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North Star Trilogy #11
Fallen Star
When ordinary guy, E.J. McCarty, crosses paths with not-so-ordinary Annie Wilson, extraordinary things happen. For E.J., it’s the start of a great adventure. For Annie, it’s an escape from colossal failure. But thanks to fate--and Amtrak--they’re thrust together on the cross-country ride of their lives.
E.J. and Annie like each other, so what’s the problem? Rock star/actress Cassandra Lawrence is the problem. Despite their obvious attraction to each other, Cassandra’s history in show biz and distrustful nature conspire to keep them apart.
Can E.J. break down the walls Cassandra has built around Annie? Can Annie learn to trust E.J. enough to let him even try? And what’s with E.J.’s bizarre dreams about the North Star? From Chicago, through the heartland and all the way to the Malibu Pier, they struggle to accept that while faith, hope and love are important, trust is the key to the future.
E.J. and Annie like each other, so what’s the problem? Rock star/actress Cassandra Lawrence is the problem. Despite their obvious attraction to each other, Cassandra’s history in show biz and distrustful nature conspire to keep them apart.
Can E.J. break down the walls Cassandra has built around Annie? Can Annie learn to trust E.J. enough to let him even try? And what’s with E.J.’s bizarre dreams about the North Star? From Chicago, through the heartland and all the way to the Malibu Pier, they struggle to accept that while faith, hope and love are important, trust is the key to the future.
- GenresRomance
228 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 13, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 19, 2014
It's been a long time since I've read a romance novel, and this one surprised me.
First of all, the writer is a man. And the point of view throughout the book is a man's point of view. I guess that isn't unusual these days, but the last time I'd read love stories in this genre, they were always told from the female point of view, and if the writers were men they hid that by using a female pen name. I never really liked seeing nothing about the male half of a love story except what the female half could see or imagine. With "Fallen Star" you get a whole different perspective.
The second surprise was the real, believable situation - two ordinary people crossing the U.S. by train, each preferring not to fly for his/her own reasons. Their chance meeting at the outset of the journey, when E.J. rescues Annie from a bad situation, makes their continued friendship perfectly natural. The exploring that the couple does at their stops is grounded in concrete knowledge of their exhilarating adventures - a very real, unhurried cross-country trip. Nothing hazy and dreamlike about this slowly developing love story. I felt like I was there with them.
And the characters were the big surprise. Nobody's gorgeous or anywhere near perfect. E.J.'s a bicycle mechanic and knows what he's talking (or thinking) about. He's just insecure enough and Annie is just prickly - and secretive - enough to make them believable and to make you wonder if they'll work out what looks like a promising relationship. You get to know these people as they get to know each other. Annie's not a woman given to trusting people, and E.J.'s not one to demand trust, or anything else. So there's nothing inevitable about the ending, and we readers find ourselves hoping that everything will turn out the way we can't help wanting it to.
It's been a long time since I've read a romance novel. But if there are more of them as compelling and well-written as this, it won't be the last one I read!
First of all, the writer is a man. And the point of view throughout the book is a man's point of view. I guess that isn't unusual these days, but the last time I'd read love stories in this genre, they were always told from the female point of view, and if the writers were men they hid that by using a female pen name. I never really liked seeing nothing about the male half of a love story except what the female half could see or imagine. With "Fallen Star" you get a whole different perspective.
The second surprise was the real, believable situation - two ordinary people crossing the U.S. by train, each preferring not to fly for his/her own reasons. Their chance meeting at the outset of the journey, when E.J. rescues Annie from a bad situation, makes their continued friendship perfectly natural. The exploring that the couple does at their stops is grounded in concrete knowledge of their exhilarating adventures - a very real, unhurried cross-country trip. Nothing hazy and dreamlike about this slowly developing love story. I felt like I was there with them.
And the characters were the big surprise. Nobody's gorgeous or anywhere near perfect. E.J.'s a bicycle mechanic and knows what he's talking (or thinking) about. He's just insecure enough and Annie is just prickly - and secretive - enough to make them believable and to make you wonder if they'll work out what looks like a promising relationship. You get to know these people as they get to know each other. Annie's not a woman given to trusting people, and E.J.'s not one to demand trust, or anything else. So there's nothing inevitable about the ending, and we readers find ourselves hoping that everything will turn out the way we can't help wanting it to.
