Before We Fall (Beautifully Broken, #3) by Courtney Cole
Sometimes, one dark moment is all it takes to turn your world black...
For 24-year old Dominic Kinkaide, that moment took place on the night of his high school graduation. One dark incident changed him forever. He's a hardened actor now, famous in the eyes of the world, but tortured in his own. He doesn't care about much of anything, except for losing himself in the roles that he plays.
23-year old Jacey Vincent doesn't realize how much her father's indifference has affected her. She is proof that sometimes it isn't one specific moment that wrecks a person, but rather it's an absence of moments. She's like a bird with a broken wing-strong yet fragile, as she tries to float through life, finding acceptance in the arms of random guys, one after the other... to fill the void that her father left in her.
Until she meets Dominic.
After jaded Dominic and strong-willed Jacey are thrown together, his secret and her issues create a dark and damaged energy that will soon turn their attraction to each other into an explosive storm.
Even though when the clouds have cleared and the dust has settled, both of them are almost obliterated... they've learned a priceless lesson.
Sometimes, before we fall... we fly.
My Thoughts:
3 stars - An Emotional, intense and heartbreaking story that finds hope.
I'm not sure I was ready for Dominic Kinkaide. He's pushed everyone away and seeks out pain to avoid the true pain in his heart. He was more than I could take. For the first three-fourths of the book, I really didn't like him. Once I learned his secret, I felt sorry for him but I'm not sure I ever accepted him for who he was. He did invoke emotions in me - most of them negative. For that the author was successful.
I loved Jacey in If You Leave. My heart broke for her and all her lose. Starting with her father's lack of interest and then the long line of bad choices, she had a hard emotional life for her short 24 years. What I loved about her was her passion. She saw the good in people. She kept trying. She still made poor choices but she owned them. I was excited for her to get her own story. In the end, I was happy for her.
The book reads very quickly. I read it in an evening. I didn't want to put it down. Motivated to know what Dom's secret was, I kept turning the pages. While it wasn't my favorite of the series by a long shot, it is an emotional, intense and heartbreaking story that finally finds some hope. I was glad for that.
If you've read the first two books in this series, you're gonna want to pick this one up too. Be prepared though, Dominic Kinkaide will try your patience and push you away just as he does everyone else. I'm glad I hung in there to hear his story, even if it was a hard one for me to hear.
About the author:
Courtney Cole is a novelist who would eat mythology for breakfast if she could. She has a degree in Business, but has since discovered that corporate America is not nearly as fun to live in as fictional worlds. She loves chocolate and roller coasters and hates waiting and rude people.
Courtney lives in quiet suburbia, close to Lake Michigan, with her real-life Prince Charming, her ornery kids (there is a small chance that they get their orneriness from their mother) and a small domestic zoo.
***GIVEAWAY***
I have an eBook copy of book 1, IF YOU STAY, to give away!
LOVED book one! Don't miss this chance to win it!
LOVED book one! Don't miss this chance to win it!
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Until We Burn (Beautifully Broken, #2.5) by Courtney Cole
Dominic Kinkaide does bad, bad things.
As a 24-year old actor with the world on a string, not many women tell Dominic no. In a life where no doesn’t exist, he stretches the boundaries between what is right, what is wrong and what is downright depraved. Dark and damaged, Dom wants no commitments.
He wants no attachments.
He only wants to disappear into the taboo, into a place where he feels something.
Anything.
But when the aching need to disappear into the darkness is the only thing he has left, Dominic flounders. In a world that is hollow and sexual, without a guiding light or a reason to breathe, Dominic is lost and broken. He knows he’ll never be fixed. So he makes a decision.
If he’s going to hell, he might as well make it worth it.