Three Chicks and Their Books: Blog Tour: Falling Away by Penelope Douglas

Title: Falling Away (Fall Away, #3)

Author: Penelope Douglas

Genre: NA | Contemporary Romance

Release Date: January 6, 2015

Synopsis

Jaxon is the guy she’s supposed to avoid. K.C. is the girl he won’t let get away....

K. C. Carter has always followed the rules—until this year, when a mistake leaves her the talk of her college campus and her carefully arranged life comes crashing to a halt. Now she’s stuck in her small hometown for the summer to complete her court-ordered community service, and to make matters worse, trouble is living right next door.

Jaxon Trent is the worst kind of temptation and exactly what K.C. was supposed to stay away from in high school. But he never forgot her. She was the one girl who wouldn’t give him the time of day and the only one to ever say no. Fate has brought K.C. back into his life—except what he thought was a great twist of luck turns out to be too close for comfort. As the bond between them grows, he discovers that convincing K.C. to get out from her mother’s shadow is hard, but revealing the darkest parts of his soul is nearly impossible.…

5 Star Review by Nicole Lorenzo

K.C. Carter has always lived her life by following the rules and walking the straight and narrow. So imagine her surprise when she suddenly finds herself back in Shelburne Falls for summer break to do her court ordered community service. K.C. is forced to spend her summer tutoring high schooler’s. She is stuck with no car, her mother refuses to let her stay at home because she is an embarrassment, and all of her friends are out of town. Staying at her friend Tate’s house seemed like a blessing in disguise, she could walk to the high school, the gym and she was far enough away from her mother. Yes, staying at Tate’s seemed like a great idea until she realized who was living next door. The last time K.C. saw Jaxton Trent he drove her home and offered her a lot more as well. K.C. flat out turned him down but that doesn’t mean she didn’t wonder what it would be like to be with Jax. Now he’s living right next door.

“Not a damn thing had changed. And yet everything had changed. While I was away, Jaxon Trent had become a man.”

Jax has done well for himself in the last two years. He seems to have money, he’s renovated his brother’s house and he’s pretty much running the local race track, The Loop. To say sparks fly when Jax and K.C. are together is a severe understatement. The chemistry and tension between them is downright explosive. Jax has wanted K.C. since the moment he laid eyes on her and now that she’s back and right next door he’s going to make it his mission to get the girl. K.C. is trying to let loose a little bit. Being away from her mother’s scrutiny has helped her be more like the person she wants to be rather than who she was forced to be. But ghosts from her past still haunt her and make her unsure of herself. Jax is determined to get K.C. to break free from her mother’s shadow as well as give in to him which seems inevitable.

“Bite me, hit me, scream at me, I don’t care. I want to feel it. F#cking hurt me , K.C. Let me see you.”

When K.C. gives in to Jax there seems to be no turning back. But Jax has a dark past, a past he doesn’t talk about. He strives to make himself feel worthy and stay in control. But there a parts of his life that scare K.C. Still she can’t stay away from him. Jax brings out something in her that she’s never experienced before, something she wants a whole lot more of. Their relationship is a combative and passionate whirlwind of emotions. One minute he can be hot, the other cold all to protect both his heart and hers.

“You piss me off, you make me cry, you make me crazy…but you make me better, Jax.”

“And you make me happier,” ……

Jax loves K.C. so much but the demons from his past keep him from feeling worthy of her. He is convinced that he isn’t good enough and that he will wind up hurting her in the end. So when she makes her feelings known Jax does the only thing he can to protect her from himself, he pushes her away. He’s devastated but at the same time believes in his heart he is doing what is best for her. Can K.C. convince Jax that he is indeed worthy to be loved and more importantly worthy of her love?

“Someday when she’d moved on, and she’d found another guy, I would be able to look at her and remember that she was almost mine.”

I just have to say WOW!! Beautifully done. It’s no secret that this series is one of my all-time favorites. Penelope Douglas has a way of writing that just draws you in to the story and you’re stuck there permanently. I have been looking forward to Jax’s story since we were first introduced to him. K.C.?? Not so much. I disliked her greatly after the crap she pulled in Bully, but she definitely redeemed herself for me in Falling Away.

Falling Away takes place two years after K.C.’s graduation. Jax has grown up into a sin wrapped in trouble beast of a man who never forgot K.C. for a second. To be honest she never stood a chance. He had his sights set on her for three whole years and he was not going to let her go again. But his past keeps him from letting himself really live life. We get Jax’s full story here, all the answers we have wondered about in the previous books and more. It’s not pretty, in fact It makes you want to crawl through the pages and hug him ( among other things ;) ) He can be a bit of a jerk, but you can’t help but to forgive him for it. We really get to know K.C. here. What we have seen of her in the previous books is not the girl you will love and root for here. Her past is pretty messed up as well. I liked seeing the real her break free so she can be herself for once. Together they make quite a pair. But like I said before neither of them stood a chance. The passion between them is mercurial. They couldn’t fight it when they tried. They unraveled each other, stripped themselves down, hurt each other and loved each other so deeply.

We get more of all of other faves here, Jared, Tate, Madoc and Fallon. We catch up with them and see how life has been treating them the last two years. We also get a glimpse of the next book which will be a continuation of Jared and Tate’s story. I will not say anything other than I am seriously sitting on pins and needles waiting for this book. But while we wait for more Jared and Tate you must read Jax and K.C.’s story. You will not regret it! It’s definitely one of my top reads of the year!!

“Only ever you.”

