Release Day-Review: FALLING DOWN by Eli Easton

Falling Down - Eli Easton

Release: November 9 2016

Buy Links: 

Amazon US | Amazon UK 

Blurb

Josh finds himself homeless at eighteen, but he has a plan. He'll head north on the bus to New England and spend October there for his mother's sake. She always talked about going to see the fall leaves someday. And when the leaves were done and the harsh winter came, Josh would find a place to curl up and let go. It would be a relief to finally stop fighting.

Mark spent his life trying to live up to the tough swagger of his older brothers until he pushed himself so far against his nature that he cracked. Now an ex-Marine, he rents a little cabin in the White Mountains of New Hampshire where he can lick his wounds and figure out what to do with the rest of his life. One thing was clear: Mark was nobody's hero.

Fate intervenes when Josh sets up camp under a covered bridge near Mark's cabin. Mark recognizes the dead look in the young stranger's eyes, and he feels compelled to do something about it. When Mark offers Josh a job, he never expected that he'd be the one to fall.

The snow is coming soon. Can Mark convince Josh that the two of them can build a life together before the flurries fall?

Carra's Review

Falling Down is the first Eli Easton book I've read, and I find that now after reading it I want to move all of the author's books up to the top of my TBR list.  This is an excellent story that provokes the emotions and had me wanting to wrap Josh up in my arms to make him feel wanted and protected.

Josh's character made my heart break.  He feels rejected, beat down and basically worthless, and the running commentary in his head had me constantly worried about him.  I was hoping for him and Mark from the moment Mark offers him a job and home.  Mark has his own issues and is deep in the closet, but can't help the pull he feels to Josh.  The way his character is written makes it feels like he's a lot older than Josh than he actually is, even though he's actually not.

Their relationship develops slowly as Mark tries to keep his distance, but eventually neither man can ignore what each of them feels.  But even as their connection evolves, it still has both Mark and Josh's personal issues hanging over them.  When things finally come to a head when Mark's brother stops by to visit, I became concerned for Josh and I was holding my breath for the outcome-which means that this story was really provoking my emotional response.

A moving story of acceptance and discovering love and belonging, Falling Down was a 4-star read for me.  I highly recommend this to any M/M romance fan, and this one is meant for readers 18+ for adult language and M/M sexual content.  It does contain a character who is contemplating ending his life, so the adult themes may be a trigger topic for some readers.  The epilogue makes the entire story worth it, and having the dual points of view for Mark and Josh make this a much richer, deeper tale.

Author Bio

Having been, at various times, and under different names, a minister's daughter, a computer programmer, the author of metaphysical thrillers, an organic farmer and a profound sleeper, Eli is happily embarking on yet another incarnation as a m/m romance author.

As an avid reader of such, she is tinkled pink when an author manages to combine literary merit, vast stores of humor, melting hotness and eye-dabbing sweetness into one story. She promises to strive to achieve most of that most of the time. She currently lives on a farm in Pennsylvania with her husband, three bulldogs, three cows and six chickens. All of them (except for the husband) are female, hence explaining the naked men that have taken up residence in her latest writing.

Eli currently publishes with Dreamspinner Press and has a few self-pubbed titles as well.

She also publishes thrillers under Jane Jensen.

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