Karole Cozzo

Mean girl Nikki Baylor, accused of a cyberbullying incident that nearly resulted in a classmate's suicide, is expelled from school, abandoned by her friends, and distrusted by her parents but she gets a second chance after meeting Pax, a spirited wheelchair rugby player.

How to Keep Rolling After a Fall

Lisa ✩ @lifeinlit

4.5 stars!

Ahhhh!!! Another ADORABLE story by Karole Cozzo!! I ADORED How To Say I Love You Out Loud when I read it last year, so this one immediately made my TBR. I was dying to read more by Karole. My hopes were pretty high after loving her debut novel so much, so I was hesitant for fear that it wouldn’t live up. I’m SO happy that it did!!! This story was just as cute as Karole’s first! I loved it!!

The relationship between Nikki and Pax was all kinds of adorable. I loved how Pax had such a wonderfully positive outlook on things. He hasn’t had the easiest life after the incident that landed him in a wheelchair… but he didn’t let that ruin his life. He accepted that his poor choices let to this life, and he accepted it. Even when times were tough, these two really were next to each other’s side. I loved how they worked together to better the other, never letting their insecurities or depressed thoughts get in the way.

The cyber bullying aspects of this story, although very tough to read at times, I feel were portrayed extremely accurately. Nikki wasn’t immediately responsible for the bullying, in that she didn’t do it herself, yet it happened when she was present and she didn’t try to stop it. For this, she was fully responsible. It was hard to see ONLY Nikki have consequences due to this horrible behavior. None of the other responsible parties spoke up about their involvement, and Nikki didn’t rat them out either. It was hard to see them “get away with it” to such a big extent, but watching Nikki and the way she grew through the consequences of her behavior made reading this all worth it.

I had a hard time with the parents’ behavior in this story as well. Nikki’s parents were obviously very upset by her behavior in the bully incident… but it broke my heart to see Nikki’s father basically not even look at her anymore. We get glimpses into their past relationship, and seeing how much it changed after the incident was heartbreak. I feel like as her parents, they should have at least given Nikki a chance to explain… even though the explanation, of course, wouldn’t have taken away the incident’s horrific nature. I just felt they failed a bit as parents in this situation.

Such a wonderfully realistic story of actions and their consequences, learning to grow after a terrible event, and moving forward to a better life and a better you. This is another to add to my favorites list!! Karole Cozzo has proven that she’s an author to watch. She’s definitely being added to my must-buy list!

(Thanks to SwoonReads for the review copy!)

Find this review and others like it at Lost in Literature!

The party was at her house. The photos were posted to her Facebook account. That's all the evidence anyone needed to condemn Nikki Baylor for a cyberbullying incident that humiliated a classmate and nearly resulted in the girl's suicide. Now Nikki's been expelled from her old school, her friends have abandoned her, and even her own parents can't look her in the eye. With her plans for the future all but destroyed, Nikki resigns herself to being the girl everyone hates - almost as much as she hates herself. But then Nikki meets Pax, a spirited wheelchair rugby player who knows what it's like when one mistake completely shatters your life. Refusing to judge her because of her past, he shows her that everyone deserves a second chance... and everyone deserves to be loved.

How to Keep Rolling After a Fall

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