All I wanted was a little trouble. Okay, so maybe choosing Cruz Donovan’s 18th birthday party wasn’t the way to go about it. Three years ago, I fell for him. I thought he fell for me too. But when he broke it off, he took my heart and, as if that wasn’t enough, he took my best friends too. They aren’t the same boys I knew before high school started. They’ve got all kinds of secrets they’re … they’re keeping from me. If I want back in, I’ve got to be ready to play their game. I might be a killer soccer player, but I’m not real eager to join a team when they won’t tell me who the opponent is, how to score a goal, or what rules I’m supposed to be following.
I’m in the wrong place at the wrong time, a pawn in games I don’t understand. Maybe I never should have gone looking for trouble in the first place. Is it too late to change my mind?
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Ali Dean is a new to me author. Defiance falls had so much mystery and suspense. It isn’t your typical hs bully story. There is so much intrigue that you will be so hooked from the beginning to the end.
Cruz and Hazel were something else. Their past and current relationship had me on the edge of my seat. Their chemistry was hot. I loved the secondary characters as they made the story come together even more.
The way Ali ended it had me yelling no!! I needed more! I look forward to the next 2 books as the drama unfolds and we see more of Hazel and Cruz.
I was totally frustrated when I first read this book. You ask “why?”. Because it was going to be so long before the next books in the series are released and I have no answers to a million questions.
Then, I just read it again and realized that the other 2 books come out in October. So now I am real excited to read the series. I need answers to the intrigue that Ali Dean has left in this 1st book. Excited to know what the heck is going on with the characters and what they are up to. Hold on for the ride.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Enjoyed this book! Can’t wait to read the rest of the series!! Loved the bad boy character with the tough as nails girl!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I loved the main characters Hazel and Cruz, and I can not wait to see what happens next!
Yummy EXCITEMENT!
A fantastic read that has an unstoppable storyline that kept filled with excitement and squirming oh so good heat. Edgy and well written making this a great addition to this series.
I received this book from Hidden Gem for my honest review.
I felt the book was slow on build up but it took a huge turn and I felt like it sped up. I really enjoyed this book and the characters in it. I fell in love with Cruz and yet I also hated him on how much he keeping away from Hazel. But Cruz wasn’t the only one keeping secrets but her dad and cousins. I loved how Cruz and Hazel relationship have huge ups and then huge downs. I felt like all the main characters are extremely well rounded with faults and pros in each of them. I also loved how Hazel is strong and yet she is weak in some parts as well. I am not sure how much I would trust Cruz and her dad. I read this book in 24 hours and couldn’t put it down. I can not wait till book 2 comes out next month.
Defiance Falls is the first book in new series by Ali Dean and is a departure from her previous sports-centered stories. In this book, many of the characters are soccer players and it is made clear the heroine has spent her life playing soccer with an eye to continuing in college and perhaps beyond, but there is no actual soccer playing involved in the story. Instead, we are told she used to be close to a group of guys years ago, including one that she was involved with and still feels a very strong attraction to, but that none of them have been close for years. She wants more personal connections and fun than the surface acquaintances she has had for several years and goes to a party looking for excitement. From there, without any conversations, she is back in their group and back with her ex but knows nothing about their lives. They are keeping secrets from her and ordering her around, she barely questions them and never pushes to know what is going on even when someone close to her is revealed to be involved, and dangerous things happen over and over. She flops quickly between anger, indifference/passivity and eagerness to kiss Cruz, again with little conversation or activity between them. As usual, I like Ms. Dean’s spare writing style, but this one was almost all tell and no show, and I personally wasn’t a fan of the story at all, which ends without any of the secrets being revealed. One thing I really liked a lot was Cruz’s possessiveness/jealousy, which made a few fun appearances, and the fact that he had been basically pining for her the years they were apart. Unfortunately the rest was a miss for me, but I’m sure others will feel differently so I encourage everyone to read and decide for themselves.