It's been a long time since I've read a romance novel. But if there are more of them as compelling and well-written as this, it won't be the last one I read!
January 24, 2014
I don't like books like this. I don't read books like this. But this book was truly amazing...so sweet and innocent! I'm in love with it. ;)
Jim Cangany’s debut novel Fallen Star allows you to have a front row seat on a cross country train and watch as two people who are so totally different, fall in love.
Because of Cangany's amazing, awe-inspiring, moving, and most of all breathtaking style of writing, I have now a new love for the contemporary romance genre. Jim did what no other contemporary romance book could do, he made me love it. Jim is an artist with what he did with the words. Infusing them with emotion, and forcing them onto the reader. He is very talented indeed.
The story is of two people E.J. McCarty and Annie Wilson who both took a train ride and found so much more than just a trip. I enjoyed watching them get to know each other, become fast friends and even fall in love. As the main protagonists, they too became artists and painted a vivid world where their friendship started and blossomed into much more and the trust began to grow where at first there was none. They twisted and danced around each other as they told us their stories. I found myself cheering them on. The relationship was so sweet and innocent. I was truly in love with both of them. And the mystery of who Annie was and the missing celebrity was a great idea and made for a great plot.
I said it before, I don’t read this type of book and I don’t like this type but Cangany has definitely won me over and I can’t wait to read more from him.
For more of my reviews visit my blog at http://momwithakindle.blogspot.com
Jim Cangany’s debut novel Fallen Star allows you to have a front row seat on a cross country train and watch as two people who are so totally different, fall in love.
Because of Cangany's amazing, awe-inspiring, moving, and most of all breathtaking style of writing, I have now a new love for the contemporary romance genre. Jim did what no other contemporary romance book could do, he made me love it. Jim is an artist with what he did with the words. Infusing them with emotion, and forcing them onto the reader. He is very talented indeed.
The story is of two people E.J. McCarty and Annie Wilson who both took a train ride and found so much more than just a trip. I enjoyed watching them get to know each other, become fast friends and even fall in love. As the main protagonists, they too became artists and painted a vivid world where their friendship started and blossomed into much more and the trust began to grow where at first there was none. They twisted and danced around each other as they told us their stories. I found myself cheering them on. The relationship was so sweet and innocent. I was truly in love with both of them. And the mystery of who Annie was and the missing celebrity was a great idea and made for a great plot.
I said it before, I don’t read this type of book and I don’t like this type but Cangany has definitely won me over and I can’t wait to read more from him.
For more of my reviews visit my blog at http://momwithakindle.blogspot.com
August 11, 2016
'Fallen Star' is the first book in a contemporary romance trilogy that follows main characters E.J. McCarty and Annie Wilson as their lives are thrown together during a train ride across the country. The characters of E.J. and Annie are realistic - they both have strengths and weaknesses - that make them easy to identify with throughout the book. I enjoyed watching their characters get to know each other and to see how their relationship would grow in the book. The setting is a perfect one for this type of book - what is the best way to get two characters who might never have met in other circumstances together? Put them somewhere where there's no escape - like a cross country train ride. It's not a completely original idea, but I did enjoy the descriptions of the scenery and the way the characters acted with one another. There's the obvious and a bit cliched issue of one of the characters have issues with trust or having walls put up to protect themselves from getting hurt - it seems to be a recurring theme with romances like this - and I did get a bit bored with it at times. The author included more to the story than just the romance factor - it deals with issues like trust, failure, hope, love, faith, and family - among other things. I felt that these deeper topics gave the book a more layered story line and made it more interesting for me as a reader. Overall, this is a good contemporary romance with heart that fans of the genre will enjoy reading.
Disclosure: I received a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Disclosure: I received a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
February 17, 2014
If you met a stranger on a long journey, what story would you have to tell them? E. J. McCarty is a likeable young man with a very troubled past that he is not afraid to share when he meets the delectable Annie Wilson. While he is a lesson to all of us about how life sculpts you into the person you end up being, Annie comes across as an interesting young woman with a hint of arrogance and self obsession that makes you wonder why E. J has so much patience for her. But then everything becomes clear and you can’t resist falling for her as a character too (I’ll leave it there to avoid ruining it for anyone!)
