5 star Review & Excerpt: Downfall by Jay Crownover

From New York Times bestselling author Jay Crownover comes DOWNFALL, a sexy, standalone contemporary romance! DOWNFALL is now available!  

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 About DOWNFALL:

Solomon Sanders doesn’t have time to fall in love. Until a stunning, skittish, single mother forces him to pause and recognize just how empty and hollow his busy life has become.

From the start, it’s been ingrained in Solo’s DNA to fight.

Fight for what he believes is right.

Fight for the people he loves.

Fight for the traces of good in a place which tends to be filled with a variety of bad.

Fight for survival, so at some point, his life will quiet down and find a normal pace.

He wasn’t ready for the impact his secretive, shy, obviously out of place new neighbor was going to have on him. And never in a million years was he prepared to fall head over heels for her and her young daughter.

Now, he’s facing the most important, and the hardest fight he’s ever fought… the battle to win
Orley’s damaged heart.

Orley Vincent’s heart is full of fear, leaving no space for love. Until a big, brash, brawler of a man forces his way in and makes her realize facing her fears is the only way she can ever be free.

From the start, Orley was groomed to believe she wasn’t good enough.

She wasn’t the perfect daughter. Or student. Or girlfriend.

But, she has always been the best mother she could be to her daughter, Noble.

Keeping Noble safe has always been the one thing she was determined to do, which ironically, is how she ended up on the wrong side of the tracks, living next door to an unlikely hero. Orley’s a woman on the run. She had no idea her frantic sprint was going to land her in the tattooed arms of a man ready to teach her how to fight for herself… and for love.

DOWNFALL is now available in KU! Amazon Live Alert

Buy Links

Amazon US: http://bit.ly/Downfallezon
Amazon CA: http://bit.ly/DownfallCA
Amazon UK:  http://bit.ly/DownfallUK
Amazon AU: http://bit.ly/DownfallAU
Amazon FR: http://bit.ly/DownfallFR
Amazon Paperback: Coming soon

Excerpt

~SOLO~

“I’m not anyone’s savior, Orley. Don’t get that confused.”

She sighed again and pushed herself up off the floor. “I’m not confused. I’m incredibly lucky.” She sounded like she felt anything but lucky. “I want to do something nice for you. I have limited options, but if you want to come next door for dinner one night, Noble and I would love to have you.” She waved a hand around my kitchen, “I may have noticed you don’t keep much of anything edible on hand when I was looking for the coffee.”

Guiltily, I glanced at the abandoned bag of tater tots on the couch. “I’m on the go a lot. I usually just grab something I can eat on the run. Plus, I can’t cook.” My mom was a great cook, though, or she had been at one point. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had a home-cooked meal. “Do you cook?” She was so young, it was hard to picture her slaving over a hot stove on the regular.

Orley nodded. “Sure. I mostly throw stuff together geared to the palate of a toddler, but I’m sure I can figure out something adult appropriate for one night. I really owe you more than I can ever repay. Being a good neighbor is the least I can do.”

I did a mental rundown of my week trying to find a hole where I could fit her in. Not for the first time a wave of exhaustion washed over me when I realized how every hour of my days were packed. It shouldn’t be nearly impossible to eke out a night for something as easy as dinner. Finally deciding I was just going to have to skip a training session or get up even earlier to work on school work, I told Orley I would be over on Wednesday night.

She nodded at me and took a step forward. I went to move out of the way so she could get out of the small space without feeling crowded, but she caught me completely off guard when she walked right up to me and wrapped her arms around my waist. I felt her soft breath against the base of my throat and her soft hair brush against the bottom of my chin. I reflexively put an arm around her shoulders and returned her embrace. If she tilted her head back just a little, there wasn’t enough self-control in the world for me to keep my mouth off of hers. I would kiss the shit out of her, even though I knew it was the last thing she needed.

“I’ve never had anyone like you in my life, Solo. You terrify me.” She hugged me hard enough I had to bite my tongue to keep the yelp of pain from my jacked-up ribs at bay.

“That street goes both ways, Orley. I’ve never met anyone like you either.” I never thought I would to be honest.

She let me go and took a deep breath. She was halfway across the room when I realized something. “Hey, what about you. You never told me your last name.”

She stopped by the door, her back to me. For a minute I thought she didn’t hear me, but then she pulled the door open and called softly, “I’ll see you on Wednesday night.”

She slipped out the door without another word, leaving me with one more piece of a puzzle I was determined to put together. Figuring out my pretty neighbor was going to have to wait. I still needed to shower and drive out to see my mom. My obligations were never-ending and usually I liked being busy enough I didn’t have to think about much of anything. Lately, I found myself resenting every minute that took my attention away from the mysterious redhead I couldn’t stop thinking about.

What I thought about Downfall

Oh, how I loved this!

Orley and her daughter Noble are stuck in a bad situation in the bad part of town and more danger is heading their way. It's a good thing that Solo is there to help Orley deal with her new life on the run.

Solo works as a car mechanic as well as fighter-for-hire and lives next door to Orley. If you have read any of the Welcome to the Point/The Breaking Point series from Jay Crownover, you might recognize some of the characters in Downfall. While the author doesn't use their names, fans of the series will recognize The Boss and The Devil and Boy Genius. I really liked what Jay Crownover did there since you can still enjoy Downfall -- it works well as a standalone.

Anyway, Solo is drawn toward Orley and Noble and he helps her out of a few serious situations, and things keep heating up. He's setup for a disaster of a fight by someone who's after Orley and Noble and Solo has to rely on his less than legitimate contacts to help both of them out of the jam they are in.

I really loved everything about this. The pacing is terrific and kept me interested until the final pages. I think I devoured this book in just a day or two because I just had to know what was going to happen next. Solo is quintessential bad-boy with a heart of gold, and there are both tender and scorching hot scenes between Solo and Orley that had me swooning over their happy ever after. A very enjoyable reading experience if you like your romance on the more gritty side.

An ARC was provided for review.

 

About Jay Crownover

Jay Crownover is the international and multiple New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Marked Men series, the Saints of Denver series, the Point series, the Breaking Point series, the Getaway series, and the Loveless, Texas series. Her books can be found translated in many different languages all around the world. She is a tattooed, crazy haired Colorado native who lives at the base of the Rockies with her awesome dogs. This is where she can frequently be found enjoying a cold beer and Taco Tuesdays. Jay is a self-declared music snob and outspoken book lover who is always looking for her next adventure, between the pages and on the road.For more on Jay and her books, visit www.jaycrownover.com.    

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