Hard to Fall by Marquita Valentine

Blurb:
Wedding bells are ringing—and tempers are flaring—as the Take the Fall series continues in this sweet, sexy novel from the bestselling author of After We Fall (“This beautiful story kept me transfixed until the very end.”—Krista Lakes).

As a hardworking, hard-partying firefighter, Hayden Walker values his career and his freedom. But as the eldest son of a U.S. senator, he agreed long ago to follow in his father’s footsteps and run for office, and that means settling down and marrying the picture-perfect wife. Hayden just isn’t ready for that sort of commitment . . . not with women like beautiful, curvy Saylor Dean—the naughty bridesmaid he recognizes the morning after his buddy’s wedding—tempting Hayden to stay single forever.

The unwanted love child of a well-known politician, Saylor has always felt isolated and alone, her only solace the animal shelter she runs in Forrestville. Then she meets Hayden at her best friend’s wedding. During their impulsive and unforgettable night together, Saylor feels desired like never before—only to wake up and find that Hayden doesn’t remember his drunken proposal, or their hasty marriage, or her. But when the truth comes out, Saylor finds it’s a lot harder to fall out of love than in love.

    

My Review:
3 stars — I received a free copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.

Hmmm…  It was an up and down book.  It would have occasional moments where I was like “YES!” and thinking that maybe it was going to start going awesome…and then it would just fizzle for me.  Kind of a bummer.

Honestly?  It didn’t start off really great and I was kind of turned off.  The hero has a sexual encounter with another woman in the first chapter, and it’s kind of explicit (not long, but not fade to black or just mentioned either).  I don’t mind if my hero is a former playboy/rogue, but I don’t want to read about it, you know?  Just a personal preference.  It really didn’t endear me to him.  I’m not a huge cocky jerk kind of girl, and in that first chapter Hayden was not really a swoonworthy guy.  And you know what?  Quite honestly he kind of changed for the rest of the book…he was more sweet and adorable and loyal to Saylor.  So then it just made me confused why you would give him that kind of beginning?  It didn’t really seem like a believable transition to me.  And I guess because of this, I didn’t really fall for him.  Wow, apparently first impressions are more important to me than I thought.  I mean, it doesn’t help that he drinks so much he NEVER remembers the whole wedding thing (not a spoiler, it’s in the blurb).  I don’t know.

The heroine, on the other hand, had soooooo much potential.  There were moments I just adored her.  She was my kind of insecure and my heart broke for her with how unloved she felt growing up.  But then it was like I didn’t really feel a consistency with her character all the time…or maybe I just couldn’t pin her down.  I loved that she was quirky and geeky, but honestly?  She was also nonsensical.  There are still parts of the book where I’m scratching my head over things she says and does.  I get that she’s sort of trying to push people away, but I guess it just didn’t work for me.  So she had the potential to be a book girl crush, but in the end I was just too confused.

The chemistry was OK.  It might be just me, but I wasn’t over the moon for it.  I guess I just didn’t connect with them as a couple that much.

The final straw for me in this book not succeeding (and heck, maybe it should be a 2.5 star, but there were parts I enjoyed so screw it): COMMUNICATION ISSUES!!!  This is a freaking pet peeve of mine, and this book was RIDDLED with them.  First with the whole not telling the hero about the marriage thing (again, kind of in the blurb, not a spoiler).  That went on FOREVER.  Seriously, why drag it out so long?  And it was so cliche too, just when she’s going to tell him he’d get a phone call or something…*sigh*  Felt contrived.  And if that wasn’t enough, there were at least 3 other plot points that happened where she should have told him something and didn’t.  No.  Just no.  So if you’re like me and really dislike that plot device, then this is your warning that this one may be too much for you.

So the theme for me was potential that wasn’t met.  Ah well.  At least the good moments were really good, saved it from a lower rating…