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lorenh 's review for:
The Year We Fell Down
by Sarina Bowen
This is actually 3.5 stars but Goodreads continues to play with my emotions regarding half stars. I loved the character development MC Corey experiences (to the surprise of no one). Corey starts off just fed up with where she is in life and that definitely shows in how she presents herself. You really get to watch her start to accept her new circumstances vs rail at them but also realize that..."Hey. I can still do some things sometimes." I don't believe in knocking heroines for not being positive all the time since I'm a snark monster and that'd make me a hypocrite, but I loved that this book was about her reaching a point of feeling better about the future/ not so much "less" than she did initially, just as much as it was about the romance with Hartley. I do think there were missed opportunities to have her make some friends with disabilities and/ or be inspired to see them crushing life and refusing to be held back, or at the very least for someone to check her for the "gimp" comments. But this book was written in early 2010s if I remember correctly, so maybe the publishing world wasn't there yet.
I was initially annoyed by the Hartley-Stacia relationship and thought Hartley should know better/ respect himself more, but Bowen made that make a little more sense by the end of the book. Corey has more patience than me because even though Hartley was often a rock for her, his behavior towards her felt selfish or inconsiderate as times, especially when it's clear he's figured out she has some feelings for him. I was cheering on the inside when he sorted his own feelings and immediately checked off all steps he needed to do to act on them--though I won't lie, I enjoyed Corey's occasional moments of petty-while-acting-innocent while waiting for him to figure himself out. I loved the moments he shows that he has really taken the time to get to know her and what makes her tick, and I wished there was more of that on Corey's part, though in her defense, he did keep his "shit to shovel" very close to the vest.
Some plot points were a little too perfectly tied up for me, but I have also been reading lots of enemies to lovers so my angst meter is dialed up to 11 right now. Overall Bowen did not disappoint and I remain a fan of her work!
I was initially annoyed by the Hartley-Stacia relationship and thought Hartley should know better/ respect himself more, but Bowen made that make a little more sense by the end of the book. Corey has more patience than me because even though Hartley was often a rock for her, his behavior towards her felt selfish or inconsiderate as times, especially when it's clear he's figured out she has some feelings for him. I was cheering on the inside when he sorted his own feelings and immediately checked off all steps he needed to do to act on them--though I won't lie, I enjoyed Corey's occasional moments of petty-while-acting-innocent while waiting for him to figure himself out. I loved the moments he shows that he has really taken the time to get to know her and what makes her tick, and I wished there was more of that on Corey's part, though in her defense, he did keep his "shit to shovel" very close to the vest.
Some plot points were a little too perfectly tied up for me, but I have also been reading lots of enemies to lovers so my angst meter is dialed up to 11 right now. Overall Bowen did not disappoint and I remain a fan of her work!