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zzzrevel's review
2.0
After I read the author's bio, all I could think about as I read the book was that it was written as if it were the screenplay and not a novel. The protagonists are not likeable and the plot is inane. The chapters alternate between "Now" and "Then" and the "Then" chapters are haphazardly (in my opinion) arranged against chronology. I suspect the presentation of chapters randomly is to keep the reader curious and persistent in finding out more about the people involved but it failed for me. Well, I did finish it but it was not an enjoyable read.
ceeemvee's review
1.0
(SPOILER ALERT AHEAD)
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this book in return for my honest opinion and review.
I didn’t particularly care for the story, characters or the writing style, but I had to finish just to see what the secrets were. That being said, I’d recommend you don’t waste your time.
This book is all over the place. We have sibling rivalry, dysfunctional families, patricide, spousal abuse, alcoholism, homelessness, hired assassin, child trafficking. We have a pseudo-thriller that wants to be a romance that wants to be a suspense novel. None of the characters are especially likeable or believable. As for Ellie, seriously, I couldn’t believe her. Before walking into their wedding reception, her husband tells her he is an assassin. Then later he tells her she needs to kill someone. So she does. Just like that. She just keeps repeating to herself his words of encouragement that she can do this. Are we to believe there’s going to be a future for these two? Wait until she finds out he killed her best friend’s husband.
The novel’s chapters alternate between Then and Now chapters, each relatively short and each told by a different character. As for the writing style, it begins to grate after a while. The novel is mostly written in short, descriptive sentences, which is a format I’ve been seeing lately that is being used as a means of emphasis. I don’t particularly care for this writing style. The ending was thrown together, all the loose ends being tied up in a few pages. It wasn’t a very effective ending.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this book in return for my honest opinion and review.
I didn’t particularly care for the story, characters or the writing style, but I had to finish just to see what the secrets were. That being said, I’d recommend you don’t waste your time.
This book is all over the place. We have sibling rivalry, dysfunctional families, patricide, spousal abuse, alcoholism, homelessness, hired assassin, child trafficking. We have a pseudo-thriller that wants to be a romance that wants to be a suspense novel. None of the characters are especially likeable or believable. As for Ellie, seriously, I couldn’t believe her. Before walking into their wedding reception, her husband tells her he is an assassin. Then later he tells her she needs to kill someone. So she does. Just like that. She just keeps repeating to herself his words of encouragement that she can do this. Are we to believe there’s going to be a future for these two? Wait until she finds out he killed her best friend’s husband.
The novel’s chapters alternate between Then and Now chapters, each relatively short and each told by a different character. As for the writing style, it begins to grate after a while. The novel is mostly written in short, descriptive sentences, which is a format I’ve been seeing lately that is being used as a means of emphasis. I don’t particularly care for this writing style. The ending was thrown together, all the loose ends being tied up in a few pages. It wasn’t a very effective ending.
mdsnyderjr's review
2.0
Another book that starts out really great and holds the momentum and then the ending just sucks.
sarahnquigley's review
1.0
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for this review (many thanks to the folks there).
Potentially spoilery, but I'll try not to give away anything too specific.
I requested this book entirely because of the one sentence blurb on the book's NetGalley page. "How can you find out that the person you love is a killer ... and continue to love him anyway?"
I think that's a really interesting question, and one that comes up a lot. Every time someone does something terrible and newsworthy, we ask whether their partner knew and how they can support/stay with someone capable of doing terrible things. I see a lot of possibility for a novel to explore the conscious decision to love someone who does bad things. Unfortunately, this book doesn't do that and I was disappointed from the beginning.
Stylistically, the author made a lot of choices I didn't care for. She sporadically addresses the reader directly, which I always hate, but in this case I found it particularly grating. The book also attempts to unravel a fairly convoluted plot (double crosses and triple crosses and unclear motivations, oh my) and then ends abruptly with only minimal resolution. While I think most of the ambiguity in the ending is intentional, I also think the book could have benefited from another fifty pages or so. It would have helped a lot to have the big reveal a little more fleshed out and to have maybe followed Rob and Ellie more closely after the climax. As it is, the big reveal and the end of the book come within a very short chapter or two and it's very unsatisfying.
