As a result of the recent earthquake in Utah, a challenge in my online book group was to read a story that included an earthquake...I found this unread beauty on my kindle. This was a crazed adventure...being trapped during an earthquake does not seem like an ideal place to find love but, Jill Sorenson made it happen. However, I loved that is was not just the Garrett and Lauren show --- All of the characters, had interesting untold stories and it made for an incredible read!!!

As soon as I finished this story I went in search of the the book...Freefall.

When an 8.5 earthquake leaves Lauren trapped in an underpass she’s not sure what will happen. She meets Garrett who helps Lauren with aiding people medically and he seems to know how to handle the situation while thinking clearly. They end up being 2 of 11 people left living out of many, and two of those quickly succumb to death. With only 9 people left they gather supplies from cars and hope they’ll have enough to last until they are rescued.

Besides surviving they also have to fight for their lives when two convicts from a prison transport make it their goal to make the remaining survivors miserable. On top of that Penny’s only a few days from giving birth, Sam is unconscious with a head trauma, and that doesn’t include what happens when one of the convicts, Jeb, starts shooting people.

During all of this Garret and Lauren are trying to fight their attraction to one another as well as deeper feelings that they have towards each other. Garrett says that he’s not free to be with Lauren and she’s finally letting herself feel after closing her emotions off for so long. It’s an intense situation that brings them together in a way that would have never happened without the disaster. But what will happen when they are rescued…if they are rescued.

This is a book that’s not for the faint of heart. If you’re looking for light and fluffy then look elsewhere. This is a gritty, descriptive, intense story about a natural disaster. I think the thing I liked about it so well is that Sorenson didn’t try to make light of any of it. She didn’t try to save anyone’s sensibilities by making it seem that it wasn’t that bad. It was graphic and that was perfect for the book. Having been through the Northridge earthquake in 1994 and experienced the destruction of a 6.7 magnitude I can’t even imagine what an 8.5 magnitude earthquake would be like – but I thought Sorenson did a great job of bringing it to life, so to speak.

The issues with food, water, taking care of the sick and dead, fighting off convicts who had nothing but evil and hatred on their minds were all realistic. The interpersonal relationships that we read about between the survivors were tense but showed a different side of humanity and acceptance.

Garrett and Lauren were great characters. I had some issues with Garrett and his attitude of “I don’t deserve…” (add your own word and he probably said it), but it was mostly how he didn’t deserve Lauren’s admiration because of his past mistakes. I could understand this to a point but he took it to the nth degree. Both he and Lauren grew in the story and that was very nice to read.

In the end I really liked the story. The romance took a backseat to everything else but in that situation it was expected. I would have thought less of the characters had it been otherwise. Sorenson has given us a pretty true-to-life novel and I would definitely recommend it.

Rating 4 out of 5

Unfortunately. I was unable to finish this book and have to put it on my DNR list.
I was unable to connect with the character and therefore unable to get invested in this story.
I hope in the future I might try to revisit this series.

A first from this author for me.
I have to say straight off the bat too that this will NOT be the last either.

I loved the storyline to this. Earthquake, natural world disaster etc.
Our main character Lauren is a paramedic (which is handy admittedly) and after surviving this earthquake, her and others are trapped waiting for help. One of the others is a very handsome man called Garrett. He helps her rescue people and set them up for her to help them. He also moved the bodies and helped gather supplies. Some of the survivors are good people, others aren't and its mostly up to these two characters that people survive.

The writing with this was very good. The storyline was so well done that I didn't want to put my kindle down.
I did guess the twist/secret with Garrett. I was very proud of myself lol but I don't think its obvious at all and definitely didn't mean I enjoyed this any less.
What I also loved about this were the other characters.
I am definitely going to be looking into the other books because I can't wait to read their stories.

Great story with great characters and love story. Well worth a read.

This is a really good first book in a romantic suspense series. I thought the storyline was original, and I really liked the main characters, Lauren and Garrett. I look forward to more in the series.