Jack Valentini isn’t my type. Sexy, brooding cowboys are fine in the movies, but in real life, I prefer a suit and tie. Proper manners. A close shave. Jack might be gorgeous, but he’s also scruffy, rugged, and rude. He wants nothing to do with a “rich city girl” like me, and he isn’t afraid to say so. But I’ve got a PR job to do for his family’s farm, so he’s stuck with me and I’m stuck with him. … and I’m stuck with him. His glares. His moods. His tight jeans. His muscles.
His huge, hard muscles.
Pretty soon there’s a whole different kind of tension between us, the kind that has me misbehaving in barns, trees, and pickup trucks. I’ve never done anything so out of character—but it feels too good to stop.
And the more I learn about the grieving ex-Army sergeant, the better I understand him. Losing his wife left him broken and bitter and blaming himself. He doesn’t think he deserves a second chance at happiness.
But he’s wrong.
I don’t need to be his first love. If only he’d let me be his last.
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How do you get past “sconegate” without laughing, you don’t but you do get out of town… way out of town. Love, love, love the juxtaposition of city to country, riding boots to cowboy boots and everything in between. Needless to say, this is another sexy, witty and at times tearful book that any Melanie Harlow fan will truly enjoy.
JUST WOW!!! I just finished AFTER WE FALL and honestly this book is now my favourite Melanie Harlow masterpiece!! The characters are so real, so hurt, so sexy and just so perfect you’ll never want to put this book down. Jack is a farmer, ex war vet, and recent widower. Life has been hard on Jack and he feels responsible for all the bad things that have happened to him. Unable to move forward and try to live again, Jack lives in constant misery, reliving all the pain from his past. Along comes rich, city girl Margot, hired to help improve the direction the farm is taking. As she works with Jacks brother & sister in law, she also finds herself attracted to Jack, as he broods and ignores all of her advice, while secretly wanting to be with her. How can 2 people from such different backgrounds find common ground. Can Jack overcome the pull his past has on him. Will Margot find the patience to wait for Jack to realize what they both could have together. This is one book you don’t want to miss. I loved it to the moon and back!!!
This story undoubtedly pulls at the heartstrings more often then not throughout this story. Jack is a country boy that has served his country and is now limiting himself to the lifestyle he feels he should have and not what he deserves. Margot is a city girl that has no idea what to do when it comes to being on farm and being one to get her hands dirty. When she comes to town to help with publications and making more aware of the joys of organically grown products her life changes in more ways then one. I enjoyed the will they, won’t they and seeing the changes in both Jack and Margot. There are moments that nearly brought me to tears with the emotional overload as we find out more and more about the past. Beautifully written and a highly recommended read.
After we fall
Melanie harlow
Reviews on goodreads Amazon and the book addicts (fb)
Holy mother of hotness!!
Whew !!
I’ll take a man that lives on a farm anyday!!
And now I want a chicken coup lol!!
This book is just another fabulous book by Melanie Harlow!
I loves every min of it .. I laughed.. Cried.. Was sad and mad all within a page!!
I have loved every book I have read by this author and can’t wait for more she never disappoints !!
How many tags can I throw on this book? I’m a huge Melanie Harlow fan, and this is one of my favorites. If you haven’t read it yet, do it! 🙂
This is the second book in this series but it can be read as a standalone. It seems crazy that I loved this book yet I did not enjoy the first book in this series. I enjoyed Margot and Jack’s story a lot. The connection between these characters just felt more real to me. It wasn’t instant love, it was hate at first sight, then acceptance, then love. This story had heart touching moments, frustrating moments and moments that made me smile. I even enjoy the side characters; Pete, Georgia, Brad, Jaime and Clare. I’m not sure why I like some of the characters in this story that I didn’t enjoy in the first one other than to say something just clicked for in this one for me. Every thing and every character in this story felt right and I enjoyed the story a lot. The ending was sweet and left me with a smile on my face. It’s definitely one I would recommend to my romance book loving family and friends.
This is book does enemies-to-lovers, opposites attract and insta-lust better than anything I’ve read. The lead characters are well-developed, their attraction is quick yet believable which isn’t easy to pull off. I found myself unable to put it down. A fantastic, deep and steamy romance with the perfect amount of well-placed, well-developed wit and humor (scones!)
5 Enjoy the Fall Stars!
This is a sweet ‘opposites attract’ romance that will capture your heart and never let go. It is hilarious, and sexy but also poignant, emotional, and passionate. Margot Thurber Lewiston grew up in the city with a privileged lifestyle. She is smart, successful, and kind. Jack Valentini is a sullen ex. marine who didn’t like being around people but loved working on his family farm. When his brothers hired Margot’s PR firm to help them promote their business, Jack wasn’t happy about a ‘city girl’ coming in and telling him what to do. Margot saw the sweet, soft survivor under Jack’s moody, defensive, broken, and sexy exterior. After a rough start, Jack soon realized that this beautiful, funny, loving woman was more than he first judged her to be. They had fun together, teased each other and their chemistry was off the charts. Their differences complimented each other and made them so perfect together. But Jack was still suffering great loss and couldn’t get past his guilt to open up completely to Margot. Margot had suffered loss as well and was finding her way to make her life matter again. Will they be able to matter together? There were so many hilarious moments that made me laugh out loud. The poignant moments were so heartfelt and honest and added a depth that kept me turning the pages. Melanie Harlow expertly weaves a story that makes you feel so many emotions and makes you beg for more. I loved every minute of this book, and you will too!
This is my second read by Ms. Harlow and it did not disappoint. It was a Beautiful story of love after loss and finding your truest self. Margot had me from the first line! I cheered her on as she threw those scones and only wished she hadn’t missed more than hit her mark. When Jack came into the story, I fell in love with him alongside Margot. The sex scenes her hot and written beautifully (not raunchy). All characters were three dimensional and easy to get to know. There was no ‘villain’ in this story and no drama for the sake of drama (I hate that!). I read this novel without having read book 1 in the series and it did not take anything from the story. Though, I loved this world so much I already downloaded “Man Candy” and look forward to reading it. Overall, I truly enjoyed this story and can easily imagine Margot and Jack sitting on their porch swing with her head on his shoulder enjoying their evening.
This book is a prime example of why I love this author; her ability to find balance between the sexy times, happy carefree moments, and the trying emotion that comes from characters with tragedy in their past, so basically you’re getting all the feels.
Jack’s passion for Margot allows him to be vulnerable and open up to her in ways he never has before. Margot’s upbringing should have produced a spoiled brat, but while she loves her luxuries, she’s kind and caring and doesn’t expect anything in return. Opposites attract in the second standalone book that is part of the After We Fall series. The author is building a new little universe. I definitely need to check out the rest of the series because the other characters and their stories are definitely intriguing.
Great
This is a wonderful love story. She comes from old money, he is an ex soldier who owns an organic farm with his brothers. Can they find a way to make love work.
4.5 I’ll want to keep you Stars
Margot is pushing thirty, single, and living a rather boring life. Her ex-boyfriend wears pants with whales on them. WHALES! She isn’t happy, but she isn’t unhappy. She’s just living. Carrying on, being a good Thurber woman.
Until her idiot ex stops by one night and proposes. Like the smart, educated woman she is, she declines.
But then she starts to reconsider his offer. I mean, she is almost thirty and good Thurber women are married with a family by this point.
And then, at an event for her father, Margot sees that idiot ex with his…girlfriend turned fiance! This may have caused Margot to Cause a Scene. It also may have the socialites up in arms. It may have been a Scene that had her mother urging her to get out of town.
“You’re a scone cold bitch, you know that!”
So, Margot does just that. She takes a job that has her visiting the Valentini Farm.
Jack Valentini is a war vet, widowed, and living a life of pain. His wife died in a tragic accident and he blames himself for her death. He’s not living so much as he’s surviving.
Until Margot shows up at his farm and turns his life upside down. Being the man he is, he believes he deserves to live his life in pain, he doesn’t deserve happiness, and he doesn’t think a city girl like Margot Thurber Lewiston has a place on his farm.
Asking to learn more about the farm she is trying to help, Jack is the one who does the day-to-day chores. This leaves Jack to take her around and show her the ropes. He doesn’t have high hopes for Margot’s ability on the farm, but she’s a fast learner and he’s quickly mesmerized–although he’d never admit it.
The last thing I needed was to drag her ass around all day, explaining things. Or stare at her ass all day, imagining things.
This is one of those books where opposites attract and the ride is so much fun that I never wanted it to end. I mean, they are so completely different. He calls her “city girl” for Christ’s sake! But really, they are freaking adorable. He’s cranky and grumpy and only seems to really come out of his self-imposed prison when Margot is around.
“Don’t worry, Farmer Frownypants, your secret is safe with me.” She patted my leg. “I won’t tell anyone how sweet you really are.” I leaned over to whisper in her ear. “And I won’t tell anyone how dirty you really are.”
These two are explosive in the bedroom. Chemistry is off the charts. And damn, if it doesn’t make me want a farmer/cowboy of my own.
Margot sweet and bubbly in broad daylight was tempting enough–Margot feisty and looking for trouble in the dark was downright dangerous.
Why can’t life be simple and these two people realize that they have to be together? Why do they make me stress about things like whether or not they get their HEA? Why do they insist on making it difficult?
Anyway, that’s what they do, but it’s okay. I have come to accept the difficult with my romance. It happens. There has to be conflict. Jack and Margot are no exception to this rule.
“Fuck you. I want this. I don’t even know why I want this so badly, but I do.”
Melanie, where can I find a Jack? I think I need one.
She grinned devilishly, her blue eyes lighting up. Sometimes I wonder if it was that smile that did me in.
I started reading this book off of the recommendation of a book group and all I can say is WOW! Melanie is a new author to me so I was not sure what to expect, but oh my goodness, this book was amazing! The writing is smart, funny and sexy and I was hooked from page 1! I loved her heroine Margot. She was real and relatable despite her rich city girl upbringing. She was the perfect match to Jack. His backstory is heartbreaking and painful and his soul is tortured. I completely fell in love with Jack and Margot and enjoyed every delicious, painful, heartfelt, sad word in their perfectly imperfect love story. 5 stars!
A powerful love story of a young man dealing with the nightmares of his tours in the Middle East and the death of his wife by a drunk driver.
You can’t help but love Harlow’s broken hero and root for the young woman who brings him back to life with the power of love. Hot and heavy!
First I’d like to say, hello cover. Nice lookin’ atcha! *finger waves*
This was a really good story, I enjoyed it a lot. The only thing that was holding me back was good ole super hot and extremely moody farmer Jack. Dang is he ever Sir McGrumpypants! It was almost comical how he acted liked a child sometimes. But, I get why he was like that. I was just getting whiplash from all of his different moods. Margot is great, she has so much patience. I loved when she got pissy. Overall, another fantastic story!
Side note: I love reading Melanie’s books because I’m in Michigan and when she writes about places around here, I’m like I’ve been there or I know where that’s at! It’s just so super cool to me.
This book was just weird. It was unrealistic, and hard to follow at that. I only read to the 3rd chapter and that took me forever. Just not my cup of tea. Maybe someones but not mine .
I absolutely love this story. It has everything you’d want and more. Hot, sexy, tortured farmer Jack, and a wronged city girl, Margot, who finds her inner strength and passion. I was hooked from the prologue, laughed my pants off, and swooned so hard. Another phenomenal read by Melanie Harlow. A must read, highly recommend this book!
Interesting
I loved this book so hard!!! Jack and Margot were both so amazing! They were both super stubborn, head strong people, but they both loved so hard! These two hard headed individuals were so perfect for each other. I loved the bickering and fighting between them, I also loved the relationships with the different family members and friends. I constantly found myself laughing or smiling. I enjoyed this book sooo much!!!! The audio was FANTASTIC! Rob and Renee were wonderful!
Melanie Harlow is a great author that weaves a story that tugs at your heart. This is a great book.