Next to Never (Fall Away Series) By Penelope Douglas

Buy Link: Next To Never

Under the close watch of the men in her family, Quinn Caruthers has found it nearly impossible to spread her wings - or even date - without her three older brothers, Jared, Madoc and Jaxon, jumping in to hover. And when a family friend - several years older - from her childhood still holds her heart, she knows they're going to be a problem. Lucas Morrow is a man, and knowing her brothers, he may as well be forbidden.
But years ago, Lucas left town and shows no signs of returning. Quinn knows she shouldn't wait for him anymore. 
Until a package turns up on her doorstep with no return address and its contents reveal family secrets that threaten to turn her world upside down. She's never asked about the path of her parents' romantic history, but she soon learns their happy marriage had a very rocky and passionate start. 
As she starts to see things around her with new eyes, Quinn will have to make tough choices about whether she'll keep waiting . . . or finally go after what she really wants.

Okay, I'm going to start off with price. It cost me £4.99, it's not at £2.99 and to be honest, I didn't know it was only a novella, one I didn't technically need to read in order to continue the series. I wouldn't normally spend this much, and I know for a fact if I knew it was a novella beforehand, I wouldn't have bought it, But....
It was worth the money. I really enjoyed it and I'm so glad I didn't know because I would have missed out on such an amazing story.
Quinn, who is Jared, Madoc's and Jaxon's younger sister, who goes to school with THEIR kids, doesn't want the future they and her parents have laid out for her. 
She wants to go her own way. 
She's also in love with a man called Lucas, who we only get a glimpse of from his POV at the end. He's not actually in the book as a main character. 
Anyway, a book turns up on her doorstep and it's not until one of her nieces read it out loud that she actually bothers with it but when she realises who it's about, she can't out the book down. 
Now, she's reading about her mother and fathers love story, one that is rough, long, bumpy and heartbreaking. 
But it makes her see that no matter how much she listens to what others tell her, she needs to learn to go her own way. It gives her the strength she needs and I cannot wait for her book. I really can't. Penelope Douglas is an amazing writer and she does such an amazing job with these characters. 

5*

Penelope Douglas

Penelope Douglas' Standalone Novels

• Punk 57
• Misconduct

Author Links:

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Corrupt By Penelope Douglas

Buy Link: Corrupt

Erika

I was told that dreams were our heart's desires. My nightmares, however, became my obsession.

His name is Michael Crist.

My boyfriend's older brother is like that scary movie that you peek through your hand to watch. He's handsome, strong, and completely terrifying. The star of his college's basketball team and now gone pro, he's more concerned with the dirt on his shoe than me.

But I noticed him.

I saw him. I heard him. The things that he did, and the deeds that he hid...For years, I bit my nails, unable to look away.

Now, I've graduated high school and moved on to college, but I haven't stopped watching Michael. He's bad, and the dirt I've seen isn't content to stay in my head anymore.

Because he's finally noticed me.

Michael

Her name is Erika Fane, but everyone calls her Rika.

My brother's girlfriend grew up hanging around my house and is always at our dinner table. She looks down when I enter a room and stills when I am close. I can always feel the fear rolling off of her, and while I haven't had her body, I know that I have her mind. That's all I really want anyway.

Until my brother leaves for the military, and I find Rika alone at college.

In my city.

Unprotected.

The opportunity is too good to be true, as well as the timing. Because you see, three years ago she put a few of my high school friends in prison, and now they're out.

We've waited. We've been patient. And now every last one of her nightmares will come true.

This book was thrilling, captivating, and so different from Penelope Douglas' other work. It was mind blowing. She kept you hanging on from the very beginning to the end. I literally couldn't get enough.

'Beware the fury of a patient man' 

I've clicked the book as a dark read, but I wouldn't say it was dark, just darkish. It's very explicit, sexy and hot. It always has scenes where you'll want to shake a few of the characters. Everything is so hidden, so secretive and we never really get down to the reasons why they torment Rika until the end of the book and even then I wanted to roll my eyes. Even I could tell she'd never do something like that. 

Micheal holds so much anger, so much resentment it's hard to like him at first. Yeah, he's hot, yes, he cares for Rika, but he does have a funny way of showing it. 

All in all, Penelope went out of her normal boundaries writing this and took a chance publishing it. I can honestly say she did a brilliant job. 
I had read Misconduct not long before Corrupt and couldn't get on with it. I stopped at 30% which is why there isn't a review up. So when I came across this I was a little unsure. There were a few bad reviews, but it was a friend that got me to read it. She loved it and I was so glad she pushed me into it. 

The story is high on adrenaline and you feel every emotion. It was brilliant. 

4.5*

Aflame (Falling away Novella) By Penelope Douglas

Buy Link: Aflame

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 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.

OH MY GOD!!!

I loved this book.....

It didn't feel like a novella at all. It felt like a normal novel it had everything you wanted in it. 