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DELETED Scene—Jax and K.C. Leave for Camping

During edits, I deleted two intimacy scenes to keep the pace of the story going strong. Here’s the morning before they leave for camping.

“Jax, Jared is honking the horn!” I cried out, running my fingers through the hair of the head between my legs. “Oh, God.” I arched my back off the matress. “Right there!”

I groaned as Jax sucked my clit into his mouth and worked it hard, giving it quick nips with his teeth and stretching it out between his lips.

“Oh!” I rolled my hips, making love to his mouth.

God, I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t think he’d slept all night, and then I woke up twenty minutes ago with him on top of me. He had an appetite, and I was beyond delirious.

I knew he’d spent time in the office, getting work done last night, and then he’d told me—when his tongue wasn’t inside of me, that is—that we were all going camping starting today.

Jared was waiting outside, and I wouldn’t put it past him to barge through the door, demanding his brother back.

I threw my arms over my face as his tongue flicked me, sending me spasming home.

“Jesus!” I moaned and cried, punching the bed with my fists.

“Juliet! You okay?” Tate called from the other side of the door, and I covered my face with my hands again.

“Fuck off, Tate,” Jax barked, sucking me until the final shudders had left my body.

“Oh, my God,” Tate burst out. “Um, we’ll be downstairs. Hurry up!”

We’ll? My head fell to the side, and I closed my eyes, my face warm with embarrassment.

Jax gave me one last long lick and kissed up my stomach, stopping to suck on my breast.

“Don’t you ever get tired?”I whimpered through my hands.

“Of you?” He swirled his tongue around my nipple. “Doesn’t look like it. You’re too hot when you come.”

I dropped my hands to his face, bringing him in for a kiss. “I need a shower,” I whispered into his lips. “And you’re brother is going to drag you off of me, so you better go.”

“Jax! Now!”

We both jerked our heads to the door, hearing Jared’s bellow from downstairs.

Jax smiled and pecked me on the lips before jumping off the bed. His hair was still wet from the shower he took while I was asleep, and he already had jeans on. Digging into one of his bags—I assumed from the shopping trip with Madoc yesterday—he grabbed a black T-shirt and slipped it on his long torso.

“Be ready when I get back, okay?” He grabbed his phone, keys, and wallet, shoving them in his pockets. “Pack a bikini and some of my T-shirts to wear. You don’t need anything else.”

A smile spread over my lips, and I sat up, covering myself with the sheet. “I’ll be ready.”

I knew he wanted to get out of here soon, and I was glad he’d confided in me. I didn’t know how concerned to be about his father or whether or not he was a genuine threat, but I trusted Jax and Jared’s responses to keep a safe distance until they were prepared.

And hey, if it meant sharing a tent with Jax for three days, then I was cool with that. Tutoring was on a one week hiatus for the Fourth of July next week, and I wasn’t starting my theater job until after tutoring was completed mid-July.

He dived back down for a quick kiss and then headed for the door. “And don’t comb your hair,” he ordered, looking back at me and winking.

I saluted, watching him leave.

Swinging my legs over the edge of the bed, I kept the sheet wrapped around me and rotated my ankles and feet back to life. I’d practically been fucked into the mattress, although I do vaguely remember going into his office last night, riding him in his chair, and then returning to bed as if I’d just gotten up to get a drink of water.

The bedroom door swung open, and I looked up to see Fallon pulling to a sudden halt and peering down at me wide-eyed.

“Oh, wow,” she said, stunned.

I bowed my head, groaning. I didn’t even want to know what I looked like.

I heard a second set of footsteps and glanced up to see Tate.

“Well,” she drawled out, grinning. “You’re a mess.”

I nodded, tightening the sheet. “Energy,” I mumbled. “He has lots of it.”

Fallon came in, circling the bed, while Tate sat down beside me.

“One, two, three,” Fallon counted, and I looked up to see her picking up condom wrappers on the floor. “Four, five…, she continued and came to stand in front of me, shaking her head.

I swallowed and glanced at the nightstand and then back up at her with her handful of wrappers.

Shooting my hand over, I grabbed another wrapper off the nighstand and shoved it into her hands. “Six,” I mumbled, looking away.

And that didn’t count the office sex last night or the oral sex this morning.

“I…I’ll…um,” she stumbeld over her words, “I’ll go back over to your place and run her a bath.”

She walked out, and Tate called after her as she started to rub circles on my back.

“My soothing salts are under the sink!” she shouted to Fallon.

I shrugged her hand off, letting out a nervous laugh. “It’s not my first time, Tate. Stop fussing.”

She dropped her hand to her lap, speaking sternly. “You ever done it six times in one night before?” she asked.

I stared at me feet, smiling to myself and shaking my head.

She continued, “And if Jax is anything like his brother, then I’m sure he’s no gentlemen in the bedroom.”

I folded my lips between my teeth, trying not to laugh and look like I was losing my mind. I was mortified, delirious, and happy all at the same time, and I probably looked like I’d been attacked by an animal.

But definitely not by a gentleman. Oh no.

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Penelope Douglas is a writer in Las Vegas. Born in Dubuque, Iowa, she is the oldest of five children. Penelope attended the University of Northern Iowa, earning a Bachelor's degree in Public Administration, because her father told her to "just get the degree!" She then earned a Masters of Science in Education at Loyola University in New Orleans, because she hated Public Administration. One night, she got tipsy and told the bouncer at the bar where she worked that his son was hot, and three years later they were married. To the son, not the bouncer. They have spawn, but just one. A daughter named Aydan. Penelope loves sweets, The Originals, and she shops at Target almost daily.