It is easy to get caught up in the fun that E. J and Annie have together, travelling around California and seeing everything from Las Vegas to the American Museum of Jazz together. This is really a testament to Cangany’s writing and you quickly find yourself wondering, if the world was set on taking you on a journey, would you submit and go along for the ride, or fight fate and go home to safety?
Personally, I found that the dream sequences seemed a little redundant and might have been just as effective if they had been alluded to rather than told outright, but I’m sure there will be other readers who enjoy them. This book is a delightful story of true love and teaches us to focus on the journey rather than the destination; a lesson a lot of us could learn from.
Reviewed by Elizabeth Wright on behalf of BestChickLit.com
It is easy to get caught up in the fun that E. J and Annie have together, travelling around California and seeing everything from Las Vegas to the American Museum of Jazz together. This is really a testament to Cangany’s writing and you quickly find yourself wondering, if the world was set on taking you on a journey, would you submit and go along for the ride, or fight fate and go home to safety?
Personally, I found that the dream sequences seemed a little redundant and might have been just as effective if they had been alluded to rather than told outright, but I’m sure there will be other readers who enjoy them. This book is a delightful story of true love and teaches us to focus on the journey rather than the destination; a lesson a lot of us could learn from.
Reviewed by Elizabeth Wright on behalf of BestChickLit.com
August 5, 2013
Bike mechanic EJ is taking a road trip to see the country and take an opportunity to get his life back together. He meets Annie, a quiet, secretive girl and they team up in their travels. From the start, it's clear that Annie isn't all she seems. EJ naive enough not to see it and he's total gentleman all the way through.
I dithered between three and four stars for this one. Roadtrip type stories are really not my thing and I saw the 'twist' coming from early on, but EJ was adorable enough to keep me reading. This is a very sweet story about a very sweet man. The characters had depth and the dialogue works well. If you like your romances clean and cute, this is the one for you.
My thanks to the publishers for a review copy in exchange for an honest review.
I dithered between three and four stars for this one. Roadtrip type stories are really not my thing and I saw the 'twist' coming from early on, but EJ was adorable enough to keep me reading. This is a very sweet story about a very sweet man. The characters had depth and the dialogue works well. If you like your romances clean and cute, this is the one for you.
My thanks to the publishers for a review copy in exchange for an honest review.
January 2, 2014
4 stars of sweet romance. Reading a romance book is always a treat but reading a book from a man writing it is even better. Cangany wrote a beautiful and amazing love story. E.J and Annie like each other and seem perfect for each other but just like any relationship things or people get in the way. This story has everything you need in a romance and some. Jim writes about these characters and develops them perfectly that you cant help but fall in love with them. This book is an amazing debut novel thanks to Jim Cangany for introducing us to his world of romance can't wait to read more;)
~Raquel~
~Raquel~
June 22, 2013
If you like to fall in love with the characters in a book, then Fallen Star is for you! Cangany is a master at creating characters who are so real, you expect to meet them on the street.
Fallen Star is a delightful mix of romance, nostalgia, adventure, and a touch of mystery. The main character, E.J., grabs the reader's interest from the start. As he begins his traveling adventure and works through his grief to find a surprising new love, it's a pleasure to cheer him on.
The story line is so smooth, it's hard to believe this is a debut book. I'm looking forward to more from this author.
Fallen Star is a delightful mix of romance, nostalgia, adventure, and a touch of mystery. The main character, E.J., grabs the reader's interest from the start. As he begins his traveling adventure and works through his grief to find a surprising new love, it's a pleasure to cheer him on.
The story line is so smooth, it's hard to believe this is a debut book. I'm looking forward to more from this author.
July 8, 2013
This is a fresh take on the good old road romance, as Annie and EJ travel cross-country and slowly fall in love. I love a road romance, and this is a perfect example. Two people with seemingly little in common are thrown in forced proximity and grow to know, like, and finally love each other. This is such a sweet blend of likable characters, interesting settings, and a hint of mystery regarding a missing celebrity. The subplot about EJ's grief at his mother's recent death adds poignancy. The first book by a promising debut author!
January 8, 2014
Really enjoyed it. Looking forward to more work by Jim!!
January 17, 2014
Review to be posted on the BestChickLit profile. But I really enjoyed Fallen Star, looking forward to reading the sequel!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews