{Audiobook} Review: Five Ways to Fall by K.A. Tucker

Title: Five Ways to Fall
Author: K.A. Tucker
Narrator(s): Elizabeth Louise & Deacon Lee
Series: Ten Tiny Breaths, book #4
Length: 11 hrs 48 mins
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Publication Date: June 24, 2014
Source: received from publisher
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible

Purple-haired, sharp-tongued Reese MacKay knows all about making the wrong choice; she’s made plenty of them in her twenty-odd-years. So when her impulsive, short-lived marriage ends in heartbreak, she decides it’s time for a change. She moves to Miami with the intention of hitting reset on her irresponsible life, and she does quite well…aside from an epically humiliating one-night stand in Cancun with a hot blond bouncer named Ben. Thank God she can get on a plane and leave that mistake behind her.

Football scholarship and frat parties with hot chicks? Part of charmer Ben Morris’s plan. Blown knee that kills any hope of a professional football career? So not part of the plan. Luckily Ben has brains to go with his knockout looks and magnetism. After three long years of balancing law school with his job as a bouncer at Penny’s Palace, he’s ready to lead a more mature life—until his first day of work, when he finds himself in the office of that crazy, hot chick he met in Cancun. The one he hasn’t stopped thinking about.

If Ben truly were a smart guy, he’d stay clear of Reese. She’s the boss’s stepdaughter and it’s been made very clear that office romances are grounds for dismissal. Plus, rumor has it she’s trouble. The only problem is, he likes trouble, especially when it’s so good-looking…

I'm going to be completely honest with you guys. I didn't even plan on reading/listening to Five Ways to Fall. I didn't think I really cared about Ben as a main character, and so I saw no reason to read this installment. Until I was given the opportunity to review the audiobook. I never rarely say no to audiobooks...I can always find time to fit those into my reviewing schedule.

And I'm extremely glad that I did give Ben and Reese's story a chance because it just might be my new favorite in the series. It's my favorite kind of romance, with that initial attraction but a very slow build-up to the actual romance. Plus, it's snarky and funny and sexy as hell. And the characters and premise were probably the most realistic out of the whole series...at least to me.

I love me some character growth in a story like this, and Ben and Reese bring it big time before bringing on the swoons. Reese is the wayward, abandoned girl who can't seem to get her life right, recently divorced from her cheating ex-husband of less than a year. Ben is a playboy ex-strip club bouncer who just graduated from law school. So, both obviously have some room to grow and learn and become better people. And they're just the ones to help each other do that...by almost sleeping together in Cancun and ending up working together at Reese's ex-stepdad's law firm.

If that doesn't spell trouble to you, I don't know what does. But it's fun and highly entertaining. Reese is sarcastic and witty and Ben's just a good ole Southern Mama's boy...and whenever they're together, sparks fly. But they can also be extremely sweet and heartwarming, too. I was seriously surprised at how much I liked Ben's character. I was definitely shown a side of him I hadn't really seen previously in the series, except maybe when it came to Kacey.

I loved how important family was to this story, too: how some family can bring you down and others can lift you up when you least expect it. Considering you don't see parental units much in YA, it's even more surprising to see them featured so prominently in a new adult novel. I like it.

I probably enjoyed this story even more because of the narrators for the audiobook, though. That slight Southern drawl Deacon Lee had as he voiced Ben's chapters....yummy. It wasn't what I was expecting at all for this character, but it worked well, especially as I got to know Ben. And I've appreciated Elizabeth Louise's narration of all the books in this series thus far. It's sometimes difficult for me to separate characters and narrators, so I was afraid that having listened to Louise voice Kacey, Livie, Charlie -- and now Reese -- would be confusing, but it wasn't at all. Probably helps that I didn't listen to them back-to-back, though.

If you're already a fan of this series, I think you'll definitely enjoy this newest book from K.A. Tucker. If you're just discovering this series, no better place to start than here. It's a series, but as with most contemporary series, each book can be read as a stand-alone. Though, if you've read the previous books, you'll see some characters you recognize. ;0)

GIF it to me straight:

About the author:

Born in small-town Ontario, Kathleen published her first book at the age of six with the help of her elementary school librarian and a box of crayons. She is a voracious reader and the farthest thing from a genre-snob, loving everything from High Fantasy to Chick Lit. Kathleen currently resides in a quaint small town outside of Toronto with her husband, two beautiful girls, and an exhausting brood of four-legged creatures.

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