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Aftershock #2
Freefall
HE'S HER ONLY HOPE...
Park ranger Hope Banning's plans for a little R & R are put on hold when a plane crashes at the top of a remote mountain. Hope will have to climb the summit and assess the situation. And the only climbing partner available is Sam Rutherford--the enigmatic man she spent a night with six months ago.
FOR STAYING ALIVE...
Ever since Sam lost his girlfriend in a falling accident, he insists on climbing solo. But Hope and any potential survivors need his help. As Sam and Hope set out on an emergency search-and-rescue mission, he realizes the sparks still sizzle between them. And when they learn a killer is among the survivors, they must place their trust in each other for a chance at happiness.
Park ranger Hope Banning's plans for a little R & R are put on hold when a plane crashes at the top of a remote mountain. Hope will have to climb the summit and assess the situation. And the only climbing partner available is Sam Rutherford--the enigmatic man she spent a night with six months ago.
FOR STAYING ALIVE...
Ever since Sam lost his girlfriend in a falling accident, he insists on climbing solo. But Hope and any potential survivors need his help. As Sam and Hope set out on an emergency search-and-rescue mission, he realizes the sparks still sizzle between them. And when they learn a killer is among the survivors, they must place their trust in each other for a chance at happiness.
384 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 28, 2013
26 people are currently reading
860 people want to read
About the author
Jill Sorenson
42 books458 followersJill Sorenson is the RITA-nominated author of more than a dozen novels, including the Aftershock series with HQN.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 101 reviews
June 25, 2013
We met Sam the hero in the last book though he was in a coma, still unable to recover the memories of his fiancee's death. Sam was a champion Olympic climber, filthy rich, but he sold his company and now takes dangerous risks trying to feel. He is still in limbo.
The heroine Hope is a park ranger, who uses her job to hide. Hide from emotion and the guilt of giving up her daughter ten years ago. She slept with the hero months ago and it didn't end well, he threw her out. So when her rafting trip with her sister Faith is interrupted on the basis of a report of a plane going down, she is not happy that Sam made that report and that he is the only available climber.
Of course when they find the plane, they find a murdered pilot, drug cargo and a killer on the loose. The killer ends up on the rafting trip and with her sister Faith. Now only Jill Sorenson can make me like a drug dealer and killer and root for him and Faith the heroine's sister who looks like a good time party girl but is so much more.
Sam I must admit was a jerk most of the book, only caring about his pain and loss and belittling what the heroine had been through. I didn't care for him much but by the end of the book I didn't hate him. Hope well she could have done better and I liked how she didn't immediately believe his words of love.
The book is filled with danger and action.
Owen well we meet him again, he works at the park and I can't wait for his and Penny's book.
The heroine Hope is a park ranger, who uses her job to hide. Hide from emotion and the guilt of giving up her daughter ten years ago. She slept with the hero months ago and it didn't end well, he threw her out. So when her rafting trip with her sister Faith is interrupted on the basis of a report of a plane going down, she is not happy that Sam made that report and that he is the only available climber.
Of course when they find the plane, they find a murdered pilot, drug cargo and a killer on the loose. The killer ends up on the rafting trip and with her sister Faith. Now only Jill Sorenson can make me like a drug dealer and killer and root for him and Faith the heroine's sister who looks like a good time party girl but is so much more.
Sam I must admit was a jerk most of the book, only caring about his pain and loss and belittling what the heroine had been through. I didn't care for him much but by the end of the book I didn't hate him. Hope well she could have done better and I liked how she didn't immediately believe his words of love.
The book is filled with danger and action.
Owen well we meet him again, he works at the park and I can't wait for his and Penny's book.
May 29, 2013
Review posted: Happily Ever After - Reads
Blog rating: B+
We first got a glimpse of Sam in Aftershock when he was injured in an earthquake and sustained a head injury that left him in a coma and later with no memory of the past 6 months. Those missing 6 months include the death of his fiancée, a fact that he has to somehow remind himself of every morning when he wakes up expecting to see her next to him. She died in a climbing accident, both she and Sam were strong climbers, world class in Sam’s case, and now Sam feels no fear for himself. He’s engaging in dangerous solo climbs, he’s still struggling to move on with his life and live and after a one night stand, he doesn’t want the woman around when his nightmares show up, so he cruelly kicks her out only to see her again when a search and rescue is being organized for a downed plane and she’s leading the way.
Hope can’t believe that Sam is the only person available that is experienced enough to partner with her on a climb to get to the plane’s wreckage. She was crushed and mortified with how he treated her after their one night stand together months ago and rightly so, wants nothing to do with him now. But she cut her vacation, rafting with her sister, short when worked called and she needs to get to the plane to determine if anyone could have survived. What starts out as a recovery mission turns into tracking a drug operation that hits close to home as Hope and Sam try to figure out who they can trust and how they can solve this case and help Hope’s sister who’s caught in the middle.
I really enjoyed both Sam and Hope. Hope is dealing with trauma and past pain of her own and it’s led her into this very solitary life she’s leading. She works solo most of the time as a forest ranger, she doesn’t have many close friends, no boyfriend, her only true friend and the closest person to her is her sister Faith. There’s something about Hope that’s easy to like. She’s confident in her abilities as a ranger, she can easily take charge but can still let Sam lead at times, especially when it comes to the climbing scenes and she lets her vulnerability show as well. She’s really a well-rounded heroine and I loved getting to know her.
