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A review by mjsam
Falling by Kris Bryant
3.0
ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I liked this one but there were a few things that stopped me from really loving it.
First, the pros. The setting was intriguing. MC Shay is at the end of a not terribly enjoyable flight when the worst happens, and the plane crashes. She one of few survivors. She meets the other MC Piper (whose fiancée and best friend we’re both killed in the crash) at a group counselling session for the victims and their families.
Both Shay and Piper are lovely people who had something awful happen to them. They begin to bond as a result of this. Problem is that Shay is instantly attracted to Piper, who is obviously grieving her fiancée and friend. Despite this, Shay continues to see Piper (as friends) even though she’s attracted to her, and their relationship grows. Shay also has a BFF, Marisa, who hits it off with another survivor from the flight, Jason.
Other than the honking red flag of Piper obviously not being in a place to begin a relationship and her dependency on Shay coming from a place of grief and loneliness, I actually liked how their relationship unfolded and how sweet they were together. Although I could have done without both Piper and her yoga trainer friend making multiple comments about Shay‘s level of fitness. Thankfully Shay ignored this and ate/did what she wanted anyway.
The issues I had were that Shay went through a horrible trauma, and apart from some mentions of counselling and a fear of flying/noise/small spaces, Shay is remarkably well-adjusted for someone recovering from something that I would think would have had more of an impact. I think it would have been better to have the MCs meet the way they initially did here, but then have a much bigger time jump before they meet again, so that some of the healing would have reasonably been expected to have already happened.
The requisite breakup was also telegraphed early on and it annoyed me that it was resolved by Piper having the issue confirmed with ‘evidence’ rather than just realising that Shay would never lie to her about something like that.
There’s also very little angst in this book, everyone loves one another, and gets along with everyone else (with the exception of Marisa’s completely understandable scepticism about Piper’s ability to be in a relationship so soon). And while I usually love an epilogue, I found this one to be overly sweet.
Anyway, that aside, I’m a Bryant fan, and while this isn’t my favourite of hers, it’s still a nice read. 3 stars.
I liked this one but there were a few things that stopped me from really loving it.
First, the pros. The setting was intriguing. MC Shay is at the end of a not terribly enjoyable flight when the worst happens, and the plane crashes. She one of few survivors. She meets the other MC Piper (whose fiancée and best friend we’re both killed in the crash) at a group counselling session for the victims and their families.
Both Shay and Piper are lovely people who had something awful happen to them. They begin to bond as a result of this. Problem is that Shay is instantly attracted to Piper, who is obviously grieving her fiancée and friend. Despite this, Shay continues to see Piper (as friends) even though she’s attracted to her, and their relationship grows. Shay also has a BFF, Marisa, who hits it off with another survivor from the flight, Jason.
Other than the honking red flag of Piper obviously not being in a place to begin a relationship and her dependency on Shay coming from a place of grief and loneliness, I actually liked how their relationship unfolded and how sweet they were together. Although I could have done without both Piper and her yoga trainer friend making multiple comments about Shay‘s level of fitness. Thankfully Shay ignored this and ate/did what she wanted anyway.
The issues I had were that Shay went through a horrible trauma, and apart from some mentions of counselling and a fear of flying/noise/small spaces, Shay is remarkably well-adjusted for someone recovering from something that I would think would have had more of an impact. I think it would have been better to have the MCs meet the way they initially did here, but then have a much bigger time jump before they meet again, so that some of the healing would have reasonably been expected to have already happened.
The requisite breakup was also telegraphed early on and it annoyed me that it was resolved by Piper having the issue confirmed with ‘evidence’ rather than just realising that Shay would never lie to her about something like that.
There’s also very little angst in this book, everyone loves one another, and gets along with everyone else (with the exception of Marisa’s completely understandable scepticism about Piper’s ability to be in a relationship so soon). And while I usually love an epilogue, I found this one to be overly sweet.
Anyway, that aside, I’m a Bryant fan, and while this isn’t my favourite of hers, it’s still a nice read. 3 stars.