2.5 Stars
Sports romance with suspenseful streak
This story sucked me in so deeply that I didn’t even notice when it ended. I was so immersed and invested in the events that felt almost as I was with the characters inside the book experiencing everything together with them. I loved how Ali Dean with this plot brought us what she does best, super interesting story and fantastic characters. What I love most is that she extended her writing, reached to the areas she didn’t touch before and created sports romance with twists, turns and very intriguing circumstances. And this cliffhanger… Oh boy! Now I’m dying to read more and waiting is really killing me.
This book is very different from her other series but still amazing.
It does start off slow and builds. It has mystery to it as well and a nail bitter. So here is my honest opinion… You meet Hazel who is a senior in High School and she wants to actually have an exciting year. She decides that she will through caution to the wind and enjoy life. Now the reason she decides to do this is because she just sticks to herself such as school and soccer. She is focused on getting into a good school and she is a beast on the field. However she has had an crush/thing for Cruz Donovan. He is the guy that has her heart but does not want to admit that. So when she finally decides to go to a party it just happens to be Cruz Donavans birthday. There she hangs out with her cousins, friends and Cruz. She has not hung out with them since before high school. During all this, you get a back ground story of the town and things just start to happen. Hazel is clueless as to what is going on and tries to get answers but no one is talking and tells her it is best this way. In the meantime, her relationship with Cruz is changing and she is fighting it even though she knows she loves him. Cruz is silent and broody but when it comes to Hazel, he will do anything to keep her safe. She does not know how to feel about that. Then things start to happen and it involves people she cares about until she realizes that she is a pawn in a game she has no idea how to play. This is where I think she needs to start to learn how to defend herself instead of trying to figure out what she wants.
The mystery to this book is not knowing what is going on. The inner turmoil that Hazel goes through trying to decide what her feelings are about. The chemistry with her and Cruz. Not just that, but with other guys trying to get her attention which she tries to discount that as being friends and nothing more. As I said that the story builds and ends in a CLIFFHANGER. There is a scene that gets a bit scary but you have to read what happens next. This is a great book to read if you want a little bit of excitement.
“I recognized it because it was something I had felt on the field occasionally. With the right group. The right team . The right game. A worthy opponent. Only I didn’t really know what the game was, why I was on the team, or who we were playing.”
When I saw this one on Booksprout, I instantly knew I had to read the ARC. I loved the cover, and the blurb pulled me in and promised a story to be interesting. I haven’t read any of Ali’s other books, but I can honestly say that this one makes me want to check out what else she has to offer. It is a refreshing take on a genre that is often times oversexed and unrealistic.
“I might have felt untethered at times, uncertain of my future or my life plan, but with Cruz, I could just be.”
Told from the POV of our heroine, the first installment of the Defiance Falls series tells the story of a star soccer player and her re-entry into her old group of best friends (guys) as well as her relationship with their “leader” Cruz. Its not an enemies to lovers or a bully romance….instead it is more the story of a teen girl trying to discover her place in her world and making the right choices that will keep her and her loved ones happy and safe. It does end on a rather shocking cliffy, but will pick up with book 2 and 3 releasing in October.
“Tame was impossible when it came to the two of us. It had always been like this . It was one of the reasons I figured we’d kept our distance from each throughout high school. We were all or nothing.”
We are introduced to our heroine and narrator Hazel Ross is a rising senior and star soccer player in a town where soccer is “king”, Defiance Falls. With a promising future already pretty much in the bag, she decides to take a break from it all and have fun. Her decision leads her to Cruz Donovan’s 18th birthday party, a decision that will also change the course of her life. You see, Hazel has only really “belonged” fully in one group, a group of the best male soccer players that include her twin cousins and her ex Cruz. But three years ago that all ended, only now they want her back in and Cruz has decided to finally claim her as his.
“I just wanted to be with him, experience him, as if I knew it might be my last time.”
She should be happy…..being back with her guys and finally having the one guy who has always held her heart. But she soon realizes these guys (and her dad) have dangerous secrets they are keeping, secrets that make the Malones from Mayflower Academy a VERY scary enemy. With so many secrets and lies being told, Hazel knows only harm comes from being left in the dark. She is a pawn in a game she doesn’t understand.
