Series: On Dublin Street #4
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: NAL
Publication Date: 6/3/14
Format: ARC
Pages: 384
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4 stars
The New York Times bestselling author of On Dublin Street and Down London Road returns with a story about letting go of the past and learning to trust in the future…
When Hannah Nichols last saw Marco D’Alessandro, five long years ago, he broke her heart. The bad boy with a hidden sweet side was the only guy Hannah ever loved—and the only man she’s ever been with. After one intense night of giving into temptation, Marco took off, leaving Scotland and Hannah behind. Shattered by the consequences of their night together, Hannah has never truly moved on.
Leaving Hannah was the biggest mistake of Marco’s life, something he has deeply regretted for years. So when fate reunites them, he refuses to let her go without a fight. Determined to make her his, Marco pursues Hannah, reminding her of all the reasons they’re meant to be together.…
But just when Marco thinks they’re committed to a future together, Hannah makes a discovery that unearths the secret pain she’s been hiding from him, a secret that could tear them apart before they have a real chance to start over again….
The Nichols/Carmichael family is one I've adored since reading On Dublin Street. I loved how Elodie and Clark treated Braden as their own son, how Clark treated Ellie as his daughter, and how all the half and step-siblings were as close as blood. Hannah Nichols has been a bright spot in this series, especially in Before Jamaica Lane. Fall From India Place begins approximately five years after Before Jamaica Lane. We get to see all the previous leading couples, with marriages and children. (we also get Cole, all grown up and apparently getting his own book next!) In fact, those characters play a nice part in this book, particularly as support/sounding boards/advisors to Hannah.
When Fall From India Place opens, it becomes clear fairly soon that Hannah is happy with her life, but something happened between this book and the last, and it took away some of her joy. What happened between BJL and now? Looking at old mementos has Hannah taking a walk down memory lane, and we finally learn what happened between her and the boy she had a crush on so many years ago, Marco. We get glimpses of how the unlikely friendship started, how it continued to progress despite Marco's reluctance and due to Hannah's persistence. We get small, endearing moments that show how deeply the two connect. Any couple that connects over a shared love for To Kill a Mockingbird (my very favorite book, ever) is a couple I'm going to root for. After years of friendship, one night, the two take their relationship to a physical level. After, Marco immediately withdraws, and disappears.
Fast forward to five years later, and we have Marco and Hannah face-to-face once again. Hannah is beyond upset, but Marco is interested in reconnecting. She pushes him away, despite wanting him so badly it hurts. Marco isn't having that dismissal, resulting in a relentless pursuit of Hannah that was one-half endearing, one-half creepy. I did like the playfulness and charm he exuded, though, so I'll give him a pass. The synopsis indicates that Hannah has a secret that involves Marco. Now, I had a guess simply based on that, and the story also laid out a lot of not-so-subtle clues. Though I do prefer to be a bit more surprised, I was okay with this. Hannah isn't the only one with a secret, and Marco's definitely plays off hers.These big secrets and the fallout are the conflict for Hannah and Marco's story, and she pushes the conflict hard. I got why Hannah was initially upset, and why she needed time to wrap her head around telling him the truth and accepting his
But at a certain point, when everyone around Hannah tells herself she's being unreasonable, when she tells herself she's being unreasonable, I felt like it was just enough of that. There's a tipping point in which the conflict starts to move past justified and falls over into unreasonable. Hannah went over that point, and I honestly felt it was a bit forced and too drawn out. I sympathized with Marco, and gave him a pass on practically everything (except, he definitely should have given up his secret sooner), because he was a truly good man. The mistakes he made with Hannah were barely that. He was troubled teen who needed a friend. His leaving was not his fault, and he only made strides to assure Hannah of his devotion. And to that turn, I would wager to say that Hannah's stubbornness to accept her guy's love rivaled Joss's.
It's not always easy, but I try to be fair to characters and to allow the process of working through their issues to play out. I try to take a big picture approach and decide if everything they go through in the story was worth it. Was it worth it to me as a reader? Did they act irrationally or unfairly, but move through that to something better? Was their growth? If that happens, I can live with the frustrations. In this case, I say yes, it was definitely worth it. Young has a history of very stubborn, very strong female leads in this series, and Hannah was no exception. Despite how frustrating it can sometimes be (I've been known to not let issues easily pass myself, which I'm sure is absolutely frustrating to my husband), I never wanted to put the story down, or truly throttle any of the characters.
In Fall From India Place, we have another story of love that absolutely does not come easily, but is always worth the fight.
Favorite
Quote
We heard my mother tsk again loudly. "Come on, eat your peas."
"I don't want to," she whined, and we turned to watch her push her plate back. "They're little fuckers."
The room stilled, my mother's gasp the only sound.
[....] Joss sighed. "I dropped a jar of peas and I thought I got 'em all, but I found some renegades later on and forgot Beth was there when I did."
"Little fuckers," Beth said promptly, obviously remembering the moment when Joss encountered the renegade peas.
His hands were suddenly on me, pulling me close until our noses almost touched. "Do you love me?" he asked hoarsely, giving me a little shake.
[...]"What I said before was true. I've been in love with you since I was fourteen."
His grip tightened. "Then that's all that matters to me. We'll take the future as it comes. There's no promise that life will ever be easy. It never has been for me. But the moments where all that shit disappeared, where it ceased to matter to me, those moments always had you in them. I know you make me laugh, I know you make me feel worth something, you make me feel needed, and I know I want you like I've never wanted any other woman in my life. All that makes sense.
The On Dublin Street Series
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About
the author
Samantha Young is a New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author from Stirlingshire, Scotland. She's been nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award 2012 for Best Author and Best Romance for her international bestseller ON DUBLIN STREET. ON DUBLIN STREET is Samantha's first adult contemporary romance and has sold in twenty-five countries.
