ARC Review: Five Ways to Fall: K. A. Tucker
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Release Date June 24, 2014
Purple-haired, sharp-tongued Reese MacKay knows all about making the wrong choice; she’s made plenty of them in her twenty-odd-years. So when her impulsive, short-lived marriage ends in heartbreak, she decides it’s time for a change. She moves to Miami with the intention of hitting reset on her irresponsible life, and she does quite well…aside from an epically humiliating one-night stand in Cancun with a hot blond bouncer named Ben. Thank God she can get on a plane and leave that mistake behind her.
Football scholarship and frat parties with hot chicks? Part of charmer Ben Morris’s plan. Blown knee that kills any hope of a professional football career? So not part of the plan. Luckily Ben has brains to go with his knockout looks and magnetism. After three long years of balancing law school with his job as a bouncer at Penny’s Palace, he’s ready to lead a more mature life—until his first day of work, when he finds himself in the office of that crazy, hot chick he met in Cancun. The one he hasn’t stopped thinking about.
If Ben truly were a smart guy, he’d stay clear of Reese. She’s the boss’s stepdaughter and it’s been made very clear that office romances are grounds for dismissal. Plus, rumor has it she’s trouble. The only problem is, he likes trouble, especially when it’s so good-looking…
We met Ben earlier in this series, he is the bouncer at the strip club owned by Cain and friends with the couples from the previous stories. He is celebrating finishing law school and passing the bar exam so he is also in Cancun with friends. He and Reese meet and spend some time together one night that leaves a lasting impression.
A couple of months later they find themselves working in the same law firm. She hoped to never see him again. He is fascinated by her and loves to rile her up. But there are a lot of secrets, misconceptions and lies between them...not to mention a no fraternization policy at work and her family dynamics.
Ben is funny, unfiltered, cocky, sexy, but also charming, sweet, and has a big heart. But he is known man whore and commitment phobe. He has rarely ever had a true connection with a woman except for Kacey who ended up with Trent. I could not help but love the big, smirking, obnoxious, dirty-talking Mama's boy. But underneath his veneer, he had some past issues that had damaged him.
Reese is hurt, broken, reckless, and has major trust issues for good reason. She has been rejected, abandoned, and disappointed too many times. So she is totally fearful of wanting more and getting hurt again. She is dealing with unresolved feelings that keep interfering with her present. And her past does not seem to want to go away.
But together they are flirty, feisty, and plagued by sexual tension. They both do not want strings or commitments. They both have trust issues, fears, and past issues that have scarred them and made them skittish. They both know they need to follow the rules, but they drawn together just the same. They fight their own attraction, their feelings, being discovered, and their pasts. There is sparring, taunting, denial, faking it, friendship, friends with benefits, jealousy, and a bit of of sneaking around.
This was told in both Ben and Reese's points of view so we got to see their true thoughts and feelings. They were both so opinionated, strong willed, and kept a lot hidden so it was really important to get into both of their heads. And there were secrets that were gradually revealed through the story adding interest. We got to see some of the other characters from the series like Storm and Dan, Kacey and Trent, Jake, Mercy, Hannah, and China. But this story mostly takes place in a new settings of the law firm and Ben's childhood home in The Grove, and no longer centers around the strip club. So it can be read as a stand alone.
We meet some fun new characters : Her friends Lina and and Nicki, her step brother Mason and step-father Jack, and Ben's family with a sweet Mama and several brothers and sisters. And some frustrating ones like Reese's ex Jared and Caroline. All of the side characters added either some comic relief or drama to the equation. I really enjoyed this installment of this series. Each one of the books has had its own unique feel and vibe. This one was not as dark and suspenseful as some of the others, but it was fun, sweet, and humorous. Some of the scenarios had me laughing out loud. This is supposed to be the last book in this series except for the prequel to Ten Tiny Breaths titled In Her Wake coming in September.
I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review.
In Her Wake (Prequel To Ten Tiny Breaths)
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Expected Sept 1, 2014
Before you knew him as Trent in Ten Tiny Breaths, he was Cole Reynolds—and he had it all. Until one night when he makes a fatal, wrong decision…and loses everything.
When a drunken night out at a Michigan State college party results in the death of six people, Cole must come to terms with his part in the tragedy. Normally, he’d be able to lean on his best friends—the ones who have been in his life since he could barely walk. Only, they’re gone. Worse, there’s the shattered body of a sixteen-year-old girl lying somewhere in a hospital bed, her entire life ripped from her because of a case of beer and a set of keys.
