Five Ways To Fall by K.A. Tucker Review
5 SMOOCHES
Synopsis
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…
Review
“I guess even smart girls can make a clusterfuck of their lives, can’t they?”
I have been looking forward to Ben’s story since I first met the smartass, girl-loving bartender turned lawyer from Penny’s! I knew his story was going to be both hilarious and emotional because to turn that man into a one woman man was going to take a special kind of a girl and a lot of working past the baggage that made him act the way he does. K.A. Tucker did not let me down. I loved Ben and Reese’s story and was almost sad to see it end. Reese was the perfect loud mouthed – I don’t care what you think of me kind of a girl to tame Ben. Their story was not an easy one and a lot had to happen for them to realize that they should not run or hide from their feelings but in the end this was a beautiful, although so very funny, love story that I can see myself reading over and over.
“When are you two going to start acting like adults?” “Soon.” Lying
Reese and Ben meet in Cancun and end up having the most disastrous one night stand in history. After Reese escapes and goes back home to start a new life and new job she is beyond shocked to find that her one night stand from HELL is also a new employee at the law firm that she is now a paralegal at. Reese has not always been a paralegal with her life together (if you can call it that) Not long before that ill fated Cancun trip Reese’s husband divorced her after she found him cheating on her with an old girlfriend. After a bit of a mental breakdown the crazy haired, tattooed, pierced Reese’s ex-stepdad steps in and helps her get her life straight and after she completes the paralegal program at a local school gets her a job at his law firm. The same law firm that has just hired fresh out of law school ex-strip club bouncer Ben. Ben can un-nerve Reese like no one else and as much as she desperately tried to deny her attraction to him it is obvious to everyone. So what’s the problem, well for one the firm has a strict No-Fraternizing policy and her step-dad is the guy in charge. Two, Reese is still hung up in her ex and none of this bears well for Ben.
“I liken Reese to a wild horse that’s become accustomed to humans. She’ll tolerate you, she may even come close to you, she’ll certainly bewitch you, but you never know exactly what she’s going to do.”
I think what I loved most about this story was that Reese was so much different than ant heroine in a book I’ve read. She doesn’t have her shit together, she likes to look and act crazy and if there is trouble Reese will find it and fall into it. More often than not her decisions are the wrong ones, not because she likes to do the wrong thing but because she leads with her heart, loud mouth and ability to have some of the worse luck ever. I absolutely adored how well Ben could take Reese and always had something to say back to her smart ass remarks. But as fun as both Ben and Reese were their lives were not easy, both are battling some pretty tough inner demons and their family lives have left each a bit wounded and unwilling to dive whole heartily into relationships. K.A. has a way of building the story that you don’t even realize how immersed in it you are. She didn’t come right out in it with all the emotional baggage but instead built piece upon piece until you could see the whole picture. I was completely wrapped up and could not put it down. Much the same way she doesn’t use sex as something to keep you entertained. Sex has a purpose and a place and by the time you get there you are oh so ready for it (and boy is it worth the wait) Even the parts of the story that are not full of sex are still extremely sexy, the chemistry she writes its amazing and rarely does something as simple as a touch or a kiss get me so worked up. This is a sign of a very talented writer. I guarantee anyone who reads this book will not be let down.
~miranda