“How could I be a part of his life, friends with these guys, if I was in the dark on something that was clearly a huge part of who they were?”
Will Hazel discover what their hiding before its too late? Or will she choose walk away from Cruz and her guys?
This does end in a cliffy of epic proportions, so be prepared to wait until October to continue this series.
“You might not have realized this, Hazel, but you’ve been my girl since our first kiss.”
Overall, I found this was a great start to an intriguing series. Ali did an amazing job at creating Hazel as an authentic feeling teen girl. The way she acts, talks, thinks, etc was as if I was reading the journal of a real 17 year old senior. Its refreshing when so often teens are portrayed as “adults” with way too much power with no real authority doing things that normal kids don’t. There isn’t any unneccessary drama added to the plot, going the route of everyday life over dramatic events just to make the story “better”…..she was able to make her story exciting by the layer of mystery that shrouded it from start to finish. Just when you think that Hazel is rambling or going completely off track, you discover the “rambling” actually adds to or is part of the plot…..there isn’t a lot of useless info or page filler in this one (even though at times it feels as such). It also adds another level of excitement with how Ali feeds us just enough crumbs as the story carries on without revealing the full truth. We know just as much as Hazel, and I love that we are just as much in the dark as she is…..its going to make the big reveal that much more worthy!
“You’re with me, Hazel Ross. I know it. Everyone else knows it. Your ex-boyfriends even know it, they’ve always known. And I know you know it, too.”
As far as the characters go, Ali wrote each one true to their age and personality type. There isn’t profanity just for the sake of using it (there is some but its done so minimally) and the sexual activity is almost nonexistent….its slow building in that dept. The guys do behave in some ways that are questionable, but it has to do with things we are in the dark about currently so I’m sure it will make sense when we get the truth. And as far as others saying that Cruz is too possessive…..well, I guess I read more intense books because he was only VERY mildly possessive, it was more protective than possessive…..him and the guys just want to keep her safe.
If I had to pick anything that I didn’t like, it would be the wishy-washy actions of Hazel and the way she contradicts herself in some parts of the book. I can’t go into too much detail without spoiling it, but at times it goes beyond typical teenage uncertainty. That paired with the incessant soccer (and future) that at times added little to the current plot….its the only reason I took a star away.
“I love you, Hazel Ross. I have since we kissed for the first time at the Lake and I never stopped. I never will.”
This book is definitely worth adding to your library….I can’t imagine anyone who wouldn’t finish this excited for books 2 and 3. Do yourself a favor and take a chance, this promises to be a very satifying series.
“These guys might have been the reason trouble came for me in the first place, but they were also the reason I felt more alive than ever.”
*Spoilers * Ahhhhhh Hazel…she doesn’tknow what to do her heart and body are warring against her mind and being a brainiac what will win? Cruz he was the one that broke her heart and wants to come back again…he said they were on a break! Ha, that is what he thinks. According to this girl no way.
Ali doesn’t let you know the ending just yet. You have 2 more books to go. Ali keep it up and write faster. I’mfrustrated because I need to know what happens.
I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This boom is so good I have read the ARC multiple times. The plot is great. I find something new every time I read it. The cliffhanger at the end has left me wanting the next book.
Ali Dean is back with a new series, Defiance Falls, the first book of which has the same name. If you’ve ever read her books before then you know what to expect: complex plots with lots of twists and turns, a story arc that will go over the course of many books (sometimes too many), wonderful character crafting (the stars here, Hazel and Cruz, are particularly well done) and, oh yes, perfect heat. All in all a consistently pretty darn good bargain. That’s certainly the case here. I’m not going to summarize this one as the blurb does a perfectly good job (and I’m literally dictating this review to my husband from my hospital bed so I don’t want to go on and on ). Instead, I will simply note that the book is easy to recommend. I’m definitely looking forward to the next book in this series.
I have a couple issues with this book, but that doesn’t mean I still didn’t LOVE it.
Ali Dean’s latest takes what she does best – top female athletes – and bends it in a new direction. In this case plopping her main character, Hazel, in the middle of a covert plot. I found the scenario interesting in how it put such a character, who is used to a certain standard of control (i.e. in her athleticism) in the middle of a situation completely out of her control. A situation about which she is purposefully kept in the dark by the people closest to her.
