Their Freefall At Last Honeywood Fun Park Series, Book #4
Reviews
Their Freefall At Last is the last book of the Honeywood Fun Park series and it was such an anticipated book for me.
before saying anything about this particular book i feel the need to write my overall conclusion of the series, since this is the book that wraps it up.
it’s just SO WELL WRITTEN. Honeywood has a character on each own and it sort of gives me a vibe similar to Harry Potter. meaning that Harry Potter is just another world. a world that many of us have accepted as if it exists somewhere far away. but exists. it’s such a statement. i don’t know if i explain myself well with this, but Honeywood Fun Park seems indeed like an alternative reality somewhere far away that it actually exists. and i believe that this feeling i got was the result of some books so well thought and written that could actually touch hearts.
all the books, with their epilogues and bonus content, were intertwined together in such a clever way, especially with their mixed timeline, the hints and their parallel scenes and dialogues in multiple books. i found this fascinating!
based on author’s sayings about the angst in this one, i have to say that i got way more emotional with the 3rd book (Our Ride To Forever) and i expected to be devastated with this one. thank God it didn’t happen. i’m just so sad that this series is over. like i finished the book and went to bed immediately so i didn’t have to process the feeling of loss that started to creep up. (and i’m definitely rereading this again starting today lol).
all the characters were developed in a lovely way, and the way we got glimpses of them on the other books that wasn’t dedicated to them was so beautiful! it’s like, you already like them before you even get to their story. the whole vibe with their friend group is something i so wish i had it in my life 🥹.
coming to this book now.
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no spoiler zone.
Bennett was a little gentleman right from the age of seven with a mother who taught and raised him so well. i loved how we got to meet such a soft heart and how we saw him growing up and exploring his feelings.
same with Ruby, we all are literally the result of how they treat us as kids and some events are playing a principal role for what we are about to become and what our views will be in certain topics in the future.
it was so sweet to see them grow up together and later to feel confused about the development of their feelings. it’s a period of time in our lives that was described especially accurately by the author.
i loved how cute and pure this time frame was for them and how much their bond meant to them throughout their lives in the future.
all i can say is that i couldn’t get enough. i wish i could get more and more and more about them, i wish i could see more!
in general, as always, the friend-group dynamic was lovely, and the book was an ideal ending for the series.
Julie Olivia’s writing is one of my favourite styles and i honestly believe that she nailed it! cute, with humour and lovely! so so lovely! (and a bit of a spice!)
best friends to lovers is one of my favourite tropes (maybe after being in a 7 year relationship with my best friend 🥲) and she just made me so happy with this read and this series in general.
i super duper highly recommend this and all the Honeywood novels and i’m more than sure that you’ll enjoy them as much as i did!
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spoiler zone.
i’m kind of answering on other reviews maybe but no, i didn’t like Jolene. and i didn’t like her before this book as well. i feel that we got the chance to see much more of the change on Bennett’s behaviour from his friends’ perspective on the previous books than in this one, but she was just a manipulative person who doesn’t really leave you room to develop the way you want. what she did in the end was just because she was smart enough to understand that indeed she got in the middle of the wrong love story. and because she could only settle for her particular standards.
i wish we could see the scenes where Bennett and Jolene have been invited in Orson and Theo’s house and it seemed that they had a fight before that. or to see what happened before and they’ve been like that. and i’ve also liked to see the scenes where Lorelei and Quinn caught Ruby and Bennett’s touches from their POV. and finally, i’d like to see Ruby explain to Bennett what she was about to tell him the day he introduced her to Jolene and how Ruby was indecisive with good days and bad days all the days before that, with ordering his shampoo etc.
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thank you julie olivia for the ARC of your newest book! i went into this blind to the series and even though i didn’t know the characters, having the story start from their childhood really helped give the background needed and i didn’t feel lost without having read the other ones. i thought this was a very clever love story and i love a good small town romance but it being centered around a theme park really was so sweet. i loved bennett a lot. i loved ruby, too, but i was sad it took her so long to finally get to the place where she could accept love. i also really loved how the story handled jolene and think the epilogue of this book was just a perfect little bow. i need to go back and read the others as well!
Highlights
I’ve never really asked. Why do you get tattoos?” I ask. “What’s the appeal?”
He shrugs. “I like the memories.”
