Book Review – Fall From Grace by Christine Zolendz

Fall From Grace
Okay well. *hrmph* Hrmmm… Finished it. Loved it… and yet I was left feeling a bit… hesitant. I’ll try to explain why, without spoilers.

After my  *pre-squee* in my recent “currently reading” post, I can say that that 90% of this one lived up to my “Beautiful Disaster feel” needs. It just kept getting better and better, and more intense as it went, and I was thrilled. Delighted! My heart clenched, I was exasperated and yet not overwhelmingly so, just enough to feel the tension and emotion, and to enjoy the drama. The heartfelt/slightly anguished/dreamy hits kept coming, and that’s the way I like it. A “falling for him, but…” fight to the finish.

A few dangerous mystery/villain moments to keep things a touch scary (you know… she needs protection so HE has to live with her for a bit… YAY!! stuff like that). Lots of real-life, real-relationship, real “scared to let go” action that absolutely held my attention. And especially, with all the little emotional mess-ups, it had a BIG one that had me Uh-oh’ing out loud (and when I do that, when I react to a certain… reveal in that way, I am IN!!!!). My mind went in one direction, but the story surprised me.

So what’s it about?

Grace has a secret, that only two people in her life know about. Her best friend, and her brother. The secret is that … hrmmm… no I had to discover it bit by bit and certainly enjoyed wondering what her deal was (this is the paranormal twist). So I’ll let you explore that, too. But because of the book synopsis, I am allowed to tell you this part: Grace knows only one thing for sure. That she has to find the love of her life. One that she knew, and only once she finds him again, will she be complete. There’s SO much more to that part, but it is revealed bit by but as the story plays out.

So anyway, after six months away, she moves back in with her best friend and goes to a bar one night. And meets Shane, the model-sexy singer of the hottest local rock band, and while she can’t deny her attraction to him…

How had I been capable of not noticing him before was beyond me. He was perfection. I couldn’t even have matched an adjective to him if I’d tried, but perfect would be the closest fit, and it still wasn’t good enough to describe him.

… she realizes that no woman can. And he happily lets them climb all over him, takes what he wants, and continues onto his next conquest. But really. Conquest? It’s never really a conquest for him.

It was completely understandable how girls threw themselves at him. I pitied him, wondering if he’d ever feel anything more than the sensations of his own skin.

The gorgeous girls keep throwing themselves at him, and he’s humored, albeit mildly bored, with it all.

Until he meets Grace. Fun times!!!

“Shane gave you the shirt off his back?” Her expression was sheer confusion. “Be careful of that one. He’s slippery like a fish.”

Remember that whole “Travis and Abby” thing where Abby was all “I’m not gonna sleep with you, I’m not another one of your groupies” and he was all “That’s okay ’cause i don’t wanna sleep with you either, you’re just once of the guys…”

Remember? That was fun. And we get some of that here.

Even though I struggled a bit with the slightly rocky (somewhat exaggerated) “hostile” intro between the two, it was pretty much awesome once the writing flow, and story got going. Things meshed, dialogue felt right, fights were played out in an irrational (but totally human) way. And even the “paranormal” twist to the story was fitting. It wasn’t over the top, and could totally work in a real-world setting.

So what’s my “hrmph” for? Two things, and both involve the ending.

1. It’s a cliffhanger (which I am not so upset about because I hear book #2 will be ready soon) and with series, the story is often played out with more detail. Not rushed and I like that. That, or a fairly long, everything explored, stand alone book. I love that as long as the writing is good, and the story calls for that kind of length. And as much as I struggle with cliffhangers, this one was still worth the experience to get to it.
2. This is my biggest concern. In the very last moments of the book, the tone changed. The…. paranormal twist became suddenly VERY focused and all-important and I’m hoping book #2 doesn’t lose that “real world/characters that we can relate to” feel. Even with my extreme love for the story, the end left me… worried about how much the feel might change. I experienced a little trepidation.

I want it to keep it’s contemporary romance edge. While I do love a great paranormal series, I fell in love with this book specifically because it was exactly my kind of “real-life” book. Real bad boy, real hearts, real intense reluctance, and secrets. Secrets that if only explained might “fix” things, but then again, if revealed might actually make things worse.

I’m crossing my fingers that book #2 will keep me here. And not “out there”…. Either way, I will continue onto #2 when it becomes available.

So while I had to step back for an hour or so before deciding to review (to evaluate my thoughts, feel out my slight disgruntlement vs. my overall enjoyment) I’ve come to the conclusion. I couldn’t put it down, it was totally my thing, and well, Shane… OMG totally rocks!

P.S. –> While everyone is certainly in their 20’s in this one, the “scenes” are fairly tame. Without giving anything away, I will say that it is steamy… just not overtly so. But the guys are real guys, and the things they say and do are plenty “adult”. I mean… the band members are roommates and have an allocated (and aptly named) “Bone room” to give you an idea. 😉 hee hee *blush*

P.S. Doesnt she look like the singer of Evanescence? I went with her, in my head.

4 stars