Review: Fall from India Place by Samantha Young

Fall from India Place by Samantha Young
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Current Goodreads rating 4.1

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.

Characters: OMG, I felt like all of these characters were my dear friends, and hearing that Joss, Jo, Liv, and Ellie all either had or were going to have kids made me sooooo happy!!!

It's really weird reading Hannah's story because I had always read about her as a kid.  Anyway, she's very book smart and is a dedicated English teacher.  And of course, she's gorgeous.  She has only ever been with one guy, Mr. Marco D' Alessandro, but she doesn't welcome him back immediately once they meet again.  And she has a totally good reason, you know besides that he left with no explanation.

Marco, Marco, Marco. Half African American, half Italian!!!! Before he met Hannah, Marco lived in the US but got into trouble and was sent to live in the UK.  He's considered the older, "bad boy" who has a soft spot for Hannah. He used to walk her home all the time and listened to her talk.  He was very quiet.

For that reason, I felt like I knew nothing about him and didn't really trust him when he was trying to get Hannah back.  Spoiler: He turns out to be a sweetie with a messed up past.

What I missed most from Samantha Young, however, was the witty banter.  Hannah wasn't that funny, and Marco was too serious.

But i must say, I think Cole was my favorite character from this book.  Cole and Hannah are best friends.  He was there for her after that traumatic event and continues to be there.  All of his girlfriends are jealous of the way he treats Hannah, but it looks like he is going to find the one.  The next book in the series is his story!!!!

Plot: The thing that I liked about this plot was that the characters had a past.  Ellie and Adam knew each other for awhile too, but they never had as serious of history as Hannah and Marco.  

Above all, I liked the message of the book a lot.  Something tragic has to happen before Hannah realized it, but it's applicable to everyone: nobody is guaranteed anything, so tell your loved ones you care.

I LOVE THIS SERIES. I LOVE SAMANTHA YOUNG, but this is not the best in the series.  No way.  Before Jamaica Lane is probably my favorite.

View all my reviews

Review: Before Jamaica Lane by Samantha Young

Before Jamaica Lane by Samantha Young
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

One simple lesson in seduction between two friends can turn into so much more… 

Despite her outgoing demeanor, Olivia is painfully insecure around the opposite sex—usually, she can’t get up the nerve to approach guys she’s interested in. But moving to Edinburgh has given her a new start, and, after she develops a crush on a sexy postgrad, she decides it’s time to push past her fears and go after what she wants.

Nate Sawyer is a gorgeous player who never commits, but to his close friends, he’s as loyal as they come. So when Olivia turns to him with her relationship woes, he offers to instruct her in the art of flirting and to help her become more sexually confident.

The friendly education in seduction soon grows into an intense and hot romance. But then Nate’s past and commitment issues rear their ugly heads, and Olivia is left broken-hearted. When Nate realizes he’s made the biggest mistake of his life, he will have to work harder than he ever has before to entice his best friend into falling back in love with him—or he may lose her forever…

Me right now

Characters: AHHHHHH! I want these characters to be real and be my BFFs.  Joss, Braden, Adam, 
Ellie, Jo, Cam, Hannah, and Cole play major roles in this story! They are super hilarious and caring, always there for each other.  I'm really looking forward to Hannah's story which is the next in the series because Hannah says what's on her mind, no matter how blunt.  And Marco is African American Italian. Talk about beautiful. Finally, I'm rooting for Cole to get a story of his own.  How great would it be to get a stour written by Samantha Young through the male perspective?

Now, I'm done fawning over the secondary characters.

Nate and Olivia, my heart just grew.  Both of these two are nerdy.  Nate writes a blog and Olivia is a librarian! Their neediness was incorporated in their first meeting, and it is fantastically cute.  Out of all of On Dublin Street's female characters, Olivia is the most relatable for me.  Joss is sassier than me, Ellie is cheerier than me, and Jo is way tougher than me.  I adore them, but Olivia is my favorite because she has my personality.  As for Nate, his playboy ways may seem annoying in the beginning, but he's always cared about Olivia and makes her feel beautiful inside and out.  He has legitimate reasons for his notcommitence, but it was frustrating.  I wanted these two to get serious faster because they are too 
perfect for each other.  He's also described as being movie star beautiful, which I quite enjoy.  

Plot: Just wanted to mention that Castle Hill, the Braden and Joss novella overlaps with this book.  

The plot has been done before, but I still loved this book! Samantha Young is bloody brilliant.  While I laughed out loud during most of the book, I admit to tearing up.  This is the first book I've ever read where that's happened.  It was weird.

I devoured this book, and I have been thinking about the characters since I finished it.  They'll always have a happy ending in my head.

Check out my reviews of all of the books in the series.

On Dublin Street

Until Fountain Bridge

Down London Street

Castle Hill

View all my reviews

Review- Castle Hill: A Joss and Braden Novella by Samantha Young

Castle Hill: A Joss and Braden Novella by Samantha Young
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Braden Carmichael never imagined he'd fall as hard and as fast as he did for Jocelyn Butler. He also could not have anticipated how difficult it would be to convince her to give in to love. But now that he has her, he's never letting go. He's got it all planned - the passionate proposal, the dream wedding, the sexy Hawaiian honeymoon - even the perfect family they'll start.

After trying to flee from her painful past, Joss is finally allowing herself to embrace the future. But when things start moving faster than she anticipated, she finds herself panicking over something Braden can't understand. After everything they've been through, Joss is sure that their love can survive even her worst fears. But, this time, she may push Braden too far - and risk losing everything all over again...

You better read On Dublin Street first!!!!

Characters: Braden and Joss are back.  They're still hilarious, but their sensitive sides come out again in this which was pretty depressing.   The characters I love go through some rough patches, and I just love them so much and I didn't want them to struggle.  They're like my friends.  Anyone else feel this way?

Ellie, Adam, Jo, Cam, and Olivia appear for what seems like 2 seconds:/

Plot: I was thinking about writing an entire post ranting about how mad I am that authors write sequels where the characters have trouble when they just got their happy ending.  Yes, life isn't like that, but I read to escape. There should be happy endings all of the time!

Yeah, so the plot was about trouble in paradise.  It was torture, but I had to read it.  Samantha Young writes with such éclat!!

Would I recommend it to a friend?

Yeah, if you read On Dublin Street, you've probably fell in love with these people and continued with the series.  Castle Hill overlaps with Before Jamaica Lane which I recently read. A review for that will be up soon.

View all my reviews