The Fall Away Series:
1. Bully
1.5 Until You
2. Rival
3. Falling Away
4. Aflame

Aflame
A Fall Away Novel (4)
Penelope Douglas
Continuation of Jared and Tate’s story – hot second chance romance
Blurb:
The tables have turned. Now I have the power—and it’s his turn to beg…
Everyone wants to be me.
Maybe it’s the sway of my skirt or the way I flip my hair, but I don’t care. Even though their attention is the last thing I crave, I just can’t stop. I dominate the track, the speed rattles my bones, and the wind and the crowd screams my name.
I’m her. The girl driver. The queen of the race. And I’m surviving—something he thought I’d never do.
They all still talk about him. Did you see Jared Trent on T.V? What did you think of his last race, Tate? When is he coming back to town, Tate?
But I refuse to care too much. Because when Jared does come home, I won’t be here.
Tatum Brandt is gone. I’m someone new.
As the book opens, we find out that Jared and Tate broke up shortly after the events in “Falling Away”. WTF? I was not happy! I was pissed off that they broke up after all they went through before. And I read on reluctantly. I’m not a fan of restart romances in general. They often feel like the author couldn’t let go of the characters they loved. The characters themselves often behave in ways uncharacteristic of them in order to fit to a new story line. Thankfully, that was not the case here!
As I read on, I understood Jared’s reason for leaving. He needed to grow up and discover what he wanted out of life, what would make him happy, and who he was outside of his relationship to Tate. He was going through the motions of life, heading into a career he didn’t want. Tate was his only focus and happiness. He didn’t want to end up resenting her. He always intended to return to her.
Tate only saw abandonment and thought she lost Jared forever. She tried to move on. Jared thought she had moved on and stayed away longer. He returns to town for family reasons, and his friends knock some sense into him. It’s a collective effort from all our favorite characters with some very funny moments.
They were very young at the end of Bully/Until You. They had to grow up and figure themselves out before they could come together as mature adults and make it stick. The usual cliches aren’t found here, which I’m grateful for. This was very fast paced and enjoyable. The sex scenes are very hot. And the grammar has gotten much better!
1st person past tense from both Tate and Jared.
Contains graphic sex scenes – hot ones, including some very good sexting.
Occasional foul language.
HEA. We finally get the epilogue(s) I’ve been wanting and find out some things about the future for all the couples.
8 errors. Very good editing.
$3.99 on Amazon.
237 pages.
Favorite Quote:
Jared and Tate are talking about the kids from all the couples being in high school together later on. Jared: “Relax.” He grabbed his jacket and slipped it on. “I don’t think anyone can get in as much trouble as we did.”