Fallen (Blood & Roses #4) by Callie Hart
Erotic Novella
Self- Published
Released: July 8, 2014

Reviewed by Sheena

Tag line: He’ll Tear the World Down To Get What He Wants

It’s happening.  It’s happening.  IT IS HAPPENING. Finally! Four books down and Zeth is tearing down his steely reinforced walls that protect him from giving in to his true heart’s desire and allowing Sloane to slip in.  However,  what he may not have been prepared for are the carefully erected barriers that protect Sloane’s own heart.  This book is the story that changes all that.

This opens with a very perplexing prologue.  Perhaps too perplexing – it kind of threw me off balance and had me worried about what was going on.  I even questioned if I had by chance accidentally been given the wrong ARC because umm, whaaaaat the hell was going ON?  But after double checking the cover and file name, I read on and chapter one snatched me right back into the depths of the world of which I am familiar.  Zeth’s word.  Where what he says the fuck goes.  And I love it.

The last book ended with the most insane cliffhanger where everything the previous books built up to was smashed to smithereens right before my eyes.  What will Zeth do now that Sloane, in effect does not need him anymore?  His internal code requires he let her go her own way but his soul demands he keep her near- which is wise as they also find themselves in harrowing danger- literally- from start to finish.   Be braced!  This is the most revealing of all the Blood & Roses installments.  Being inside Zeth’s head as he makes his decision regarding Sloane is so exciting and rewarding!  I love that Sloane is taking NO bullshit and she calls Zeth on his immediately!  I whooped and cheered when she quite expertly turned the tables on his controlling ways.  Fallen should have a subtitle: HELL YEAH!!!  Because there were so many hell yeah!!  fist pump moments that I had to stop a few times and yell YES, YESSSSSSS!!!  I am not ashamed to admit that I totally sounded like a damn herbal essence commercial.  I was completely undone.  Just un-done.

“Open you legs for me Sloane….No touching….”

A violent spike of adrenaline rocks through me when I feel how wet her panties are.  I’ve never been one to get worked up over girls ruining their underwear, but with Sloane it’s different…a look of shock draws her expression a little flat…she thinks I don’t want her hands on me…this is the problem with caring what the other person is thinking.  Things were a hell of a lot easier when I didn’t give two fucks.  I grab hold of my new little toy…letting my eyes travel up the length of Sloane’s body.  Some guys don’t eat pussy.  But then again, some guys aren’t really fucking good at it like I am…”

Honesty and authenticity is a recurring theme.  Zeth needed to know that Sloane really sees him and understands that sometimes a man is just a bad man because he likes it.  No childhood trauma to blame, no abusive creepy uncle to scapegoat.  Sometimes a man is just plugged into the dark side and keeps the hook up because he loves the charge.  Sloane had to come to him, stripped of her barriers and fears.  They had to be transparent, lay their feelings, issues and desires all out on the table, sort out the bullshit and then examine what was left.  Thankfully this process was streamlined because Zeth keeps shit simple.  He wants Sloane and declares his feelings for her.  She is HIS.  He challenges her to stop hiding and admit that she wants him as well , and then they have ama-zing sexy times.

Perhaps what I love most about Zeth is that he is the real deal.  He shows UP for Sloane! She permeates his every thought. The same angst and panic I experienced at the end of Fracture, where we found out Sloane’s sister, Alexis,  was safe and sound and stayed away from her family by choice– that same OMG, WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN WITH THEM NOW- Zeth grappled with that and an unsure, unbalanced, and shaken Zeth was a thing to behold!  Sloane is easily one of my top fav heroines and his unapologetic brashness and determination to keep my girl safe is sexy as hell!

This is a hard book to review spoiler free- so I will toe the line with this;  Prepare to gape at Zeth’s introduction to Sloane’s parents. Prepare to crush a little on Rebel.  Be prepared to like Lacey! This is a new one for me, she always felt like an extraneous character- but she really hold her own scenes and I found myself appreciating her more than I ever thought possible!! But most of all….be prepared for this:

“I love doing this. The taste of him alone is enough to drive me crazy.  His legs have begun to shake by the time I decide I want more…

“What now angry girl?  What do you think I want?”

My pussy is aching, I want him inside me so bad, I’m still rocking against him, his cock throbbing and swollen between us, and our bodies are starting to sweat….

“You-you want to play with my ass.”

Zeth’s hands grip onto me so hard that I’m sure his fingers are going to bruise.  He inhales in a swift, fast pull of oxygen that tells me I’ve surprised him.

“Oh Sloane……you want me to touch you?”

He reaches beneath me, lightly stroking his fingers through my pussy.  He doesn’t linger there long…he reaches back even farther, and then he’s gently rubbing me in a place I never thought I would specifically ask to be shown some attention…It….feels…it feels AMAZING.

The bold sexuality and eroticism simply can not be denied.  But the moments where the characters are experiencing growth and facing their hard choices  and being faced with harsh realities- this is where the meat of this series is so good.  Out of all the mind blowing, slack jaw, drool inducing sex- the lines that touched me the most, that ripped my heart out, that bring me to misty tears even now,  are when Zeth finally understands who Sloane is to him and what being with him means for her life and we see some of that devil-be-damned exterior give way for the raw feelings of a man who knows he is an absolute danger to the woman he loves, but heaven help him, he can’t give her up.

This is yet another brilliant installment of a series that I have come to adore.  The only issue I have is that we are still too in the dark about her sister’s motivations.  I suspect Hart is saving that for Rebel’s book, but it feels too unnerving and unresolved this late in the game and it nags at me that her circumstances are still shrouded in mystery.  Given the bloody turn of events in Fallen, I have enough mystery to solve to be bothered with my residual curiosity about Alexis.

Loved it and I hope you will too!

Grade: A-

Goodreads l Series

Kindle