Plot-wise, I struggled to connect to both Rob and Ellie. It's very difficult to understand Ellie's motivation for any of her behavior. It's clear that she desperately wants to love and be loved and that desperation is probably driving a lot of her decision making. Beyond that, I couldn't connect to her at all. The author did try to establish that both characters have dark (or darkish) secrets and that their capacity for selfishness and bad-thing-doing is what draws them together. I don't think I buy it, though.
I also spent most of the book assuming Rob was being sincere, but the ending casts his sincerity into a lot of doubt. I'd have been fine with that (in fact, I had hoped for the first third of the book that he was manipulating Ellie and that the book would become a lot more interesting than it had been to point) except that Sadowsky works really hard to make Rob a sympathetic character. Everyone he kills deserves it for some reason and a fair number of the chapters are specifically about what he's thinking and feeling. If in the end we aren't supposed to be able to trust any of that, the book would have worked a lot better if it just hadn't been included at all. A book entirely from Ellie's perspective would have been far more effective in establishing Rob's ambiguous trustworthiness. It also doesn't make any sense to me that Rob doesn't always know the big reveal in the final chapters. If he didn't know, he's dumb on top of being capable of terrible things. If he does know, then everything he does becomes part of this really elaborate plan to achieve revenge or seize control (it's not clear which) and then I'm right back to not understanding why so much effort is put into making him seem sincere and sympathetic. And then finally, it's never fully explained why Ellie needs to be involved in any of this. If it's just the sheer cussedness of the shady criminals involved, then that's boring. If it's because of Rob's elaborate plan, then again none of his chapters were necessary and more attention could have been paid to making this book about something else.
Ultimately, I was left with only one question: For what? Why did we go through all of this and for what ends? If the answer is "for love," then not only is that trite nonsense, but in the end literally nothing happens to this couple. They've survived the plots and plans, and we leave them both reeling from what's happened and uncertain if their relationship will be able to survive what they've done. If the author's point is that doing terrible things for love never ends how you hope it will, she could have pushed much farther into that idea and spent some time showing how the decisions they've made eventually unravel their relationship. But then again, two people capable of doing the things Rob and Ellie do might turn out to be really happy together. Who the hell knows?
I really can't recommend this book, but maybe there's something to be said for the fact that it clearly elicited strong feelings. It's been a while since I read a book that made me as angry as this book did. Fair play to Sadowsky for that, at least.
Potentially spoilery, but I'll try not to give away anything too specific.
I requested this book entirely because of the one sentence blurb on the book's NetGalley page. "How can you find out that the person you love is a killer ... and continue to love him anyway?"
I think that's a really interesting question, and one that comes up a lot. Every time someone does something terrible and newsworthy, we ask whether their partner knew and how they can support/stay with someone capable of doing terrible things. I see a lot of possibility for a novel to explore the conscious decision to love someone who does bad things. Unfortunately, this book doesn't do that and I was disappointed from the beginning.
Stylistically, the author made a lot of choices I didn't care for. She sporadically addresses the reader directly, which I always hate, but in this case I found it particularly grating. The book also attempts to unravel a fairly convoluted plot (double crosses and triple crosses and unclear motivations, oh my) and then ends abruptly with only minimal resolution. While I think most of the ambiguity in the ending is intentional, I also think the book could have benefited from another fifty pages or so. It would have helped a lot to have the big reveal a little more fleshed out and to have maybe followed Rob and Ellie more closely after the climax. As it is, the big reveal and the end of the book come within a very short chapter or two and it's very unsatisfying.
Plot-wise, I struggled to connect to both Rob and Ellie. It's very difficult to understand Ellie's motivation for any of her behavior. It's clear that she desperately wants to love and be loved and that desperation is probably driving a lot of her decision making. Beyond that, I couldn't connect to her at all. The author did try to establish that both characters have dark (or darkish) secrets and that their capacity for selfishness and bad-thing-doing is what draws them together. I don't think I buy it, though.
