Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - The Falling in Love Montage

Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Falling in Love Montage by Ciara Smyth

9 reviews

pointeshoebookworm's review against another edition

emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

I actually loved this first 98% of this book . . . but then that ending abosolutely destroyed it for me. And no, I'm not talking about

Ruby and Saoirse breaking up, we knew that from the beginning,

and no I don't mean that this book is just as much about dementia, instead of being a cute rom-com that it is marketed as.

Saoirse's feelings were *chef's kiss.* I could see many students (former high school teacher here), responding to major life changes the way she does. Especially if that's what your parent models.

Also, Oliver, sweet baby child. Love him, he deserves the world.

Now be warned for an absolute rant about the Dad/Beth and

Baby

storyline below. Feel free to skip if you didn't have a strong (or visceral, as is my case) reaction towards it.

I 100% detested the absolute piece of turd that her father is. Now, a part of this could just be my effed up issues from my own childhood with my parents but,

you refuse to talk about anything serious with your child, you start dating someone, propose, get married, move and have another child with another woman less than one year after your "wife" (ex-wife) moves out. All of which, done WITHOUT discussing this with (or hell even considering) your daughter who you know is absolutely drowning in all of the major changes going on in her life in regards to her mother, your divorce, AND the possibility that she could suffer from the same disease that is taking her mother away from her . . .

And for the most part, I was okay with it, I thought it was pretty realistic, until you just bombshelled the

pregnancy in the last two chapters. And again, it could be due to my issues, but I firmly believe having a child is soley up to the decision of the person carrying said child, but the consequences (both positive and negative) are felt by multiople people. And when it comes to having another child, the (holistic) wellbeing of your LIVING child should be a factor in your decision as to what you do. Having a child is not a decision about you and your desire to have children. If Saoirse regressed in her growth, I could not blame her, because, putting myself in her shoes, it would be completely understandable for her to feel like she was bing replaced. As what's been modeled for her is that we only sacrifice for someone we love, when it's beneficial towards you, and once it's not, we just pretend it's not there.

I'm not trying to say that her father's life should be put on hold or his life choices should be determined only by what Saoirse wants, but for god's sake, think about her for once and put her first at least once. She is your child, she should come first before yourself at all times. Or at the least, just think how she would feel or how your decisions would impact her. That's what you sign up for when you decide to have a child. End of rant.

Content Warnings

slothwithglasses's review

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dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

genevieve_eggleston's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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viireads's review

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inspiring lighthearted reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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eleanorpain's review

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emotional funny

4.5

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motaki's review

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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nerdysread's review

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emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

A good romance a bit cliché but lesbian. I had trouble sometimes with how Saoirse acted

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hatterell's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative lighthearted medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was an easy to read and quick YA contemporary that I picked up due to wanting to read more LGBT fiction this year.

Although this is primarily pitched as a summer romance (which it is), the strongest part of the book was Smyth's depiction of family. Saoirse's family situation, while not one that I've read before, felt accessible and realistic. I don't know if I've read anything where dementia features so heavily, and I'm pretty sure I've never read a book where a young person has a parent in a care home. I'd love to read Smyth's next book to see if the family representation is as successful.

The romantic storyline was a little more juvenile than the family one, but I thought Saoirse was a realistic 17 year old and I liked Ruby and the other characters from Saoirse's school. I also liked the normalisation of not wanting to go to uni, or taking some time out before you do - most of Saoirse's peers take a gap year to work or support their families. I wasn't overly invested in the romance, but it was sweet with lots of cutesy scenes, and I like how the book tackled learning to communicate with a partner.

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readingpenguin's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Cynical loner Saoirse and hopeless romantic Ruby agree to a series of fun romcom worthy dates with no strings attached, but soon find that you can't have a falling in love montage without falling in love.

Tropes and themes include:

Bad break up/Burned by love
Coming of age
Difficult Home life
Cynic and Romantic
Grand Gesture and Grovel

First a warning that while very romantic, this isn't a capital R capital N Romance Novel with an HEA or even HFN ending. It's more of a coming of age story for Saoirse, and falling in love is a part of it. Saoirse's mother suffers from dementia and lives in a care home. Her father is with a new woman. University is fast approaching. Saoirse has complicated feelings about all of this, and we follow her as she works through them with a back drop of fun outings and romance.

This book will work for you if you like a older YA, younger NA slice-of-life story. If you're looking for light and fluffy book, but grounded in the real world and dealing with some serious topics.

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