review || FALL FOR ME { blog tour }

Fall for Me by JC Emery

Publisher: Left Break Press (4/28/2015)
Series: Ladder Company, book 1
Genre: New Adult Romance
Source: InkSlinger PR

Purchase links || amazon || add to goodreads

Rating: ★★★★★



Melanie Kincaid is a trust-fund baby with a knack for sassy comebacks and unnecessarily complicating her privileged life. So, of course she would have to fall in love with a man she can't have.

Jameson Hayes is a NYC firefighter for Manhattan’s oldest ladder company with big shoes to fill and a city to protect. He’s strong, sexy, and not looking for the complications Melanie brings. But he can't stay away from her either. The attraction between them is immediate and the pull between them is crazy powerful. But she's only home for the summer and long-distance relationships never work.

Unfortunately, Melanie’s beauty and smart mouth are a lethal combination and Jameson isn't the only Hayes who's interested. As if his brother isn't enough to compete with, now the city's most famous arsonist wants to claim her as his next prize. Jameson can't stand to watch Melanie get hurt and she can't seem to keep herself out of trouble.

Fall for Me is the first Ladder Company novel, a stand-alone companion series about New York's most elite firefighting family with hot alpha heroes, snarky heroines, and an arsonist hell-bent on destruction.

As a child, JC was fascinated by things that went bump in the night. As they say, some things never change. Now, as an adult, she divides her time between the sexy law men, mythical creatures, and kick-ass heroines that live inside her head and pursuing her bachelor's degree in English. JC is a San Francisco Bay Area native, but has also called both Texas and Louisiana home. These days she rocks her flip flops year round in Northern California and can't imagine a climate more beautiful.

JC writes adult, new adult, and young adult fiction. She dabbles in many different genres including science fiction, horror, chick lit, and murder mysteries, yet she is most enthralled by supernatural stories-- and everything has at least a splash of romance.

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{ excerpt } .

“You don’t like it,” he says quietly. I don’t miss the disappointment in his voice. I could throw myself at him, wrap my arms around his neck, and never let go. I could climb him like he’s a goddamn tree and I’m a monkey in need of a banana. I could kiss him like my life depends on it— my heart certainly does— and I could regret never telling him any of this if I don’t say it right now. I could tell him every stupid fucking feeling I’m having, and how much this beautiful gold necklace means to me. I could do all of this, but at the end of it, he still wouldn’t be mine. He would still be my friend— assuming I didn’t scare him off— and if he let me do all of this he wouldn’t be the guy I think he is. He wouldn’t be the man I’ve built up in my head as being strong and courageous and worth every painful moment I spend away from him knowing he’s with her and every trying moment I spend with him knowing he’s not mine.

I let the silence hang between us, as uncomfortable as it is, and focus on breathing steadily so he doesn’t know everything that this stupid beautiful necklace means to me.

“I didn’t—,” he begins. I cut him off because after the long stretch of silence it’s all I can do not to lose my shit over a stupid beautiful necklace from a fucking asshole who I think I’m falling in love with.

“A wishbone?” I ask.

“It’s stupid,” he says and reaches for the box. I pull it away from him, cradling it to my chest. “They’re supposed to be symbolic or something. Like you wish on ‘em and… you wish for something you want.” He’s uncomfortable trying to explain it. I know the symbolism behind a wishbone, but I had to hear his explanation.

He wants me to have what I want.

I have everything I want except for one thing: him.

{ review } .

Ya' know what? 

I generally really love when a book has a clear start and finish -- unless I know it's a serial, and then I'll do the whole suck-it-up-buttercup thing and pretend I don't care. FALL FOR ME has a clear start and finish when it comes to the romance aspect, but as for the big boom-pop-pow of the story? 

Nope.

Nosiree.

There isn't closure.

Know why I think that was a brilliant move?

Because even if the reader didn't become engrossed with the Hayes family, surely the reader wants to know more about this serial arsonist -- because that's part of the big boom-pop-pow of FALL FOR ME but he's still on the loose. 

So Melanie and Jameson. My goodness, did I love these two.

Melanie is new money, and she is at an event for a local firefighter -- and the event is filled with old money. New and Old don't get along, and on her quest to find a bathroom, she gets snooty looks, whispered comments, but a new friend, too. 

Royal doesn't come from money, but her brother (one of them, anyway) is the one being honored at this event. Melanie's snarky sense of humor fits extremely well with Royal's, and they become insta-best friends.

What I love about Melanie, and also Royal for that matter, was her ability to ramble yet not seem lost -- her thoughts and her words tended to be long run-on sentences, but it's quirky for her. I  really enjoyed her, and her quick friendship with Royal.

And then there was Jameson...

He's a good brother, to his brothers and his sister. He cares about Royal and recognizes that while she doesn't make friends easily, she made a good friend with Melanie quickly -- so something must be right about the quirky girl who held him up from using the restroom.

He was drawn to Melanie but he had a girlfriend -- not just a girlfriend, but a live-in, bitchy one at that. He's a good guy; he's not one to cheat and it tears him up that he's extremely drawn to Melanie, wants to dance and kiss her. He's never been tempted before -- and with Melanie and Royal's quick friendship, Melanie ends up everywhere.

...and not just at family functions, but in his head, in his thoughts, and under him when he's with Lydia (his girlfriend) -- and if that doesn't drive the guilt wedge in further, don't know what does.

I don't move or speak. There's nothing good I can say right now.

"What are you thinking?" she whispers.

"It's selfish to want you to want me when I'm not available, but I want you to fall for me. I want to be what keeps you up at night and what puts a smile on your face in the morning."

She leans in and places her hands on my pecs. Her nose slides along the side of me and we both close our eyes. Our lips touch, but just barely, and she freezes. She sucks in a deep breath and her chest presses against mine. God, that feels good. More than good.

"I've already fallen," she murmurs.

{...}This is wrong.

So fucking wrong.

And if feels amazing.

Holy fuck does it feel amazing.

In a single moment she's gone.

Melanie is a good egg though -- she doesn't push him to cross that line; she respects him and his relationship, and it hurts her that the line was toed.

Watching this relationship unfold was fun, simply because they had no other choice but to start as friends. 

I enjoy JC Emery's BAYONET SCARS series, but I really think I'll like this one even better.