I also spent most of the book assuming Rob was being sincere, but the ending casts his sincerity into a lot of doubt. I'd have been fine with that (in fact, I had hoped for the first third of the book that he was manipulating Ellie and that the book would become a lot more interesting than it had been to point) except that Sadowsky works really hard to make Rob a sympathetic character. Everyone he kills deserves it for some reason and a fair number of the chapters are specifically about what he's thinking and feeling. If in the end we aren't supposed to be able to trust any of that, the book would have worked a lot better if it just hadn't been included at all. A book entirely from Ellie's perspective would have been far more effective in establishing Rob's ambiguous trustworthiness. It also doesn't make any sense to me that Rob doesn't always know the big reveal in the final chapters. If he didn't know, he's dumb on top of being capable of terrible things. If he does know, then everything he does becomes part of this really elaborate plan to achieve revenge or seize control (it's not clear which) and then I'm right back to not understanding why so much effort is put into making him seem sincere and sympathetic. And then finally, it's never fully explained why Ellie needs to be involved in any of this. If it's just the sheer cussedness of the shady criminals involved, then that's boring. If it's because of Rob's elaborate plan, then again none of his chapters were necessary and more attention could have been paid to making this book about something else.
Ultimately, I was left with only one question: For what? Why did we go through all of this and for what ends? If the answer is "for love," then not only is that trite nonsense, but in the end literally nothing happens to this couple. They've survived the plots and plans, and we leave them both reeling from what's happened and uncertain if their relationship will be able to survive what they've done. If the author's point is that doing terrible things for love never ends how you hope it will, she could have pushed much farther into that idea and spent some time showing how the decisions they've made eventually unravel their relationship. But then again, two people capable of doing the things Rob and Ellie do might turn out to be really happy together. Who the hell knows?
I really can't recommend this book, but maybe there's something to be said for the fact that it clearly elicited strong feelings. It's been a while since I read a book that made me as angry as this book did. Fair play to Sadowsky for that, at least.
kristindowner's review
3.0
Original Post: http://www.nerdprobs.com/books/book-review-just-fall-by-nina-sadowsky/
Is love enough when you find out someone is a murderer? That is the basic description I read before picking up this book. I was instantly intrigued and had to see where this book was going to take me. Never having read Nina Sadowsky, I had no clue what to expect from her writing either.
"Just Fall" basically follows Elli's life as she finds out horrible secrets about her husband. We watch as she makes a series of questionable decisions whether to follow him or walk away. I did like how this story makes you question whether you would do similar things if put in the same situation. Would you be able to look your significant other in the face if you found out they lied to you? Did something reprehensible? Asked you to do something completely against your moral code? If your life was at risk? These are all question Sadowsky makes you think as a reader. At least they made me think. Unfortunately while the book had me thinking and questioning Ellie's motives, I was highly disgruntled by the way in which the story flowed. The story is set up to jump between 'Then' and 'Now', but it doesn't just jump back and forth in order. The 'Now' goes in chronological order, but the 'Then' jumps around. One flashback is from 6-months ago. The next is from a year ago. Then a week ago, five years ago, 8-months ago, and so forth. It was incredibly hard to continue to arrange all the information in my head and keep the story in line while I continued. While I found the story line interesting, this hindered me from wanting to read. I wanted to know how it ended, but it was almost too complicated.
I also found moments where it almost seemed too much. Too much unbelievable stuff happening. I know there are people who go years without being caught, but some of the stuff that happens in this story was a bit hard to wrap my head around. However, if I was to put all the little parts of the story into alignment now that I have finished the book, it is a great story. It has a good concept behind it and gets the reader thinking and invested in the story. There are multiple events happening that all end up tying together in the end and I liked how we got to see how complete strangers can be brought together in tragedy, fear, and love. So while I was unhappy with the jumping around and a few over the top details, I give credit to Sadowsky for weaving some great lessons and intrigue into her story. I've had many authors that can deliver a great story, but no real lesson to the reader or a great lesson, but poorly delivered. Sadowsky was able to do both well. Her writing is good. The characters were developed, just choppily throughout the jumping around, and overall the story was a good one. I would just wish for a smoother flow and easier flowing transitions.
Solid three stars. I'll definitely check out her next book.
Is love enough when you find out someone is a murderer? That is the basic description I read before picking up this book. I was instantly intrigued and had to see where this book was going to take me. Never having read Nina Sadowsky, I had no clue what to expect from her writing either.
