Title: Don't Fall
Author: Rachel Schieffelbein
Release Date: May 27th 2014
Publisher: Swoon Romance
Age Group: Young Adult
Source: eARC for blog tour
Goodreads | Amazon
In which a teenage girl endures the over-protective love of her adoptive mother until she falls for a boy who has her wanting to spread her wings, pitched as a contemporary retelling of Rapunzel.
Seventeen-year-old Anya leads a very secluded life in a house on the edge of town with her adopted mother. She doesn't go to school, but instead has a private tutor. Her over-protective mom keeps her so sheltered that she doesn't even have a best friend.
But Anya doesn't seem to mind. She has her books, her photography, and her daydreams, and would do anything to please her mom. Until one day at the library, the only place she's allowed to go, she takes a picture of a beautiful boy.
Before long she's lying to her mom, and sneaking out late at night to meet Zander. But Zander wants more than a secret romance. If Anya wants to be with the boy of her dreams, she will have to risk her relationship with the only other person she's ever cared about.
At every mention of Rapunzel to describe a story, what I find myself most curious about is the reason behind the mother hiding her daughter from the rest of the world, and although Don't Fall didn't end up as dark as I'd thought it would, it was still a heartwarming read.
Anya's mother has her living a very sequestered life, and between their house and the library, Anya doesn't have much to do aside from photography. One day, she takes a photo of a boy at the library, but he catches her before she manages to sneak away. Zander and Anya hit it off and the friends become lovers, but their relationship soon feels the strain of Anya's overprotective mother.
Somehow, even outside the library and our clearing in the woods, we were still in our own world. Everything else could fade away, and he and I would remain, tied together by something I couldn't quite explain. In its simplest term, love.
It would be easy for some readers to mistake Anya and Zander's romance for insta-love when it's actually more like insta-attraction, which is realistic for two recluses like them. It was so much fun to watch their reluctanct advances towards a relationship, their Tuesdays-and-Thursdays-only meetings at the library and then at a cupcake shop. The story truly is focused on their romance and how it affects Anya and her mother, and it's perfect as a lazy day read.
I thought up all sorts of dark, twisted back stories for Anya's mother and her unusual way of rearing Anya, and while it didn't disappoint, I feel like I wanted more from this aspect of the book. But Don't Fall certainly made up for it in many other ways. Quite a handful of references to other well-known YA books are made in this one, but even without them, I believe Don't Fall is worth a read.
MY FAVORITE PART is the ending :3
RATING:
About the author:
Rachel grew up in a tiny town in Minnesota. She still lives there, with her husband and their four kids. She coaches high school speech and theater, rides Arabian horses, reads as much as she can, and writes stories.
Thank you for being part of the tour, and for the nice review! :)
ReplyDeleteI do really like the cover of this one :) I'm not sure if this will be a book I will enjoy reading, but I'm glad you did! It does sound really good for people that enjoy retellings.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the giveaway!! :)
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