Sam is still dealing with his accident, the death of his fiancée and these feelings he has for Hope. Part of the issue I had with book 1 in this series was I never believed that a romance could develop under the circumstances for the hero and heroine. However in Freefall it works and it works very well. I like that they have a history, albeit a very short one night together, but it still sets the couple up to move forward, especially once the sparks start flying during their adventures. Sure, they still find themselves in stressful situations throughout the story, it’s not like they can take a timeout for romance, but the way the romance was worked into the story and the action worked for me. It flowed really well, Hope and Sam together are very sexy and hot and they have chemistry that was easy for me to get into and believe. I also like the time passage in the story for them and their relationship. Their romance was very engaging from the start. I also loved how they managed to have quite a bit of discussion about both of their pasts and especially in Sam’s case, letting Hope know why he treated her the way he did the first time they met. He was certainly a jerk at first, but he redeems himself and they were two people that I wanted to find happiness and peace together.
The suspense storyline is fast paced and Freefall is full of action, which I loved. There’s a little bit of everything from rock climbing, rafting, bad guys who might or might not really be bad, lots of adventure, an interesting supporting storyline, it was a combination that kept me from putting the down until the end.
And for those who have read Aftershock, we get the return of Owen, yay! I enjoyed his character in Aftershock, he has a decent sized role in Freefall and I’m still holding out hope that he’ll find his happy ending at some point during this series.
For some reason, I’m always nervous for supporting characters in a Jill Sorenson book, and in Freefall those roles go to Faith (Hope’s sister) and Jay (a suspect in the drug storyline). I wasn’t too sure about the initial introduction to Faith. During a sisters only weekend that Hope planned, she’s called away to the plane wreck and sends Faith, a very girly-girl, along on their rafting trip alone…she’s never been rafting and it didn’t make sense why Faith would ever agree to go by herself. But it’s a small issue and it serves to put Faith right in the middle of action.
I wasn’t a huge fan of Aftershock but Sam intrigued me enough to want to know his story and it’s a winner. There’s a little bit of everything with great action, fast paced adventure and a hot romance.
Blog rating: B+
We first got a glimpse of Sam in Aftershock when he was injured in an earthquake and sustained a head injury that left him in a coma and later with no memory of the past 6 months. Those missing 6 months include the death of his fiancée, a fact that he has to somehow remind himself of every morning when he wakes up expecting to see her next to him. She died in a climbing accident, both she and Sam were strong climbers, world class in Sam’s case, and now Sam feels no fear for himself. He’s engaging in dangerous solo climbs, he’s still struggling to move on with his life and live and after a one night stand, he doesn’t want the woman around when his nightmares show up, so he cruelly kicks her out only to see her again when a search and rescue is being organized for a downed plane and she’s leading the way.
Hope can’t believe that Sam is the only person available that is experienced enough to partner with her on a climb to get to the plane’s wreckage. She was crushed and mortified with how he treated her after their one night stand together months ago and rightly so, wants nothing to do with him now. But she cut her vacation, rafting with her sister, short when worked called and she needs to get to the plane to determine if anyone could have survived. What starts out as a recovery mission turns into tracking a drug operation that hits close to home as Hope and Sam try to figure out who they can trust and how they can solve this case and help Hope’s sister who’s caught in the middle.
I really enjoyed both Sam and Hope. Hope is dealing with trauma and past pain of her own and it’s led her into this very solitary life she’s leading. She works solo most of the time as a forest ranger, she doesn’t have many close friends, no boyfriend, her only true friend and the closest person to her is her sister Faith. There’s something about Hope that’s easy to like. She’s confident in her abilities as a ranger, she can easily take charge but can still let Sam lead at times, especially when it comes to the climbing scenes and she lets her vulnerability show as well. She’s really a well-rounded heroine and I loved getting to know her.
Sam is still dealing with his accident, the death of his fiancée and these feelings he has for Hope. Part of the issue I had with book 1 in this series was I never believed that a romance could develop under the circumstances for the hero and heroine. However in Freefall it works and it works very well. I like that they have a history, albeit a very short one night together, but it still sets the couple up to move forward, especially once the sparks start flying during their adventures. Sure, they still find themselves in stressful situations throughout the story, it’s not like they can take a timeout for romance, but the way the romance was worked into the story and the action worked for me. It flowed really well, Hope and Sam together are very sexy and hot and they have chemistry that was easy for me to get into and believe. I also like the time passage in the story for them and their relationship. Their romance was very engaging from the start. I also loved how they managed to have quite a bit of discussion about both of their pasts and especially in Sam’s case, letting Hope know why he treated her the way he did the first time they met. He was certainly a jerk at first, but he redeems himself and they were two people that I wanted to find happiness and peace together.
The suspense storyline is fast paced and Freefall is full of action, which I loved. There’s a little bit of everything from rock climbing, rafting, bad guys who might or might not really be bad, lots of adventure, an interesting supporting storyline, it was a combination that kept me from putting the down until the end.
And for those who have read Aftershock, we get the return of Owen, yay! I enjoyed his character in Aftershock, he has a decent sized role in Freefall and I’m still holding out hope that he’ll find his happy ending at some point during this series.
For some reason, I’m always nervous for supporting characters in a Jill Sorenson book, and in Freefall those roles go to Faith (Hope’s sister) and Jay (a suspect in the drug storyline). I wasn’t too sure about the initial introduction to Faith. During a sisters only weekend that Hope planned, she’s called away to the plane wreck and sends Faith, a very girly-girl, along on their rafting trip alone…she’s never been rafting and it didn’t make sense why Faith would ever agree to go by herself. But it’s a small issue and it serves to put Faith right in the middle of action.
I wasn’t a huge fan of Aftershock but Sam intrigued me enough to want to know his story and it’s a winner. There’s a little bit of everything with great action, fast paced adventure and a hot romance.
May 19, 2013
I really liked Hope and Sam as a couple. There was always such drama going on around them though during their romance, that I wish the ending could have been drawn out a bit. Looking forward to Owen's and Penny's book! Although I must say that Faith and Jay's story almost took over the book.
