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eleventeen 's review for:
Fall
by Kristen Callihan
Really high stars from me for a romance but this did a lot of things that I haven't seen in romance and I appreciated that.
Good:
- Actual conflict that wasn't just about lack of communication, but about real fears and insecurities, about getting stuck inside your own head and not being able to get out. While I've seen this in other books/fics, it's often a shallow afterthought, the issues don't feel fleshed out and real, they feel there for the purpose of keeping the LI apart and for cheap conflict. I didn't feel that as much with this book, Stella and John had real, believable issues that were nuanced and built from many layers and weren't overused dramatic tropes.
- Loooooved the whole section on what you love becoming work. I cannot tell you how often that switch has turned on and off in my 20 years of playing in a band. It is very often work with intermittent flashes of joy. Sometimes you just go through the motions. Frankly, it feels like a long-term relationship. It's work. Sometimes you get bored. Sometimes you question your love of it all. That part was real and true and while Jax's source was different than mine, it was relatable.
- let's address the elephant in the room, or rrather the penis behind the guitar. I honestly just wanted to say that phrase let's just move on i cannot imagine that being comfortable but the motivations behind it seemed valid so go ahead with your naked axe slinging, my man.
- the build up was INSANE with only one point where i was, instead of delightfully exasperated, rolling eyes exasperated at them NOT GETTING TOGETHER. I think this was because, again, their feelings were so nuanced. While there were elements of "im not good enough" or "how could he like me" there were just more facets to it than that. This book went to the roots of those feelings instead of coasting on the surface, so you're left cheering them on and excited to see them learn to heal.
- i loved the equality of their fucked up-ness. Both of them had some serious issues. While the emphasis is placed on jax having depression and anxiety, itsc clear stella has some serious insecurities and abandonment issues.
- this was missing so many of the problematic things you see in other books. or rather, the behavior might be there, but it is not excused, drawn up as "Sexy", or absolved in any way. Problematic behavior is shown as a true flaw and neither of them let the other get away with it.
Cons:
- Callihan writes some cheesy crap sometimes. I cant really quote because those passages i would skim through, but just some of the banter was like AHMAGAD NO. Not all, but enough to take htis down a notch. Compare to my fave contemp romance, the hating game, which was stylistically perfect and cool, this...idk...feels written by someone who isn't quite on the pulse, if you will.
- some of the tension moments were resolved SO quickly that it was confusing why they were there other than to add word count. these moments didn't add to their characters, and they weren't memorable, and just added to the overall tension which i suppose is a purpose in its own right but didn't do it for me. Her dad...i don't know...it felt too...pat.
- im a musician so it's hard to read someone writing about music and emotions associated with it. Not saying it's good or bad but i didn't quite relate to it. It felt like the imagination of someone that really enjoys music vs. someone that plays it. That may be just because my experience is so different. Not sure.
Im writing this at 1 am like a dumbass, so let me close this mess of a review out. I think overall what im trying to say is there were some things in here that made me cringe, but the characterization was super rich, with multiple levels from dreams to hobbies to flaws to beliefs, that made this book read beyond a romance. That made you fall in love with the characters and think about how you'd feel in those situations. A true joy in reading is empathizing, and this made it easy. Def. one of my faves in the genre.
Good:
- Actual conflict that wasn't just about lack of communication, but about real fears and insecurities, about getting stuck inside your own head and not being able to get out. While I've seen this in other books/fics, it's often a shallow afterthought, the issues don't feel fleshed out and real, they feel there for the purpose of keeping the LI apart and for cheap conflict. I didn't feel that as much with this book, Stella and John had real, believable issues that were nuanced and built from many layers and weren't overused dramatic tropes.
- Loooooved the whole section on what you love becoming work. I cannot tell you how often that switch has turned on and off in my 20 years of playing in a band. It is very often work with intermittent flashes of joy. Sometimes you just go through the motions. Frankly, it feels like a long-term relationship. It's work. Sometimes you get bored. Sometimes you question your love of it all. That part was real and true and while Jax's source was different than mine, it was relatable.
- let's address the elephant in the room, or rrather the penis behind the guitar. I honestly just wanted to say that phrase let's just move on i cannot imagine that being comfortable but the motivations behind it seemed valid so go ahead with your naked axe slinging, my man.
- the build up was INSANE with only one point where i was, instead of delightfully exasperated, rolling eyes exasperated at them NOT GETTING TOGETHER. I think this was because, again, their feelings were so nuanced. While there were elements of "im not good enough" or "how could he like me" there were just more facets to it than that. This book went to the roots of those feelings instead of coasting on the surface, so you're left cheering them on and excited to see them learn to heal.
- i loved the equality of their fucked up-ness. Both of them had some serious issues. While the emphasis is placed on jax having depression and anxiety, itsc clear stella has some serious insecurities and abandonment issues.
- this was missing so many of the problematic things you see in other books. or rather, the behavior might be there, but it is not excused, drawn up as "Sexy", or absolved in any way. Problematic behavior is shown as a true flaw and neither of them let the other get away with it.
Cons:
- Callihan writes some cheesy crap sometimes. I cant really quote because those passages i would skim through, but just some of the banter was like AHMAGAD NO. Not all, but enough to take htis down a notch. Compare to my fave contemp romance, the hating game, which was stylistically perfect and cool, this...idk...feels written by someone who isn't quite on the pulse, if you will.
- some of the tension moments were resolved SO quickly that it was confusing why they were there other than to add word count. these moments didn't add to their characters, and they weren't memorable, and just added to the overall tension which i suppose is a purpose in its own right but didn't do it for me. Her dad...i don't know...it felt too...pat.
- im a musician so it's hard to read someone writing about music and emotions associated with it. Not saying it's good or bad but i didn't quite relate to it. It felt like the imagination of someone that really enjoys music vs. someone that plays it. That may be just because my experience is so different. Not sure.
Im writing this at 1 am like a dumbass, so let me close this mess of a review out. I think overall what im trying to say is there were some things in here that made me cringe, but the characterization was super rich, with multiple levels from dreams to hobbies to flaws to beliefs, that made this book read beyond a romance. That made you fall in love with the characters and think about how you'd feel in those situations. A true joy in reading is empathizing, and this made it easy. Def. one of my faves in the genre.