Fall Hard edition by JL Merrow Literature Fiction eBooks
Download As PDF : Fall Hard edition by JL Merrow Literature Fiction eBooks 
When you’ve already paid the price for falling, is it safe to trust again?
An accident at Iceland’s Gullfoss Falls robbed British academic Paul Ansell of his American lover—and his memories of all their time together. Eight months later, back in the volcanic land to resume his research on bloodthirsty Viking Egil Skallagrimsson, Paul is still struggling to get his life back together. But trying to deal with his growing feelings for enigmatic Icelander and jet-boat driver Viggo is even harder.
Is Paul’s explosive attraction to this tall, tattooed, modern-day Viking all physical—or sparked by hidden memories? Paul’s drawn to the idea of a fresh start, but troubled by Viggo’s odd reluctance to talk about their friendship before the accident.
Meanwhile, Alex Winter, a Boston history professor on a working holiday, won’t stop asking disconcerting questions. Unsure whom to trust, and unable to trust himself, Paul begins to suspect the fall at Gullfoss was no accident—but he’s about to learn that some things are better off forgotten.
Fall Hard edition by JL Merrow Literature Fiction eBooks
I RECEIVED THIS BOOK AS A FREE REVIEWING COPY FROM THE AUTHOR.I think by now I am pretty sure that when I will open the book by this writer, the technical side of the writing won't disappoint. I do not mean that I have the qualifications to evaluate the technical side of the writing, but her book always feel well written to me - it flows well, settings are descriptive, etc. I guess I always respect how her books are written even if I do not always love them.
I really loved how Iceland came alive on the pages of this book. In fact, settings were probably my favorite part. The story itself was well, dragging on and on and while it was not very long, I had to put it aside couple of times. I guess it was kind of boring and NOT because of the subject matter. That was one of the most frustrating parts. I loved seeing Paul being portrayed as somebody who is dedicated to his academic work, I wanted to know more, not less and still I felt that the pacing of the story was off. Maybe the point was that we were supposed to be frustrated with Paul, on behalf of Paul because he struggled to remember? I do not know, but certainly I was frustrated for whatever reason.
Romance was not very prominent, and that's an understatement. But I knew it was supposed to be mostly a mystery and I did not expect it to be very romantic, although more interactions between the potential couple would have been nice.
Mystery was weird. I have to give the kudos where its due, I was surprised, I was sure somebody else would be a villain, but the ending was just so meh.
2.5 stars
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Fall Hard edition by JL Merrow Literature Fiction eBooks Reviews
I loved it. I have read virtually all of the full-length JL Merrow books available in the , and have yet to be disappointed.
For one thing, she writes so damned well. Her prose and dialog just flow, leading you, inexorably, where she wants you to go. For another, her heroes are never dumb, self-absorbed stereotypes. They are smart (often academics) as is her writing. "Hard Fall" is no exception. The author sets up a counterpoint between the modern academic who is the main character and heroes/villains of ancient Icelandic lore. For that reason, the land and the people of Iceland are as much characters as the modern academics who populate the story.
And what an unusual affliction Ms. Merrow has chosen for her hero (Paul) to overcome - amnesia, the result of a fall from the top of a waterfall that left him injured and his lover, Sven, dead. There are lots of red herrings on the way to the resolution of the mystery of what happened on the outcropping the day they fell, leaving you (and Paul) wondering if Viggo, his new Viking (Icelandic) lover had pushed them off the cliff or if Paul, himself, had done something to cause his own lover's death.
I won't give away the answer to that, the mystery at the core of the book, but let me say that I was enormously surprised at what it turned out to be. And I love that in a book. I love to be surprised and delighted and engrossed in a book. "Fall Hard" did not disappoint. Add to that a really good HEA, and I'm, once again, an extremely satisfied reader of Ms. Merrow's work!
I'll preface this by saying that Merrow has written some of my favorite books (Muscling Through, Pressure Head), but Fall Hard didn't work for me.
