Blog Tour & Giveaway: Falling Into You: Jasinda Wilder

by Tammy Zautner - Wednesday, March 20, 2013

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I wasn't always in love with Colton Calloway; I was in love with his younger brother, Kyle, first.

Kyle was my first one true love, my first in every way.

Then, one stormy August night, he died, and the person I was died with him.

Colton didn't teach me how to live. He didn't heal the pain. He didn't make it okay. He taught me how to hurt, how to not be okay, and, eventually, how to let go.

"I wasn't always in love with Colton Calloway; I was in love with his younger brother, Kyle, first."

Um, wow! I am a bit speechless right now. I did not read the blurb for this book. Jasinda asked Kim and I to read and review, the cover looked awesome so I said ok and just dived right in. Glad I had no clue what the book was about because at about 26% Jasinda rocked my world and handed me my shredded heart on a silver platter. If I had known what I knew at that point beforehand I don’t think I would have had the same reaction or connection to Kyle. I loved that I was so clueless. I loved that my heart dived to my stomach and my eyes filled with big fat tears that just kept right on pouring through half the book and then some. Falling into You was filled with a roller coaster of emotions, including angst, love, fear, pain, guilt, and a glimmer of hope.

I adored Nell and Kyle together. I loved that they had been best friends since they were wee tots. Their love was strong and it was a true love, well as true as it could be at 16-18 years old. I found myself smiling over the romantic things Kyle said and did. I was completely and utterly invested in them. Then out of nowhere, Nell’s world turned upside down and fell out from beneath her and so did mine. I hurt with her. My heart shattered into pieces for her and Kyle. I felt as broken as Nell did. I wondered how the author was going to pull off her healing, how she would help her move forward past the grief, the pain, the guilt, the loneliness.

“It wasn’t a tear. I wouldn’t cry. Couldn’t. To let it go would be to open my soul. It would never stop. I would break…just shatter. The liquid on my cheek was blood, surging out from my ripped and tattered heart.”

Enter Colton Calloway. Colt was perfection wrapped up in his own pain, his own loss. He had walls wrapped so high around his heart, allowing no one in until Nell. Colt lived the life of a bad boy until a few tragedies struck and he found his self-navigating the “straight and narrow.” He no longer wanted a life that offered him nothing but destruction. Colt understood the pain and the guilt that riddled Nell. He pushed her, but not so hard that he couldn’t catch her when she fell. My heart ached so many times for this misguided man who showed tremendous loyalty, protectiveness, and vulnerability. His choices were not always smart, but they shaped him into the man who will stand strong next to Nell offering her the strength and love she will need to move forward.

“But Colton is…I’m safe with him. He draws the truth out of me. He draws the pain out of me. Colton knows pain. He’s intimately familiar with it. Lives with it. Guilt too. Colton has secrets, and I want to know them all.”

I was blown away by Colton and his determination to love Nell while helping her face current day reality. Although, he moved slow he didn’t enable her, in addition, he also didn't allow her to continue on a destructive path. Colt helped find the courage to search within herself to find the forgiveness she needed from herself in order to move past the guilt she had been holding on to for years. Their relationship was so hard to read at some points. The pain just radiated off the page, it was raw and intense. The need they felt for each other was agonizing and all-consuming at times. Their chemistry was off the charts, and scared the living day lights out of Nell, making her doubt everything she knew with Kyle. Colt and Nell struggled, emotionally and mentally she was a train wreck, but he stood next to her side through it all. Each felt their own brand of guilt as they journeyed through the pain.

“Feel. Grieve. Let yourself feel all the anger at the fact that he was taken from you. Feel the loss of him. Feel the sadness and the missing him. Don’t block it out, don’t cut so it stops, don’t drink yourself numb. Just sit and let it rip you apart. And then get up and keep breathing. One breath at a time. One day at a time. Wake up, and be shredded. Cry for a while. Then stop crying and go about your day. You’re not ok, but you’re alive, and you will be ok, someday.”

“We understand each other, Nelly. We’ve both have scars and regrets and anger. We can do this together.”