I’m not the first nor will I be the last to proclaim my love of Cruz. He was charismatic and hot and felt powerful and was hot and had an awesome presence about him and oh yeah he was hot. I don’t even fully remember the physical descriptions of him so much as he was just written with a high voltage of sex appeal and magnetism. He also managed not to come off as cocky or dickish – hats off to you Ms. Dean for that achievement – I think in large part because we saw him solely through Hazel’s perspective. If we were to have had scenes from his perspective his actions could have perhaps come off a different way, but since Hazel found him intriguing and protective and attractive, so did we. He and Hazel also had a backstory that let them pretty much jump right into their attraction without venturing into “insta-love” territory, which I very much appreciated.
Hazel is a complex character that we only really started to understand in the latter parts of the book. At first she seemed to have it all, but there was genuine emotional baggage under her shiny facade that was revealed rather nicely – and believably. We don’t usually see people’s vulnerable underbellies right away, and with Hazel we got to learn about it as we went through her experiences with her. I tend to love characters that are the whole package, who are smart and beautiful and super talented at something (ie soccer) and is also a good person. But overall I wasn’t on board with the fact that pretty much every male in the book besides her familial relations (dad, grandfather, cousins) wanted to bang her. More than that though, it’s not the fact that people are sexually attracted to Hazel that bothers me as much as it was how her appeal to the opposite sex was a part of SO MANY interactions she had, even with characters we only met once or in passing (I assume/hope more of these characters will come back in the next two books, so perhaps their relationships will evolve). In fact I’m having a hard time thinking of a character she directly interacted with who wasn’t either a past or current boyfriend, or who wanted to be with her (again, besides her family). ***vague SPOILER*** Also, a sexual assault happens to Hazel late in the book, and maybe it’s just my messed up mind, but I felt like it was set up in part due to this trend of the entire opposite sex being attracted to her. Would this be any less traumatic for someone not as sexually attractive? Is it supposed to be more palatable because of her attractiveness? It is NOT written as a scene that is anything but horrible, but it still came off skirting the issue of “she was asking for it” based on Hazel’s description and how other characters react to her. I am NOT saying that Ms. Dean portrays Hazel as deserving of what bad things happen to her, but there’s something about this plot arc leading to the assault that felt regressive. ***END OF SPOILER***
I wish there were more scenes of Hazel playing soccer, letting us be with her internally as she competes. I’ve always loved the competition scenes (I’m thinking specifically here of Pepper during her running competitions in that series), and that just wasn’t part of this book’s plot. There was still some of it because soccer/sports is such a huge part of Hazel’s life, it’s just who she is, but she wasn’t in that intense situation of competition so ultimately it felt lacking. On the other hand, I wouldn’t have missed it if I weren’t carrying that expectation into the book from my love of other Dean novels.
Despite these letdowns just described, the book’s main shortcoming rested primarily with the suspension of disbelief regarding the high school boys. And I do mean BOYS, because they supposedly started their covert operation when they were something like fifteen or sixteen. I was totally buying into it too, until things started to get real. I thought Dean did a wonderful job creating the feelings of mystery, power, relative celebrity and gravitas surrounding they guys. I bought into their appeal and I was loving it. I truly was. I was thinking, “this is the best mysterious high school boy set up since Fallen Crest.” But the problem was it’s so hard to transition those feelings into believable plots for people this age. As far as I can tell, their only “superpower” is being rich. ***SPOILER*** Hazel’s dad, on the other hand, is much more believable in this type of reveal, I think primarily because of his age but also because we’ve heard on multiple occasions from multiple sources that he’s some sort of computer genius. It also helps that he seems to be leading the group, so the younger guys aren’t supposed to be leading this covert life all on their own… but still. ***END OF SPOILER***
I will finish this off by reminding the reader that I did dearly fall for this book. I tend to write mostly about the things in a book that fall short for me, especially so when the book overall is so good – the letdowns really stand out because I want every aspect of it to be as amazing as the rest. I cannot wait for the second part, and though Defiance Falls did end in a cliffhanger, it just made me want more, rather than feeling like a cheap gimmick to sell the next book. Highly recommended.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Defiance Falls has everything I like in a book – romance, action, suspense and great characters!
