No one saved us.

We believed the lies. We held onto our hate, and I alone destroyed an innocent girl’s life.

They say you reap what you sow. That’s bullshit, too. Because I should be burning in hell for my sins. I shouldn’t be allowed to wake up every morning with this beautiful woman in my arms, who loves me unconditionally. I shouldn’t get to hold my son and know such a pure joy.

But I do.

Because, eventually, someone did save me. I didn’t deserve it. Hell, more than anyone it was my sister who needed saving. She hadn’t acted on her hate. She hadn’t manipulated the lives of our family members, not caring about the outcome. But her bitterness still controlled her while I had been delivered. By a girl…

No, she wasn’t just a girl. She was an angel. My angel. A beautiful, strong, fierce, loyal angel who had entered my life in a pick-up truck, carrying a gun.

We saw it all happen in Fallen Too Far and got Blaire's side of the story. Now it is Rush's turn to tell us what he was thinking and feeling. I always had a soft spot and a bit of a crush on Rush Finlay even when he frustrated and made me mad with some of his antics. This story gave me more reason to like him and to understand his motivation for some of his questionable decisions.

We get into his head to understand why he pushed Blaire away so hard, how hate filled he was, and how much he loved Nan despite her faults. How some of his assholery moves were both self preservation and to protect Blaire(or at times Nan). He had a lot of guilt and self blame for how the girls lives turned out and for some of the things he subjected Blaire too. And he definitely had a a savior and protector complex. 

First and foremost, this is NOT a standalone. Do not proceed with this book if you have not read Blaire's point of view in Fallen Too Far. In my opinion, these two books should be read together. Rush Too Far fills in those moments where you just wished you had the capability to lounge around inside Rush’s mind. This book gives you that and more, providing a slightly different feel from Rush’s point of view; however, it does not give a new reader enough background and story development to properly follow along. Rush Too Far lacks those small intricate details Fallen Too Far contains.

It is safe to say I am part of the Rush Crush crowd. Even with all that crushing though, I was a little hesitant and skeptical about opening up this one. To be honest, I was wicked nervous Rush would not live up to his original self or to the hype surrounding his book. Part of that is the fact that I tend to struggle a lot with male point of views written outside of the original book. Books told in this manner always feel so repetitive to me. I have to give Abbi Glines some major props. She nailed Rush’s story for me. Rush had me entertained and turning the pages through the entire book; no skimming for me (which is huge plus since I tend to do that a lot in male point of view books)! High fives to Abbi for writing Rush in a more prominent voice without it feeling so redundant to Blaire’s.

Rush Too Far was a fun and engaging companion novel to Fallen Too Far. This is one bad boy who left me smiling huge even if I was a little exasperated with him at times. However, taking a looksee through that wild ride called Rush's (and in turn Abbi's) mind totally made up for any exasperation I may have felt. It was wicked experiencing the push and pull of our hero and heroine through his perspective. Just as no two readers read the same book, no two people experience conflict or issue the same, especially when those two people are male and female. In Blaire’s book, we only see her part of the story and Rush totally comes off as that jackass with commitment issues. In his book, we experience a more intimate view of his struggle with his inner conflict: the need to take what he desires vs. the need to stay true to those he has already pledged his loyalty to.

As I have mentioned, I am a huge Rush fan. I have always found his character intriguing and hot; I mean come on, he is tatted and pierced—what’s not to love about that. I didn’t think he could get much hotter. I stand corrected; watching Rush go all caveman on Blaire’s father and laying the verbal smack down was smoking HAWT! Call it Rush Crush Fever or not, who knows. All I know is that I fell in love with Rush all over again and that much harder.

On a quick note, for all you Grant fans, don’t fret Abbi gives us A LOT more of Grant. If you are a Grant lover, such as myself, you will find yourself eating up all of his behind the scenes moments. I am talking about those moments in Fallen where you wished (or at least I did) Abbi had delved just a bit more. Grant’s character becomes more descriptive, giving his relationship throughout the series with Rush, Nan, and Blaire a completely new perspective. This Grant is the one I missed while reading the first half of his book; the Grant that had me chomping at the bit to run out and buy his book.

Thanks to Abbi Glines and Atria Publishing for providing me with a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

Rush Too Far shadows the events of Fallen Too Far in the alternate perspective. Instead of knowing everything about Blaire’s side of the story, Rush has his turn to show readers what was happening when Blaire walked into his mansion that first night and everything after. This is a great companion, but because of the scope of Rush's narrow view, some parts of the story wouldn't hold up without background knowledge from Blaire's POV. 

There are a few new scenes but a lot of retelling of scenes we saw originally from Blaire’s perspective. Knowing his thoughts in the overlapping scenes was very different from what Blaire was thinking through many of those scenes. Because he is hiding things from Blaire, his perception of what is going on is, in some cases, 180 degrees from Blaire’s viewpoint. 

I’m not sure this made me more sympathetic towards Rush than I was when I read Fallen Too Far. Maybe that’s just part of this series. The men seem to lose their heads and act stupid in the first book, and then do a whole lot of backpedaling in the second. What it did do is clear up the motivation behind some of his ambiguous moves while they were happening rather than as backpedaling apologies to Blaire. 

This really was Rush’s story. There is not as much from Grant, Woods, or Bethy here, but as Rush was kind of a loner even within the group, it makes sense. And I still hate Nan...maybe more so now seeing things from Rush’s POV too. She really hasn’t done any favors for herself. At all. 

It’s been a long while since I read Fallen Too Far. Part of me was expecting both Fallen and Never combined in one, so I was rather shocked at where Rush ended. But referring back to my copies of Fallen and Never, Rush ends exactly where Fallen ends. Then again, Never already has Rush’s voice included, so it should not have surprised me...but like I said, it’s been a while. I think I enjoyed this more because it’s been so long since I read Fallen Too Far. While it was a retelling, it was also a great refresher of Blaire and Rush’s beginning.

Thanks to Abbi Glines and Atria Publishing for providing me with a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.