December 28, 2015
Review copy provided via NetGalley
Why I Read this Book: It was the sampler for Freefall that was included in Aftershock , the first book in this series, that reeled me in. After reading Aftershock, I knew I wanted to read more of this unique type of romantic suspense. And I’m glad the author is writing books for some of the secondary characters first introduced in Aftershock.
What I Liked: Sam and Hope both have secrets from their pasts, secrets they are each still trying to figure out how to deal with. Sam is also dealing with his amnesia. Has no memory of the earthquake that took place in Aftershock, or the several months leading up to it. There’s a tragic event that took place before the earthquake and he has no recollection of the event or the mourning period that followed. This has impacted Sam’s regard for life and made my heart ache for Sam.
The author has quite a way of making me sympathize with one of the bad guys. He’s a villain, no doubt, but he’s at a pivotal moment in his life where he is thinking of changing his course. His redeeming qualities made me conflicted in how I felt about him and his involvement in the story.
One of the things I was looking out for in Freefall was Owen’s character. I had mixed feelings about him in Aftershock, and because he is getting his own book, I had to make sure he is on the path to redemption.
What I Didn’t Like: I still need some answers regarding Nick’s character. There were some loose threads concerning him and I have questions that need to be addressed.
I didn’t like how Faith, Hope’s sister, was involved with Hope’s secret. It was intrusive and it rubbed me the wrong way.
Memorable Moment:
Overall Impression: If you’re looking for a thrilling romantic suspense novel to read, Freefall fits the bill. The level of danger in Freefall was chilling. It was a non-stop adrenaline rush, impacted with life or death situations. I’m looking forward to reading Owen’s book, Badlands, which comes out next but I am also anxiously awaiting Faith’s HEA.
Why I Read this Book: It was the sampler for Freefall that was included in Aftershock , the first book in this series, that reeled me in. After reading Aftershock, I knew I wanted to read more of this unique type of romantic suspense. And I’m glad the author is writing books for some of the secondary characters first introduced in Aftershock.
What I Liked: Sam and Hope both have secrets from their pasts, secrets they are each still trying to figure out how to deal with. Sam is also dealing with his amnesia. Has no memory of the earthquake that took place in Aftershock, or the several months leading up to it. There’s a tragic event that took place before the earthquake and he has no recollection of the event or the mourning period that followed. This has impacted Sam’s regard for life and made my heart ache for Sam.
The author has quite a way of making me sympathize with one of the bad guys. He’s a villain, no doubt, but he’s at a pivotal moment in his life where he is thinking of changing his course. His redeeming qualities made me conflicted in how I felt about him and his involvement in the story.
One of the things I was looking out for in Freefall was Owen’s character. I had mixed feelings about him in Aftershock, and because he is getting his own book, I had to make sure he is on the path to redemption.
What I Didn’t Like: I still need some answers regarding Nick’s character. There were some loose threads concerning him and I have questions that need to be addressed.
I didn’t like how Faith, Hope’s sister, was involved with Hope’s secret. It was intrusive and it rubbed me the wrong way.
Memorable Moment:
“You need someone who cares about you and makes you feel sexy.”
“Are you applying for the position?”
“You know I am.”
Overall Impression: If you’re looking for a thrilling romantic suspense novel to read, Freefall fits the bill. The level of danger in Freefall was chilling. It was a non-stop adrenaline rush, impacted with life or death situations. I’m looking forward to reading Owen’s book, Badlands, which comes out next but I am also anxiously awaiting Faith’s HEA.
November 9, 2016
3.5
*Book source ~ NetGalley
On her way to start her vacation with her sister, Faith, park ranger Hope Banning gets a call that sends her to a plane crash on a mountain top. Hope persuades Faith to continue on to the white water rafting trip and tells her she’ll catch up when she’s done. Except this assessment and rescue turn out much different than Hope could have believed and now she and civilian Sam Rutherford as well as Faith and several others are fighting for their lives.
This story is a bit frustrating, but overall not a bad read. There is plenty to love about the characters and the writing, but the plot stretches the bounds of believability a bit. Add in majorly stupid decisions by smart people, physical trauma that doesn’t seem to slow anyone down and an ending that drags along for far too long and the balance ends up somewhere in the middle of the road. It could have been better, but it also could have been worse. I do love the characters though. They seem so real.
*Book source ~ NetGalley
On her way to start her vacation with her sister, Faith, park ranger Hope Banning gets a call that sends her to a plane crash on a mountain top. Hope persuades Faith to continue on to the white water rafting trip and tells her she’ll catch up when she’s done. Except this assessment and rescue turn out much different than Hope could have believed and now she and civilian Sam Rutherford as well as Faith and several others are fighting for their lives.
This story is a bit frustrating, but overall not a bad read. There is plenty to love about the characters and the writing, but the plot stretches the bounds of believability a bit. Add in majorly stupid decisions by smart people, physical trauma that doesn’t seem to slow anyone down and an ending that drags along for far too long and the balance ends up somewhere in the middle of the road. It could have been better, but it also could have been worse. I do love the characters though. They seem so real.
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June 8, 2016
These books make me nervous the whole time I'm reading them. And then when I finish, I'm absolutely exhausted, like I was the one dealing with it all.
Also, I get the impression that Jill Sorenson really loves an anti-hero. She makes you love and respect guys that are conventionally bad - or at least have done bad things. She really does the whole "people can change for the better" thing. Which I appreciate.
At first I was a little disappointed when I realized book 2 of this series wouldn't feature Owen as the main character. Really? She went with Sam next? But man.. it was worth it. I actually ended up liking him, despite his stand-off-ish nature. And Owen was still a part of this book. Luckily his story is actually next.
Also, I get the impression that Jill Sorenson really loves an anti-hero. She makes you love and respect guys that are conventionally bad - or at least have done bad things. She really does the whole "people can change for the better" thing. Which I appreciate.
