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A review by harasnicole
Falling to Centerpieces by Ellie Cahill
3.0
Falling to Centerpieces by Ellie Cahill is a road trip story about two college students who are tasked with picking up a bunch of centerpieces for a wedding that they will be attending. Clio's best friend Nicole, we find out in the very beginning of the story, has to have emergency surgery to remove her appendix, and Nicole puts Clio in charge of picking up some centerpieces for their friend's wedding as well as giving a ride to the bride's (or was it the groom's?) cousin, August.
This is definitely a cute story that I ended up enjoying in the end, but for a while there, I was starting to think that this book may not have been for me because the main protagonist, Clio, is annoying to the max. She's overexcitable, and there were more than a few times where I felt like the writing was trying too hard to make her "quirky" because it just came across forced, but eventually, I was able to get past that and move on to a new annoyance of mine: Clio's apparent grudge against dentists. It's not just one disparaging comment, either, there were a few times where her inner monologue would say things like, "Dentists shouldn't be this hot," or some other such nonsense, and I just want to know what did a dentist ever do to her because the comments definitely seemed to be coming out of nowhere. I don't understand it.
As for August? I can't really say much about him except that he's a dental student from Minnesota, plays hockey, he keeps himself in shape, and... he has German ancestry, I guess, because his full name is Augustus Klein, and everyone in his family (his sister and brother, at least, I don't know about his parents) have German names and this is something that Clio also keeps commenting on throughout the story. Like it matters. We don't really get a chance to actually get to know August beyond the surface level. We learn more about Clio than anything, which makes sense because the story does mostly revolve around her.
We learn that she has poliosis (decrease or absence of melanin) and Waardenburg syndrome (a group of rare genetic conditions characterized by at least some degree of congenital hearing loss and pigmentation deficiencies, which can include bright blue eyes, a white forelock, or patches of light skin). It's something that she's been insecure about her entire life because people can be assholes when they don't understand something, and of course, her condition is something that August likes about her, so they were clearly meant to be.
What I really enjoyed about this story was the whole road trip aspect. Because Clio plays by her own rules and seemingly dislikes any kind of order, once she picks up August (later than the agreed-upon 8:15 a.m.), once August tells her about getting a stamp in every state capital, they're making detours because Clio can't just abide by an itinerary, at least until they pick up the centerpieces, and they cut it really close to Nicole's aunt's shop because she's about to go out of town and Clio insisting on going to the state capital (I think this was in Michigan) made them incredibly late to pick up the centerpieces. These centerpieces happen to be bigger than Clio imagined (they're small trees in vases), and there are so many of them. Too many, in fact, because they won't all fit in her Kia Soul, so she decides to double up the trees two to a vase and make them fit that way.
I did enjoy reading Clio and August together, and I loved seeing their chemistry play out. I love that their roadside attraction game was basically just an excuse to make out with each other. The closer we get to the end of the road trip, things start to take a turn and they get stranded on Mackinac Island for a night because both Clio and August weren't paying enough attention to the ferry schedule, and then when they're about a half hour outside of their destination, we have some miscommunication going because it's not a romance novel if there's no miscommunication. While August could have definitely been clearer in what he said, I put the onus squarely on Clio's shoulders because she took everything he said to her and twisted it, manipulated it to make it sound like the exact opposite of what he was attempting to say.
Fortunately, the miscommunication didn't last long and was resolved that same day because once August found out why Clio had been avoiding him for most of the reception, he doesn't let her escape without talking through the egregious misunderstanding. So, points for that. Usually, miscommunication in romance novels lasts for at least a chapter or two, so the fact that it was resolved so quickly is enough for me to let it slide.
Overall, it's a cute story and quick read, and if you love road trip stories, you may enjoy this one. I will say, though, that a well-hung horse statue isn't as fascinating as the author tried to make it seem, nor is it hilarious to have a little girl shout about how big a horse statue's penis is. August and Clio lost their damned minds in laughter at that scene and I was reading that like, "Why?" It's probably my least favorite scene in the book that went on way longer than it should have. It just... It didn't work for me.
3 stars.
This is definitely a cute story that I ended up enjoying in the end, but for a while there, I was starting to think that this book may not have been for me because the main protagonist, Clio, is annoying to the max. She's overexcitable, and there were more than a few times where I felt like the writing was trying too hard to make her "quirky" because it just came across forced, but eventually, I was able to get past that and move on to a new annoyance of mine: Clio's apparent grudge against dentists. It's not just one disparaging comment, either, there were a few times where her inner monologue would say things like, "Dentists shouldn't be this hot," or some other such nonsense, and I just want to know what did a dentist ever do to her because the comments definitely seemed to be coming out of nowhere. I don't understand it.
As for August? I can't really say much about him except that he's a dental student from Minnesota, plays hockey, he keeps himself in shape, and... he has German ancestry, I guess, because his full name is Augustus Klein, and everyone in his family (his sister and brother, at least, I don't know about his parents) have German names and this is something that Clio also keeps commenting on throughout the story. Like it matters. We don't really get a chance to actually get to know August beyond the surface level. We learn more about Clio than anything, which makes sense because the story does mostly revolve around her.
We learn that she has poliosis (decrease or absence of melanin) and Waardenburg syndrome (a group of rare genetic conditions characterized by at least some degree of congenital hearing loss and pigmentation deficiencies, which can include bright blue eyes, a white forelock, or patches of light skin). It's something that she's been insecure about her entire life because people can be assholes when they don't understand something, and of course, her condition is something that August likes about her, so they were clearly meant to be.
What I really enjoyed about this story was the whole road trip aspect. Because Clio plays by her own rules and seemingly dislikes any kind of order, once she picks up August (later than the agreed-upon 8:15 a.m.), once August tells her about getting a stamp in every state capital, they're making detours because Clio can't just abide by an itinerary, at least until they pick up the centerpieces, and they cut it really close to Nicole's aunt's shop because she's about to go out of town and Clio insisting on going to the state capital (I think this was in Michigan) made them incredibly late to pick up the centerpieces. These centerpieces happen to be bigger than Clio imagined (they're small trees in vases), and there are so many of them. Too many, in fact, because they won't all fit in her Kia Soul, so she decides to double up the trees two to a vase and make them fit that way.
I did enjoy reading Clio and August together, and I loved seeing their chemistry play out. I love that their roadside attraction game was basically just an excuse to make out with each other. The closer we get to the end of the road trip, things start to take a turn and they get stranded on Mackinac Island for a night because both Clio and August weren't paying enough attention to the ferry schedule, and then when they're about a half hour outside of their destination, we have some miscommunication going because it's not a romance novel if there's no miscommunication. While August could have definitely been clearer in what he said, I put the onus squarely on Clio's shoulders because she took everything he said to her and twisted it, manipulated it to make it sound like the exact opposite of what he was attempting to say.
Fortunately, the miscommunication didn't last long and was resolved that same day because once August found out why Clio had been avoiding him for most of the reception, he doesn't let her escape without talking through the egregious misunderstanding. So, points for that. Usually, miscommunication in romance novels lasts for at least a chapter or two, so the fact that it was resolved so quickly is enough for me to let it slide.
Overall, it's a cute story and quick read, and if you love road trip stories, you may enjoy this one. I will say, though, that a well-hung horse statue isn't as fascinating as the author tried to make it seem, nor is it hilarious to have a little girl shout about how big a horse statue's penis is. August and Clio lost their damned minds in laughter at that scene and I was reading that like, "Why?" It's probably my least favorite scene in the book that went on way longer than it should have. It just... It didn't work for me.
3 stars.