Falling Hard is the 9th book in the Nugget series and the title refers to how hard Annie Sparkle and Logan Jenkins fall for each other despite their best attempts not to. As much as I loved the Annie Sparkle character despite her ridiculous name, I have to admit I thought this book felt like the author was more or less going through the motions for a goodly portion of it. I say this because like a third of the books in the series the story revolves around a hero (in this case Logan Jenkins) who despite all the compelling reasons to remain in Nugget, (finding his true love not being the least of them), is insistent that his stay in the small Northern California town is only temporary. Much of at least the first half of the book revolves around Annie and Logan, knowing Logan is only in town for a few weeks dancing around each other, trying not to fall into bed together and definitely not falling in love. Annie just isn't a "fling" kind of girl and Logan quickly realizes that and tries to respect that fact. But of course they can't fight fate or the chemistry between them and eventually fall into a sexual relationship to compliment their deep friendship, which as expected leaves Annie devastated when Logan true to his word leaves Nugget to return to San Diego and start his new security business with his ex-SEAL buddy Gabe.
There's so much that is good with this book. Annie is a lovable as any heroine in this series. She's smart, hard working, devoted to her family and big hearted. The side story of her relationship with her parents and her brother is well done. Logan Jenkins is just fresh out of the SEALS when he discovers he's the illegitimate son of Ray Rosser who had died in prison serving time for murdering a cattle rustler and left him an equal portion of his estate (the money he got from selling the ranch to Gia), along with his daughter Raylene whom we got to know in "Getting Lucky." One of the things I really enjoyed about this book was seeing Logan's relationship with Raylene develop and seeing Raylene finally grow up and take responsibility for herself. Logan comes to Nugget hoping to learn something about his father's side of the family history and his roots. Enough of the older folks in Nugget knew Logan's mom and her story that once they hear his last name, the fact that he's Ray's illegitimate son doesn't remain a secret very long. While no one in Nugget has anything good to say about his father or his half-sister, they still open their arms to Logan and treat him as a member of their tightly banded community. Throughout the story we get a brief look at most of the good citizens of Nugget, the Baker's Dozen, the Nugget Mafia, Annie's new friendship among the younger women, Dana, Darla, Harlee, and Sloane. Clay and Emily, Nate and Sam, Rhys and Maddy all make appearances. Because much of the book takes place on the old Rosser Ranch and Flynn is Annie's family lawyer who first introduced her to Gia, Gia and Flynn have a major presence once they return from their vacation in Mexico. Giffin and Lina are in there too but if you blink you might miss them, especially Lina. Falling Hard while not the best book in the series is still a very fine compliment to it. Now after burning through the first nine books which were written before I discovered this series I'll have to wait until October for #10 Hope for Christmas where I believe Emily finds her long lost daughter Hope in time for Christmas. Get the Kleenex ready because I can already feel the tears welling over that one.