TEST
Tess Oliver’s Freefall is a great example of synergy. When I analyze each of the individual aspects of the story – character, plot, editing – I realize I shouldn’t like this book as much as did. But when put all together, this story with a creepy Sleeping With the Enemy vibe kept me turning pages and ultimately worked for me. 
High school bad-boy Alexander “Nix” Pierce, a ladies man who lived to party with his two best friends, Dray and Clutch, barely managed to scrape by with a diploma. College wasn’t in his future, but his deceased grandfather left him enough cash to buy a tattoo parlor Nix named Freefall. Over the past couple of years, he’s spent his days inking his art on people’s bodies, taking care of his grandmother, Nana, and dreaming about the pretty blonde girl in a pin-up picture he found on the ground and keeps tucked in his wallet.
Everything changes when Lincoln Hammond makes arrangements for Nix to give his girlfriend a tattoo to cover a lengthy scar running down her torso. Nix is gobsmacked when Scotlyn James walks through the door of his shop and turns out to be the girl in the picture.
As a teen, Scotlyn survived a horrific car crash that killed both of her parents and her sister and left her completely mute. Unable to live with a religious zealot of an aunt, she took to the streets of Los Angeles where she was “rescued” by Lincoln, a wealthy man who views beautiful Scotlyn as another possession to decorate his lavish house. Scotlyn doesn’t love Lincoln or even really like him, but as an unskilled, mute woman, her options for independence are slim. It isn’t until she meets Nix, who seems able to read every silent emotion and thought that Scotlyn has, that she realizes how truly unhappy she’s been.
The story moves along quickly. Once Nix and Scotlyn meet, there is little dithering about their feelings for the other and their desire to be together. Scotlyn knows that breaking away from Lincoln isn’t just a matter of packing her bags and leaving a note, that the obsessive man will not let her go so easily. But Nix is determined to make Scotlyn his. He arranges for Scotlyn to day-sit Nana, who suffers from dementia, as a way to earn some money and gain some freedom from Lincoln. But Lincoln’s hold on Scotlyn tightens as he senses her slipping away from him.
As characters, Nix and Scotlyn aren’t exactly deep. Nix neatly side-steps any bad-boy stereotypes and is fairly likeable, even if a bit bland. His love and concern for his ailing Nana was sweet, and his determination to protect Scotlyn from Lincoln made him appealing, while not turning him into a mindless fighting machine.
Scotlyn is a true waif, her muteness used as the main reason she can’t stand on her own two feet. While I get the circular nature of her situation – she has no skills to make any money and thus can’t break away from Lincoln, which she needs to do in order to go to school or get a job to develop skills that she could use to make money – it was hard to read about a woman who was basically a prisoner, albeit one in a gilded cage.
The Scotlyn-is-the-girl-in-the-picture angle kind of went nowhere. Thankfully, Oliver didn’t use it as a ploy for a Big Misunderstanding between Nix and Scotlyn, but other than making Scotlyn immediately recognizable to Nix and as a later plot device for some nefarious dealings of Lincoln’s, I never really got the point of it.
Nix’s best friends Dray and Clutch are a bit rough around the edges, a little too “guy” for my tastes with their open-mouth chewing and focus on fighting. Each is given his own romantic interest: Dray ignores the obvious feelings Nix’s assistant Cassie has for him, and Clutch tries to avoid jail time by getting involved with seventeen year old Taylor who nurses a huge crush. Both of these sub-stories had sequel bait written all over them, but to my pleasant surprise, Oliver bucked convention and tied them up neatly before the end of the story.
As a villain, Lincoln is scary in that he’s domineering and oppressive and surrounds himself with thugs to do his dirty work. However, because Scotlyn remains ignorant of his shady business dealings, we as readers do so as well. This results in a sense of danger that never really feels that dangerous. Perhaps Freefall’s biggest fault is the ending, which is rather abrupt and far too easy given the build-up that preceded it.
I actually downgraded this book slightly because when Nix and Scotlyn get physical, it seems that they do not make use of a condom. This may seem trivial, but given their age and the fact that both have had a sketchy sexual past, this form of negligence borders on criminal in my book. Perhaps Oliver expects readers to take it as a matter of fact that this couple would take precautions, but I’m used to at least a passing reference.
Even so, I can recommend this book as a quick read with a unique set-up and the lack of a love triangle as an added bonus. Chalk another one in the plus column for the New Adult genre.
Grade: B-
Book Type: New Adult
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 07/09/13
Publication Date: 2013/08
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.