“Yeah, okay …” I say with a laugh. “But all your tattoos are basically things from our childhood.”
“My favorite memories are of you.”
My heart slams on the brakes, and for a moment, I can’t breathe. His barrelling laugh breaks the tension.
“You’re my best friend, Rubes. Of course I have great memories with you.”
[…]
“Well, and you’re mine too,” I admit. “My best friend.”
“That’s right. I’m yours.”
OH MYY!!
Ruby and Bennett are twenty-seven years old.
“He’s just always had a weird thing for you.”
Ruby finally meets my gaze, her brow furrowing inward. “So?”
“So?”
“Yeah. Why does it matter?”
I let out a breathy laugh. “It just matters.”
“Don’t you have someone waiting for you?” she murmurs.
“Do I?”
“The woman. At the bar. The redhead.”
Oh.
Sure, she was pretty. Except her hands weren’t soft, like Ruby’s. Her face wasn’t filled with freckles. Her laugh wasn’t as light. And when I saw three of my best friends hugging my greatest friend of all, I knew there wasn’t going to be another person on my mind tonight anyway.
It’s impossible not to notice Ruby in this crowd. Not when she’s as beautiful as she is with her exposed shoulders, dotted with pretty freckles. Not when that outfit of hers gives her a winning smile, like she knows the effect it’s having on the men around her—no, on me. And that confidence is intoxicating.
I reach out, taking Ruby’s chin between my thumb and forefinger. I’m being bold. But I’ve got a little rum in me and a whole lot of nerve, so I do it anyway.
Her green eyes dart to mine.
“You’re the only redhead for me,” I whisper. “You’re my anchor, Rubes.”
🫠🫠🫠
Ruby and Bennett are twenty-seven years old.
Her hand reaches out to take mine. Our fingers entwine, our pink strings kissing at the seams.
“Well then, you know I’ve got you,” she replies.
I shake my head. “What did I do to deserve you?”
Her face flushes red. The freckles on her nose practically disappear.
“We just happened to have birthdays close together.”
“So, you’re telling me it’s fate then?”
That has her blushing more. I like it too much.
“Maybe.”
“All I can think to say is, “Lucky me.”
The stars must have aligned when they made her my best friend.
But friends don’t make other friends blush and love it as much as I do.
🥹🥹
Ruby and Bennett are twenty-six years old.
I trace my thumb over her shoulder. A rush of relief falls over me, like stepping into old shoes. Or like smelling the familiar scent of your home when you come back from vacation. Mine smells like sugar and sweetness. Like Ruby.
Ruby and Bennett are twenty-six years old.
Do I not want kids because I don’t have the urge, or do I not have the urge because my own dad was a piece of crap? Is it genetic? Or is it learned?
All I know is, the selfish part of me would prefer to spend all my time and money on someone else instead. And I’m looking right at her.
[…]
“Think you’d ever want kids?” I ask out loud.
Ruby laughs. “Oh God, no. I have no idea what I’m doing.”
[…]
“What about you?” Ruby asks.
“Do I want kids?”
“Mmhmm.”
I inhale and exhale.
She laughs. “Well, there’s my answer.”
“No, I just … well, I like this more.”
“What?”
“Just hanging out with you,” I answer.
Ruby and Bennett are twenty-six years old.
But his eyes are still the same—those gorgeous dark brown pools that say everything without having to. I’ve missed you.
So, I think back, I’ve missed you too, and he smiles wider.
Ruby and Bennett are twenty-four years old.
Bennett: [link to an article announcing a new roller coaster build]
Bennett: Is this your doing?
Ruby: Yeah. :)
Bennett: Hell yeah. My best friend is killing it in the industry.
Ruby: Your best friend who misses you terribly.
Bennett: Same, Parrot. It’s been too long.
Ruby: Such a softy.
Bennett: Only with you.
😍😍😍😍😍
I rest my head on Bennett’s shoulder. Bennett’s hand slides around my waist and down to the side of my hip. He strokes the tip of his index finger right over my panty line, where the crinkle of thin plastic covers my new tattoo. I was proud of what I came up with. It’s a tiny outline of a strawberry. My rebellious ode to my best friend.
“Does your strawberry hurt?” he whispers.
“Why does that sound dirty?”
His laugh is strained as he asks, “Do you want it to be?”
I nudge him with my elbow. “Shh.”
