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, … 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 17 and up.
CAN BE READ AS A STAND-ALONE NOVEL
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Lexi thinks she is rid of all her demons. Her illness is at bay and she is a University Of Alabama cheerleader. She struggles every day and as the days go by it gets harder and harder. With bad boy/football star Austin Carillo in her life what will happen? Can they save each other? His gang, her disease. Who will win?
Lexi and Austin
A messed up boy and a messed up girl
Sweet Fall
Sweet Fall is Lexi and Austin’s story. This book was so heartbreaking. I loved every single page. It was raw and real. So incredibly intense. Thank you Tillie for writing this heart wrenching love story.
We met Lexi and Austin for the first time in Sweet Home. Lexington “Lexi” Hart is a beautiful, fun, perky, sweet loving pixie girl. She’s a cheerleader of the Crimson Tide cheer squad. Underneath all the goth makeup and happy attitude hides a painful secret. No one knows her struggles. The demons she’s fighting with everyday. Not even her best friends.
It takes a beautiful broken soul to recognise another broken soul. Austin Carillo is that broken boy. He is struggling. It’s not easy being a poor, trailer park trash football star with a sick mother and a criminal brother, while trying to take care of your younger innocent brother. Austin was a wide receiver and a phenomenal football player. Football is his ticket out of this life. It’s in all this mess with obligations and guilt for not being enough, he meets a beautiful pixie girl. The more they talk to each other, share their secrets. The more they realize they have secrets that could destroy their future. They found a very unconventional love. They never dreamed they would find love in each other. But sometimes love is not enough. And you have to learn how to fight. How to make hard decisions. And these two will have to start fighting for life. For each other. Their relationship is complicated. It’s powerful. It’s painful. It’s everything.
“So you see, Pix, I have scars too. It’s just mine are on the outside where everyone can see.”
This story is so powerful. And it’s stories like this that’s the reason why I love reading. This story deals with eating disorder, death, drugs, crime and sickness. I’m so proud of these characters. The journey they had to go through to finally be free. Although they are from different worlds, they found trust, courage, understanding and love in each other. They accepted each other’s flaws. Their torturous, tender souls found more than a lifeline in each other. Their love is an inspiration. They overcame their fears. And they had so much unconditional love to give despite their damage inside. I’m sitting here with tears in my eyes. This story is truly a must read.
“You’re no burden to me Pix. You’re safe in my arms, where you belong”
I absolutely loved this book when i first read it, i felt like i connected with Lexi a lot more than i have with any other character, for what she goes through with her disorder not that i had a disorder at all but my relationship with food and self image has always been a problem.
The way Tillie Cole wrote this book was amazingly beautiful and you could feel the rawness and hurt and the damage that both characters endured through out the pages for me it was perfectly written.
I have listened to the audiobook this time and god help me with these sad books while driving is going to take me off the road one of these days. This book was so emotional for me with every aspect of this book.
With Austin you could feel his heartbreak for his mama and god this storyline had been crying quite a bit and his mama was such a beautiful character and i love the Love Austin had for her, his family was everything and if he let you in he was always going to become his family.
I also loved Levi who was so innocent but would do anything for his brothers and mama. Then there was Axel who you would hate till the very end but he redeems himself and you can’t not love him.
I loved how these two broken and damaged characters came together and without realising it really saved each other and i loved the way they both didn’t realise that they were helping each other.
This is one book and a the series that i will never forget absolutely in love with these stories and i can’t wait to start listening to the next book in the series.
This book deserves so much more than 5 stars but that’s all i can give it. This is a series that everyone needs to read i couldn’t recommend this book and series enough
Don’t really know how to start but I will start off by saying I loved this book from beginning until end. To say it’s good is an understatement! Such an amazing heartfelt story that just gripped you. Very heartbreaking to read at times but a story that just needs to be told ‘cuz somewhere out in the world, someone is struggling with the same thing. I had tears in my eyes and although I have never been where Lexi has been, it was emotional to read ‘cuz I really can relate to what she was feeling! Loved Lexi and Austin together, the way they found each other and just the way they understood each other. Such a loving romance. This book is a must read and it just teaches you once again that life isn’t easy, everyone has their own struggle but somehow somewhere someone can come into your life and try to make you whole. Definitely more than 5 stars for me!
Before I start my review I want to say ‘thank you’ to the writer Tillie Cole for writing this emotional (and for her personal) story. It couldn’t be easy to write this, to share this with the world but she did it and through this story I have the feeling that I understand this eat-disorder a little bit more. So thank you!
