Five Ways to Fall
(Ten Tiny Breaths, #4)
By: KA Tucker
Publisher: Atria Books
Release Date: June 24, 2014
Genre: New Adult Romance
Rating:
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…
Reese was left at a diner by her father when she was five. Her husband cheated on her with his ex-girlfriend. So it goes without saying that Reese is kind of a little wild when we first meet her. Ben is a character that we met in previous books. He’s a bouncer at the strip club who just passed the bar to become a lawyer. His father abused his mother, cheated on her and in the end became a bitter husband/father. With a husband/father role model like that, Ben isn’t looking to become anyone’s husband. So he bounces from chick to chick. Which is when he meets a fiery purple haired chick in Cancun. Fast-forward a few months later, they find themselves working for the same law firm.
This was a great story. Yeah, it’s predictable but it’s entertaining. Tucker has a great sense of humor and kept me laughing throughout the entire story. From Reese’s naked drunken starfish re-enactment to Ben being extremely drunk and wearing a thong with his nuts hanging out. I found myself laughing out loud on more than one occasion.
“I’m going to puke. I’m going to puke doing a facedown starfish if I don’t get up right now. The bathroom is no more than six feet away and I know I’m not going to make it all the way back to my feet. So I do the next best thing.
Scrambling to my hands and knees, I crawl toward the bathroom.”
The author has a great story telling voice. I was never bored with the story or felt like it was rushed. The romance isn’t one that happens instantly or out of left field. In fact, Reese isn’t a fan of Ben’s, not only because he’s sleeps around but because of their first night together where she made a complete fool of herself. Ben is of course attracted to her, she is a female after all, but he can’t quite figure her out. She’s hung up on her now-married ex-husband when what she really should be doing is singing her praises for getting out of the relationship and moving on with her life. She’s a wild child with a fiery attitude and yet she is a paralegal at a highly sought after law firm. She is a nut that he can’t crack which just makes him want to get to know her more. The two become friends and in the end develop a romance. At no point did I feel like anything was unbelievable.
This is a new adult romance however it’s not as explicit as some new adult books I’ve read. There are a couple of sexual scenes but nothing in sordid detail. Anytime there was sex, the author just left that part implied and hanging at the end of the chapter. If you’re looking for a story that will leave a soft spot on your heart, this is it. I fell hard for all the characters involved. Even the secondary characters. I have to be honest, I’m a little bummed by the author’s note at the end that talked about this being the last planned book in the series. I’m really hoping there are some unplanned books in the near future.
(you know you’ve thought it too)
“When I was sixteen, she made me go to a stuffy country-club Christmas party with one of Barry’s law firm partners’ sons. The guy was a twenty-four-year-old med student with aspirations of becoming a gynecologist. Call me sexist – I don’t really care – but in this day and age of equal rights and women becoming doctors, I wonder about men who choose to poke around in vaginas all day long as a career. Naturally, I spent the entire meal interrogation him on his intentions and his motivations.”
Previous reviews from Ten Tiny Breaths
Ten Tiny Breaths
Four Seconds to Lose
I still haven’t managed to read Ten Tiny Breaths! I’ve had it for years (LITERALLY), but I keep forgetting about it. BUT every time I see a great review for one the books in the series, I get another mental nudge, so eventually, it’s bound to be the title that pops into my head when I’m feeling like a little NA. I’m glad you loved it, and hopefully, I will too 😉