"Just Fall" basically follows Elli's life as she finds out horrible secrets about her husband. We watch as she makes a series of questionable decisions whether to follow him or walk away. I did like how this story makes you question whether you would do similar things if put in the same situation. Would you be able to look your significant other in the face if you found out they lied to you? Did something reprehensible? Asked you to do something completely against your moral code? If your life was at risk? These are all question Sadowsky makes you think as a reader. At least they made me think. Unfortunately while the book had me thinking and questioning Ellie's motives, I was highly disgruntled by the way in which the story flowed. The story is set up to jump between 'Then' and 'Now', but it doesn't just jump back and forth in order. The 'Now' goes in chronological order, but the 'Then' jumps around. One flashback is from 6-months ago. The next is from a year ago. Then a week ago, five years ago, 8-months ago, and so forth. It was incredibly hard to continue to arrange all the information in my head and keep the story in line while I continued. While I found the story line interesting, this hindered me from wanting to read. I wanted to know how it ended, but it was almost too complicated.
I also found moments where it almost seemed too much. Too much unbelievable stuff happening. I know there are people who go years without being caught, but some of the stuff that happens in this story was a bit hard to wrap my head around. However, if I was to put all the little parts of the story into alignment now that I have finished the book, it is a great story. It has a good concept behind it and gets the reader thinking and invested in the story. There are multiple events happening that all end up tying together in the end and I liked how we got to see how complete strangers can be brought together in tragedy, fear, and love. So while I was unhappy with the jumping around and a few over the top details, I give credit to Sadowsky for weaving some great lessons and intrigue into her story. I've had many authors that can deliver a great story, but no real lesson to the reader or a great lesson, but poorly delivered. Sadowsky was able to do both well. Her writing is good. The characters were developed, just choppily throughout the jumping around, and overall the story was a good one. I would just wish for a smoother flow and easier flowing transitions.
Solid three stars. I'll definitely check out her next book.
mbarron57's review
3.0
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book.
"Just Fall" is a romance/thriller novel set predominantly in St. Lucia and New York. The story revolves around Ellie and her new husband Rob and Rob's past. The book is written with chapters alternating "now" and "then" which move the story along but also explains the development of the character.
All in all this was a pleasant read. I found that because the chapters are relatively short and end with the hint of explanations to come I really couldn't put it down. I'll admit I was eager to read this as it had been compared to "Gone Girl" but after reading the book I don't think its an ample comparison. Ellie is a much more likeable character and to be honest "Gone Girl" had a little more twist to it than this novel.
I give it a solid 3 stars. This book would make for a great beach read and one I would recommend for someone looking for quick, no-brainer read.
"Just Fall" is a romance/thriller novel set predominantly in St. Lucia and New York. The story revolves around Ellie and her new husband Rob and Rob's past. The book is written with chapters alternating "now" and "then" which move the story along but also explains the development of the character.
All in all this was a pleasant read. I found that because the chapters are relatively short and end with the hint of explanations to come I really couldn't put it down. I'll admit I was eager to read this as it had been compared to "Gone Girl" but after reading the book I don't think its an ample comparison. Ellie is a much more likeable character and to be honest "Gone Girl" had a little more twist to it than this novel.
I give it a solid 3 stars. This book would make for a great beach read and one I would recommend for someone looking for quick, no-brainer read.
petra_reads's review
3.0
Just Fall is the story of Ellie who marries Rob who turns out to be someone she doesn't really know. But Ellie has a couple of skeletons in the cupboard, too.
Interesting premise for a story. And the story itself wasn't bad. But I didn't particularly enjoy the way it was delivered. It felt like a screenplay at times. Probably not surprising considering the author's background. At the beginning and then again at the end, the author addressed the reader directly. That didn't work for me here.
The story was told by means of alternating short chapters of 'Now' and 'Then', with the 'Now' in chronological order but the 'Then' jumping all over the timeline.
I would just start to get into the story and then it would change to another time or focus on a different character. I ended up reading this in tiny installments thus taking much longer than usual to finish. Not only do we have Rob and Ellie's perspective, but then the perspective of Lucien, a policeman investigating a murder and the disappearance of several young boys, was also introduced. While it wasn't confusing to follow, it just felt disjointed and it stopped me from becoming involved with any of the characters. Well, actually the only one I harbored any feelings for was the poor police guy and what he and his family were going through. I didn't really care about Rob or Ellie. I am still at a loss where the promised "sexy and seductive" was?
While the Now-chapters were quite exciting and I was interested in following that story, the Then-chapters seemed to contain a lot of unnecessary padding. I understand that the author was trying to develop the characters of Rob and Ellie in this manner by giving the readers their histories but I would have preferred if it had been condensed or integrated into the central story.