Everyone assures him that they know it wasn’t intentional, and yet he can’t ignore the weight of their gazes, the whispers behind his back. Nor can he shake the all-consuming guilt he feels every time he thinks of that girl who won’t so much as allow him near her hospital room to apologize. As the months go by and the shame and loneliness festers, Cole begins to lose his grip on what once was important—college, his girlfriend, his future. His life. It’s not until Cole hits rock-bottom that he can begin to see another way out of his personal hell: forgiveness.
And there’s only one person who can give that to him…
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Ten Tiny Breaths (book 1):
See Kim's review and Tammy's review
Kacey Cleary’s whole life imploded four years ago in a drunk-driving accident. Now she’s working hard to bury the pieces left behind—all but one. Her little sister, Livie. Kacey can swallow the constant disapproval from her born-again aunt Darla over her self-destructive lifestyle; she can stop herself from going kick-boxer crazy on Uncle Raymond when he loses the girls’ college funds at a blackjack table. She just needs to keep it together until Livie is no longer a minor, and then they can get the hell out of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
But when Uncle Raymond slides into bed next to Livie one night, Kacey decides it’s time to run. Armed with two bus tickets and dreams of living near the coast, Kacey and Livie start their new lives in a Miami apartment complex, complete with a grumpy landlord, a pervert upstairs, and a neighbor with a stage name perfectly matched to her chosen “profession.” But Kacey’s not worried. She can handle all of them. What she can’t handle is Trent Emerson in apartment 1D.
Kacey doesn’t want to feel. She doesn’t. It’s safer that way. For everyone. But sexy Trent finds a way into her numb heart, reigniting her ability to love again. She starts to believe that maybe she can leave the past where it belongs and start over. Maybe she’s not beyond repair.
But Kacey isn’t the only one who’s broken. Seemingly perfect Trent has an unforgiveable past of his own; one that, when discovered, will shatter Kacey’s newly constructed life and send her back into suffocating darkness.
One Tiny Lie (book 2):
See Kim's Review and Tammy's review
Livie has always been the stable one of the two Cleary sisters, handling her parents' tragic death and Kacey's self-destructive phase with strength and maturity. But underneath that exterior is a little girl hanging onto the last words her father ever spoke to her. “Make me proud,” he had said. She promised she would...and she’s done her best over the past seven years with every choice, with every word, with every action.
Livie walks into Princeton with a solid plan, and she’s dead set on delivering on it: Rock her classes, set herself up for medical school, and meet a good, respectable guy that she’s going to someday marry. What isn’t part of her plan are Jell-O shots, a lovable, party animal roommate she can’t say ‘no’ to, and Ashton, the gorgeous captain of the men’s rowing team. Definitely him. He’s an arrogant ass who makes Livie’s usually non-existent temper flare and everything she doesn’t want in a guy. Worse, he’s best friends and roommates with Connor, who happens to fits Livie’s criteria perfectly. So why does she keep thinking about Ashton?
As Livie finds herself facing mediocre grades, career aspirations she no longer thinks she can handle, and feelings for Ashton that she shouldn’t have, she’s forced to let go of her last promise to her father and, with it, the only identity that she knows.
Four Seconds to Lose (book 3)
Our reviews
Owning a strip club isn’t the fantasy most guys expect it to be. With long hours, a staff with enough issues to keep a psych ward in business, and the police regularly on his case, twenty-nine year old Cain is starting to second guess his unspoken mission to save the women he employs. And then blond, brown-eyed Charlie Rourke walks through his door, and things get really complicated. Cain abides by a strict “no sleeping with the staff” rule. But being around Charlie challenges Cain’s self-control…and it’s been a long time since any woman has done that.
Twenty-two-year old Charlie Rourke needs a lot of money, really fast, in order to vanish before it’s too late. Taking her clothes off for men makes her stomach curl but Charlie tells herself that at least she’s putting her acting and dancing skills to good use. And though her fellow dancers seem eager to nab their sexy, sophisticated, and genuinely caring boss, she’s not interested. After all, Charlie Rourke doesn’t really exist—and the girl pretending to be her doesn’t need to complicate her life with romance.
Unfortunately, Charlie soon discovers that developing feelings for Cain is inevitable, that those feelings may not be unrequited—but losing him when he finds out what she’s involved with will be more painful than any other sentence awaiting her.
Born in small-town Ontario, Kathleen published her first book at the age of six with the help of her elementary school librarian and a box of crayons. She is a voracious reader and the farthest thing from a genre-snob, loving everything from High Fantasy to Chick Lit. Kathleen currently resides in a quaint small town outside of Toronto with her husband, two beautiful girls, and an exhausting brood of four-legged creatures.
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