Review: Falling Away by Penelope Douglas

Image from Goodreads

Title: Falling Away
Series: Fall Away #4
Author: Penelope Douglas
Publisher: Piatkus
Publication Date: 6 Jan 2015
Source: Review Copy
Rating: 4/5

Synopsis from Goodreads

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.

REVIEW

Be warned Falling Away may make you spontaneous combust Penelope Douglas doesn’t do easy relationships but is anything easy ever worth having, don’t you appreciate things more when you have to work for them?

Falling Away is real and at times painful but always worth the journey.

Although the story is told from a dual narrative there is more of KC’s point of view than of Jax’s, especially at the beginning where all the groundwork for the plot is being laid. Also, for the most part, Jax is very self-aware and doesn’t tend to analyse himself as much as KC.

While Jax accepts himself for who he is, dude has some serious baggage. He has overcome so much yet his subconscious is still holding him back. The weight of his past and the secrets he holds deep act as a ball and chain around his ankle. Preventing him from truly moving forward with his life. A stark portrayal of the difference between surviving and being a survivor. I just have to mention the tattoos and how amazing their significance was – I know I am being cryptic but you will understand when you read it

I talk about identity a lot in library lessons for the simple reason that I work with teenagers. The teen years are when we first start to establish out own identities outside of our parents. Teenagers take those first steps into discovering their own identity and defining themselves as an individual. Imagine what would happen if that freedom of expression and therefore, discovery of identity is taken away from you. What if who you truly were was buried under a weight of deception. Think how you would feel at having to project an image of the person you’re pretending to be – I’m sure we can all relate to this in one capacity or another – you just have to think of the ‘fake it til you make it’ adage. However well meaning the deception, at the end of the day it is still a lie. Parental pressure and expectation can act as a prison to the person you want to be.

I really, really felt for KC. She had totally lost herself under the weight of parental expectation leaving her floundering without a solid idea of who she was. Her character development throughout the narrative is nothing short of ingenious.

Penelope Douglas touches deep emotions via her innovative narrative. The difference between being alone and being lonely is heartrendingly portrayed; focusing on the fact that you have to be comfortable with yourself as a person in order to overcome loneliness. If you achieve that then being alone is never lonely.

Ultimately, we all crave the same thing unconditional love from someone that sees us for who we truly are.