If it hadn't been for the last 20 or 30% of the book, I would have ended up rating this lower, but the way the story finally played out redeemed it. At least, there were some good twists. Not so much my thing stylistically but an interesting plot.
I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Interesting premise for a story. And the story itself wasn't bad. But I didn't particularly enjoy the way it was delivered. It felt like a screenplay at times. Probably not surprising considering the author's background. At the beginning and then again at the end, the author addressed the reader directly. That didn't work for me here.
The story was told by means of alternating short chapters of 'Now' and 'Then', with the 'Now' in chronological order but the 'Then' jumping all over the timeline.
I would just start to get into the story and then it would change to another time or focus on a different character. I ended up reading this in tiny installments thus taking much longer than usual to finish. Not only do we have Rob and Ellie's perspective, but then the perspective of Lucien, a policeman investigating a murder and the disappearance of several young boys, was also introduced. While it wasn't confusing to follow, it just felt disjointed and it stopped me from becoming involved with any of the characters. Well, actually the only one I harbored any feelings for was the poor police guy and what he and his family were going through. I didn't really care about Rob or Ellie. I am still at a loss where the promised "sexy and seductive" was?
While the Now-chapters were quite exciting and I was interested in following that story, the Then-chapters seemed to contain a lot of unnecessary padding. I understand that the author was trying to develop the characters of Rob and Ellie in this manner by giving the readers their histories but I would have preferred if it had been condensed or integrated into the central story.
If it hadn't been for the last 20 or 30% of the book, I would have ended up rating this lower, but the way the story finally played out redeemed it. At least, there were some good twists. Not so much my thing stylistically but an interesting plot.
I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
oczerniecka's review
2.0
I must say that the story is interesting, and has a potential, I didn’t enjoyed how it is presented. We have two people who fall in love, man without a past to tell about to his loved one and a woman with a past she’s willing to share with him, but not all of the things that happened. The way Rob – the main male character – is presented, my mind immediately went to the description of Christian Gray from infamous 50 Shades of Gray. The story how he was in love with her – Ellie, how this is the thing that he should not allow himself to do, how he cannot let someone in. His childhood that left a permanent scar on his soul. But then he does and the love changes him! Revolutionary! But of course the deep secret he has is much more than an inclination to a very kinky sex. This comparison to Christian Gray might be also result of a sex scenes that are quite often in the book (in most mystery books there is a no sex scenes or a very scare description of them).
I feel like parts of the story were unnecessary, the part about missing children I really don’t get. The whole story that is shown throughout the book at the end must serve a little importance to the mystery. Disappointing.
All in all, the story really has potential but I would love to read it presented in another way, with characters that are just… more. I cannot put my finger on what this “more” may exactly means.
I feel like parts of the story were unnecessary, the part about missing children I really don’t get. The whole story that is shown throughout the book at the end must serve a little importance to the mystery. Disappointing.
All in all, the story really has potential but I would love to read it presented in another way, with characters that are just… more. I cannot put my finger on what this “more” may exactly means.
suspensethrill's review
3.0
I would like to thank Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
3.5 Stars
I was intrigued to read this book when I found out that the author also wrote the script for the movie "The Wedding Planner". This is her debut novel and while it wasn't the greatest, it was still pretty good.
This novel alternates between "Then" and "Now" chapters which are short snippets of the past (which explains Ellie and Robs backstory) and the present (which is where we get into the real crime thriller elements.
Overall, I enjoyed the thriller aspect of the plot. It was a fun read but not anything exceptionally memorable. I also found myself wanting to skim through Ellie and Rob's backstory. It seemed a little fluffy and unnecessary padding at times to the book.
3.5 Stars
I was intrigued to read this book when I found out that the author also wrote the script for the movie "The Wedding Planner". This is her debut novel and while it wasn't the greatest, it was still pretty good.
This novel alternates between "Then" and "Now" chapters which are short snippets of the past (which explains Ellie and Robs backstory) and the present (which is where we get into the real crime thriller elements.
Overall, I enjoyed the thriller aspect of the plot. It was a fun read but not anything exceptionally memorable. I also found myself wanting to skim through Ellie and Rob's backstory. It seemed a little fluffy and unnecessary padding at times to the book.