I didn't want Jared to move away, I honestly still believe his reasons were selfish, and I can understand why Tate retaliated the way she did by trying to move on. She was angry, she was hurt and heart broken and she just wanted it to go away. 

What woman doesn't feel like that after a break up? 

He expected too much from her. He never gave her a time limit to how long he'd be gone, or where he was going. He didn't promise her anything which is why I was so angry about him going and coming back and thinking he could pick up the pieces the way he did. 

As a woman myself I would never have forgiven him, as a reader and reading their previous story, I was so glad she forgave him and they worked through it. Yes it wasn't easy, but what love story is. 

Penelope did a great job bringing out the emotions the characters portrayed, it made you feel what they were and I sympathized with Tate so much. I could understand her need to hurt him, to feel indifferent to him, when deep down she was breaking just as much on the inside. 

The story progressed nicely, and we didn't just get a story out of Jared and Tate, but out of all the other couples. I loved seeing them as their sixthsome. They worked together nicely. Tate didn't give in to Jared easily and I loved that about her. She's always been a strong character, especially with everything she has been through, but to see it play out the way it did was truly heartwarming and heartbreaking both at the same time.

I will also mention that Penelope has left the series with the chance that she can still write with the new generation of the Falling away series, by leaving it open. I think this is a brilliant idea and would really love it if she did. Who wouldn't want to see what they're kids turned out like? 

Aurora Rose Reynolds has done the same for her Until series and it's worked out brilliantly. Let's hope there is enough Falling away fans to persuade her too continue on :)

5*Amazing well earned stars.  

Until you (Fall away series #1.5) By Penelope Douglas

Buy Link: Until you

Have you ever been so angry that hitting things felt good? Ever felt numb to all emotions?

The past few years have been like that for me. Traveling between fury and indifference with no stops in between. Some people hate me for it, while others are scared of me. But none of them can hurt me, because I don't care about anything or anyone.

Except Tatum.

I love her so much that I hate her. I hate that I can't let her go. We used to be friends, but I found out that I couldn't trust her or anyone else. So I hurt her. I pushed her away. But I still need her. She centers me. Engaging, challenging, bullying her - it's the last part of me that feels anything human.

But then she left for a year and came back a different girl. Now, when I push, she pushes back.

For everyone who loved Bully . . . This is Jared's story.

After reading the newest in the series Falling away I just had to read this one. I honestly hate reading the same book but in another POV. I feel like it's boring. This one though is the second book ever to make me feel like I was reading a completely new book. 
Seeing Bully written in Jared's POV had opened my eyes a little to things that confused me. I can remember reading Bully and wishing Penelope had written it in Jared's POV as well. 

It starts off from when Jared is just a boy and Tate moves in next to door, to move on to his dads, which also made us see his side of what happened. 
I actually kind of liked this version better, but I know for a fact I would have preferred the two POV'S in one book instead of two separate one's. Still, I'm glad I got to read both. They are brilliant. 

If you've read bully and think this one will just be the same it's not. You see things differently. It really did feel like a whole new book to me. I'm obsessed with this series now and can't wait for Tate and Jared's story to continue. For those who've read Falling away will know what I'm talking about. 

5* for Penelope 

Falling away By Penelope Douglas

Buy Link: Falling away

Jaxon is the guy she's supposed to avoid . . .

K. C. Carter has always followed the rules - until this year, when a mistake leaves her the talk of her college campus and her carefully arranged life comes crashing to a halt. Now she's stuck in her small hometown for the summer to complete her court-ordered community service, and to make matters worse, trouble is living right next door.

K.C. is the girl he won't let get away . . .

Jaxon Trent is the worst kind of temptation and exactly what K.C. was supposed to stay away from in high school. But he never forgot her. She was the one girl who wouldn't give him the time of day and the only one to ever say no. Fate has brought K.C. back into his life - except what he thought was a great twist of luck turns out to be too close for comfort. As they grow closer, he discovers that convincing K.C. to get out from her mother's shadow is hard, but revealing the darkest parts of his soul is nearly impossible.

Jaxon..... K.C...... where do I begin?????? 

I have loved Jaxon since he got brought into the Fall away series. He intrigued me with his long dark hair, devilishly good looks and his computer nerd personality. 
I only got more curious when he sleeps with the mom in Rival. I never really saw him as someone like that until that back and it's then I realised that he went through more than just beatings from his dad. 
Why people like his dad have kids is beyond me, why do it if all your going to do is make a child's life miserable. Especially when he was happy in a foster home before his dad had taken him back. Anyway, his life was a pile of shit before he went to live with Jared and Katherine, Jared's mom. 
Jax has to keep telling himself during the book that he is clean, he is strong, he is worthy, and it really broke my heart to read. He showered so many times, refused to have his hair touched or cut because of his past. It truly is heartbreaking. 
In the midst of all this he's become well off, living in a house Jared mom left him filled with everything he ever needs and more. Has his cars and a million and one other things to keep him busy, instead of drowning over his past. 


