January 13, 2014

Before We Fall by Courtney Cole

Famed movie star Dominic Kinkaide can be described with two words: fucked up. He's gone through stuff that most people would never go through in a lifetime and it has rendered him emotionally and mentally FUBARed. Completely jaded at the age of 24, he doesn't believe that there is such thing as happiness--or at least not that he deserves. He's sure of it. That is, until he meets Jacey Vincent.

Jacey Vincent is 23 and messed up in her own way. Having a shitty track record of making the wrong decisions and choosing the wrong guys, she's only starting to learn to stand on her own again. When she meets Dominic, she's convinced that he's bad news and all wrong for her. When circumstances have them spend time together, though, she finds it hard to fight her attraction to this devastating star. Jacey is determined not to be hurt again and Dominic is convinced that he's too fucked up to be anybody's somebody. So what happens when Jacey commits herself to helping Dominic get over his past?

*          *          *          *          *          *         *

I nearly put the book down after reading the first few pages. All I could think of was *what the heck kind of book is this*. Dominic is one messed up mofo. Anyways, I'm glad I didn't put it down because it turned out to be a really good read. There are so many layers to this story--there are so many life lessons that these characters have gone through and at such young ages that you can't help but feel sorry for them. At the same time, though, you can't take your eyes off of them, either. There is just so much pain in this novel: from Dominic's pain that he still hasn't dealt with in all these years to Jacey's pain that she has learned to move on from.  It's pain that brings the two characters together and its pain that gives them something to work together towards. Without pain, there would be no story to tell. Sad, but true. 

Anyways, I love how tenacious Jacey is. She goes against her head and follows the goodness in her heart to help Dominic get over his past--even though she knows she's going to get hurt in the process again. I'm actually kind of disappointed that we don't really know more details over what happened to Jacey. We get a very brief few lines which satiates a reader who is fully engrossed in Dominic's character. As much as I loved some of Jacey's characteristics, though, I did have some negative feelings towards her (as Dominic did) when she was ignoring what she knew re: Brand's feelings for her. Yep, that was just mean. Didn't fit, but I guess it's something that happens (do we get Brand's story later!!?!) 

Dominic was the star of the show, though. Who doesn't love the messed up bad boy that everyone wants but no one can have? What's wrong with us that we know how messed up he is, yet, we still love his character? He's toxic, he's got a messed up past, he only uses women...why don't we write him off? Not sure. Still haven't figured that one out. Of course, the Team Dominic in me almost melted at the end--oh ya, that was pretty awesome (I totally just took out a spoiler, thank me later). I do have to note, though, at one point, I thought I was going to scream if I read the words, "Dominic fucking Kinkaide" one more time!! I guess it did really drive home the point that he was an arrogant bastard but, really, I was ready to shoot him in the face. 

My Rating: 5 stars


The Kindle edition of Before We Fall is available for purchase on Amazon. You can also find the Paperback edition at your local bookstore!


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