Ali Dean really knows how to write characters so that they feel relatable even with everything going on in the book. I love Hazel who is a strong yet lovable character, who just wants to have a little fun and mostly get her friends back, who she “lost” years ago. Cruz Donovan is swoon-worthy yet also kind of dangerous but throughout the book we can really feel that he cares deeply for Hazel and that he never intended to hurt her. Hazel is trying to get their friends back – those who she never thought about losing in the first place but she is quickly sucked into something bigger, some deep dark secrets that everyone is reluctant to fill her in. And just when we think that we’ll finally get some answers, it ends with a cliffhanger … but this makes things just more interesting and I cannot wait to get my hands on the second and third books 🙂
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
The absolute WORST part of being an ARC reader for a series is that I have to wait even longer for book two to come out!!
Secrets galore with a cliffhanger extraordinaire!! Add that to an alpha possessive high school stud? That’s my favorite combo. Basically, if you liked Fallen Crest, you’ll like this. If you like Ali’s Stark Springs series, you’ll like this. I definitely think it’s a bit more old school Ali Dean, which suits me fine, because those were my favs.
Blurb:
All I wanted was a little trouble. Okay, so maybe choosing Cruz Donovan’s 18th birthday party wasn’t the way to go about it. Three years ago, I fell for him. I thought he fell for me too. But when he broke it off, he took my heart and, as if that wasn’t enough, he took my best friends too.
They aren’t the same boys I knew before high school started. They’ve got all kinds of secrets they’re keeping from me. If I want back in, I’ve got to be ready to play their game. I might be a killer soccer player, but I’m not real eager to join a team when they won’t tell me who the opponent is, how to score a goal, or what rules I’m supposed to be following.
I’m in the wrong place at the wrong time, a pawn in games I don’t understand. Maybe I never should have gone looking for trouble in the first place. Is it too late to change my mind?
Preorder sale price of 99 cents! It will go up to full price upon release.**
Release date is September 19!
Defiance Falls Revolution is coming 10.10.19
Defiance Falls War is coming 10.30.19
Ali did it again! I seriously have yet to be disappointed with an Ali Dean original and Definace Falls continues her steak! I have been anxiously awaiting another series!! You will NOT be disappointed with this book! And the cliff hanger at the end will keep you begging for more!
I absolutely loved this story!!! It pulled me in from beginning to end with the characters. There is a lot going on in this story and all it did was pull me in deeper. I could not get enough and I need the next book ASAP! Hazel has kind of been on her own through high school. She knows a lot of people and can hang out with different groups but is not super close to any of them. She was super close to her boys and Cruz but that changed right around high school. She still feels the closest to them and Cruz and Hazel have a complicated relationship. She shows up at Cruz’s 18th birthday party and things change. She is drawn back into the circle with her boys and they are keeping secrets. Ones that she has no idea about but has become a part of. Cruz has decided that he is no longer waiting anymore (still waiting and wanting the full story on this) and has claimed Hazel. Hazel doesn’t like all the secrets and she knows more is going on so she is resisting Cruz as she is figuring things out. I loved the dynamics of the group and I am super intrigued by the bits and pieces we get. This definitely ends on a cliffhanger. It was sooo worth reading and I really need/want the next 2 books. I can’t wait to see where it goes next and to see what some of the secrets this group has been keeping from our girl Hazel.
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.
This book has it all: romance, mystery, adventure, and friendship. The cliff hangers are insane and keep you wishing for more at the end of every chapter making it impossible to put down. It’s an easy read with enough character development and plot depth to keep the reader engaged. Loved it!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This book…..wow! I absolutely loved it! From the steamy romance to the drama to the suspense. I was on the edge of my seat reading this. Ali really did it with this one. And then there’s that cliffhanger…… Ali! I’m ready for the next one!