The story idea is interesting--MC Paul survived a fall off a waterfall in Iceland, but loses his memory of the year prior, meaning all his memories of his time in Iceland, including those related to his boyfriend Sven (who died in the same fall.) Now Paul has returned from recovering in England to his post-doc studies, but he is plagued by uncertainty. Who was he before? Who was Sven? Who is this attractive riverboat driver who seems eerily familiar? And of course, the mystery of how the fall happened.
The set-up was great. I was ready for a taut mystery about Paul figuring things out, and realizing that he didn't know who to trust since not everyone was being forthright about their relationship with him from before the fall.
What affected things for me was the pacing (slow, and sometime repetitive) and an overall disconnect with Paul. Paul doesn't really know himself, so a lot of the book is him trying to figure things out, but just as he felt very disconnected, so did I, and I had a hard time marshaling feelings of caring for how things turned out for him. And he would get into these patterns a lot with other characters--ask questions, someone gives him an answer, he feels more confused, he gets irritable, etc. (This happens on repeat with his colleague Mags, who is very nice albeit a bit oblivious.) Paul is understandably confused and irritated about his amnesia, but at times he felt like a very snappish character, and I started thinking that he must be very good-looking for everyone to be so into him because his personality is not very winning.)
The disconnect was a drag, and the pacing was also a drag, and I had to really push through the first half. Around 60-65%, there is some added tension, I started to get excited about things coming together, but Paul's responses are often, "Regain broken memory or come to a realization, freak out, run away, ponder about oneself and others" so the running away and pondering usually returned things back to a slower pace, so the tension never kept up.
And by the time the realization hits, I felt ho-hum about it. Like, "Oh, okay. That's what happened." I kind of wish there was something a little more tense, but oh well.
What I did like Merrow did a great job on the character's voices. They all seemed very distinct, especially Viggo's, the riverboat driver. I loved his easy-going nature. I like Mags as well, but she (and her sad history that Paul doesn't remember) seemed really throwaway by the time I got to the end. Like, once it came up, I thought it would have a more important part of the story, but it doesn't really.
I also loved the setting in Iceland, and Merrow did a great job of describing everything and giving the book a very strong sense of place. It's also just an interesting setting, and I really enjoyed the details of Paul exploring. (I did feel that some of the history and saga lessons could have been culled down, since I felt it slowed the pacing more, and all of it wasn't always relevant to the story, outside of "Icelandic history is cool.")
So, I was disappointed in this one--I'm not sure what could have improved it outside of reworking it to heighten the pacing, tension, and somehow make Paul more present and appealing. (He is a way less readable MC compared to the effervescent charm of Tom in Merrow's Pressure Head. They're different characters, but I started to really miss Tom's voice while reading this.)
I wouldn't let my review stop you though, especially if you like Merrow's works. I recommend going in and making up your own mind. For others, this story really worked for them, and it could work for you too. It just didn't work for me.
I RECEIVED THIS BOOK AS A FREE REVIEWING COPY FROM THE AUTHOR.
I think by now I am pretty sure that when I will open the book by this writer, the technical side of the writing won't disappoint. I do not mean that I have the qualifications to evaluate the technical side of the writing, but her book always feel well written to me - it flows well, settings are descriptive, etc. I guess I always respect how her books are written even if I do not always love them.
I really loved how Iceland came alive on the pages of this book. In fact, settings were probably my favorite part. The story itself was well, dragging on and on and while it was not very long, I had to put it aside couple of times. I guess it was kind of boring and NOT because of the subject matter. That was one of the most frustrating parts. I loved seeing Paul being portrayed as somebody who is dedicated to his academic work, I wanted to know more, not less and still I felt that the pacing of the story was off. Maybe the point was that we were supposed to be frustrated with Paul, on behalf of Paul because he struggled to remember? I do not know, but certainly I was frustrated for whatever reason.
Romance was not very prominent, and that's an understatement. But I knew it was supposed to be mostly a mystery and I did not expect it to be very romantic, although more interactions between the potential couple would have been nice.
Mystery was weird. I have to give the kudos where its due, I was surprised, I was sure somebody else would be a villain, but the ending was just so meh.
2.5 stars
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