Genre: YA Contemporary
Published: November 1, 2014 by Merit Press
Length: 303 pages
Source: author (ARC)
“Ever since Jackie moved to her uncle’s sleepy farming town, she’s been flirting way too much–and with her own cousin, Marcus.
Her friendship with him has turned into something she can’t control, and he’s the reason Jackie lost track of her best friend, Ellie, who left for…no one knows where. Now Ellie has been missing for months, and the police, fearing the worst, are searching for her body. Swamped with guilt and the knowledge that acting on her love for Marcus would tear their families apart, Jackie pushes her cousin away. The plan is to fall out of love, and, just as she hoped he would, Marcus falls for the new girl in town. But something isn’t right about this stranger, and Jackie’s suspicions about the new girl’s secrets only drive the wedge deeper between Jackie and Marcus–and deepens Jackie’s despair.
Then Marcus is forced to pay the price for someone else’s lies as the mystery around Ellie’s disappearance starts to become horribly clear. Jackie has to face terrible choices. Can she leave her first love behind, and can she go on living with the fact that she failed her best friend?”
This is my first time reading a book about cousins falling in love with each other so How We Fall definitely kept me on my toes. What I liked about How We Fall is that not only does it have intriguing romance, but it also has mystery/suspense that I wish came sooner. It was an interesting read since you’re dying to know what’s going to happen with these 2 cousins (Jackie and Marcus).
I thought the characters were great. The author, Kate Brauning did an awesome job elaborating the characters and what they do in their daily lives. I connected with Marcus and Jackie because I have faced some of their problems that they had in this book (i.e. babysitting siblings, doing chores, going home late + have to deal with grumpy parents). Just the way the characters acted and made decisions were very realistic. Sometimes I could see myself in them which is good.
Like I said, there IS a bit of mystery thrown halfway into the book which I liked, but I wish most of the suspense/mystery part weren’t thrown literally at the end of the book. It’s like the author sprinkled a little bit of mystery here and there during half of the book more or less, then sprinkled mystery everywhere towards the end. I guess what I’m trying to say is it wasn’t balanced.
The romance was very intriguing and the reason why I kept reading. I just wanted to see if Jackie and Marcus would end up together at the end or not! I also like the message that this book sends which is screw what society thinks. I think the reason why our world is f’d up sometimes is because of society and normality. Overall I highly recommend you to read How We Fall if you’re up for intriguing romance, family + friendship, and suspense.