This is my first read by Jasinda Wilder, and boy did she wreck my world while slowly placing it all back together piece by piece. This was a story of how light can shine through the bitter darkness and offer a second chance at life. I really enjoyed her writing style, her characters and story line were so well developed. I will definitely search out more reads by her. I also enjoyed the alternating point of views, it helped keep me well invested in them and their outcome. I highly recommend this book and author!

Thank you to Jasinda Wilder for the opportunity to take this wild ride with Nell and Colton. Author provided an ARC of Falling into You in exchange for an honest review.

This book left me completely wrecked. I feel like every emotion was pulled from me in the course of the story. It was beautiful, tragic, and heart wrenching all at the same time.

It starts out as a story of young, first love. I enjoyed this part of the book. It was sweet and endearing. The characters are immediately interesting and likable.

Nell: Innocent, sweet, good daughter, and excellent student. She has been attached at the hip to Kyle since they were kids.

Kyle: The Golden boy with a big heart. He is caring, loving, protective, and perfect. There is no doubt how much he cares about Nell.

I loved Kyle and Nell. They were sweet, devoted, loving, and shared many firsts. They had always been together, and seemed like they would be together forever. But fate changes plans. I already knew what was supposed to happen and I thought I was prepared, but I bawled like a baby anyway. It just ripped me to shreds.

A few years later, Nell is not so sweet and innocent anymore. She is living alone in New York, broken, empty, and cannot face her past. It is easier to bottle it up and hide the pain than to face it. She runs into Kyle's older brother Colton one day and it brings it all even more to the surface.

Colton is also damaged, broken, and has been trough terrible situations that have left his mark on him. He feels inferior and unworthy. He is a talented musician, but a disappointment to his family. I absolutely loved Colton. He was so vulnerable, honest, and protective. He is magnetic, intense, intelligent, and misunderstood. He expressed himself so much in his music that you could just feel the emotion and how he used them for conversation and sharing. He has so many demons that they have eaten away at him.

There's darkness in this girl, now. I know this, I can see it, feel it coming. She's got so much pain, so many cracks and shards and jags in her soul, and I'm going to get cut by her if I'm not careful. I can't fix her, I know this too, I'm not going to try...I also know I'm not going to stay away. I'm going to grab onto her and let myself get cut, I'm good at pain. I'm good at bleeding, emotionally and physically.

I can't accurately say there's a spark, with Colton, No, it's way , way beyond a spark. Just looking at him lights a fire. Touching him, being touched, even innocent touches, even his hand in mine creates an inferno.

Together they are a guilt ridden, painful, mess. But because they have been through so much pain, they can recognize it inside each other. Colt understands what Nell needs to do to try to heal her deep wounds and tries to lead her down the path to self forgiveness. Their story is emotional, poignant, gut wrenching, raw, and beautiful. I felt every ounce of guilt, pain, and heart break these two felt. But I also felt their passion, their intense need to be close, their fear, and their insecurities. They have electric chemistry and passion that rocks them to the core. They are stripped bare of their secrets and it is both a terrible and beautiful experience. The two go through more in their lifetimes than any two people should have to endure. But it is not just a story or tragedy and despair, it is also a story of hope and redemption. And about letting go and moving forward.

"But we have to learn to be be free. We have to, Nell. Doesn't mean happy all the time, or okay all the time. It's okay not to be okay. I told you that, but I'm relearning it myself. But not being okay doesn't mean you stop living."

When we come together, when we kiss, when we drowse into sleep side by side, we're falling into each other, and that's when I'm okay When I'm falling into him.

It is told in alternating POV and you get to feel the intensity behind each character. The characters were incredibly well developed, their relationships were well defined, and the story line just draws you in from the first page and you cannot put it down. It was an amazing heartfelt journey that was raw and powerful.

Thanks to Jasinda Wilder for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

Jasinda Wilder Facebook/Website/Twitter/Amazon/Goodreads

Jasinda Wilder is a Michigan native with a penchant for titillating tales about sexy men and strong women.
When she’s not writing, she’s probably shopping, baking, or reading.Some of her favorite authors include Nora Roberts, JR Ward, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Liliana Hart and Bella Andre.

She loves to travel and some of her favorite vacations spots are Las Vegas, New York City and Toledo, Ohio.

You can often find Jasinda drinking sweet red wine with frozen berries and eating a cupcake..

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