I do want it to. But I don’t know what that would mean, so I change the subject.
“How’s your parrot?”
“She’s fine. I’ll miss her next year.”
I snort. “All right, let’s not get mushy.”
He chuckles. “No, let’s. I’m in a mushy mood.” His fingers poke into my side, and it tickles. I grin at him […]
Ruby and Bennett are eighteen years old.
“You’re really getting a parrot?” I breathe.
Bennett shrugs. “Of course I am.”
I can’t help the stuttering blinks. “But why?”
“Because I wouldn’t want my first tattoo to be of anyone else.”
Not anything —anyone.
For the next two hours, I watch my best friend get inked with the very animal he’s called me since we were seven years old. My best friend’s first tattoo is of me.
Well, sort of.
Bennett’s free hand reaches out to me halfway through, and I take it without question, rolling our fingers together, entwining and releasing and joining together again. Strokes and rolls of thumbs over palms and something that is wholly different from our usual touches.
[…]
“What are you gonna tell people it means?” I ask.
“That I’m a pirate,” he says casually.
“Nice.”
“And that pirates keep their parrots forever. Even if in spirit.”
My chest tugs, and without hesitation, I walk into Bennett’s arms. He wraps me up in them, placing a hand behind my head and tucking me into his chest.
Forever. I’m inked on my best friend forever.
The smell of his silly little strawberry shampoo hits me hard, and I think my eyes sting a little at the thought of him, but instead of letting myself cry, I look at the tattoo artist and declare, “You know what? I’ve changed my mind.”
Ruby and Bennett are eighteen years old.
Then, Bennett does something he hasn’t done since we were kids. He takes my chin between his thumb and forefinger and says, “Very.”
My heart skyrockets. Eighteen-year-old chin-lifting Bennett is very different from twelve-year-old Bennett. We’ve been like this all night. Little touches. Hands ghosting over each other’s skin. I wish I could say it’s just Bennett, but I’m not innocent either.
We rode his motorcycle to the tattoo parlor, and my arms were tied tight around his waist—tighter than I normally would, splaying my hand over his hard stomach with my cheek pressed to his back. The only things separating our skin were his tuxedo and the helmet he’d bought just for me with a little cursive R vinyl decal.
Ruby and Bennett are eighteen years old.
I savor everything about prom.
I savor how my hand rests on Ruby’s lower back, where her dress dips down. The way she smells especially sweet in some new perfume. Her sunbeam smile and smattering of freckles.
[…]
We dance for one song, then two, then ten. Even when the slow dances start, I pull my best friend into my arms.
“Bennett,” she says with a laugh, but I rock back and forth with her, burying myself into the crook of her neck, “don’t you want to dance with one of the S’s?”
I chuckle. “You’re my date.”
“Yeah, but …”
“Shh.”
And somewhere between the dancing and the dessert, it hits me that this will be one of our last nights together before she goes off to college. Ruby is going to leave, and I’ll be in my apprenticeship program through Honeywood. I’ll have to learn to be okay with my best friend’s absence for the first time in my life.
But I don’t want to give her up just yet. Not yet.
Ruby and Bennett are eighteen years old.
I feel myself smile, especially when I see her own smile returning. It’s so pretty. Everything about her is. Her freckles. Her ginger hair that she politely tucks behind her ears. Her. The face that I have, admittedly, thought about in the privacy of my bedroom without her here.
[…]
And for a second, I think she has that hazy look in her eyes —the kind she gets whenever she looks at Michael. Except it’s directed toward me.
Ruby and Bennett are seventeen years old.
She looks at my lips, and I look at hers. They’re so perfect and so pink, and I just want to turn them red again.
Ruby and Bennett are seventeen years old.
“But you still have me.”
“Yeah, and I wanna keep you.”
I laugh, leaning my cheek on her thigh.
“You’ll keep me,” I say. “I’m yours.” I lift my wrist, tilting it side to side, putting the pink bracelet on display. “See?”
Ruby and Bennett are seventeen years old.
Bennett’s asked me before why I haven’t tried dating anyone, but the truth is, aside from stealing kisses, I’m too busy. It’s either study and date someone, or study and hang out with Bennett. I’ll choose Bennett every time.
Ruby and Bennett are seventeen years old.
This book appears on the shelf Science
This book appears on the shelf everyone-should-read
This book appears on the shelf Released 2016
