Everything about him was just so contradictory. He blared music late at night so she couldn’t sleep but covered for her at school when she was in trouble. He made sure none of the guys at school ever touched yet and yet clearly didn’t want her for himself. I kept trying to figure him out. Maybe it was his messed up way of trying to protect her? Maybe he didn’t feel good enough for her and was trying, in the only way he knew how, to look out for her?

They’re about eight feet under right now. Feel like a swim, Tate?” He grinned wide, showing his dazzling smile that turned most girls into puppies on a leash. He obviously loved every moment of my predicament. A part of me couldn't help but try to rationalize or at least understand what was going on inside his head because the more I read, the more it was clear that his actions were not just straight up meanness. There was something more behind it. Misguided and wrong perhaps but I could sense something... 'good' in him maybe? Although at first I wondered if maybe that was just my natural desire to redeem the hero of my book... needless to say, it stirred up a lot of questions and kept me totally hooked and curious to see where the story would go next. Tate and Fallon never kiss or sleep with other guys but it's perfectly acceptable for their male counterparts to be manwhores.

Like Bully, this one had quite a bit of drama...some of which was OTT. But I liked getting to see more of Tate and Jared. Maddox and his father's issue was also solved. It was good to see them accepting their differences. Like I said before, the main focus was on the romance, which let me tell you, was just plain shitty. I felt no chemistry between Tate and Jared whatsoever and couldn't even find myself sympathizing much with his past (oh yes, did I not mention? Mr. Mysterious here has his very own secret past to strip away all his faults, how perfectly understandable!)

All my energy was just so directed towards my vexation at them, I couldn't take it anymore. The sole reason I even finished this off was to finally discover what had induced Jared's initial coldness towards Tate (spoiler alert: it's disappointing). And then I forced myself to reach the finish line with ragged breaths to see how the author planned on ending this because THERE'S ACTUALLY A SECOND BOOK???????? Gag me. Anyways, enough gushing on my end. I can see how this wouldn't be for everyone, it's a little bit OTT but it really worked for me. I can't wait to read the rest of the series! The drama after 70% just was too much for me, it slowly turned into sopa opera, for real. I mean, her mother, his father, her father, Jared's mother, all the side plots running along with the main one started to get on my nerves. I made a comparison between Jared/ Tate and Madoc/Fallon. The first couple based their relationship on more feelings than the second one. Jared and Tate bonded as kids and were driven by hate, love, lust. But there are feelings involved, more intense than Madoc/Fallon. From my point of view our heroes were more intense and explosive, having this attraction impossible to ignore. The attraction was there, but I was not very convinced of the love. This constant push and pull diminished a little the love it had to be between them. I don't know if I made myself clear, but I tried.

Publication Order of Hellbent Books

Um, yeah,” K.C. stammered, finally looking up. She poured a small portion of the liquid for Jared and glanced nervously to me. Madoc and Fallon are our heroes. By now I am going to tell you that Fallon was ok for me, but Madoc wasn't. Let me explain. The 2 of them fell in love when they were teens, experienced everything together, they thought they were it and after that Fallon left. After that, Madoc had his heart broken and love was out of his life for good because of this. He was a player, managing his hurt through sex **typically**. Anyway! The story itself is great, we do find out why Jared bullied her all those years and all it would have taken was communication, but they are teens so who communicates effectively at that age? I was along for the ride. I hated his friend Maddoc and at times I was upset with Tate, but the moment they do get together it was fireworks 💥 and I am all here for that built up tension of hate between the two.

Someone could’ve grabbed them by accident, I guess,” she offered, but she must’ve known that the odds of that happening were slimmer than people leaving the party this early. Accidents didn’t happen to me. This is the second book of Fall Away series and also my most favorite book. This book focuses on Maddox and Fallon.Other than that, I love Penelope's writing style and her characters. Also, that ending scene with Jax? Holy shit, EPIC. I am definitely curious to see how Jax and KC's story will play out.