Then we have K,C or who I've come to know now as Juliet. She comes from a strict family so to speak and although their abuse is different, Jax and Juliet share that burden. I honestly never saw more to K.C in the other books other than a rich girl, strict parents, and a little selfish in the first book, but reading this one and reading her side I felt so sorry for her. 
All she wanted was to be loved, and to love in return, she wanted to feel. 
In the book she is doing community service. Somehow (Thanks to Jax) She got to tutor at her old school. 
There's a part in the book that she takes her journals to the tutor session, letting her group read through them and I'm not joking when I say, it made me cry. I've never read anything so honest, so true and so raw before. It was beautiful and the way she helps them with certain entries of the journal was clever. 

Anyway, K.C moves in to Tate's old room as Tate doesn't live there, so she's living next door to Jax, the one person that has always made her feel. Which I can see why. 
Penelope has taken this book to a whole other level. It's seriously hot, and Jax just makes it that much hotter. I couldn't believe it, but this has to be my first book to hit my 2015 top book list. 

The book progresses and we see different sides to both characters and read more about the other characters and I'm excited to inform all you readers that Tate and Jared are getting another book. WHOOP!!!! 

All in all the book is brilliant and I'm so glad I read it. I'll be recommending this one throughout the year defo... and I can't wait to read more from this series. Seriously love the characters and Penelope's style of writing. 

5* even though it does deserve more ;)    

Rival (Fall away series Book Two) By Penelope Douglas

Buy link: Rival

Madoc and Fallon. Two estranged teenagers playing games that push the boundaries between love and war . . . 

She's back.
For the three years she's been away at boarding school, there was no word from her. Back when we lived in the same house, she used to cut me down during the day and then leave her door open for me at night.

I was stupid then, but now I'm ready to beat her at her own game . . .

I'm back.

Three years and I can tell he still wants me, even if he acts like he's better than me.

But I won't be scared away. Or pushed down. I'll call his bluff and fight back. That's what he wants, right? As long as I keep my guard up, he'll never know how much he affects me . . . 

Oh my God. I absolutely loved this book. I took a gamble with it being 2.99, but my God it was so worth it. I really needed this book in my life right now. I've been having a bad case of one stars lately, so this has made up for all of them. I loved it. 

I still haven't read Until you, the second novel in the fall away series because of it been in the same story but in another POV. 

Then I saw this on my recommendation list and knew I had to have it. I liked Madoc, a little, in the last novel BULLY, but I always found his a jerk. I was so glad when I read this novel it had it in his POV as well. 

Fallen is such an unusable name, it had taken me a while to get used to. I really enjoyed her character, and loved the fact she wasn't another perfect character. She had flaws. She wasn't this made up, perfect, goody two shoes. She wore piercings, tattoos, and wore glasses. I really did love her character. 

Then we have Madoc, who every girl at a school would love to get their hands on. He's the boy, girls crush on, wishing they were his girl. That bad boy vibe, rich, cocky, and drop dead gorgeous. Who wouldn't want to be with him? aha 

This book, although kind of the same, is so much steamier than Bully. It was completely hot!!! I was so glad it got spiced up because it made the book better. Although, I did get kind of annoyed towards the end at how many sex scenes there were. I just wanted to read the story plot. 

The story plot was brilliant and well thought out. I couldn't wait to see how it turned out. 

I read the sneaky peak at the next book and I can't wait to read about Jax. I seriously want to know everything about him. He's this tortured soul who you really want to get to know. I felt so sad at the end of this book at what he did. I really wanted someone to ask him, to shout at him for what he did, but it wasn't mentioned :( I just don't like the thought of him forcing himself to do something he didn't want to do, just to make others happy. 

There goes my protective side again!!! 

5* I cannot wait to read the next one. 

Penelope Douglas

Penelope Douglas' Series Reading Order

Fall away

• Bully #1 ~ My Review
• Until you #1.5 ~ My Review
• Rival #2 ~ My Review 
• Falling away #3 ~ My Review
• Aflame #4 My Review
• Next To Never #4.5 ~ My Review
• Adrenaline: Bonus Content

Devils Night

• Corrupt #1 ~ My Review
• Hideaway #2
• Kill switch #3

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Bully By Penelope Douglas

Bully

My name is Tate. He doesn't call me that, though. He would never refer to me so informally, if he referred to me at all. No, he'll barely even speak to me. 

But he still won't leave me alone. 

We were best friends once. Then he turned on me and made it his mission to ruin my life. I've been humiliated, shut out, and gossiped about all through high school. His pranks and rumors got more sadistic as time wore on, and I made myself sick trying to stay out of his way. I even went to France for a year, just to avoid him. 

But I'm done hiding from him now, and there's no way in hell I'll allow him to ruin my senior year. He might not have changed, but I have. It's time to fight back. Read on for my review ......