Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsA complicated, emotional, and satisfying conclusion for the Wilde Boys
Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2021
I’m so glad that I discovered the emotional, existential hurricane that is Sara Cate’s story telling. Free Fall is an unconventional and emotionally turbulent love story. This story really revels in the messiness of trust and forgiveness, in the fine line between toxic love and catalytic. Free Fall paints the brokenness of three lonely, hurt people and their captivating, complicated journey to try to find safety and peace in the romantic chaos they create. I could not put this down!
Gravity was a stand out read for me, and while I felt that Allistair and Zara’s love story was perfectly crafted and ended just right, I had a soft spot in my heart for Nash, the man left out of their happy bubble, the man still broken and destructing. If you loved Nash in Gravity, he’ll completely consume you in Free Fall. He wrecked me- completely. Even though time has passed, Nash is still struggling from the emotional wounds of his brother’s death, wounds that have somehow healed and deepened in the wake of what happened with Zara and Allistair. He hasn’t fully processed either loss- and the result is an emotionally destructive and emotionally chaotic tortured soul. But beneath his angry intensity is a sweet, tender, and lonely heart- one we saw brief glimpses of Gravity, and one that Sara Cate fully unleashes in FF. But his sincerity- his wounded vulnerability and affection comes with a price- he punishes others who break down his walls- Zara, his father, and most especially Hanna and Ellis.
Ellis- Allistair’s old business partner and Nash’s new consultant, an unwelcomed complication on the island since they have history. Ellis soothes Nash when he needs it the most- his acceptance, his control, his easy connection and camaraderie with Nash make Ellis the safe place for Nash to land when he’s hurting….at least until the connection between becomes something else- something not safe to Nash who isn’t ready to confront parts of himself, or to risk his heart. Things ended poorly, and now Ellis is the one on guard. Further stirring up Nash’s emotional resistance is Hanna- the disgraced ballerina trying to take control of her life and stop living on everyone else’s. She’s desperate for a chance to get away from the pressures of her life, and she’s hungry for any kind of intimacy or genuine affection, and Nash’s damaged soul calls to her nurturing instincts. But no only is she Zara’s best friend, but Nash also can’t give her the fulfillment and safety she needs, even though they crave each other. And soon finds himself in a uncomfortably familiar and unconventional triangle of attraction, unsettlingly familiar to the one that almost broke him before.
So yes- IT IS A MESS. Baggage galore, unresolved feelings, existential crises, confusion and giant heaps of angst. Whereas Gravity was really about finding your center in grief, Free Fall is more about psychological and emotional freedom- about three broken souls who are battling themselves. And they are so heartbreakingly lonely as they hide away. The self hatred, the longing, the emotional repression- it all results in these three having not only toxic relationships with each other, but also with their own self. Working through that is complicated enough in a couple- but with an undefined throuple dynamic it’s a volcano waiting to erupt. And erupt it does- in being forced to face each other they are finally forced to face themselves. Their own pain, their own hurt, their own baggage. Hanna wants to nurture, and she desperately needs emotional safety and stability. Ellis needs to be needed, to use his capacity ground and strengthen others. And poor Nash just wants to be chosen- to be the first choice, to be wanted. They all push each others’ buttons- it’s a perfect storm- but in doing so they do something no one has been able to do- they unsettle, they expose and unmask each other. And so they discover that while love has done nothing but destroy them in the past, that their unique combination of connection and needs makes something that was once destructive and toxic into something safe, peaceful, healthy. Even if it is taboo.
The chemistry here is profoundly complicated, nuanced, and gripping. And Sara Cate writes steamy like no one else. But it’s the emotional psychology of her character journeys that capture me, that I found so poignant and brilliant. Sara really breaks her characters down to the marrow- she cracks them open, strips them bare. Her books are so deliciously meta. She’s so gifted at exposing her characters’ psyche, which makes for truly soul deep and thought provoking character journeys. You feel her characters, you breathe them. And you can't stop thinking about them.
I loved that Nash got his story- and I loved that the architecture was similar on the surface but the journey entirely different- once configuration was toxic and unsafe for Nash, the other is his safe space to fall, his peace. It not only affirms Nash’s HEA- but it confirms Zara and Allistair’s too. Because this love story only works with the exact right combination of hearts. Three hearts that have to break completely so they can be pieced back together as part of one soul. What a beautifully riveting and unusual story of healing and forgiveness, and what an unusual but captivating journey the Wilde boys have given me. I'll be thinking about them well beyond the final page.
