For 24-year old Dominic Kinkaide, that moment took place on the night of his high school graduation. One dark incident changed him forever. He's a hardened actor now, famous in the eyes of the world, but tortured in his own. He doesn't care about much of anything, except for losing himself in the roles that he plays.
23-year old Jacey Vincent doesn't realize how much her father's indifference has affected her. She is proof that sometimes it isn't one specific moment that wrecks a person, but rather it's an absence of moments. She's like a bird with a broken wing-strong yet fragile, as she tries to float through life, finding acceptance in the arms of random guys, one after the other... to fill the void that her father left in her.
Until she meets Dominic.
After jaded Dominic and strong-willed Jacey are thrown together, his secret and her issues create a dark and damaged energy that will soon turn their attraction to each other into an explosive storm.
Even though when the clouds have cleared and the dust has settled, both of them are almost obliterated... they've learned a priceless lesson.
Sometimes, before we fall... we fly.
eArc received from publisher via NetGalley in exchange for review
Published 12/3/13 from Forever.
Our Review:
Once again, Courtney Cole has produced such an enthralling work of fiction that I found myself staying up all night to read the novella Until We Burn (which I highly recommend you read BEFORE you read Before We Fall) which would be bad enough (if by bad, you mean that you were completely satisfied and eager to read the novel it was meant to prep us for)...but then the day we were leaving to see my family for Thanksgiving I found myself unable to put Before We Fall down. I had bags to pack, errands to run, daughters to bathe and feed, a house to tidy...and all of those annoying things you feel you need to do before you leave town for a few few days..but what did I do??!!! I one more chapter-ed my way into almost being late to leave for our trip. It was that good!It is definitely that good! In every way that Shelley just described. It will definitely make its way under your skin and into your mind in ways that I hadn't thought it would. We've been down the road with Pax (I mean, whoa...right?) and then Gabe...and we met Jacey as Gabe's sister in the second book and knew that things were going to be a little different with her. I was surprised and so happy that even that turned out much differently than I had originally thought.
Dominic Kinkaide (check out that last name...Kink---aide....hmmm...accident??!!! I THINK NOT! Oh wow! I didn't even see that. You are good!) has a dark secret that has left him emotionally disconnected and unavailable for SIX years....which is unfortunate considering he could have the most beautiful life. He has a family that loves him, a fantastic job (he's a beloved actor), and he's adored by all; he respects the position he's in but seems to feel absolutely no joy or happiness from all of the good in his life. He uses women like some people use toilet paper--he flushes them down the toilet with very little regard for anything and moves on to the next one. He sees everyone around him as manipulators and users and vows to be the one manipulating and using rather than being on the receiving end. He can turn his charm on and off like the good actor he is and the result of all of this (the using, manipulating, the charisma) is an empty and bitter shell of a human being...that is until Jacey Vincent crosses his path.
Dominic, as was proven in his very own novella, is really an interesting guy to try to like. I couldn't figure out for the longest time how a guy who seems to have a perfect life could hate himself so very much. Well, as it usually turns out, perfection is usually overrated and things aren't what they seem. Lucky for us, this was not a cliche story or reveal. I thought it was very, very emotionally fueled and like I said before...completely different from what I thought it would be. How Jacey comes to know an actor from Hollywood for instance was one of the many things that I was wondering. That turn of events sets our story in motion for a wild ride!
Jacey Vincent is so spunky--not at all the spineless creature I thought of her as in If You Leave. She's working on being independent and not falling for the bad boys that she seems to attract. She's close to graduation and is a waitress for a company that helps out private parties--which is where she meets Dominic. She has an interaction with him that results in very mixed feelings--and a mandated 90 days of being forced to work together. At first she's attracted to him, but those feelings vary to also being pissed off at him (and herself), confused by him, and intrigued by him. She just knows he's not good for her...that he's very bad for her, but she has a very hard time walking away from him.
Wouldn't you? I would. Even though she knows that he is again a bad guy for her, she can't resist getting to know what makes him tick. The damaged ones seem to push all of our buttons and Dominic is Damaged with a capital D. Jacey also becomes so much more than Madison's flakey best friend. Jacey has spent some time since we last saw her and has become a lot stronger all around going all out to work on her issues, and while she isn't 100%...there are some major gains from the whirlwind that she was. I like her, a lot. And the adventure that comes with being with someone like Dominic would not be easy if not for a girl exactly like Jacey!
I thought their story was interesting because they were both reeling from the hurts of people that were supposed to love them. They both saw the other as a relationship impossibility. They both were both so flawed and there were times when I thought maybe they shouldn't be together but Jacey kept being brave (or stupid, haha) and pushing boundaries and forcing honest conversations. She absolutely refused to hide or lie or cheat or be anything other than who she was and begged Dominic to do the same. I loved her character--I really saw her as the strong one; she kept pushing forward even after she had set backs and she encouraged Dominic to do the same. I loved that Courtney Cole wrote Jacey with such strength, and yet with some flaws...I found her to be so realistic, and sweet, and funny, and smart and insightful but not so much so that she was preachy or unlikable. Can you tell I really liked her? And I grew to like Dominic over the course of the novel--especially when I figured out what was going with him.
All of that up there that she just said, is awesome...and why I heart my blog partner hard core. But she is right. Dominic is hard to like. Jacey was so much easier to like, but when do you want someone like her to cut her losses and move on? I don't know, because I like letting those bad boys have chance after chance after chance. Dominic's issues cut me deep, but how things were handled in the end was a home run hit out of the park grand slam for me in the writing aspect of things, so I was very excited!
The ending was perfection and the book was well worth all of the scrambling around I had to do because I was running behind my travel schedule! I hope that Brand and Sin and Duncan...and EVERYONE gets a book in this series. I LOVE IT! ME TOO! There is too much there not to CC! We will wait as long as you need! :)
Shelley: 5 glowing Stars
Courtney: 5 Stars (Duh!)
About the Author:
Courtney lives in quiet suburbia, close to Lake Michigan, with her real-life Prince Charming, her ornery kids (there is a small chance that they get their orneriness from their mother) and a small domestic zoo.
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