting to relive the pain of that day, Maggie stops talking. After living two years with her godmother, Maggie is relocated to her uncle’s house. Her aunt Coralee always wanted a daughter and having Maggie closer makes her feel better. That’s why she makes Brady, her son and Maggie’s cousin, help her make friends. Maggie doesn’t want to be a burden to Brady but she can’t really complain.

Brady takes her to a party and that’s where she meets West. West has a lot of secrets but his friends know none of them. His father is dying of cancer and the only people who know are his mother, himself and now Maggie. Talking to Maggie helps him heal. No one understands his bond with Maggie but the two of them share a connection nether of them expected.

I think this is the first book by Abbi Glines in which I didn’t really like the male character. West wasn’t what I expected him to be. In the beginning he was full of rage and so mean to the girls around him but the more time he spent with Maggie the more peaceful he became. Maggie was awesome though. She endured so much but yet her inner strength was inspiring.

Until Friday night was an amazing start in the Field part series. Maggie and West were great characters with some flaws but still enjoyable. I hope we get to see Brady or Nash’s stories next.

If you love Gline’s other books then you’re surely going to love this one too.

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