After reading and loving ‘Sweet home’ (the first book of this series) I couldn’t wait to read ‘Sweet fall’ the next story in this series.
We already met Lexington ‘Lexi’ Hart and Austin Carillo in the first book ‘Sweet home’ of this series. Being the best friends of Molly and Romeo, we saw them a lot in the first book but after reading their story in ‘Sweet fall’ I realize now that we only saw a small part of them in the first book. There is a lot hidden under the surface.
She did it! Lexington ‘Lexi’ Hart is a senior at the University of Alabama and she’s a cheerleader of the Crimson Tide cheer squad! Something that she didn’t believe possible a few years back but she has work hard to make it possible and she made it! But Lexi is no fool, she knows that she has to be careful. Because she’s knows that it can all change in a second. But for now everything is going fine.
Austin Carillo is also living his big dream. He’s a starting Wide Receiver for the Alabama Crimson Tide. Being born on the wrong side of the track, Austin never though he would make it so far but he did thanks to his talent for playing football and his best friend Rome. Now, the next big step is to get picked in this year’s NFL draft. He’s almost there, he just has to stay on the right pad and then he can save his family from poverty.
But just like it happens many times, life has a way to bring someone back to reality and this also happens to Austin. Because the sad truth is that his mother doesn’t has a couple of months left. She’s very sick and she needs medication now. Austin’s two brothers are doing what they can to provide for this but the bills are piling up. They need more money and they need it now!
Although Lexi and Austin know each other through their friends Molly and Rome, they didn’t talk much with each other. But then one night changes everything and nothing will ever be the same again for the both of them. After that one night they meet each other again and again in different circumstances. They talk to each other and get to know each other more and more. And the more they get to know each other, the more they realize that they’re both hiding a lot of things. Things that not even their best friends know about. Things that could destroy them and their future. A future that they fought so hard for but that could be destroyed by a whisper, by a word.
Austin and Lexi never dreamt that they would find love with each other but sometimes love isn’t enough, sometimes life forces you to make hard decisions. And that’s just what Austin has to do, to help his mother he has to go back on a path that he never though he had to take again, a path away from Lex and football, not knowing that in taking that path Lexi will fall from her path too. Will Austin find his way back on time to save Lexi or will he lose everything?
Just like with ‘Sweet home’ Tillie Cole got my attention for the start and she hold it throughout the story. It was emotional at times but I loved it just as much as ‘Sweet home’ if not more! I found Lex and Austin perfect for each other and loved both very much. Although they’re both from different worlds, they have one thing in common, they’re both different from the people around them and I loved that about them. I liked the fact that the story was told from both their POV’s, I loved it that I knew what was happening in both their lives and heads. I can’t wait to read more of this series!
Another great book in this series. I definitely recommend this book, this series and this author.
“She concealed her tears but shared her smiles”
This sentence alone brought tears to my eyes. I just know how it feels to pretend and act like you are happy but inside feeling like there is no way out. Such a powerful sentence that means so much. I will probably get it tattood some day.
Both Lexi and Austin were tortured souls, that were struggling under so much stress. Both hiding, Lexi behind her dark make-up and Austin behind his tattoos. It was a long and hard road for them, and the HEA didn’t come easy. Both were on the edge of the cliff and falling, I was thankful that they found their way back to each other. They started healing each other, which was very emotional.
“Why the war paint, Pix? Because I can’t stand the girl underneath” “Why the tattoos? Because I can’t bear seeing the scars of my past.”
I liked that this book wasn’t insta-love. Lexi was terrified of Austin because of something that happened. Eventually they got to know each other and opened up more than they ever did to anyone else. I loved the ending of the book even though they had to hit rock bottom before realising that they needed help and couldn’t do anything on their own.
Tillie is an amazing writer, and keeps surprising me each book. She is an insta-buy author for me and I cant wait to read more of her books.
I finish this book in tears! The story is both beautiful and heartbreaking. It made me feel both joy but also a lot of pain.
The subjects approached are real and difficult. I felt so much for Austin & Lexi. Pain, loss, conflict, pressure, surrender, trust, love, everything is the center of this magnificent story.
I remember I almost stop reading this series after the first book because I DNF it. I would have missed Sweet Fall. I would have missed a story with so many meanings, with so many messages. I would have missed one of my favorite book written by my favorite author. Yes I think now after so many books I’ve read and loved I can say Tillie, you are the best author I know. They are not a lot of authors who can write such a story and pay tribute to the victims of disorders keeping it realistic and giving hope at the same time. Thank you