A review by bribreez
Fall With Me by Brooke Montgomery

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

*Thank you to Love Notes PR for sending me an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

4.5⭐️/ 3🌶️

If there’s one fictional place that I’ve come to love and adore it’s, Sugarland Creek and all the characters part of this interconnected series. With more of that cowboy aesthetic vibes, rugged, loving, and passionate male characters such as, Landen Hollis, this story continues to show more amazing characters, a tight knit family, and a wide variety of tropes! This story centered around, Landen Hollis and Ellie Donovan and how the two started off on rocky terms, but then years later something happened to Ellie that changed their entire dynamic. With tropes ranging from age gap romance, she can’t stand him, he falls first and HARD TO even a subplot of suspense, Brooke Montgomery always knows how to steal my heart with her stories. 

Ellie was a headstrong, motivated barrel racer, and her life revolved around it. With the best trainer, Noah Hollis taking her under her wing, Ellie’s skills became better and kept winning more competitions. Even though Ellie didn’t like Landen, he proved to be a helpful trainer as well by pointing out certain things she could work on. Regardless of all the help, Ellie was determined to make sure Landen would never be her friend or anything because, he was the main reason why she lost the person she was closest to. 

I think the way Ellie and Landen’s dynamic was interesting especially with Ellie being the grumpy one, and Landen being a mix of a golden retriever and a flirt. At first, I wasn’t sure why Ellie didn’t like Landen or why she couldn’t get along with him, but later on specific details came to light that made me see WHY Ellie had such a dislike towards Landen. Meanwhile, Landen wasn’t sure why Ellie kept him at a distance, didn’t like him period so, I felt bad for him. Landen was a genuinely nice man who cared for those close to him, and always tried to be nice to Ellie, even when he constantly enjoyed pushing her buttons just for fun. Now, even with the not so friendly attitude Ellie had with Landen, I did really enjoy their banter with each other. The way Ellie would always try to insult Landen wouldn’t always work because then Landen being himself would find a way to twist it into him thinking it was them flirting haha. Landen obviously knew Ellie wasn’t his biggest fan, but that didn’t stop him from inevitably falling for her and HARD!

The beginning half of the story really set the stage for how Ellie and Landen met, their relationship, and unknowingly the thing that connected them. Between snarky banter, the subplot of suspense, and that good old Hollis family appearing once again, there was more to Landen and Ellie’s story. Both, Landen and Ellie were dealing with something behind the scenes of the story that unbeknownst to Landen connected them. I really liked how Brooke gave us a bit more background on Landen and Ellie, as well as seeing the journey they went on from the moment they met all the way leading up to Ellie’s accident. *BTW it is not a spoiler since it is mentioned this story deals with the amnesia trope. 

I haven’t read a lot of books with the amnesia trope, but the way Brooke Montgomery wrote it was well written. In my opinion, I think the way Ellie’s amnesia was written was honest and open minded. Before Ellie’s accident, she made it clear that she wanted nothing to do with Landen, but through her temporary memory loss, all those previous judgments and hatred for Landen disappeared and she was able to see Landen for the man he was point blank. I also loved seeing Landen getting a genuine chance to be around Ellie as her kindhearted self as opposed to the “mean” version she usually had around him previously. For me, the amnesia trope in this story served it previous, albeit it was hard for Ellie, it allowed her to shed her inner walls, and experience life as she should have being carefree, having fun, making friends, and finding love like any twenty something year old. Ellie’s growth in this story really transformed and by the end of the story I was really happy both for her and herself.

Overall, this story was great, I had fun reading Landen and Ellie’s story, and of course seeing more of the rest of the Hollis family. Brooke Montgomery continues to bring the joy in her small town romance, mixed with cowboys, amazing characters, and subplots that add a level of intrigue to the main plot line. Landen and Ellie started off on rocky terms, but over the course of the story they learned more about each other, and had a shot at becoming more together. Landen was flirtatious, charming, and a southern gentleman who could sweep you off your feet while also making you feel weak in the knees with the things he said. Ellie was a motivated, strong woman who put all her effort into winning competitions she competed in. Ellie had great character growth, and I adored seeing her in a more lighthearted manner, as I’m sure Landen also loved as well. I’m excited to read the next book in this interconnected series especially with the way the story ended off. Not to mention, other little crumbs I got for an entirely new series Brooke will be writing! All in all, great story, Brooke just knows how to hook me in each time with her wonderful stories!