At first I was a little disappointed when I realized book 2 of this series wouldn't feature Owen as the main character. Really? She went with Sam next? But man.. it was worth it. I actually ended up liking him, despite his stand-off-ish nature. And Owen was still a part of this book. Luckily his story is actually next.
April 3, 2017
I like that the Aftershock series is a different brand of Romantic Suspense than what I’m used to--the stories base themselves around situational happenings, such as certain disasters, nature expeditions, sporting activities… etc. The first book in this series, Aftershock, was centered around a natural disaster, an earthquake, that stranded our heroes under a collapsed freeway. Of course, things would have been bad enough, but the author also had to include in the dangers of bad people trying to take advantage of bad situations for their own benefit.
Even so, I still enjoyed it a lot even if it wasn’t incredibly awesome. (Link to my review of Aftershock.)
Freefall was just as exciting and enjoyable, with so much forward progression that you don’t really have time to stop and think about the few quibbles that arose due to logical questioning of the happenings in the story itself. The book went by so quickly that I simply enjoyed it for what it was: an entertaining Romantic Suspense based in a national park where natural dangers can lurk around every corner.
As I had stated, sometimes nature is unforgiving enough without a dangerous human presence to make the situation even more frantic; but that is how this book was written and I’ll go with it. Honestly, I would have liked a book focused more on how our heroes would cope with surviving a natural disaster, or being stranded on a mountain, or something of the like, without human baddies to contend with.
The Story in Brief:
A plane has crashed on top of a remote mountain, cutting short Hope Banning’s plans for white water rafting with her sister. As the only park ranger available at the time who can climb to the summit to assess the situation, she heeds the emergency call to investigate. Unfortunately, the only climbing partner she can find is none other than Sam Rutherford, a man she would rather not have contact with again due to a night spent with him six months ago, which followed with him practically throwing her out of his home without explanation.
Sam Rutherford’s memory of losing his girlfriend in a climbing accident is gone after the San Diego earthquake knocked him unconscious (from the first book). Ever since then, he has insisted on climbing solo and braving dangerous expeditions in order to feel anything. The last thing he wants to do is climb to the summit of any mountain with a partner, especially Hope; he still feels a sizzle of chemistry between them and he doesn’t like it (since he has confusing, lingering feelings for the deceased girlfriend, Melissa, and hasn’t been able to remember the period in which he’d been grieving).
But Hope has to do her job, with or without him, and he can’t leave her hanging on her own. But as soon as they reach the site of the plane crash, it turns out that there is something much more dangerous going on: a killer is now wandering the mountainous national park, the plane belonged to that of drug smugglers, and the person who owns that plane has dispatched his own minions to retrieve both the drug cargo and the man who escaped the plane.
So now Hope and Sam must track down the killer in the unforgiving terrain of mother nature’s playground as they attempt to put their own personal issues aside.
Overall Thoughts:
Yeah, I know. Not the best summary ever, but the official blurbs I’ve found really are a little misleading. At first, I had been expecting a commercial or private plane crash wherein the survivors (yes, plural) are stranded at the summit of a remote mountain and there’s a killer amongst them. I figured that Sam and Hope would climb to the top of the summit and become stranded with the survivors and a killer and must figure out who the baddie is before everyone dies. And then at the same time, they’d have to figure out how to survive on the mountain until reinforcements arrive.
That’s what I had thought the story would be about and got really excited about it.
Instead, it turns out, in the actual story, that the plane was a cargo plane, there were only two passengers, Hope finds the pilot with a hole in his chest from a gunshot wound, and the only other passenger is AWOL. And so Hope trudges through the mountain tracking down the killer on a rather TSTL mission. But I forgive her for making bad decisions because she is tough as nails and can take care of herself… and a multiple of other reasons.
But I still wish she would have called for help. Because man or woman, it’s still a bit dangerous to be tracking down a killer in a humongous, mountainous national park alone; the terrain is bad enough to travel over even when you’re just going on a leisurely expedition with no killers running around. So it was fortunate that Sam felt obligated to follow her and keep her out of trouble--still, he’s not law enforcement and shouldn’t have had to keep an eye on Hope. Hope should have known better.
Then again, if our park ranger had been a man and had done the same things that Hope did, lots of people would have been applauding his heroic behavior. This is why I don’t give Hope any crap about her actions. But, I honestly think that even if the park ranger were a man, he would still have been better off waiting for a partner to help him.
So, anyway, it wasn’t the story I was hoping for, but I don’t deny that I enjoyed it nonetheless. There’s a deeper emotional tension between our main couple that seemed to pluck at all the right places in my non-existent heart. The personal drama going on between Hope and Sam was enough to propel the development of their relationship in a good progressive direction.
Mainly, I liked the characters, even Hope’s sister, Faith. And I’m also glad we get to see more of young Owen and see how much he’s grown since the events of Aftershock.
Like Aftershock, the imagery and descriptions in Freefall were dark and vivid. The tone was gritty and extreme. The romance wasn’t all that great and the sex scenes were a little bland and raw, but the friendship-non-friendship-romance between Sam and Hope was intense enough and emotional enough that I liked it. Their unsatiated chemistry was actually a lot more full of FEELS than when they finally got together in the end to have their Happily Ever After™; not that I don’t like a happy ending, but it did get a little tacky.
And a short, brief thoughts review turned into a rambling, so I’m going to have to stop typing now.
Merged review:
I recall really liking this second installment of the Aftershock series a lot, and of course, while this second read was a bit deflating, I still really like it. It's much more exciting than the first book, somehow, and I find the romance a little easier to stand by since it's hardly insta-love, that is, if you overlook a few things.
Again, Piper Goodeve's narration isn't all that great. Sometimes simple conversations sound so sharp that I thought the characters were interrogating each other rather than just talking. I will probably not be listening to the rest of the series as an audio book, but for a reread, it sufficed.
Even so, I still enjoyed it a lot even if it wasn’t incredibly awesome. (Link to my review of Aftershock.)
Freefall was just as exciting and enjoyable, with so much forward progression that you don’t really have time to stop and think about the few quibbles that arose due to logical questioning of the happenings in the story itself. The book went by so quickly that I simply enjoyed it for what it was: an entertaining Romantic Suspense based in a national park where natural dangers can lurk around every corner.
As I had stated, sometimes nature is unforgiving enough without a dangerous human presence to make the situation even more frantic; but that is how this book was written and I’ll go with it. Honestly, I would have liked a book focused more on how our heroes would cope with surviving a natural disaster, or being stranded on a mountain, or something of the like, without human baddies to contend with.
The Story in Brief:
A plane has crashed on top of a remote mountain, cutting short Hope Banning’s plans for white water rafting with her sister. As the only park ranger available at the time who can climb to the summit to assess the situation, she heeds the emergency call to investigate. Unfortunately, the only climbing partner she can find is none other than Sam Rutherford, a man she would rather not have contact with again due to a night spent with him six months ago, which followed with him practically throwing her out of his home without explanation.
Sam Rutherford’s memory of losing his girlfriend in a climbing accident is gone after the San Diego earthquake knocked him unconscious (from the first book). Ever since then, he has insisted on climbing solo and braving dangerous expeditions in order to feel anything. The last thing he wants to do is climb to the summit of any mountain with a partner, especially Hope; he still feels a sizzle of chemistry between them and he doesn’t like it (since he has confusing, lingering feelings for the deceased girlfriend, Melissa, and hasn’t been able to remember the period in which he’d been grieving).
But Hope has to do her job, with or without him, and he can’t leave her hanging on her own. But as soon as they reach the site of the plane crash, it turns out that there is something much more dangerous going on: a killer is now wandering the mountainous national park, the plane belonged to that of drug smugglers, and the person who owns that plane has dispatched his own minions to retrieve both the drug cargo and the man who escaped the plane.
So now Hope and Sam must track down the killer in the unforgiving terrain of mother nature’s playground as they attempt to put their own personal issues aside.
Overall Thoughts:
Yeah, I know. Not the best summary ever, but the official blurbs I’ve found really are a little misleading. At first, I had been expecting a commercial or private plane crash wherein the survivors (yes, plural) are stranded at the summit of a remote mountain and there’s a killer amongst them. I figured that Sam and Hope would climb to the top of the summit and become stranded with the survivors and a killer and must figure out who the baddie is before everyone dies. And then at the same time, they’d have to figure out how to survive on the mountain until reinforcements arrive.
That’s what I had thought the story would be about and got really excited about it.
Instead, it turns out, in the actual story, that the plane was a cargo plane, there were only two passengers, Hope finds the pilot with a hole in his chest from a gunshot wound, and the only other passenger is AWOL. And so Hope trudges through the mountain tracking down the killer on a rather TSTL mission. But I forgive her for making bad decisions because she is tough as nails and can take care of herself… and a multiple of other reasons.
But I still wish she would have called for help. Because man or woman, it’s still a bit dangerous to be tracking down a killer in a humongous, mountainous national park alone; the terrain is bad enough to travel over even when you’re just going on a leisurely expedition with no killers running around. So it was fortunate that Sam felt obligated to follow her and keep her out of trouble--still, he’s not law enforcement and shouldn’t have had to keep an eye on Hope. Hope should have known better.
Then again, if our park ranger had been a man and had done the same things that Hope did, lots of people would have been applauding his heroic behavior. This is why I don’t give Hope any crap about her actions. But, I honestly think that even if the park ranger were a man, he would still have been better off waiting for a partner to help him.
So, anyway, it wasn’t the story I was hoping for, but I don’t deny that I enjoyed it nonetheless. There’s a deeper emotional tension between our main couple that seemed to pluck at all the right places in my non-existent heart. The personal drama going on between Hope and Sam was enough to propel the development of their relationship in a good progressive direction.
Mainly, I liked the characters, even Hope’s sister, Faith. And I’m also glad we get to see more of young Owen and see how much he’s grown since the events of Aftershock.
Like Aftershock, the imagery and descriptions in Freefall were dark and vivid. The tone was gritty and extreme. The romance wasn’t all that great and the sex scenes were a little bland and raw, but the friendship-non-friendship-romance between Sam and Hope was intense enough and emotional enough that I liked it. Their unsatiated chemistry was actually a lot more full of FEELS than when they finally got together in the end to have their Happily Ever After™; not that I don’t like a happy ending, but it did get a little tacky.
And a short, brief thoughts review turned into a rambling, so I’m going to have to stop typing now.
Merged review:
I recall really liking this second installment of the Aftershock series a lot, and of course, while this second read was a bit deflating, I still really like it. It's much more exciting than the first book, somehow, and I find the romance a little easier to stand by since it's hardly insta-love, that is, if you overlook a few things.
Again, Piper Goodeve's narration isn't all that great. Sometimes simple conversations sound so sharp that I thought the characters were interrogating each other rather than just talking. I will probably not be listening to the rest of the series as an audio book, but for a reread, it sufficed.
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June 10, 2014I enjoyed reading Freefall by Jill Sorenson. She has the ability to write books that are full of action, good tension, credible bad guys and a secondary story arc that is as engaging (and in this case moreso) than the main character plotline.
In this book an enforcer (of sorts) for a drug dealer wants out and as his attempt to leave his sorid life goes awry when he kills one of his peers dead on a mountain top during a drug drop. He is on the run in a national park and his only way to escape is to slightly change his appearance and join in on a rafting adventure which is where the main heroine (who is a park ranger) was to have been vacationing but had to leave to respond to the downed plane. The drug enforcer is then taken in as a last minute replacement on the trip where the ranger's sister has remained. Hope the ranger is then forced to use the services of "Sam" her one night stand, former olympian and current depressed amnesiac to hike up to the crash site and begin an investigation. Here for me is where I found the book to be an unusual departure. I was more interested in Faith & Javier's plight and storyline than I was with the main characters of Hope and Sam. I found Sam to be a wimp. A total unmitigated wimp. He free climbs on his own, and is an all around outdoors man but could barely tie his shoes in this story without grousing and swallowing some big lump in his throat before hitching up his pants and follow after Hope who clearly had balls enough for both.
while I did not love the character of Sam in the final assessment, it was actually pretty realistic in a world where if you read these books we have all become used to super-human heroes who basically do it all. Fight the bad guys, glare and glower at all and sunder, make love like a beast and solve all the problems in the story that come their way with nary a hitch in an eyebrow. So my dislike of Sam I think speaks more of my expectations than the way Ms. Sorenson has written his whiney character.
Javier and Faith were to me the far more interesting characters and I was a little sad that towards the end of the book their reunion wrapped up so quickly and neatly.
I am on to the next book in the series Island Peril and I will leave my pre-conceived notions about what heroism looks like and enjoy the effort of Ms. Sorenson.
In this book an enforcer (of sorts) for a drug dealer wants out and as his attempt to leave his sorid life goes awry when he kills one of his peers dead on a mountain top during a drug drop. He is on the run in a national park and his only way to escape is to slightly change his appearance and join in on a rafting adventure which is where the main heroine (who is a park ranger) was to have been vacationing but had to leave to respond to the downed plane. The drug enforcer is then taken in as a last minute replacement on the trip where the ranger's sister has remained. Hope the ranger is then forced to use the services of "Sam" her one night stand, former olympian and current depressed amnesiac to hike up to the crash site and begin an investigation. Here for me is where I found the book to be an unusual departure. I was more interested in Faith & Javier's plight and storyline than I was with the main characters of Hope and Sam. I found Sam to be a wimp. A total unmitigated wimp. He free climbs on his own, and is an all around outdoors man but could barely tie his shoes in this story without grousing and swallowing some big lump in his throat before hitching up his pants and follow after Hope who clearly had balls enough for both.
while I did not love the character of Sam in the final assessment, it was actually pretty realistic in a world where if you read these books we have all become used to super-human heroes who basically do it all. Fight the bad guys, glare and glower at all and sunder, make love like a beast and solve all the problems in the story that come their way with nary a hitch in an eyebrow. So my dislike of Sam I think speaks more of my expectations than the way Ms. Sorenson has written his whiney character.
Javier and Faith were to me the far more interesting characters and I was a little sad that towards the end of the book their reunion wrapped up so quickly and neatly.
I am on to the next book in the series Island Peril and I will leave my pre-conceived notions about what heroism looks like and enjoy the effort of Ms. Sorenson.
November 20, 2013
I like the way Sorenson is progressing through characters in her Aftershock series; the hero in this book was in a coma for most of the first book, so we don't get a good look at him until now. Sam is a former Olympic kayaking champion who now does incredibly dangerous mountain climbing just to feel something in the aftermath of his fiancee's death. Hope, our heroine, is a park ranger who has to ditch her vacation when a Cessna crashes in a remote area of her territory; it's her job to search for survivors and assess the situation from a law enforcement perspective. They are thrown together because Sam is the only climber available who is qualified to help Hope get to the remote location on short notice. Drug dealers, murder, sexin', etc.
I liked the realism here. Sam is an ex-Olympian, so he's in great shape, but he isn't a fighter. When he does have to fight someone his only move is "surprise tackle." So he loses that fight, something not all romance heroes are written to do. He suffered a great loss when his fiancee died in a climbing accident and he subsequently lost his memory; when Hope opens up to him about her most painful secret, he is a total dick about it (giving him a chance to grovel later). But Hope, who is mostly a hippie chick who loves the outdoors, is also a law enforcement officer who carries a gun, and she BAMFs out on Sam by pointing it in his face and telling him not to follow her. He deserved it. I laughed.
I loved the reappearance of Owen, although he and another character skirt dangerously close to Sorenson's "assault victims = character development" cliche. I'm not a big fan of this one. I wonder if he'll get his own book in the series. Maybe once he gets those tattoos off.
I liked the realism here. Sam is an ex-Olympian, so he's in great shape, but he isn't a fighter. When he does have to fight someone his only move is "surprise tackle." So he loses that fight, something not all romance heroes are written to do. He suffered a great loss when his fiancee died in a climbing accident and he subsequently lost his memory; when Hope opens up to him about her most painful secret, he is a total dick about it (giving him a chance to grovel later). But Hope, who is mostly a hippie chick who loves the outdoors, is also a law enforcement officer who carries a gun, and she BAMFs out on Sam by pointing it in his face and telling him not to follow her. He deserved it. I laughed.
I loved the reappearance of Owen, although he and another character skirt dangerously close to Sorenson's "assault victims = character development" cliche. I'm not a big fan of this one. I wonder if he'll get his own book in the series. Maybe once he gets those tattoos off.
October 20, 2013
Drug smugglers crash their plane on top of the mountains. When a park ranger and an Olympian athlete go to check it out, they find a murder scene plus the drugs hidden. The murderer got away and hooked up with her sister, with whom she was supposed to be kayaking instead of answering an urgent summons from her job.
