Review: Break My Fall By Jessica Scott

16 February of 2016 by ButtonsMom2003

Break My Fall By Jessica Scott

Contemporary Romance / New Adult / Coming of Age

Released February 16, 2016

Self-published

Series: Falling, Book 2

Reviewed by ButtonsMom2003

Violence.
I’m addicted to it.
It’s how I feel alive.
It’s the only thing that’s real any more.
 
And now I have to sit around and discuss it like it’s physics or calculus. I can’t do it. I can’t pretend that it’s some sterile academic topic.
 Violence isn’t sterile. It isn’t calm. It’s pulsing. It’s alive.
 
It’s my drug.
 
Until I met Abby, I never wanted anything beyond the next fight. Never considered that I might finally find a way back to the land of the living. Now? Now I find myself dreaming of a woman with golden eyes.
 
But I can never be with her. Because I am not whole. And I never will be again.
 
But I cannot stay away.
 
And loving her might finally be what breaks me.

This book just about ripped my heart out. It’s darker than most of Jessica’s other stories but, like her other books, it seems so real and believable. As I’ve said before, I think her Army service brings real credibility to her stories.

Josh has recently left the Army and is enrolled in a university “where the poor kids drive Mercedes and the really rich ones have drivers” and he feels out of place. Abby has dark skin and curly hair; she’s working her way through school and feels equally out of place. The two meet when Josh sees Abby being harassed by a couple of jerks as she walks home one night. Abby: “Are you my white knight in shining armor?” Josh: “I’m nobody’s hero.”

Josh is haunted by his experiences in war. He hates that he misses the violence of it and feels like a deviant because of it. While the doctors have told him there is nothing physically wrong with him, nothing everything is working right. He can’t imagine that anyone would want him, he’s too broken.

Abby has scars, both physical and emotional, from her childhood. She is still reeling from a recent breakup; she doesn’t want to start a new relationship. When Josh rescues her she doesn’t want to be attracted to him but she can’t seem to help herself.

This book deals with a side of war that we don’t read about in the papers and, even though this is fiction, it feels “real” to me. Josh’s story is heartbreaking but Jessica Scott tells it well and I was invested in his character right from the beginning. Abby’s story is also compelling and how she and Josh navigate a relationship around both of their issues was a story I didn’t want to put down.

Warning: this story contains some violent scenes and alcohol abuse.

♥♥♥♥♥

O Factor: Spicy

Before I Fall, Book 1

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