Fallen : How Mean Guys do Romance

by K.D. Haskell

Ariana Bloom, who had a college degree, wanted no part of the life her ruthless and abusive father envisioned. So she worked at Hawley's Diner to spite him. Soon, her creepy employer, Nick Hawley, became another obstacle in her life. However, her upbringing prepared her for violence and pain, but the meanest man in town, Gabriel Ashton Noah, would show her bad guys could do more than break bones.

338 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 21, 2025

About the author

I have many stories and novels that I want to publish. I have been at this for a long time, but never thought to show my work. With the cheerleading from my husband and children, I will finally set my imagination free and start publishing my work.

Reviews

[Rita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good

This was ok. Too many errors. Storyline was good. First read by this author. Might read more of her work.

[Jacqueline M · Rating 1 out of 5]

I only finished reading this book because I try to make it a point to finish all books that I start. First, this author has no concept of how to apply grammatical sentence structure. Many times you cannot figure out who is saying what. There are many instances where a character is described as having a certain feeling, state of being, or course of action which is not what they would do at all, because the author neglected to put in the word not. Also she has zero concept of how to use a comma. She almost never uses them where she should, and when she does they are often in the wrong place. Numerous times she jumps from one person speaking or thinking to another, and you have to figure out which character is involved. There are way too many side characters, none of which are developed. There are also too many characters interested in doing things that will cause harm to Ariana, the female lead, without having any good reason for doing so. There are too many times where the main characters are referred to by using their full first, last and middle name. Why? Once we have established their identities, this is unnecessary, and is frequently included for ancillary characters as well.
The plots in this story are implausible. Sure there are corrupt judges, but in general, family court judges do not hold the kind of power given to the judge in this story. Also, once abuse can be effectively proven, a judge would not be able to deny an application for divorce and force a couple to stay married. Next, a second judge sentences a powerful and wealthy man to community service as a punishment for a driving violation, but being sent to work in a diner is ridiculous, since it has no relationship to the infraction. Then the manager of the diner has been stealing from it, but most diners in small towns cannot support a theft over $30,000, without someone noticing, and since his mother owns the diner and is a savvy business woman, how could she not be aware of this. On top of this, he is fixated on Arianna as a potential love interest, that is so pure and good, that he believes his mother will think better of him if he can present her as a mate, while at the same time plotting to be abusive to her once she is in his control. Oh, and let's throw in that he also owes money to an English mob type character who owns a casino, and has unsavory characters that work for him as enforcers. But this guy is willing to help out the diner operator by sending someone to vandalize Arianna's car and possibly kill the guy's mother so he can get his money back. As the story progresses, more and more bizarre plot twists are added. It is like the author read some formulary for book writing and decided to add a new element because she thought the book should have a little bit of that thrown in as well. For example, your are more than 80% into the book when you discover that Arianna's mother remarried 15 years ago and has a son from this marriage. We are expected to believe that this has been kept a secret from Arianna's father and possibly the evil judge, but marriages are a matter of public record, and a google search would have revealed this information.
I was hopeful that this was a first effort by this author and maybe it is as far as an actual story put to book form. But reading a little of her bio, I see that she has invested more than 30 years in this craft, but she has a long way to go to put out a good book.

[Laverne Brewster · Rating 2 out of 5]

RATING: 2.00 stars. (BW/WM). Kindle Unlimited 338 page e-book.
SETTING : contemporary times in an unnamed location in America.
TROPE: Don't know.
CHARACTERS:
1. Gabriel Aston Noah, male lead, is handsome, influential wealthy businessman.
2. Ariana Bloom, female lead, is a 25+-year-old attractive, kind, gentle college graduate working in a dinner.
3. Ebony Bloom is Ariana's sister.
4. Joan is Ariana's mother.
5. William Bloom is Ariana's controlling, abusive and criminal minded father.
6. Victoria is Gabriel's mother.
7. Nick Hawley is the manager of Hawley's Dinner.
8. Beverly Hawley is the presumed owner of Hawley's Dinner and other Hawley assets.
9. Chief Jack Orgon is Ariana's father figure and retired police officer.

The supporting characters have plot lines sufficient to overpower the slow burn romance between Gabriel and Ariana.

[Patty Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

I tried to finish this one, but…

The story started out promising and I had high hopes for Ariana and Gabriel, but their story couldn’t hold my attention. There are too many villains after Ariana (including two nefarious suitors, and an abusive and crazed father as well as a loan shark and a corrupt judge who aided and abetted the aforementioned suitors and father), although she and Gabriel had two other characters who were allies. I’m not sure if they added anything that moved the plot along. Finally, the story was way too long and I took a break from it and read a couple other books. I tried but I just couldn’t get back into the story. There was no heat just a few kisses. I read 65% of it, but I have lost interest.

[felicia brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story was alright. Very confusing trying to verify whom was saying what because the author gave everyone a voice & there are many perspectives that at times it was hard to determine whom was saying what. There are many villains & lots of backstabbing which I didn’t mind. I can’t understand really how Ebony & co-workers decided that her sister should help them change her boss when he treated them fairly. Plus why did the father focus so much on one daughter & not the other with his stalking & revenge plans. If he was supposedly keeping tabs on family why did he not know about the mothers situation? That didn’t make sense. This book is an extremely slow, slow burn. When intimacy did occur, the author used fluffy, wordy words that was boring & hard to follow what was happening.

[Joyce Andrews · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve Fallen for Fallen

What a great book. First time reading this author and enjoyed every bit of it. Ms Haskell, I’m looking forward to reading more of your books. Get this one it’s really great.

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow

This is my first time reading this book! I loved it! Hope to read more!
I love a good love story with drama!

[Henrietta Hudson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good story.

I enjoyed the story very much but were at times confusing about the subplots going on with the different characters.

[Cynthia Woods · Rating 4 out of 5]

good read

Good plot, love the story. The grammar needs some work and the characters more detail or depth. Overall great story.