I have to say the plot had a lot of potential. But I had to ditch the book halfway through; the characters totally ruined it for me. Juarez - the bad guy - was kind of trying to walk away from his criminal life. I couldn't really get a handle on him from the first half of the book I managed to read. On to Sam, the Olympic rock climber who lost his fiancee in a rock climbing accident a couple of years ago. He then sustained brain injury from an earthquake in San Diego (we see him for the first time in Aftershock) and can't remember exactly how his fiancee died and sometimes he even forgets that she's dead. Suffice to say that he's really messed up. However, he's the least irritating character yet. Moving on to the girls. Hope, the park ranger, was the perfect representation of a too stupid to live heroine. I felt like hitting her all through the portion I've read. And then comes Faith, Hope's younger sister. Well, she might not be a natural blonde, but she is a true blond. It's enough that she's afraid of the guy but still jumps just because he had a body to die for.
The first book in the series was okay. I liked it. I was hoping this one would at least measure up. Alas, it was a total failure in my opinion. It would've been bearable if Sorenson hadn't made her heroines to be flighty and/or TSTL.
I have to say the plot had a lot of potential. But I had to ditch the book halfway through; the characters totally ruined it for me. Juarez - the bad guy - was kind of trying to walk away from his criminal life. I couldn't really get a handle on him from the first half of the book I managed to read. On to Sam, the Olympic rock climber who lost his fiancee in a rock climbing accident a couple of years ago. He then sustained brain injury from an earthquake in San Diego (we see him for the first time in Aftershock) and can't remember exactly how his fiancee died and sometimes he even forgets that she's dead. Suffice to say that he's really messed up. However, he's the least irritating character yet. Moving on to the girls. Hope, the park ranger, was the perfect representation of a too stupid to live heroine. I felt like hitting her all through the portion I've read. And then comes Faith, Hope's younger sister. Well, she might not be a natural blonde, but she is a true blond. It's enough that she's afraid of the guy but still jumps just because he had a body to die for.
The first book in the series was okay. I liked it. I was hoping this one would at least measure up. Alas, it was a total failure in my opinion. It would've been bearable if Sorenson hadn't made her heroines to be flighty and/or TSTL.
May 13, 2013
This is book two of the Aftershock series. I am almost positive there will be a book three.
In Aftershock we barely met Sam Rutherford, an Olympian and rock climber who was severly injured during the quake. In this novel we catch up with Sam as he is "recovering" from his injuries by doing a lot of climbing. He has physically healed but mentally he is unable to accept his fiances death prior to the quake. This lack of closure has Sam emotionally withdrawn. A one night stand with a pretty park ranger is as close as he has gotten to anyone and that had a crash and burn ending.
Ever since he literally kicked her out of his bed after their one night stand Hope Banning has avoided Sam. Fortunately, his reclusive nature coupled with her lack of a social life have made that extremely easy to do. But when Hope's sister gets caught up in a dangerous situation while on a rafting trip Sam is the only man available to accompany Hope without her losing valuable time waiting around for suitable backup. The two embark on a journey across rough terrain that will challenge them both to their emotioanal and physical limits.
This book didn't grab me quite as much as Aftershock. Part of that was probably the extreme outdoors angle, which really never interests me. I also struggled a bit with Hope, who dragged her girly, grily sister on an advanced white water rafting session when she so clearly wasn't advanced. Speaking of the sister, that secondary romance did not appeal to me. In spite of that, I enjoyed the story, just didn't love it as much as Sorenson's others.
In Aftershock we barely met Sam Rutherford, an Olympian and rock climber who was severly injured during the quake. In this novel we catch up with Sam as he is "recovering" from his injuries by doing a lot of climbing. He has physically healed but mentally he is unable to accept his fiances death prior to the quake. This lack of closure has Sam emotionally withdrawn. A one night stand with a pretty park ranger is as close as he has gotten to anyone and that had a crash and burn ending.
Ever since he literally kicked her out of his bed after their one night stand Hope Banning has avoided Sam. Fortunately, his reclusive nature coupled with her lack of a social life have made that extremely easy to do. But when Hope's sister gets caught up in a dangerous situation while on a rafting trip Sam is the only man available to accompany Hope without her losing valuable time waiting around for suitable backup. The two embark on a journey across rough terrain that will challenge them both to their emotioanal and physical limits.
This book didn't grab me quite as much as Aftershock. Part of that was probably the extreme outdoors angle, which really never interests me. I also struggled a bit with Hope, who dragged her girly, grily sister on an advanced white water rafting session when she so clearly wasn't advanced. Speaking of the sister, that secondary romance did not appeal to me. In spite of that, I enjoyed the story, just didn't love it as much as Sorenson's others.
June 20, 2013
What do you get when you put together four characters each with a big load of baggage, add in some drug dealing, white water rafting, mountain climbing, car chases and a dash of romance? Freefall.
I really enjoyed this. There was a ton of action, which I love, and the pacing supported it very well. The first 75% of the book is pretty much non-stop action, with plenty of twists and turns I didn’t expect. I thought the action scenes were well-written and exciting, and it was hard to put the book down.
As for the romantic elements of the book, I found the relationship between Hope and Sam to be believable. They are both hiding from the things they don’t want to face, and both had a sense of honor that brought them together. There was chemistry between them, and I didn’t have any issues with it when the “L” word came up. Javier and Faith made an interesting couple as well, and their part in the story was a pleasant and welcome surprise. The author did a good job of making me like the “bad guy”.
This was a fun summertime read. If you like action adventure with a touch of romance, you might like this too.
Thanks to Harlequin and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.
I really enjoyed this. There was a ton of action, which I love, and the pacing supported it very well. The first 75% of the book is pretty much non-stop action, with plenty of twists and turns I didn’t expect. I thought the action scenes were well-written and exciting, and it was hard to put the book down.
