Genre: New Adult, Romance, Mystery
My Rating: 3 how-far-we’ve-fallen stars
Description:
This is the first book in the HELLBENT Series, a spin-off to the Fall Away series. Set to be Dual POV between Hawken “Hawke” Trent, son of Juliet “KC” Trent and Jaxon Trent from Falling Away (the third book in the Fall Away series), and newcomer Aro.
While Hawke may have a reputation for being a honest and sweet young man, that couldn’t be further from the truth. While Aro’s appearance and track record may be rough and mean, don’t forget that looks may be deceiving.
When an encounter between Aro and another girl puts her at odds with Hawke, they have no choice but to run and hide together in an old speakeasy until its safe to come out. The problem with that? The more time they spend together, the more they don’t want to be apart.
Initial Reaction and Predictions (from earlier this year):
OHMYGOD! IT’S NOT A DRILL! IT’S COMING!!!!!!
I cannot tell you all how long I’ve waited for this series. After falling in love with the Fall Away series, I picked up every Penelope Douglas book I could get my greedy little hands on. Birthday Girl is in my top 5 books of all time and Punk 57 will always hold a special place in my heart. However, unpopular opinion coming, I didn’t really like the Devil’s Night series. It could have been the characters, it could have been the entitled nature of the plot, or it could have been the types of intimate scenes just not being my thing….Who am I kidding, it was all three. SOOOOOOO I’m getting down on my knees praying that their Hellbent series does not fall into these same traps!!! Please, I will be thoroughly gutted if that is the case.
I want the typical Trent and Caruthers alpha-men and their women who are leagues ahead of them intellectually. I want drama and motorcycles and bad ass cars and steamy, steamy sex!…ok, I’m drooling now, but you get the point.
I’ve, of course, pre-ordered and cannot wait to share my thoughts with you all!
Review:
I’m….so upset right now.
I had 2022 lined up to be the best year in books for me. All my favorite authors were publishing and all of the books seemed right up my alley. I thought the damn stars were aligning….but alas, life is cruel.
As of now, I am 3 for 3. The first three books to have been released from my 2022 anticipated book list have all been solid 3 star ratings for me and I am downright distraught!…ugh, anyways, let’s continue.
What I liked about the book:
1. I actually really liked both of the main characters, which makes this book so much worse for me because I feel they were robbed of a good storyline.
Aro is an 18-year-old from the bad part of town who has aged out of the foster care system and is running drugs/stolen merch/ “collections” as part of a gang to attempt to support her younger siblings. She has been abused and neglected her whole life, and is currently at the weird age of still being young, but being “legal” enough for her gang to want to pimp her out. Lovely, right?
Aro has a hard edge to her and doesn’t think long-term, even though she proves herself to be very smart and ahead of her peers intellectually. As someone who is constantly wondering where her next meal is, it makes total sense that she wouldn’t have a habit for thinking long-term. This new viewpoint was one of the things I really appreciated about Penelope’s writing, given I have never been in a situation like this and couldn’t fathom why she wouldn’t slow down to just think things through.
Hawke is an eighteen-year-old typical Falls kid: class president, football player, entitled and rich. However, Hawke is searching for more meaning in his life as he’s getting ready for college.
I found Hawke to have a leader personality for sure. I didn’t think he was a d*ck, but I did find that he was often the one in control. Whether through his technology or his possessiveness, he is definitely the right person to be on the lam with.
While Aro doesn’t think things through, Hawke overthinks things, sometimes even to the point of his thoughts paralyzing him. He provides her balance while she provides him creativity and freedom to be himself. So you can see why they would be perfect for each other and why I’m pissed this story wasn’t better.
2. As someone who read the Fall Away series, I LOVED all the tie ins into this series. HOWEVER, Penelope Douglas prefaced this book with it could be read as a standalone. I completely disagree. There were waaaay too many references and throwbacks to the Fall Aways series that I could only imagine didn’t make sense to readers new to this story. I could see if there were only a couple references, or there were sufficient detail around the references, but that is not what happened in this book. There were specific things mentioned but glazed over that were pivotal IMO….
3. Penelope comes up with the best lines. Here are a few I enjoyed:
“I don’t know how I’ll die, but God, I hope it’s with a view.”– I like this a lot. I think this makes me less scared of the inevitable curtain closure. Thanks, P ❤
“a night of crime is kind of like riding a motorcycle. It’s best to cover as much of you as possible.”– I also loved the references to the masks and the pandemic. Very in the now.
“The reminder that every action justifies a reaction, and this might be the day.”– I don’t know why, but this is very Newton meets Poe for me and I dig it.
“I grew up being underestimated, because I’m not a man.”– Preach, baby!
“They run around like they own the whole world, but I guess wolves born on a leash never know they shouldn’t be wearing one.”– Damn!
“The women in my family are incredible. Not one of them waits for an invitation. Some peoples’ ceiling is Dylan’s floor.”– The fact that Hawke said this makes me love him. The fact that Dylan (female) is referred to like this, makes me like her a little more.
“Morals are for people with second bathrooms.”– Wow
“‘Why can a woman be picky, but a man’s sexuality is questioned if he’s not diving into every short skirt like an animal who can’t control himself?’”– LOVE THIS!
“’It happens every time. A thought and then a thought and then a doubt and then a worry, a concern, a dread, until my head is swimming, and I want to scream.’ He closes his eyes, and I can tell he’s trying to control himself. ‘It’s so loud, and then I’ve lost it. The moment.’”– P gets me!
“’Sex is a big deal,’ I say. ‘Especially for women. It’s easy to feel degraded. Abandoned. Forgotten. Worthless if you’re a virgin. Worthless if you sleep with ‘too many’ people.’”– Those that mind don’t matter and those that matter don’t mind, honey.
“’Leave your door unlocked tonight,’ he says quietly. ‘In case I want to taste what my fingers touched.’”– It’s always the quiet ones 😉
What I didn’t like about the book:
1. I felt like the author tried to cram too many plots into this storyline. I’m fine with multiple plots, if it’s done well. This felt really disjointed and like I was getting whiplash every couple of paragraphs.
2. I’m definitely not a dumbass, but I was very confused at certain points in the book.
3. I did not like Dylan! She was either a jerk or vapid. I kind of hope the next book, which I’m assuming is hers, really paints her in a different light.
TLDR: Reading this was like being served soup with only a knife: all the yummy goodness was there, but we just couldn’t get to it.
Brittanica Bold's Book Babblings 