I’ve talked about this series briefly over the last couple of months. But I thought it was time for me to write a full series review of the books that are currently out. Book five Inked in Lies is due to release later this month and I’m so excited. But today I’m sharing my thoughts of the first four books in the series.
Trigger Warnings: Abuse, Abduction, Neglect, Torture, Death, Cancer. These are MC and age gap romances, therefore, some things happen throughout the series that is questionable at times. But that does come along with the MC romance genre.
At the moment this series is in the middle of being dark – but I feel that it will go there for sure as the series goes on. It’s on the tamer side of some of the MC romances I’ve read with the Hades Hangman series being one of the darkest. So The Fallen Men series is in the middle at the moment for sure. Enough of this let’s get into it.
Lessons in Corruption: Book one in the series starts with a bang. This is a slight student/teacher romance. This is one of the most taboo books of the series, and I was very hesitant to pick it up. However, it wasn’t as bad as I first thought it was going to be. This series had been on my radar for a while, but I didn’t know how I would go with the romance. But I liked how Giana Darling explored the relationship. Cress is trying to put her life back together after leaving her loveless marriage and then she runs into King.
They have an instant connection, but that gets turned on its head when he turns out to be her student. This part of the romance was hard for me. I wanted to fall in love with these characters because they were great, but this did make me pull away from the story. However, as the novel did go on and because of certain events, I did enjoy Cress and King together.
King was a really interesting male protagonist. I enjoy the vibe that he had. He was this bad boy, but also loved reading and gosh I loved that. There was this small alpha male trope going on – but it wasn’t really heavy on that. So I didn’t mind too much.
While Lessons in Corruption didn’t have a lot of the traditional MC tropes or events until the last 30% or so and I enjoyed that as well. One of the things that I also loved was the relationship between Cress and the men of the MC. I just loved it. The banter, the respect and the love that they have. It was a great introduction to The Fallen Men world.
Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash
Welcome to the Dark Side: This one follows King’s father Zeus and his romance with Lou. This is the most taboo of all the books and one I did struggle with a little. But I also really liked how the relationship between Zeus and Lou built throughout the book. Lou has known Zeus most of her life, in fact, he saved her. And this is what started their friendship. After Zeus is realised from prison he tries to distance himself from Lou, until she takes matters in her own hands.
I also want to make a quick note that I am not condoning a lot that happens throughout this book if it would happen in real life. This is a work of fiction for me. Okay, let’s go back into the review.
Things get a lot darker in a sense of the MC world in this book. Things are starting to heat up for Zeus and his Fallen Men. And I loved getting to look more into this. As I mentioned, I enjoy reading MC romance and the reader can start seeing more of it here.
Lou was such a lovely protagonist. I loved getting to know her. I loved that she was girly, but then she was this tough ass and ah yes! The reader gets to see these two sides of her. But then the reader can see the side of her that even Lou doesn’t want to expose. This book was quite heartbreaking at times and gosh did I just want to get Lou a massive hug.
As I said things are starting to heat up in this The Fallen Men book, in regards to the MC and things, are getting much more intense. I like a lot about this one
Good Gone Bad: This is probably my less favourite book from The Fallen Men series, but I didn’t hate it at all. I just wasn’t able to connect with the characters as much compared to the other books. I liked the start and the end, but the middle was just a little eh to me.
Good Gone Bad follows characters the reader already knows very well. First, we have Harleigh Rose, daughter of Zeus and brother to King. I loved that we got a book from her perspective. She was such an interesting character to see from the sidelines. But then being in her head. I loved it. She is a true biker’s daughter. In saying that there were times where I wanted to shake her up. I wanted her to talk with her family. They would do anything for her, and then to see her distance herself.
Then we have Danner. He was such an interesting character and the perfect romance interest for Harleigh Rose. I loved that he had this good and bad side. He would do anything to protect those that he loves, especially Harleigh Rose.
The romance in this one was really interesting. I loved the banter between the two. They fit each other perfectly without changing them. They were both able to be the best of themselves and the other brought it out so well. I loved that we got to see more of both Danner and Harleigh Rose when they were younger the dynamic that they had then and how it grew throughout both of their lives. It was really interesting. Darling can create such fantastic romantic tension and it works brilliantly here.
Like I said I didn’t love the middle of this one. It just felt as if things were being dragged along. I felt like I didn’t care what was happening – and that was a shame.
Overall, I did enjoy getting to know Harleigh Rose and Danner more and I can’t wait to see more of them as the series goes on.
Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash
After The Fall: This book tore me to part. I did not survive this book. Seriously I was a sobbing mess for most of this week. If you want a book that won’t make you cry, then this one is not for you. While the series isn’t over this felt like it was an ending to one story and the beginning of another.
After the Fall follows Cress and King as things are starting to heat up for the MC. Things are starting to get much darker and more heartbreaking. I think all the books that do follow won’t be suns and daisy, The Fallen Men are going to be in for a ride.
I loved getting to see more of Cress and King and not just through other characters eyes. The reader gets to see where their relationship is and how far they have come. I did love them together much more in this one then their first book. Everything felt more fleshed out and clicked more when reading.
Another that I loved about After the Fall was the reader can see everyone else as well. It’s not just Cress and Kings’ book, but it’s a Fallen Men book. And that was fantastic.
There are so many things that happen in this book that tore my heart out. The last maybe 50 pages or so I was crying so much. It hurt. It hurt. But it was also so beautifully done. It hurt, but it hurt good.
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And that is it for this series review! Have you read The Fallen Men series? What did you think of it? Are you planning on reading it? Let’s Chat!
Paula Stokes: Girl Against The Universe has been on my TBR for some time now and I finally picked it up last month. And damn gosh I wish I picked it up sooner. I can’t wait to read more from Paula, there are a few of her other books that have been on my TBR for a while as well. So they are being bumped up on my list. 
Tillie Cole: Is another author that I have heard about for a few years now, especially since I started reading more and more romance. And I finally picked her up this year and I’m really glad that I did. Her Hades Hangman series is dark and dangerous and I love it. You can check out my series review of all current books now. 
