Name: Falling
ISBN: 9781635553734

Kris Bryant

Falling in love isn't part of the plan, but can Shaylie Beck put her heart first and stick around when her truth can cause damage?

Falling

KADY BURNS

I feel like every other Kris Bryant book connects with me and this was one of them. I would have liked to get more of Pipers back story but I still enjoyed the ride

Shaylie Beck just wanted to go home. She managed to snag the last seat on a late flight from New York to Denver. No one thought anything would go wrong. Nobody expected the unimaginable to happen. When the plane crashes, Shaylie fights for her life and is one of only eleven survivors. Piper Cole wants answers. Why did her fiancée’s plane crash? She lost everything that night, and the investigation is taking too long. To help cope with losing the woman she loved, Piper attends a support group for survivors. The friendship Piper and Shaylie develop helps each to heal, but as their feelings turn to love, Shaylie’s torn. She can follow her heart to the woman she loves, or she can come clean about what really happened right before the plane crashed and risk losing Piper forever.

Jude Silberfeld

I’ve got dyspraxia so sometimes when I get too enthusiastic about what I’m reading or when I’m tired, my eyes go faster than the rest of me and I end up spoiling myself by reading the end of the page before the middle. So I’ve learned to hide the lines below the one I’m reading with my hand (like little kids). I don’t usually need to do it all the time, except maybe with mysteries, but I ended up reading almost this whole book with my hand hiding what was coming next. I got so invested in what Shaylie was feeling that I didn’t want to miss even one word. I even almost had to take a break when I was two thirds in, there were so many emotions.

The premise for this novel is a lot of people’s worst fear, a plane crash. Shaylie survives. Piper’s best friend doesn’t, and neither does her fiancée. When Shaylie and Piper first meet at a support group for survivors, then a second time by chance, they’re immediately drawn to each other but at first they don’t know whether they want to be friends helping each other to heal, or more. Bryant dealt with that beautifully.

Like other reviewers, I could have had a bit more on Shaylie’s PTSD but I get why the author would want to focus on the good that comes from the bad. As I wrote above, there were already so many feelings coming from that good, I didn’t feel like I was missing out. And though I knew there was a HEA coming, I nevertheless sometimes had doubt as to whether Shaylie and Piper would reach it. They had a lot of heavy stuff to deal with, and as meant as they were to be together, it could not be easy. 

Definitely one of my favorite books so far this year.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Megan Cooper

Recommended

Kris Bryant is on my list of authors whose books I'll automatically pick up - she's an adept writer whose romances just draw you in. Falling did not disappoint. If you're looking for a well written romance this is the book for you.

I had a few moments of indecision on whether I wanted to read the book now - especially with the recent events with the Max 737. The first few pages of the book were particularly harrowing but it didn't feel exploitative of the inherent horror and tragedy of a crash. In fact, Bryant doesn't go the easy route and ratchet up the angst by focusing a story around Shaylie's recovery, survivor's guilt, etc. Instead, Bryant focuses on the changes Shaylie makes and her moving forward with her life and friendships - including the burgeoning relationship with Piper.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and the characters, including Shaylie's bestie, Marisa, and the big lug of a cowboy, Jason. A slightly cheesy ending - but who doesn't like a little cheese in their happy endings (that is not a spoiler ... romances are expected to have happy endings or they'd be considered boring literature) 

As this is a first person narration, there were aspects of Piper that weren't fully fleshed out or addressed - I'd like to have gotten a better feel for her and how she was dealing with everything, but that's one of the drawbacks of first person narration.