As for the romantic elements of the book, I found the relationship between Hope and Sam to be believable. They are both hiding from the things they don’t want to face, and both had a sense of honor that brought them together. There was chemistry between them, and I didn’t have any issues with it when the “L” word came up. Javier and Faith made an interesting couple as well, and their part in the story was a pleasant and welcome surprise. The author did a good job of making me like the “bad guy”.
This was a fun summertime read. If you like action adventure with a touch of romance, you might like this too.
Thanks to Harlequin and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.
August 22, 2014
Our Review, by LITERAL ADDICTION's Guest Reviewer - Benay:
Free Fall fits this genre perfectly. Two lonely, damaged people have an intense attraction to each other but fight it along with their personal demons. Hope Banning is a park ranger who loves the rugged outdoors and the isolation it provides her from pain of past choices. Sam Rutherford is a rich sportsman who also uses isolation to create barriers to relationships; he suffers from amnesia which prevents him from remembering the mourning process for his dead finance.
They are thrown together in a chase through the high Sierras in search of Hope’s sister, who is unwittingly thrown together with a drug smuggler on the run from his gang. It is a fast paced story that has some very satisfying romance.
The characters are engaging. Despite interesting plot lines, the secondary stories bog down the book. None the less, it is a good summer read.
Free Fall fits this genre perfectly. Two lonely, damaged people have an intense attraction to each other but fight it along with their personal demons. Hope Banning is a park ranger who loves the rugged outdoors and the isolation it provides her from pain of past choices. Sam Rutherford is a rich sportsman who also uses isolation to create barriers to relationships; he suffers from amnesia which prevents him from remembering the mourning process for his dead finance.
They are thrown together in a chase through the high Sierras in search of Hope’s sister, who is unwittingly thrown together with a drug smuggler on the run from his gang. It is a fast paced story that has some very satisfying romance.
The characters are engaging. Despite interesting plot lines, the secondary stories bog down the book. None the less, it is a good summer read.
May 14, 2013
It's hard to believe but I like this book even better than AFTERSHOCK, the first in the series. FREEFALL is about Sam Rutherford, who was barely mentioned in the first book and Owen Jackson who had a more active role in the latter parts of both books. Unlike the first book which was mostly about the interactions of the characters during and after an earthquake, FREEFALL is about drug smuggling in Sierra National Park.
Uber fit action heros intermingled with heroines who could never be considered pushovers this action adventure comes complete with love, redemption and healing... but nothing is easy... or free.
I'm just waiting until the next book of the series comes out.
Waiting and... Waiting and... Waiting...
Uber fit action heros intermingled with heroines who could never be considered pushovers this action adventure comes complete with love, redemption and healing... but nothing is easy... or free.
I'm just waiting until the next book of the series comes out.
Waiting and... Waiting and... Waiting...
May 14, 2013
Similar to my feelings on Aftershock (the previous bk) I couldn't buy into the romance with so much action going on. I actually wish this book had featured the heroine's sister and her love interest rather than the hero and heroine. The hero felt too devastated still over the death of fiance to really feel like he could move on. And while I liked the action in the beginning I feel like by the end there was just too much.
Review to come.
Review to come.
June 14, 2015
This uber-talented author sure knows how to write suspenseful stories that get your heart racing. The second book in the Aftershock series is another winner. The first book is my absolute favorite though. I was so glad to see Sam get his story after having a smaller role in the first book. Park ranger Hope and her sister Faith are really good, strong female leads. A series worth picking up if you love a good romantic suspense.
April 23, 2021
My favorite kind of book - lots of action and suspense, with characters I’d like to meet (except the bad guys, of course!) whose path to each other is about as difficult as it can get. This book would make a terrific movie. I wish the library system here had access to the audiobook - I imagist terrific.
The book is lightly connected to the first in the series (go read it if you haven’t!), though also stands alone.
The book is lightly connected to the first in the series (go read it if you haven’t!), though also stands alone.
July 14, 2013
Another solid romance by one of my go-to authors, Jill Sorenson! It was packed with adventure, romance and suspense. I know I can never go wrong when choosing one of her books.
July 2, 2015
3.5 Stars
October 8, 2016
3 stars. I still enjoyed it but both sisters had serious tstl moments, and number of coincidences was too big even for me.
April 8, 2021
This author can certainly write action sequences. I love how exciting this book and the entire series so far has been. It was written in third person with multiple viewpoints which is my favorite. In this book, you actually get two separate romances. There was only a couple of things that almost knocked it down from a five star read. First, the way Sam still seemed to be so in love with his deceased fiancée. There were extenuating circumstances and of course she died and they didn’t split up but still I didn’t like that. He even said (to himself) he couldn’t say that he loved the heroine more than her but differently. Second, I understand why (she didn’t think she would ever see him again) but still didn’t like the way the sister was with other men before they got together at the end. But it was such a good book and so exciting, I’m still giving it a five.
January 18, 2021
The romance is nice, but the female protagonist behaves incredible reckless and unrealistic. It this went so far, that I was more annoyed by her bahaving than being drawn into the story. I liked "Aftershock" and "Badland" so I was quite disappointed with "Freefall".
November 4, 2023
Sam was in a coma in #1 book, also very good, Aftershock. Love this writing! Page-turning pace, great action, tense, suspenseful, hot romance, but wonderful characters. So glad Javier and Faith got their HEA too. Yes, this would make a great movie.
November 21, 2018
So far, I'm liking where this series is going.
October 14, 2020
An interesting read, but those sisters...
June 29, 2021
They had a one night stand. Then no contact for months. And the guy on the run is white water rafting with her sister.
July 6, 2021
I admire the way this author doesn't handwave away the effects of trauma.
March 24, 2025
Still liking this series. Sam’s story was great and we got to see Owen!
May 31, 2018
nicely done.
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