Review: Free Falling by S.E. Jakes

Posted April 26, 2018 by Sophia Rose in Audio Book, Reviews / 2 Comments

Tags: Dorian Bane, Extreme Escapes, Free Falling, M/M Romance, Romantic Suspense, S.E. Jakes

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review.
This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Free Falling

by S.E. Jakes

Narrated by Dorian Bane

Series: Extreme Escapes
Genres: M/M Romance, Romantic Suspense
Published by Riptide
Released on March 10, 2018
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher

The Delight

It has been some time since I devoured each new release in the author’s Hell or High Water Series and a few books loosely attached to this world, but there was one story I had not taken the opportunity to visit until now. Encountering it newly released in audio format with a favorite narrator was just the kick in the pants I needed to grab it.

Review

As I indicated, Free Falling, is something of a crossover book. It bridges the Men of Honor and the Hell or High Water series. I’ve not read the Men of Honor series and encountered Mick and Blue as associates with Prophet and Tom in the Hell or High Water books. After listening to this one, I don’t think it would work as a standalone or a prequel, very well. There is not much introduction to the world of the book and I felt like there was an assumption that the reader is already familiar with the series setting and the characters.

Free Falling is the story of how Mick and Blue came together through a series of encounters- some on and some off page- and gave more of their background.
While I’m as up for a lot of gritty and hot loving as the next person, I felt the plot suffered as a result of the device used to reunite this pair and give the motivation of the plot. I felt the relationship suffered because not once, but twice (making it nearly half the book) we spend with one or the other of this pair out of their minds due to some super-charged date rape drug that puts the poor recipient into a lust-filled craze for hours. The first time it happened it was defying belief (medically, particularly), but to have it occur again? Wish the plot could have gone with something else to have this pair working together in and out of the bedroom.

But for all my frustration with the date rape drug, I did feel this pair had some good chemistry. So opposite and so much more than they seemed to each other. I had a good time when they were locked away together in Mick’s place driving each other nuts with their snark and Blue’s antics. I was gulping back emotions when Blue was with his sister in the hospital and Mick came to support him. I would definitely love to see more of this pair working together.

As to the narration work, Dorian Bane was a great fit for this pair of rough and tumble guys, the dangerous world, and sizzling encounters. I had no trouble imagining what I was hearing from the characters to the storyline itself.

In summary, I was glad to finally get Mick and Blue’s story, wish the drug hadn’t been a part of it, but loved the action scenes and the pairs’ chemistry. Those who are fans of either/both the Men of Honor and Hell or High Water series will love getting this story.

My thanks to Riptide for the opportunity to listen to this book in exchange for an honest review.

Challenges

Romance Roundabout #129 LGBT
New Release #59
Mt. TBR #52
Audio #27
Books N Tunes #20 Lynryd Skynyrd’s Free Bird Tune:

Recommendations

About S.E. Jakes

SE Jakes writes m/m romance. She believes in happy endings and fighting for what you want.

You can contact her the following ways:

You can email her at authorsejakes@gmail.com

You can post to her Facebook page: Facebook.com/SEJakes

You can Twitter her: Twitter.com/authorsejakes

You can post on her Goodreads Group: Ask SE Jakes

You can follow her on Tumblr: http://sejakes.tumblr.com

You can ask her a question as part of the Ask The Author program on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/4595…

Truth be told, the best way to contact her is by email or in blog comments. She spends most of her time writing but she loves to hear from readers.

***
SE Jakes is the pen-name of New York Times Bestselling Author Stephanie Tyler (and half of Sydney Croft!)

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Sophia Rose

I was born and raised near Sacramento, CA. I have read since I was four years old and developed tastes that run the gamut of literature. I went away to college and have a degree in education, a certificate in family history research, and a certificate in social work. I worked for a non-profit agency with low income families for 20 years which included being responsible for the children’s library and promoting/teaching adult literacy. I have lived in Southeast Michigan for the last 18 years and I am currently a book addicted homemaker with a cat and husband who keep me grounded. Recently, I made it a challenge to review each book that I have read as a favor to author friends who said reviews are important. I have done reviews for Good Reads, Amazon, eBay, and Smashwords, but mostly at Goodreads and Amazon.