Sweet Fall
(Sweet Home #3)
by
Tillie Cole 
From the USA Today Best Selling Sweet Home Series, comes Sweet Fall; a tale of heartache, beating the odds and finding strength in the most unlikeliest of places.
We all have secrets.
Secrets well buried.
Until we find the one soul who makes the burden of such secrets just that little bit easier to bear.
Lexington "Lexi" Hart is a senior at the University of Alabama. Surrounded by her best friends, her loving family and having fulfilled her life-long dream of making the Crimson Tide cheer squad, everything is going exactly as she always dreamed it would. But beneath her happy exterior, demons lurk, threatening to jeopardize everything Lexi has worked to achieve. When events in her life become too much to cope with, Lexi finds herself spiraling down into the realm of her biggest fear. Lexi falls hard, victim once again to the only thing that can destroy her and, on the way, finds herself falling straight into the dangerous tattooed arms of a guy from the wrong side of the tracks.
Austin Carillo, starting Wide Receiver for the Alabama Crimson Tide, must get picked in this year's NFL draft. He needs it. His brothers need it. Most importantly, his mother desperately needs it. Brought up in a world where the poor are forgotten, the sick are left to fend for themselves and no hero miraculously appears to pull you out of hell, Austin had no other choice but to make a living on the wrong side of the law—until football offered Austin the break to get his life back on track. But when a family tragedy drags him back into the clutches of the gang he believed he had left far behind, Austin finds himself falling. Falling back into criminal ways and falling deep into a suffocating darkness. Until a troubled yet kindred spirit stumbles across his path, where Austin quickly finds he is falling for a young woman, a young woman who might just have the power to save him from his worst enemy: himself.
Can two troubled souls find a lasting peace together? Or will they finally succumb to the demons threatening to destroy them?
New Adult/Contemporary Romance novel—contains adult content, sexual situations and mature topics. Suited for ages 18 and up.
Can be read as a stand-alone novel.
5 of 5 stars
Wow.. just wow...
Anyone who knows me, or follows my reviews, knows Iam not a huge Contemporary Romance fan. And the ones I do like, I am super picky about. I have a handful of authors that write Contemporary that I love, and Iam a hard sell in this genre. However, ever since Sweet Home, I have been a Tillie Cole fan. I loved Sweet Home and Sweet Rome, and I have been waiting to get my hands on this one. So when the opportunity rose to review the ARC, I jumped on it.
Sweet Fall did not disappoint. And as I read the last words, it easily found it's way onto my 2014 Favorite Reads list. I fell in love with Rome, but Austin has stolen my heart. And Im not sure he plans on giving it back anytime soon. And to be honest, I don't think I want it back.
Austin Carillo is a bad boy ex gang banger from the wrong side of the tracks. Attending Bama on a football scholarship, he is trying to get his life straight, but is finding it harder and harder to stay on the straight and narrow when things at home are falling apart.
Lexi is the daughter of a well to do family. The only child of a nero surgeon, a chance encounter when she was 16 leaves her broken. As she struggles to over come her demons, she walks around wearing a mask, hiding behind the goth girl image. She doesnt allow herself to get close to anyone, especially boys.
In the prologue of Sweet Fall, Tillie mentions that this book is personal to her. It is about something that she herself has walked through. And you can tell that every word written is personal to her. You can feel the emotion pouring off the pages. And I found myself ugly crying a time or two, and my heart broke for Lexi to the point I could feel her pain. I wanted to reach into the pages and wrap my arms around her, and tell her that everything was going to be ok.
Austin has made his way onto my favorite men list. My book boyfriend of the moment. He is a rare jewel in the middle of a crazy world. His compassion and his ability to respect all of Lexi's boundaries and misgivings, blew me away. He was selfless. He was amazing. Underneath the tattoos and bad attitude was a broken boy who was trying to protect himself from any more pain. A boy who had been given lot in life that most people would crumble under the pressure of. His inner strength was admirable. He had a heart of gold, and I found myself crying a few times with him, when he had gotten to the point that the weight of all that was swirling around him came crashing down.
Some people say there is no such thing as fate. Or soul mates. But Lexi and Austin prove that soul mates do exist. And that 2 broken people can be the healing balm that soothes the soul, and helps to heal the hurt that lies with in. 2 broken people that hide behind masks. 2 broken people that are living lies about who they are. But when the 2 of them come together, there is an understanding that runs so deep, an unbreakable bond is formed. A kinship that fuzes their souls together and help to lead each other out of the darkness they have been living in. A connection that is bone deep, and a love that makes it hard to breath without each other.
I loved the fact that although there was some angst, some misunderstandings, and a bit of craziness, Sweet Fall did not focus on those parts of the story, dragging out the bad and skimming over the good. It was not one of those books you find yourself skimming through so that you can find out what happens. But it is a book that you savor. It was so well written, I did not want it to end. And I hope we get a novella that picks up where this one ended and gives us a bit more of their future. Sweet Fall was wrapped up nicely. But I really want more of Austin and Lexi. There is a part where Austin shares his dreams with Lexi. His dreams of the future. And I really really want to read about his dreams coming true.
Sweet Fall is part of a series. It is the 3rd book. Sweet Home and Sweet Rome are books 1 and 2. Although you dont have to read the 1st two, I recommend it. There are parts of Sweet Fall that you will better understand if you have read the 1st two. And either way, you will not regret picking this one up.
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