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A review by tarar
Falling Fast by Sophie McKenzie
2.0
@Sophie Mckenzie I hope you see this
Your writing is engaging, exciting and relatable for tweens. I know this because Girl, Missing was one of my favourite books when I was 12, and I did enjoy seeing similar suspense in this novel despite its nonthreatening setting of a high school play.
But this has to be the single most toxic relationship I have seen in YA. Flynn may actually fit some of the criteria for Borderline Personality Disorder and he needs to work through his anger management issues before he and River end up together.
The way their relationship is going, I fear that he will start hitting her, and she will continue making excuses for him, as she has done the several times he has been caught screaming at her and obstructing her from talking to other boys. I can reach this conclusion because I am 19 now and understand relationships much better, but if I had read this book when I was 12, I probably would have agreed with River that Flynn is just "passionate".
He is not passionate. He is aggressive, coercive, and distant enough that River genuinely thinks he might hurt her and/or sleep with her best friend if she doesn't agree to sleep with him. Please do not teach tweens that this kind of behaviour is romantic, because it's not even near okay.
I would only recommend this book to adults who enjoy books aimed at tweens but who are also wise enough to know that this relationship is not normal.
Your writing is engaging, exciting and relatable for tweens. I know this because Girl, Missing was one of my favourite books when I was 12, and I did enjoy seeing similar suspense in this novel despite its nonthreatening setting of a high school play.
But this has to be the single most toxic relationship I have seen in YA. Flynn may actually fit some of the criteria for Borderline Personality Disorder and he needs to work through his anger management issues before he and River end up together.
The way their relationship is going, I fear that he will start hitting her, and she will continue making excuses for him, as she has done the several times he has been caught screaming at her and obstructing her from talking to other boys. I can reach this conclusion because I am 19 now and understand relationships much better, but if I had read this book when I was 12, I probably would have agreed with River that Flynn is just "passionate".
He is not passionate. He is aggressive, coercive, and distant enough that River genuinely thinks he might hurt her and/or sleep with her best friend if she doesn't agree to sleep with him. Please do not teach tweens that this kind of behaviour is romantic, because it's not even near okay.
I would only recommend this book to adults who enjoy books aimed at tweens but who are also wise enough to know that this relationship is not normal.