GRR Reviews Falling in Angels Falls (A Falling in Paradise) by Casey Hagen

Falling in Angel Falls is about a girl finding herself, but roughly 60% of the book it pivoted into secret baby/ love interrupted story, so it is as if the original story and its sequel were bundled into a single book.

Alexa Dayne is the family black sheep, who chose hair salon as her career instead of the family bakery business. And she'd finally made it, and with a comfortable nest egg, she decided on an adventure... a hike to Angel Falls, Venezuela. She even paid a guide that's supposed to be reputable. What she got instead (after her guide's a no-show) was Ben Marx, Steel Force Adventures owner. Ben is trying to escape the bad memories of losing so many friends in the Middle East and achieving a dream. The long-legged beauty dogging him was NOT in his plans. The girl has ZERO jungle skills, just a lot of attitude, and Ben can't bear to see her kill herself trying. So he agreed to take her... but he's not going for the bottom... He's going for the TOP of the falls. And on the way... they fell in love but agreed that it's a no-strings affair... And at the end, they went their separate ways. Five months later, he wandered into town, visiting his mother, and found Alexa VERY pregnant...

The character arcs in the first half were excellent, the second half, a bit less so. The interrupt in the middle really made me feel as if the author decided to make the book longer by tacking on a separate story, albeit with the same characters as there is a bit of unfinished business, i.e. instead of Happy-For-Now, she'll give them the Happily-Ever-After, but only after the author put the characters through another emotional wringer. If you don't mind finding the interruption in the middle, it's a fine book.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot:  Woman with no jungle skills decided to hike Angels Falls, and fell in love with her reluctant guide there for his own reasons

Tropes: coming of age, secret baby, reunion, forced proximity

Overall Rating:  4/5 (rounded up)