Hazel Ross had no idea what she’d stepped into that night at my 18th birthday party. I’d waited years for the right moment, and there she was, forcing me to show my cards before it was time. Now she wasn’t only a pawn for our enemies, she had a target on her back.I don’t regret it, even though I should. I could never regret making Hazel mine again. She gave me something real to fight for. It was … for.
It was too late for her to back out now. She was one of us again. And she was about to find out what that meant.
more
Hazel and Cruz…..sigh…. they are an amazing couple with incredible chemistry. Where Defiance Falls set up mystery and storyline, this book gives us all the details. How the mysteries and storyline unfolds is amazing and sucks you right in. I absolutely loved this book and cant wait till the final installment!!
Go check this book series out! seriously! right now! This is the second book in the series and it goes into even more depth and uncovers so many details and depth of love in the book! I am on the edge of my seat waiting for the next book to come out!!! Any book by Ali Dean is always one I will read and you should too!!!
Batter up! Ali Dean knocks this one out of the park!!
Since this is the second book in the Defiance Falls series, I highly recommend you reading the first book in order to understand what’s going on.
Ali Dean has truly stepped up her game with this one. With information and secrets being revealed to Hazel, I got a better look into her family and friends and especially into Cruz as well. Now, with tensions running higher than ever before with the Malone’s, I was taken on a rollercoaster ride of emotions that I loved. It was a mixture of excitement, mystery, loyalty, adventure, revenge and the best part….ROMANCE! Yep, Ali totally kicked it up a notch with this one and I absolutely devoured every word!!
While Hazel is developing herself into a more confident persona, watching her transition has been nothing short of amazing. She’s not going to be seen as a victim anymore and is embracing her badassness, while becoming a player in the game.
The best part of this book is the relationship between Hazel and Cruz. The love Cruz has for Hazel just melts my heart. The affection he displays towards her will make you wish he actually existed too. Lol. This book is just full of all around awesome characters with personalities to match!
I can’t wait for the next book to come out and will be counting down the minutes until it gets here!
I really enjoyed seeing Hazel become stronger in this book. After everything she went through in the first book, she’s stronger and more bad*ss.
Cruz is hot. He’s got the whole possessive alpha thing going on and you can feel the love he has for Hazel.
Overall I enjoyed the book. I can’t wait to see what comes in the next one!
So much is packed into the second installment of the Defiance Falls trilogy. There is A LOT that is revealed in this book and a lot happens in just a few short days. I devoured this book in one sitting and was left both satisfied but eager for the next part. The transformation that Hazel begins in the first book blossoms in this one. Now that she knows the truth about Cruz, the Malones, her father, and the town, she’s able to become a player in the game. I won’t reveal too much here, but compare the end of this book to the beginning of the first and try not to be too shocked. Hazel’s a bad ass and we really shouldn’t have been all that surprised.
Beyond the major secrets, Cruz and Hazel’s relationship advances in both big and subtle ways. With the addition of Cruz’s perspective to the narration, we get to see both sides of their relationship, and the toll that their separation took on the two of them. My favorite interactions between the two of them were when they both were honest and worked through their insecurities. It helps to make their relationship much stronger and healthier. Which is not to say that they stop magically making mistakes. They don’t. They’re both bound to make mistakes, but seeing them work through it all is a nice break from the other darker content aka the potential war with the Malones.
Even though we get answers to so many of our questions, I never felt like the plot stalled or got clunky as Hazel pieced her way through the information. Now my main question is this: where do they go from here? I have a couple of ideas, but for now, I’ll keep them to myself….
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
PG-13, revenge-thriller, new-adult novel, suitable for mature teens and adults
Defiance Falls Revolution (DFR) is the second book in a trilogy, and it does not stand alone. The first book, Defiance Falls (DF), ends on a cliffhanger, and this book will not make much sense if DF is not read first. DFR begins immediately after the end of DF, and its events occur across the length of less than a week. Like DF, DFR ends in a cliffhanger, but all plot threads will be tied up at the end of Book 3, Defiance Falls War.
DF is written entirely from the point of view of the heroine, Hazel. However, DFR is written in the dual points of view of both Hazel and Cruz, her love interest, which I personally very much appreciate in a romance story. Hazel is almost 18 and Cruz is just turned 18.
In this book we receive answers to all of Hazel’s burning questions from DF, and the main conflict with a powerful set of mafia-like villains, who were introduced in DF, is massively increased and complicated in DFR. In addition, Hazel’s relationship with Cruz is solidified, and their interactions remain intensely passionate. The same cast of characters from DF are also in DFR, with a few new characters introduced on the evil-villain side of the equation.
I personally would classify this novel as PG-13. It is possible to claim that this book is Young Adult (YA), which is the genre in which this author has always written before now, by asserting that it fits into the YA, social-drama subgenre described by mainstream publishers as “edgy” and “gritty.” Many such YA novels incorporate, as this novel does, coarse language, underage drinking, drunkenness and drug use, moderately explicit sex scenes, and overt violence. However, I believe it might be more accurate to categorize this novel as New Adult (NA) for these reasons: The main characters are either legally adults at age 18, or very close to 18, and in any state in the USA would be tried as adults if charged with a crime. They consistently act with the autonomy of adults, and they illegally carry and brandish unlicensed firearms.
There is a strong focus in this book on aspects of two very popular, storytelling genres. These include: romantic suspense and a subgenre of action-adventure, the revenge thriller, also referred to as a vigilante or vendetta plot. In a revenge-thriller plot, the revenge that the protagonists pursue against their enemies, especially with a female protagonist, tends to be proportionate in an “eye for an eye” type of way. But sometimes the revenge so far exceeds the violence of the original crime committed against the protagonist by the villain, that the protagonist slides away from being “heroic” and into the category of “anti-hero.” A lack of such proportionality is very much the case in the brutal climax of this book.
Personally, vengeful violence, even if proportional, is always a bit much for me to take, because I am rather squeamish. For that reason, a vigilante novel is something I read rarely, and only when written by truly outstanding authors. Which is why I was willing to read DFR, because I am a big fan of Ali Dean’s YA sports romances. Unfortunately, in addition to finding some of the DFR violence difficult to witness, I was personally uncomfortable with the linking of the sexual passion between Hazel and Cruz with their mutual, vengeful blood lust. However, I do realize that this latter plot device can be quite common, and popular with many readers, in romance subplots in the urban fantasy genre, especially in shapeshifter, demon and vampire novels. I also freely admit that true fans of revenge stories might actually consider this novel’s vengeful violence to lie on the “tamer” end of the continuum of the type of violence which routinely occurs in classic vigilante plots.
One last, personal pique of mine is this: I find the unchallenged, pious claim of “virginity” coming from a significant character in this book, who freely admits to having engaged in unprotected, mutual, oral sex with multiple partners, to be the height of self-delusion and hypocrisy. Oral sex is, in fact, sex. It is extremely heteronormative to assume that only the insertion of a penis into a vagina constitutes sex. In addition, though unprotected oral sex does not cause pregnancy, it can definitely spread sexually transmitted diseases. However, once again, I admit that including unprotected oral sex in the sexual history of romance protagonists is a fairly frequent occurrence in NA romances in general, though this book’s inclusion of the “technical virgin” claim is the first I’ve personally seen in a YA or NA novel.
Those personal quibbles aside, however, as always, Ali Dean writes compelling characters in exciting situations in all her books, including this one, and she is an excellent writer in general. Her books are also, without fail, well edited, well formatted, and contain lovely covers, and DFR is no exception in that regard either.
I rate this book as follows:
Heroine: 3 stars
Hero: 4 stars
Subcharacters: 4 stars
Romance Plot: 5 stars
Revenge-Thriller, Anti-Hero Plot: 3 stars
Writing: 4 stars
Overall: 4 stars
Note: I received an ARC of this novel from Booksprout.
I am loving this new suspense/mystery series and genre from Ali Dean! This book did an amazing job of picking up where the first book in the series left off. As with all of Ali’s books I was left with wanting more and am so looking forward to the 3rd and final book in the series to see where these characters end up! Thanks for another great one Ali, as always!!!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
IMPOSSIBLE to Put Down!
This series is everything I could have hoped for from the passion and excitement that explodes through the page turning storyline with a non-stop bundle of twists that fueled my emotions and an ending that has me excited and frazzled at the same time with a powerful want to know were this fantastic series will head from the unexpected turn that continues to have hungry and desperate for more.
Finally, we get some answers to so many questions we accrued in the first book. So, we should be set to go, right? Not exactly. We have some questions answered, but now there are even more to add to the conundrums of what the heck is going on?!?!! Some of the new knowledge was heartbreaking, while other secrets were riveting and spiked your blood pressure. What I loved about his book versus the first is that Hazel came out of her shell. She is no longer the victim. She is taking charge of her life and being a bada$$ while at it. And oh, sweet Cruz. He is so far gone in love with Hazel, it is the sweetest thing ever. You can actually feel the adoration he holds for her. I’m hoping for the conclusion to be more transparent with the Malones and find out more acknowledgment of some inquiries that were brought up in book one but never resurfaced in book two. Ali Dean is a rock star at storytelling and I can’t wait to be blown away with the final installment of this series. I will be waiting on the edge of my seat!
I am willingly leaving a review for a book I could not put down.
WOW!! I devoured Defiance Falls Revolution in one sitting!! This book brought a roller coaster of emotions out starting from the first page! When the first book ended with Cruz getting arrested I was freaking out and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the next book to find out what happened!
When the guys finally told Hazel everything and we finally got to see how far all the war between the Malones and Braven. From Hazel’s dad’s involvement to the what the guys where doing together.
Banding together to not only protect Hazel but get revenge for Hazel for what went down in the first book. I love how Hazel and Cruz’s relationship has revolved and the big steps they have taken in their relationships throughout this book just shows how right they are for each other. The other relationship that I found that I loved so much was Hazel and the whole group of guys.
I was hooked from the first book and this book went beyond my expectations and I can’t wait to read the third book!! If you haven’t started to read the first book get on it, you won’t regret reading this amazing trilogy!! Thank you so much Ali Dean for writing this amazing book!!
** Was provided an ARC for an honest review**
Love love love it! The excitement, thrill, passion, adventure and trust all wrapped up into one book! I read this book in one setting, spent 5 hours on the couch just reading. Ali, girl you know how to make me blush just by reading your books. Lol I seriously can’t wait until the next one!!!
This is the second book in the Defiance Falls series. You will need to read book 1 first. This book starts off from the cliffhanger in the first book. This series is different the Ali Deans usual books.
Hazel finally knows all the secrets Cruz and her friends and family have been keeping. She is determined to help them against the Malone’s. Cruz and Hazel’s relationship deepens now that they are together and the secrets are out. Now they needs to decide the best coarse of action to go against the Malone’s.
This book is packed with excitement, romance, and intrigue. Hazel and her guys and strong and protective of each other. This series is fast becoming may favorite of Ali Deans book.